Preview Mode Links will not work in preview mode

IVF Failed You - The "So Now What?" Podcast

I am a Fertility Survivor.  The kind you enter into treatments hoping you will never be... childless.  After several rounds of IUI and IVF, at some of the leading Fertility Centers, I was told I was no longer a candidate for fertility treatment.  It left me asking myself...

So now what?

For the years that followed, I tried to put myself back together and tell myself I would be OK, but I wasn't.  I was shattered - I felt alone and failed by the whole process and especially, my body.  I yearned for others that felt the pain I felt and someone that could help me navigate a life without a child. 

I didn't find it, so I decide to create it.  

Fast forward to today. I am still childless, but my beliefs about my life have changed.  I decided that I can create meaning and purpose in my life even though I am not a mother.  I've learned to love myself and the body I felt failed me as a woman.

If you've been on this journey, hop on and join me as we create something we were not offered.  Let's create a sisterhood for the bravest women I know.  We brush ourselves off and don't let terms like: Failed, Unexplained, Miscarriage, Not-viable or Advanced Maternal Age define us anymore.  

 

  1. All Episodes
  2. Childless and Grieving with Jody Day

Childless and Grieving with Jody Day

May 20, 2025

If you are childless after infertility and wondering how to move forward without the future you dreamed of, this powerful conversation with Jody Day will meet you right where you are.

In this episode, we explore what it truly means to grieve childlessness and how embracing that grief can lead to deep healing, creativity, and purpose. Jody shares her personal story, her insights from years of working in the childless-not-by-choice space, and how grief can evolve from something you endure into something you grow through.

Inside this episode:

  • Why grief is not an event but a skill

  • What it means to experience disenfranchised grief as a childless woman

  • How to feel seen in a society that avoids your pain

  • What it takes to build your own support network as you age

  • Why asking for help is a form of strength and connection

Unforgettable quotes from Jody Day:

  • “Grief is not an event. It’s a skill.”

  • “You’re not needy. You have needs. You’re human.”

  • “We grieve that which we have loved.”

  • “Grief is the emotion that allows us to let go of what was in order to embrace what’s next.”

  • “I look back at the woman who tried so hard and say: You didn’t know more was available to you.”

Whether you are early in your grief or further down the path, this episode will remind you that you are not alone, and that you still have the power to build a life you love.

You are not too late. You are not alone.
You may be childless, but your story still matters. This episode will remind you that healing is possible, connection is available, and the life ahead of you still holds meaning.

Helpful links and resources:

🎧 Download: The Top 27 Things People Say When You’re Childless (...and How to Respond)


📞 Book a Free 45-Minute Thrive Call with Lana and create a personalized plan for living a fulfilling life without children


📘 Explore Jody Day’s work: Gateway Women

💌 Subscribe to her Substack: Gateway Elderwomen
 📱 Follow Lana on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok

 

About Jody Day:

Jody is the English-Irish founder of Gateway Women, the world’s best-known support and advocacy network for childless women. Often described as the founder of the global childless movement, she is an integrative psychotherapist, two-time TEDx speaker, author, and thought leader. Her best-selling book Living the Life Unexpected: How to Find Hope, Meaning and a Fulfilling Future Without Children has become essential reading for women navigating life without motherhood.

Jody has been a World Childless Week Ambassador since 2017, was chosen as one of the BBC’s 100 Women in 2013, and named a UK Digital Woman of the Year in 2021. She is a former Fellow in Social Innovation at Cambridge Judge Business School and was a founding board member of the UK charity Ageing Without Children. Today, she writes the popular Substack Gateway Elderwomen, which explores aging and elderhood without motherhood, and is developing her ALTERKIN Project to create local mutual-aid communities for those aging without children.