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Childless After Infertility: You’re Not Meant to Just Survive This

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

Release Date: 06/18/2025

The Grief Plateau After IVF Failed show art The Grief Plateau After IVF Failed

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

When IVF ends without a baby, life does not always fall apart. Sometimes it goes quiet. You may still be showing up to work, keeping plans, and getting through your days, yet something feels off. You are functioning, but not fully connected to your life. In this episode of The “So Now What?” Podcast, you are introduced to the concept of a grief plateau and why it is so common for women who are childless not by choice after infertility and IVF failed. A grief plateau explains why life can feel paused after fertility treatments end. Not dramatic grief. Not constant sadness. But a flat, stuck...

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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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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...

info_outline Childless After Infertility and Growing Older: Moving From Fear to Intention show art 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...

info_outline When IVF Failed and Time Didn’t Fix It: Healing the Loss of Motherhood show art 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....

info_outline Trusting Your Decision to Remain Childless After Infertility show art 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...

info_outline How Childless Women Can Navigate the Holidays Ahead show art 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...

info_outline How to Feel Like You Belong Again When You Are Childless After Infertility show art 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...

info_outline Infertility and Imposter Syndrome- When You Wonder If You Really Belong show art 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...

info_outline Childless After Infertility: The Shift That Changes Everything show art 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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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.

But what if that story isn’t true?

In episode 172 of The “So Now What?” Podcast, Lana shares:

  • The truth about the emotional aftermath of IVF and infertility that no one talks about.

  • Her own story of navigating the grief of a chromosomally abnormal embryo (Trisomy 16) and what came after fertility treatments ended.

  • Why the world’s attempts to “fix” you with adoption, donor eggs, or surrogacy often leave you feeling more invisible.

  • How guilt, shame, and comparison can keep you frozen in time, and what it takes to finally move forward.

You'll hear how women inside her 12-week coaching program, go from surviving each day to actually loving their lives again. One client shares how she stopped obsessing over what people with kids were doing and started finding confidence, peace, and simple joys in her everyday life.

This episode invites you to imagine a summer, and a life, where:

  • You wake up excited for your day, not dreading another reminder of what’s missing

  • You reconnect with your body and stop treating it like it failed you

  • You feel connected to your partner again, building a future that feels like yours

  • You finally stop pretending to be okay, and actually are

If you’re ready to stop surviving and start living a life that feels meaningful and fulfilling—even without the children you always dreamed of—this episode will show you what’s possible.

💬 Ready to Take the Next Step?

Don’t let another summer pass you by in a fog of comparison and sadness.

✨ Book your free 45-minute Thrive Call with Lana to create a plan for what comes next:
👉 Click here to schedule your call

This is your first step toward creating a life that fits again...one that you love, even though it turned out differently than you expected.

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