Childless After IVF: When the Path to Your Dreams Feels Impossible
IVF Failed You - The "So Now What?" Podcast
If you have spent years going through fertility treatments like IVF, pouring everything into your dream of motherhood, and still found yourself without a child, you know how heavy it feels to imagine a future that could ever feel as meaningful. In this week’s episode, Lana shares a deeply personal story about standing on a piece of vacant land in Michigan, a place she and her husband dreamed of building their future home, and realizing that the path to something beautiful isn't coming without obstacles. If you’re childless after infertility, it’s so easy to believe your life will always...
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Your Meaning as a Childless Woman After Infertility
IVF Failed You - The "So Now What?" Podcast
Your Meaning as a Childless Woman After Infertility If you ever find yourself waking up on a Saturday, staring at a day that is completely yours and feeling more suffocated than free, this episode is for you. Maybe you spent years picturing weekends packed with soccer games, birthday parties, college visits, and noisy family trips. You imagined how all the hard parts of infertility and IVF would feel worth it once you finally had your baby in your arms. But here you are, childless after infertility, and the quiet moments you thought would feel peaceful just feel heavy. And if you...
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Infertile, Childless, and Taking Back Control
IVF Failed You - The "So Now What?" Podcast
Rediscover purpose and meaning after infertility. 👉 🧭 Book your free 45-minute Thrive Call Let’s create a personalized plan for what fulfillment can look like for you now, even though life turned out differently. 👉 💬 Download your free guide: The When You’re Childless (and How to Respond) Get real scripts to help you navigate intrusive questions and comments — without having to explain yourself. 👉 📲 Let’s stay connected: Instagram: TikTok: YouTube: Website: You’re not less than. You’re not invisible. You’re just living a life no one taught you how...
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Childless After Infertility: You’re Not Meant to Just Survive This
IVF Failed You - The "So Now What?" Podcast
If you’ve ever wondered if this is just how life feels when you don’t become a mom, this episode is for you. Maybe your fertility journey ended with heartbreak instead of a baby. Maybe you’ve been told (by the world, by your inner voice) that life will always feel incomplete, lonely, or second-best now. Maybe you scroll past pregnancy announcements and family vacation photos, not because you’re bitter, but because they hurt. And maybe you’ve started to believe the quiet story that society tells women like us: That life without children will always feel like you’re just holding on....
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Father’s Day When He’s Childless Too
IVF Failed You - The "So Now What?" Podcast
If you're a woman who went through fertility treatments like IVF or IUI and now find yourself childless after infertility, this episode will speak directly to your heart. This week, we talk about a quiet kind of grief. The grief carried by the man who never got to become a dad. Whether it's your husband, partner, brother, or someone else close to you, Father’s Day can feel invisible for the men who once dreamed of fatherhood but never got to live it. And if you’ve been focused on your own pain after infertility, you might not have realized how much he’s grieving too. In this episode,...
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Infertility & Goal Fatigue – What to Do When IVF Fails
IVF Failed You - The "So Now What?" Podcast
Infertility & Goal Fatigue – What to Do When IVF Fails If you’re childless after infertility and emotionally drained from years of chasing the dream of motherhood through IVF, I want you to know: you’re not alone. And what you’re feeling right now? It makes perfect sense. You spent years setting goals—diagnosis, treatment plans, egg retrievals, embryo transfers, second opinions, supplements, side effects, losses… all in pursuit of the child you dreamed of. But when IVF doesn’t work—and you find yourself childless after all of it—you’re left with a silent question that...
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Childless and Grieving with Jody Day
IVF Failed You - The "So Now What?" Podcast
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...
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Feeling Connection After Infertility
IVF Failed You - The "So Now What?" Podcast
If Mother’s Day felt hard for you, you’re not alone and this week’s episode of The “So Now What?” Podcast is especially for you. You’ve probably spent years feeling like a party of one, moving through infertility and now life without children, not sure where to go to find connection or how to create it. Maybe you’ve told yourself you should be strong enough to figure this out alone. Maybe you’ve been hiding, thinking you’re the only one whose treatments didn’t end in motherhood. In this powerful episode, you’ll hear why connection is not a luxury, it’s a...
