Life After Infertility: An Honest Update and the Beginning of Her Village

What happens when the season of life that shaped your story begins to change?

In this episode, I’m sharing an honest update about the evolution of Your Fertility Village, how my own infertility journey has shifted now that our family is complete, and the new vision that has been growing on my heart: Her Village.

When I first started the Motherhood Intended podcast, I was still in the thick of processing my infertility journey. I had experienced infertility, loss, IVF, the NICU, and eventually grew our family through surrogacy. During that season, supporting women navigating infertility felt like the most natural extension of my story.

But life has changed over the past few years.

Our family is now complete, and while infertility will always be part of my story and something I care deeply about, it’s no longer at the center of my everyday life in the same way. I realized that leading a community centered entirely around infertility wasn’t where my heart felt most aligned anymore.

Instead, I began thinking about a different kind of community — one that supports women in the many seasons of life that come after infertility and early motherhood.

That idea became Her Village.

Her Village is about creating spaces where women can build real friendships and meaningful connection in the communities where they live. A village for women who may feel like they’re in-between seasons of life — raising young kids, rediscovering themselves after motherhood, navigating life after infertility, or simply craving deeper conversations and real connection again.

I’m starting small here in Naperville with the first gathering called Her Village: Founders Night, and I’m excited to see where this vision grows from here.

If you’re local to Naperville and the idea of building real friendships, and community resonates with you, I’d love to hear from you.

Thank you for being here and for continuing to grow alongside me.

However your journey to motherhood unfolds, I’m really glad you’re not walking it alone.

xo, Jacqueline

Transcript

Why Motherhood Feels Filtered

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Are you tired of scrolling your feed only to see the highlight real version of motherhood? If so, then you're in the right place. Welcome to the Motherhood Intended podcast. I'm your host, Jacqueline Baird, and I am a passionate mom here to support women like you in their unique journeys to and through motherhood. I have been through it all. We're gonna be talking about things like trying to conceive, infertility, IVF, surrogacy, mom life, and more. It's time to get real about what it takes to be a mom and come together in the fact that things don't always go as planned. So here we go.

The Honest Reason I Paused

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Hey friend, welcome back to the podcast. Today's episode is going to be a little different. I truly didn't mean to ghost everybody with new podcast episodes. Um, it's been a minute since I've put something out, but that was intentional. Kind of. It wasn't the original plan. Obviously, when I launched the new season in the new year, I was very excited. We started off strong with a few episodes, and then I kind of ghosted. That part wasn't intentional. But why I ghosted was intentional, and it's because I have an honest update about something I've talked about on here before. And I've been working on something behind the scenes, so I wanted to keep you in the loop. So I want to talk about a new direction that's been quietly forming over the past year or so with me. If you've been listening to Motherhood Intended for a while, you know this podcast was born during a really intense season of my life. I was doing a lot of reflecting on the years of infertility I went through and loss and IVF and the NICU. And I launched the podcast right as I was diving into a surrogacy journey so my husband and I could grow our family. But that was three years ago, and life looks different now than it did when I first started this podcast. And as my life has evolved, I've realized something important about the kind of community I feel most called to build. So today I want to share a little bit about that journey and where things are headed next.

Infertility Loss And The NICU Years

SPEAKER_00 2:04

When I started this podcast, it truly was a really tender season of my life. I was just honestly trying to process everything that had happened along my infertility journey, whether that was IVF, loss, IUIs, then four-month NICU stay for my oldest, a month-long stay in the hospital for myself with my middle child, surrogacy, more loss. I mean, it was just a lot. And the podcast was a way for me to not only document our journey moving forward with surrogacy, but also to share my whole journey in its entirety and process it along the way. I know you can relate to this if you've are navigating infertility now, or maybe if you've experienced a loss, but when you're in the thick of it, you're not really truly processing all that's happening to you, right? There's so much survival mode that goes on when you are navigating infertility. And for me, it wasn't until I really hit, ironically, hit pause, but also hit play and started recording with this podcast and launched it with my story in every detail. It wasn't scripted back then. Three years ago, a lot has changed in my podcast, recording, and the way I produce this show. But three years ago, honestly, I just hit record and started talking. I didn't have an outline, I didn't have a plan. I just recorded my journey from memory from start to finish. And it was really therapeutic. It was really exhausting. Um, but it proved to be very impactful. Sharing the raw, honest, open version of what I experienced with my losses and hardships and the details of experiencing my son in the NICU was a lot, but it affected so many women listening. And so many women thanked me for being open and honest about that process. What I didn't expect, honestly, how many women would reach out after those episodes saying things like, wow, I thought I was the only one who felt this way, or thank you for sharing that and saying that out loud. And that has probably been the most meaningful part of this podcast is realizing that sharing our stories helps other women feel less

