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When fertility is gone: infertility to menopause
It felt like it vanished without a trace. I went from having periods to no periods at all. Yes, I knew I was in perimenopause. Yes, I knew my periods would become far less regular. Yes, I knew my egg reserve was diminishing. Yes, I knew it was a rite of passage that I could not avoid. Still, I could not believe it was already here: menopause. I was only 48! I had been infertile for a number of years and had grieved every milestone I didn’t get to reach: becoming pregnant agai
Sonia-Maria Szymanski
May 7, 20254 min read


When fertility is gone: frozen at 19
Nearly 10 years later, I still think about that version of myself that had to sit there and begin to process the reality of my complete infertility. There is still a part of me that has been frozen, stuck in that doctor’s office. And I avoided that 19 year-old as much as I could over the near decade. My fertility was gone and, with it, my worth. Or, at least that’s the lie I told myself.

C. J. Parke
May 1, 20253 min read


Carrying the cross that transforms everything
I sat down to write a piece on Easter Sunday and inevitably I am brought first to Good Friday. For just as Venerable Fulton Sheen wrote, “Unless there is a Good Friday in your life, there can be no Easter Sunday,” without the painful cross of infertility, our family would not be the miracle that it is. My womb never bore children, I remain infertile almost eight years after my husband and I said “I do”. This might look like an abject failure, like the absence of a miracle, bu

Katie Wilson
Apr 22, 20253 min read


Good Friday and infertility: death and resurrection
Then, Easter changed. It became a season of darkness and perpetual death. This darkness settled in my heart after we miscarried our first and only biological child. I was left barren and fruitless. Although Jesus died and resurrected, I remained dead inside because my fertility was dead and would never resurrect.
Sonia-Maria Szymanski
Apr 17, 20256 min read


Lingering on Holy Thursday
There's a beautiful juxtaposition on this night between anticipation and dread, the not yet and the soon-to-be; the long-awaited and much-feared, a holy tension.

Shelby Gambino
Apr 16, 20253 min read


As a non-Catholic, I stood between my wife and IVF
As his wife, I vividly recall the day his words about IVF made me realize that pursuing it might create an unbridgeable gap

thefruitfulhollow
Mar 26, 20255 min read


RESOURCE: Discernment as a couple
Discerning next steps can be challenging enough on your own, but discerning as a married couple is sometimes even harder. When it comes to..

Ellen H.
Mar 18, 20255 min read


Fostering fruitfulness through at-home date nights
This year at The Fruitful Hollow, our theme is "fruitfulness in your home and marriage". We are exploring ways we can exercise ...

Kathleen and Jesse LeBlanc
Mar 12, 20254 min read


Fire by Night
The wilderness is upon us. Our sandals are worn and our feet are dusty from the journey we have traveled thus far. We stand on the opposite shore of our deliverance, the enemy defeated, yet our work has just begun. We understand that our God has set us free. Our Lord? The One who calls us “chosen”. There is still so little we know of Him, though He has already revealed so much. Have we forgotten the God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? Our chosen people. Nevertheless

Danielle Thompson
Mar 5, 20253 min read


The Battlefield of Infertility
Understanding these weapons and why they're targeted helps us recognize the enemy's tactics and stand firm in our faith. Each time we choose

Rachel Walters
Feb 26, 20255 min read
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