Reframing Your Family Narrative: one and done (not by choice)

Written by Bex & Laura with Cat Strawbridge

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July 22, 2025

Reframing Your Family Narrative: one and done (not by choice) Image

This space is for those who are living with the quiet, complicated grief of not being able to grow your family, even though you desperately wanted to. Whether it’s due to secondary infertility, miscarriage, loss, or medical or emotional limitations – the pain of not getting the family you imagined is real.

You may have one child in your arms and another always in your heart.
You may feel both gratitude and grief, joy and longing, all at once.

This isn’t here to fix anything – because this kind of heartbreak can’t be fixed.
But it is here to honour your story, validate your pain, and help you begin making peace with an ending you didn’t choose.

Over three short videos, we’ll explore:

The difficult decision to stop trying
Living with a story that didn’t end how you imagined
And the legacy of this journey — what it leaves behind in your heart, your identity, and your life

Take your time. Feel what you need to feel. This space is yours.

That first video may have brought up a lot – guilt, sadness, doubt, even relief.

Ending your fertility journey when your family feels unfinished is one of the hardest decisions you’ll ever make. It’s not just about stopping treatment or letting go of plans – it’s about mourning the sibling your child won’t meet, the future you pictured, the life that never had a chance to begin.

Now, in the next video, we’ll talk about accepting a version of your story that doesn’t match the one you dreamed of.
This isn’t about “moving on.” It’s about making space for grief, truth, and – when you’re ready – possibility.

Sitting with a life that doesn’t look how you pictured it can feel hollow, unfair, even surreal.

You may be surrounded by people who see your family as “complete,” not knowing the ache you carry every day.
You might feel invisible, stuck between gratitude and sorrow – a parent grieving the child that never came.

But there’s a quiet truth many don’t talk about:
Even when the trying stops, the love doesn’t.
And that love – the love that kept you hoping, fighting, longing – doesn’t just disappear.

In our final video, we’ll explore the legacy of trying to conceive.
Not just the pain, but also the strength, wisdom, and compassion this journey may have left behind.

Thank you for allowing yourself to go here.
For acknowledging what’s been lost, and what’s still yours.

Being one and done – not by choice – is a deeply personal and often misunderstood experience. But it doesn’t make your love, your parenthood, or your grief any less valid.

This may not be the story you wanted…
But it’s still yours.
And you are still whole within it.

You get to carry the love, the longing, the lessons – and begin a new chapter when you’re ready.

We’re here for you, with community spaces, peer support, creative workshops, and more ways to help you live meaningfully, even when life doesn’t go to plan.

You are not alone.
You are not selfish for wanting more.
And you are not any less a parent — or a person — because this was your ending.

Find Cat on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/catstrawbridge