Abstract
This chapter examines the destabilisation of key relationships in the women’s lives in the context of their experiences of infertility. Specifically, we focus on how these experiences affected their interactions with family, friends and work colleagues. (The women’s accounts of their relationships with their spouses are explored in Chap. 6.) The Stronger Together site offered the women a secure place to “vent” about their interactions with significant others—the pain and indignation of confronting others’ seemingly unfeeling reactions; whether or not to disclose their struggles with infertility; how to deal with the news of other women’s pregnancies; and how to regard the infertility “advice” proffered by relatives and close friends.
“This journey is such a tough one and only someone who has experienced it can know how deeply it affects you.” (Stronger Together participant)
“I had three friends announce they were pregnant within 2 weeks of each other … It feels almost like a personal attack!” (Stronger Together participant)
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Sawyer, AM. (2019). Relationships in a Fertile World: Negotiating Alliances and the “Pregnant Other”. In: Infertility and Intimacy in an Online Community. Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-44981-8_5
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