The Rise And Pause Of Fertility Village

SPEAKER_00 4:17

alone. Some of you might remember that last year I talked about starting something called Your Fertility Village. At the time, it made so much sense to me. I am a huge believer in the power of community, both online and offline. I have worked in community management prior to hosting this podcast, and it's always been a passion of mine. I'm always inserting myself into my own community and finding women in different ways to connect with, and it means a lot to me. And so your fertility village that I mentioned, that I was going to be launching in this new year, seemed like the natural progression of that. There are so many women out there that have benefited from this show. And I thought that by bringing them together online, it would be a natural extension of the podcast. So at that time, it just made so much sense to me. But when I started this podcast a few years ago, like I mentioned, I was very much in the thick of processing my entire fertility journey. I had gone through loss and IVF and the NICU and everything I've been mentioning and starting the process of growing our family through surrogacy. So naturally, so much of my energy and passion was centered around infertility and supporting other women through that experience. I wanted to provide a space where women had a voice and women could open up about their journeys and other women could listen to the podcast and feel not alone. Maybe learn something, maybe get connected to somebody else. So creating an online space like your fertility village felt like a natural extension of that season of my life.

When Your Season Changes

SPEAKER_00 5:51

But something interesting has happened over the past few months, uh, maybe like six months. Um, my family's complete now. Life looks different. And while infertility will always be a part of my story and something I care so deeply about, it's really not the center of my world in the same way anymore. I'm still absolutely passionate about educating women on family building options and supporting those walking through infertility. But when I really sat with it, I realized that leading a community centered entirely around infertility really wasn't where my heart felt most aligned anymore. I went through the whole process of creating an app and building your fertility village out. And I really felt like it made sense, but I couldn't figure out I'm like, why don't I feel more motivated about this? You know, why isn't it coming along faster? Why do I feel like it keeps falling down on my to-do list? And truly, it's just because the passion's not there's in that specific way. Instead of pushing forward with something that didn't really feel authentic to where I am today in my life, I decided to pause and ask a bigger question. If that's not the community I meant to lead right now, then what is? And the answer that kept coming back to me was this infertility taught me how important it is for women to have a village. I've said it multiple times on this podcast, how everyone always talks about it takes a village to raise kids. And I've always believed that it also takes a village to have kids too. And throughout every transition of my life and every season, I've realized even more how important it is for every woman to have her village. And so now I want to help create that for women in all kinds of life seasons. So the answer that kept coming up for me when I thought of this whole idea of a fertility village or a community that I wanted to build, everything that kept coming back to me was something much broader.

Craving Deeper Friendships In Real Life

SPEAKER_00 7:50

Because what I see around me time and time again, and what I hear from so many women is this feeling of being in between. You know, maybe your family is complete, but you're still deep in the years of raising young kids. Maybe you're on the other side of an infertility journey, but you still feel like you haven't quite found your people. I know I've experienced that one. I just mentioned, you know, my family is complete. I am on the quote unquote other side of infertility. But parenting post-infertility and parenting after loss, being a mom after those experiences is so different than being a mom who hasn't walked that path. Maybe you're in your 30s or 40s and you're just over surface level small talk, but you are craving deeper conversation and real friendships. Maybe you're the woman who poured everything into motherhood, and somewhere along the way you've lost sight of what lights you up. Or maybe you're the woman who has spent years at home, whether it was working from home or being a stay-at-home mom and raising kids, and you're realizing now you want more real in-person connection again. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that's the community I feel most passionate about building. One thing I've learned through this whole experience, both with the podcast and with entrepreneurship, is that sometimes ideas sound right when you first dream them up. But when you actually start building them, you realize they're not quite the right fit. I've also learned, too, that sometimes you try to evolve and try to make things happen. And half the time you really should go back to what where you planted the seed to begin with, right? Like what fueled you when you first started that. And that's okay. It's okay for things to not fit. It's okay to try things and for them not to turn out the way you're supposed to. Because sometimes the purpose of an idea isn't that it becomes the final thing, right? Sometimes it just points you towards something better. And honestly, that's really what happened here. So as I stepped back and really thought about what women are craving, especially after going through infertility or hard seasons of motherhood, one thing kept coming up over and over again. And that's connection. Not just another online space, but like actual friendships. Women sitting around a table together, sharing stories, supporting each other through life. Because the truth is, motherhood and honestly, life in general, can feel really isolating sometimes. And what so many of us are craving is a village. And I think there are a lot more women in this like in-between season than we actually talk about. I think there's a lot of you out there that are feeling like, I want connection, but I'm exhausted. I don't want to go to this networking group or this mom group or this play date just to have surface level conversations, right? If you're like me, you're craving real, tangible, deeper connections with other people. If you're feeling like me, you are wanting to find that spark again in yourself because you've spent so much time focusing on becoming a mom, navigating infertility, being a stay-at-home mom, your focus on your kids. I mean, for me, it's been over a decade. And I know that I want to be out in the world again. And I know that there are women out there who feel the same way. You can see it on Instagram, you can see it on TikTok. You know, everyone had the whole talk at the beginning of this year about 2026, like bringing it back to 2016 when things were easy. The world has gotten a little cuckoo, and we've gotten connected in many more ways, but also so disconnected. And so I think it's really important to bring people together in person, face to face again. So, all of this brainstorming and all of this soul searching, essentially, that I've been going through the last handful of months as I wrapped up last year and into this year, like I said, I was just going through the motions. I launched the new season. I started booking out episodes, and I just like wasn't feeling it. I wasn't feeling motivated to create this online space for infertility. It just wasn't aligning for me. And I think it's important that what I'm doing and if I'm bringing people together, I really need to feel passionate about it and it needs to align with where I'm at in my life right now.