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To the Childless Woman on Mother’s Day
IVF Failed You - The "So Now What?" Podcast
If you're feeling overlooked, invisible, or emotionally raw as Mother's Day approaches, this episode was made for you. In this heartfelt and healing conversation, Lana speaks directly to you — the woman who did everything she could to become a mom, but still doesn’t have the child she dreamed of. Whether this is your first Mother's Day since stopping fertility treatments or your fifteenth, this episode holds space for your grief, your story, and your desire to be seen in a world that rarely acknowledges women who are childless not by choice. Lana shares why Mother's Day can be more than...
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Life After Infertility: From Rejection to Redefinition
IVF Failed You - The "So Now What?" Podcast
, , , or wherever you get your podcasts. 📖 Order your copy of So Now What? at 📅 Book your free 45-minute Thrive Call with me to create a plan for what’s next: 📥 Download The Top 27 Things People Say When You Are Childless (and how to respond): 📲 Follow along on Instagram: 📲 Join me on TikTok: ✨ You are not behind. You are not broken. You are becoming. And the life you’re building — even without the children you dreamed of — can still be rich and full of purpose. Ready to explore what your new plan could look like? Book your free Thrive Call today — let's start...
info_outlineIf you’ve gone through IVF or fertility treatments and didn’t end up with the child you always dreamed of, this episode is for you.
During National Infertility Awareness Week 2025, it’s easy to feel like the spotlight is only on the stories that end in a baby. But what if yours didn’t? What if you're childless after infertility, and you’ve spent years wondering where your voice fits in?
This week, we’re finally talking about the part no one wants to say out loud:
The silence that follows when fertility treatments don’t work.
The awkward comments. The unsolicited advice. The way people try to “fix” you with adoption suggestions, miracle stories, or spiritual shortcuts.
But in this episode, you’ll hear what you’ve been longing to hear:
You are not an afterthought.
You are not a failure.
And you are not alone.
Lana shares:
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Why awareness doesn’t always mean inclusion, especially when your journey ends without a child
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How society struggles to hold space for grief that’s not “fixable”
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What it’s like to be left without resources or support when you leave your clinic for the last time
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A reading from Chapter 14 of her new book So Now What?, called “Avoiding Isolation and Strengthening Existing Connections”
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What you can do to start reconnecting with yourself and others in an authentic way without having to explain or justify your path
Whether you’ve felt misunderstood, judged, or completely invisible, this episode will help you feel grounded, seen, and empowered to move forward, even when life looks nothing like you planned.
🧡 Want to keep going beyond the podcast?
Here’s how to get support and stay connected:
➡️ Join me LIVE during National Infertility Awareness Week:
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April 28 – Infertility, Identity, and the Fight to Be Seen – So Now What? at Indiana University Northwest, 11:30 AM
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April 28 – Interview on WCPT Radio in Chicago
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May 1 – Book reading and signing at City Lit Books, 6:30 PM (Logan Square, Chicago)
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May 10 – The 4th Annual Other’s Day Brunch, a powerful gathering for women without children on the Saturday before Mother’s Day
Get all the details at: www.lanamanikowski.com/events
🎧 Ready to talk about what’s next for you?
Book your free 45-minute Thrive Call with Lana and start mapping out what your future can look like, even if it doesn’t include motherhood.
👉 Book now
📚 Haven’t read the book yet?
Download the foreword by Jody Day and Chapter 1 of So Now What?
👉 Get your preview
💬 Struggling with how to respond to awkward or hurtful comments?
Download the free guide: The Top 27 Things People Say When You’re Childless (...and How to Respond)
👉 Get the guide
If this episode spoke to you, please leave a review or share it with someone who needs to hear that a meaningful life is still possible, even without the children they dreamed of.
📲 Connect with Lana on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube: