June Story of Hope - The Csapo Family

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Ashley's Story

1. How have you been impacted by infertility?

I have personally been impacted by infertility, as well as watching family and friends go through it. Which may have been even worse because I went through it first and then knew what they were going through and you just feel helpless watching your loved ones go through it.

2. What helped you cope with your infertility experience?

Support – when my husband and I were first going through infertility, we told minimal people and really leaned on each other for support. Then we decided to move back home and start IVF and that’s when we announced on social media and told others about our infertility journey. This was a game changer - hearing other peoples stories really helped us to move forward. It brought our faith in the process back.

3. If you could give anyone who is experiencing infertility one piece of advice/encouragement what would it be?

Don’t be ashamed – so many people feel like their body is failing them or whatever the reason may be, so they are ashamed. It was incredible once we shared on social media about our infertility journey, how many other people reached out about also going through infertility. I have now made it my mission to always share my story, so that someone doesn’t feel alone.

4. How did you help those around you have a better understanding of what you were experiencing?

I think this is really hard because I truly believe if you haven’t experienced it, you don’t completely understand it. Not only the physical toll it takes, but the mental and emotional are just something you wouldn’t understand unless you have experienced/currently experiencing. That’s something I always reminded myself of. I will say though, the people that asked questions about the experience, appointments, the process, etc. I really appreciated. They were showing that though they didn’t know, they were trying to.

5. If someone knows someone who is experiencing infertility, what is the best way they could support them?

Just be there for them. Everyone is scared to say the wrong thing, but I cope with talking about it, so it’s nice when people will listen and have a conversation – even if they are asking questions to better understand. Also, just support – if you know it’s an appointment day, a text message “thinking of you” goes a long way. If it is retrieval day, a care package or dinner after would mean the world. Just always remind them they are not alone and their feelings are valid.

6. What does a rainbow symbolize to you?

A rainbow symbolizes light after darkness to me. Our triplets are our rainbow babies because they came to us after a chemical pregnancy during our third round of IUI. The loss was a very dark time during our lives and the triplets brought the light back into our world.