CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- "We call it the club. You never, ever want to be apart of it, but you are so grateful you are because there's so many amazing women here," said Kasia McGuire.
For six years Kasia McGuire tried to get pregnant. The teacher from the South Loop said it was an emotionally tumultuous time of fertility treatments, miscarriages, and doubt.
She left her teaching job to continue the treatments full time. Between trips to doctors and the fertility clinic, she started following a hashtag on social media called #TTC, Trying to Conceive. There she found hundreds of other women who were on the same journey.
"Actually, I'm not alone in this. It's this beautiful outpouring of love and support," McGuire said.
She went from participating in the discussion to leading it. She now offers advice and coaching to other women in "the club." She does most of her work on Instagram Live.
She said the social media pep talks came in handy during the early weeks of the pandemic, when fertility treatments were put on hold.
"It's been a great time to be able to talk about this, because so many women were put on hold because of COVID, and their treatments. They weren't seen as essential," McGuire said.
McGuire's seven year journey through the world of fertility treatments is coming to an end. She and her husband are expecting a baby in April. But she credits the women she met along the way with giving her a new calling and purpose in life.