How to Keep Your Marriage Strong Throughout Fertility Treatments

In counseling, after they have dealt with their grief, they can explore other options such as adoption, foster parenting, and using a surrogate or donor gametes. If they opt to remain child-free, they will need to discuss their life and future without children and revise their family vision. They need to discuss what will give their marriage meaning and purpose as well as what will give each of their lives meaning and purpose.

If adoption appeals to a couple, they should be encouraged to research it in depth. This includes talking with other adoptive parents, joining a support group, and seeking out many different types of adoption agencies to find the right fit for them and to make an informed decision.

On the darkest days of infertility, your dreams of having a baby may seem completely out of reach. During these times, you and your spouse have to look to each other for that extra boost or glimmer of hope.

"We had hope and relied on blind faith that everything would work out," Elizabeth says. "We tried not to dwell on what we had lost and focused on what we had to do." And in the long run, Elizabeth and Grant's hope and refusal to give up led to a healthy pregnancy.

Angela says that her husband Brian's hope and optimism kept her going through even the worst of times. "So many times I wanted to give up, but Brian kept me going," Angela says. "He wanted to make sure we gave it our complete efforts before we decided to stop." Because they pressed on and kept hope alive, Angela and Brian not only succeeded at becoming pregnant—but their marriage is even stronger than it was before their journey began.