Father’s Day When He’s Childless Too
IVF Failed You - The "So Now What?" Podcast
Release Date: 06/10/2025
Childfree or Childless? You Get to Decide What That Means
IVF Failed You - The "So Now What?" Podcast
Childfree or Childless? You Get to Decide What That Means If you don’t have kids, you’ve probably noticed the words childfree and childless everywhere. They show up on social media, in podcasts, in articles, in movies, and in conversations about women’s lives after infertility. And even if no one has ever asked you directly how you identify, you’ve likely felt something when you hear those terms used. Maybe you pause. Maybe you feel tension. Maybe you think, I don’t know how I feel about that. In this episode of The “So Now What?” Podcast, you slow that moment down and look at...
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Post-Traumatic Growth After Infertility
IVF Failed You - The "So Now What?" Podcast
What Happens When the Future You Planned Doesn’t Happen When fertility treatments end without a baby, you don’t just grieve the child you hoped for. You grieve the future you were building your life around. In this episode of The So Now What? Podcast, you explore post-traumatic growth after infertility and why it matters for women who are childless not by choice. Not in a toxic-positivity way. Not as a lesson you were supposed to learn. But as a way to understand what happens after years of trying, waiting, and living in a fertility holding pattern. If you’ve ever thought, I’m not the...
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Childless After Infertility and Growing Older: Moving From Fear to Intention
IVF Failed You - The "So Now What?" Podcast
If you’re childless after infertility and growing older feels unsettling, this episode invites you to move from fear to intention and imagine a future that feels grounded and meaningful. Childlessness after infertility and growing older can bring up fears you never expected to carry. When motherhood didn’t happen, aging is often framed as something to brace for rather than something you get to shape. In this episode of The “So Now What?” Podcast, you’re invited to move from fear to intention as you explore what it means to grow older without children, reconnect with your body after...
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When IVF Failed and Time Didn’t Fix It: Healing the Loss of Motherhood
IVF Failed You - The "So Now What?" Podcast
When IVF Failed and Time Didn’t Fix It: Healing the Loss of Motherhood You were told time would heal this. That if you just waited long enough, the pain of leaving IVF without a baby would soften. That eventually the anger, loneliness, and grief around the dream of motherhood would fade on their own. But if you’re childless after infertility, you already know the truth. The calendar didn’t fix it. In this episode of The “So Now What?” Podcast, you explore why time alone doesn’t heal the loss of motherhood when IVF failed and why that doesn’t mean something is wrong with you....
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Trusting Your Decision to Remain Childless After Infertility
IVF Failed You - The "So Now What?" Podcast
When you are childless after infertility, the holiday season can feel like a spotlight you never asked for. Everyone has an opinion about your fertility decisions. Everyone has a suggestion about what you should have done. And somehow every gathering becomes an open invitation for people to ask about baby news, adoption, donor eggs, or why you stopped trying. In this week’s episode, you learn how to stay grounded, confident, and steady when holiday opinions collide with the decisions you made after IVF Failed. You discover how to trust your intuition again and how to walk into December...
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How Childless Women Can Navigate the Holidays Ahead
IVF Failed You - The "So Now What?" Podcast
Episode 192: How Childless Women Can Navigate the Holidays Ahead The holiday season can feel emotionally heavy when you’re childless after infertility. In this episode, Lana explains why Thanksgiving and Christmas can stir up overwhelm, anxiety, numbness, and confusion when you always imagined this season with a child of your own. You’ll learn how your brain and nervous system respond during this time of year, why nothing about your reaction means you’re doing anything wrong, and how to feel more grounded and supported as the holidays approach. The holidays can feel complicated when...
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How to Feel Like You Belong Again When You Are Childless After Infertility
IVF Failed You - The "So Now What?" Podcast
How to Feel Like You Belong Again When You Are Childless After Infertility If you have ever walked into a room and instantly wondered where you fit, this episode is going to speak directly to you. When you are childless after infertility or you are still in the middle of your fertility journey, it can feel like everyone around you is living a chapter you hoped would be yours. Conversations about kids, family schedules and milestones can leave you feeling two inches outside the circle and unsure how to take your place in the room. In this episode, you learn why this happens and how to reconnect...
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Infertility and Imposter Syndrome- When You Wonder If You Really Belong
IVF Failed You - The "So Now What?" Podcast
Infertility and Imposter Syndrome- When You Wonder If You Really Belong Have you ever walked into a room and instantly questioned whether you belonged there? That is exactly what happened to me t at the annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) in San Antonio. I was surrounded by fertility doctors, clinic directors, psychologists, and researchers, all experts in reproductive medicine. And for a moment, that familiar voice whispered, Who do you think you are? In this episode, I am taking you behind the scenes of what it felt like to show up as a woman who...
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Childless After Infertility: The Shift That Changes Everything
IVF Failed You - The "So Now What?" Podcast
Episode 189 | Childless After Infertility: The Shift That Changes Everything What if you could stop living in regret after infertility and start creating a life that feels amazing to wake up to? In this episode of The “So Now What?” Podcast, Lana Manikowski shares the realization that changed everything: the moment she stopped identifying as a victim of infertility and began shaping a new story for her life after IVF failed. If you have ever wondered whether it is possible to feel fulfilled without motherhood, this episode will show you how. You will learn how to shift your mindset from...
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When IVF Fails: How to Ask Your Fertility Clinic for the Support You Still Need
IVF Failed You - The "So Now What?" Podcast
When IVF Fails: How to Ask Your Fertility Clinic for the Support You Still Need When IVF fails, it can feel like your clinic disappears but you still deserve care. In this episode, learn how to ask for what you need from your fertility doctor even after fertility treatment ends. Discover how to advocate for yourself, share resources, and help your clinic better support women who are childless after infertility. If your fertility treatment ended without the baby you dreamed of, you are not alone and you are not forgotten. In this episode of The So Now What Podcast, host Lana Manikowski shares...
info_outlineIf 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, you’ll hear:
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How infertility affects your partner even if he never talks about it
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Why the guilt you’ve been carrying is not yours to hold anymore
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Ways to show up for your partner on Father’s Day without it being complicated or performative
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A reminder that your relationship is still meaningful, even without children
💬 “I thought I was the only one grieving, but I wasn’t. He was just quieter about it.”
📖 Want more support around Father’s Day?
Chapter 25 of my bestselling book, So Now What?, is dedicated to helping you understand and support your partner when he didn’t get to become a biological dad.
If you’re wondering how to bring up this conversation, how to honor him, and how to let go of the guilt you’ve been carrying, this chapter is for you.
📚 You can read Chapter 1 and the foreword by Jody Day for free:
lanamanikowski.com/book
🎁 Free Resource
Download: The Top 27 Things People Say When You’re Childless (...and How to Respond)
Your script for those awkward or painful conversations.
lanamanikowski.com/thingspeoplesay
💬 Want help creating a life you love, even if you never became a mom?
Book your free 45-minute Thrive Call with me.
We’ll create a personal plan to help you move forward with confidence, connection, and purpose.
📲 This week on Instagram, I’m sharing a series called “A Letter to My Childless Husband.”
Follow along at @lana.manikowski
If you’re childless not by choice, grieving after infertility, and want to feel more connected to your life and your partner, this episode will help you start.
Your story isn’t over.
It’s just beginning.
#InfertilitySupport #ChildlessAfterInfertility #IVFDidntWork #FatherlessFathersDay #LifeAfterInfertility #SoNowWhat #LanaManikowski #IUIJourney #LifeWithoutChildren #FertilityTreatments