Her Village And Founders Night

SPEAKER_00 12:23

So all of these ideas started turning into something that I'm calling her village. It's a simple concept centered around women building real friendships and meaningful community in the cities where they live. Her village is about creating spaces for women to connect in real life. Not networking events, not another online group, but real friendships. Women gathering locally, supporting each other through different seasons of life, and building the kind of community so many of us wish we had. I'm starting this here where I live in Naperville, but the bigger vision is that villages like this could eventually exist in communities everywhere. One of the ways I am starting this is with something really simple. I'm hosting a small gathering here in Naperville called Her Village Founders Night. It will be a small group of women sitting around a table, having honest conversations and helping shape what this community could become. In many ways, this first group will be helping lay the foundation for what her village becomes on a bigger scale. So it's very exciting, and I am intentionally keeping it small for the first gathering because I want it to feel thoughtful and personal. If you happen to be local to Naperville and the idea of real connection and friendship and opportunities to try new things and feel like yourself again, if this resonates with you, you can send me a message and I will share all of the details.

What Stays With The Podcast

SPEAKER_00 13:47

Okay, so what does this mean for the Motherhood Intended podcast? Um, all this to say, this podcast isn't going anywhere. If anything, Motherhood Intended will continue to be a space where we talk honestly about fertility, motherhood, and the complicated, beautiful journey that brings women here. And I'm excited to share pieces of this new community journey along the way, too. Her village is so much more than a meetup group. It's a movement. Her village is what we all deserve. It's for the women in the in-between. It's for the working woman, the stay-at-home mom, the woman who's trying to become a mom, the woman who is done having kids and wants to find that spark of joy again that makes her light up outside of motherhood. I'm so excited about this, you guys. And her village is going to be the perfect extension of everything I've been doing here on the podcast for the last few years. And so I hope you'll join me and I'm taking you along for the ride. So if you're local to Naperville, reach out to me if this is something you want to be a part of. And stay tuned because I have big dreams for the Her Village movement, and there will be so much more coming soon. Thank you for being here. Whether you've been listening since the beginning or you're just finding the podcast now, I truly, truly appreciate you hitting play on this episode. This space has always been about honesty, connection, and walking through life together. And right now, Her Village is starting small, one table, one group of women, one village at a time. And I have a feeling the best chapters are still ahead. Thanks for being here, because the truth is, none of us were meant to do this alone.

Follow Review And Help Others Find Us

SPEAKER_00 15:25

Hit the follow button on the podcast if you haven't already. So new episodes pop up in your queue. Now that the vision is aligned, we can continue moving forward with new episodes. And I have so many awesome guests and episodes to come. If you've enjoyed this podcast over the years, or if this episode was your first one listening and it really resonated with you, please hit the fifth star, leave a review. I appreciate the feedback. All of the reviews help other women find this podcast and understand its value. So I really appreciate you taking time to do that. I hope everybody has a great rest of their week, and I will talk to you again next time. Bye for now.