Hey everyone, welcome back to Maraca's Mama's podcast. I'm your host, Elizabeth Joy. And we believe in empowering people through storytelling and education.

And the July is believed parents month, then we just want to honor for honor all the parents who have experienced loss. And I wanted to make sure that we had an episode about it, just kind of sharing.

Because there's power in that there's power in sharing your experience. And that's what our guest tells us today. And so it's, it's a good conversation with her.

We have Bethany on and she's just so honest and open with us about her fertility journey about the loss that they experienced.

And I just know so many people can relate. We all experience loss in different ways. We all grieve and deal with it in different ways. And it doesn't matter at what stage.

You experience loss as a parent, you still have the right to grieve. You still have the right to experience the emotions that come up for you, whether you just got a positive pregnancy test.

And then miscarried right after or you know had had a still birth, which is completely devastating. I can't even imagine the emotions that they would go along with that.

Yeah, I'm just honored to have the guest on today to talk about the struggles that a lot of people face. And a lot of us don't know how to talk about it or don't feel that we can or feel that people don't relate to us.

So it's really great having the conversation that we do. I'm going to dive into the interview.

I'm going to have Bethany McGrath here. And I've known you. I was thinking the other day. I met you 18 years ago. Oh my gosh. I know I was like I was 16 years old. So that was 18 years ago.

I know I'm like that's almost 20 years ago. Like how is that possible? So I met Bethany through one of my best friends. It's her sister. So I've known you for a very long time through church camp.

And and all of that and just kind of followed your journey along. So I was thinking about this month of July because it's called bereaved parents months and they talk about loss and holding space for people who have experienced that.

And I was trying to think of who do I know who who has experienced loss and who has shared it and who I follow and who's an inspiration to me. So I was like, I'll reach out to Bethany and see if she wants to come on. So thank you for being here.

So see, I'm honored. Thank you. Yeah. And so I'd love for you just to kind of share your story of pregnancy and your fertility journey and and just kind of how that was for you and your husband.

Yeah. So my husband and I got married in Missouri at a young age and then a few years after marriage, we moved to Arizona for a job. And that's where we still are now, which is awesome. I love it.

And we've always wanted kids. We've always talked about four kids, but we'll see how it goes, you know, type of thing. Just because we both come from families of four. And I remember I had it was on my 24th birthday, which is like, so this is a stupid story this part right here.

But my 24th birthday, I remember crying because I was like, I'm getting so old and we don't even have any kids, which is like so crazy to think about because I'm 32 now. And I'm like, I'm not old.

You know, right, right.

I was in, I just had all this, I put all this pressure on myself to like get married, have kids, you know, be a young mom, all that stuff. And it was just, it was done. But that's where all started.

And it was like literally that day, we're both like, okay, well, let's start, let's start trying. Like maybe we are ready for this word in season of, you know, good job, a steady job and where we want to end up and where you want to be.

So let's go ahead and start. And so we didn't really know anything, you know, we were very naive to the process of having kids, you know, I had heard of infertility about other people, but I had never had anyone super close to me that I knew a lot of details about it.

So I never even thought about it, never even thought it would be something I'd have to worry about. So, a few months go by, nothing's happening, you know, I think a lot of people can relate in that the first time, especially, especially if you were a little naive like me, it's like a few months feels like forever.

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