Showing support for my friend Maya and her husband Noah and their new film One More Shot. Please consider watching the trailer and financially backing this important film. Together we can educate more people about what it really takes to make a family today. And, hopefully I can figure out how to get out to LA to be a part of the film so the childfull families are represented ;).
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In 2010, my husband Noah and I set out to make a baby. By 2012 we were completely baffled that what was supposed to be the most basic human process wasn’t going to work for us. I was diagnosed with diminished ovarian reserve at 32, and we were basically told we would need to think outside the box in order to create a family.
2012 was also the year we picked up a camera. Noah is a TV producer and I am a clinical social worker, and between his desire to document to tell a story and my strong sense of advocacy, we set out to create a short film about our journey to parenthood. We felt strongly that there shouldn’t be shame or stigma attached to the medical diagnosis of infertility, and we were open to sharing parts of ourselves to help normalize this condition that over 7.3 million Americans face.
But by 2013, we had filmed much more than would fit into a short film. Perhaps we were naive to think that our first IVF cycle would just work. Perhaps we ignorant about the success rates of IUIs for someone with compromised ovarian functioning. Then we were stunned when my sister donated eggs to us, and that too didn’t work.
Somewhere along the way, we decided to start interviewing others who also had to think outside the box to conceive, and our short film began to morph into a feature length documentary about infertility, our journey to parenthood, and making modern families/redefining what family means. It became a quest for our baby as well as an exploration of how people cope with the pain of loss and how they resolve their infertility crisis. We learned that there are several options, though most of them are difficult choices to make. We also learned a lot about determination, flexibility, hope, and love. And we learned how to be open to wherever our path might lead us.
In 2014, I discovered embryo donation and found a good match for us in another state. Noah and I just had a feeling. We packed up the meds and the camera and got on a plane, and in July 2014 I had a frozen embryo transfer. Spoiler alert, it worked. I’m currently 37 weeks pregnant with a baby girl, and our other baby, our film, is nearly completely shot.
Our baby is due in March, which it’s also the month we’ve chosen to fundraise for our film through Indiegogo, so that we can cover post-production costs. We are hoping to come full circle with our journey and to help give a voice to the often silent infertility community.
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Still needing about half of the Thunderclap campaign supported. Please help by pledging a post!