An inspirational trainer and creative educator with a passion for encouraging women to lead happier, healthier lives, Nikki Bergen is one of Canada’s most sought after health and fitness experts. This is her story about her struggles with infertility.
This might be the most personal I’ve ever gotten online. See, I’m supposed to be the one inspiring others with health and wellness – sharing pictures of perfect kale smoothies and video tips on how to get strong flat abs. I never imagined I’d be posting Instagram selfies in pre-surgery hospital scrubs and a video interview with a psychologist about my very real struggles with infertility.
But here we are.
The fact is, no matter how much acupuncture you do, or how pristine your paleo/gluten/dairy-free organic diet is, or how many Naturopath recommended supplements you take – infertility still happens. Miscarriages still happen.
There should be NO shame in this. But it still exists. Women often don’t openly share their struggles precisely because of this outrageous notion that they’ve done something wrong to deserve it – that they are somehow inadequate. Shame around this topic breeds silence, and silence is so, so isolating for the 1 in 8 couples experiencing infertility.
The fact is, women’s bodies bear the double burden of invasive medical interventions and society’s judgement when it comes to miscarriages and infertility, regardless of the cause. I’m sharing my story to let other women know they are not alone. We are stronger together. There is no more room for shame in this conversation of infertility.
Here’s part 1 of my conversation with Dr. Stacy Thomas.
