When IVF ends without a baby, life does not always fall apart.

Sometimes it goes quiet.

You may still be showing up to work, keeping plans, and getting through your days, yet something feels off. You are functioning, but not fully connected to your life.

In this episode of The "So Now What?" Podcast, you are introduced to the concept of a grief plateau and why it is so common for women who are childless not by choice after infertility and IVF failed.

A grief plateau explains why life can feel paused after fertility treatments end. Not dramatic grief. Not constant sadness. But a flat, stuck feeling that is hard to name and even harder to explain to others.

This episode helps you understand what may be happening beneath the surface and why it makes sense, given everything you have been through.

• What a grief plateau is and how it shows up after IVF failed.

• Why many women feel "off" after infertility even when life looks fine on the outside.

• How years of fertility treatments affect your body, brain, and sense of safety.

• Why staying busy, feeling numb, or avoiding big dreams can be a form of protection.

• How losing the dream of motherhood can leave your future feeling unclear.

• Why understanding where you are matters before trying to move forward.

• You left fertility treatments without a baby and feel disconnected from yourself.

• Life feels stuck or paused after IVF failed.

• You are tired of being told to move on or look on the bright side.

• You want language that makes sense of life after infertility.

This is not an episode about fixing yourself or rushing into a new version of life.
It is about naming an experience many women have but rarely hear explained.

Top 27 Things People Say When You're Childless and How to Respond
A free guide to help you navigate uncomfortable comments and advice after infertility.
Get the free guide here.

If life feels quiet after IVF failed and you do not know why, this episode will help you understand what you may be standing in right now.

If you don't have kids, you've probably noticed the words childfree and childless everywhere.

They show up on social media, in podcasts, in articles, in movies, and in conversations about women's lives after infertility. And even if no one has ever asked you directly how you identify, you've likely felt something when you hear those terms used.

Maybe you pause.
Maybe you feel tension.
Maybe you think, I don't know how I feel about that.

In this episode of The "So Now What?" Podcast, you slow that moment down and look at what's really happening underneath the words.

This conversation is not about choosing the "right" label. It is about understanding the meaning you are giving to the terms childfree and childless, and deciding whether that meaning actually supports the woman you are becoming after infertility or IVF did not result in a child.

You explore why identity feels so tender after fertility treatments end, why language can feel so loaded, and how a single word can start to feel like it is being asked to explain your grief, your growth, your peace, and your future all at once.

In this episode, you will hear:

• Why the term childfree can feel empowering for some women and completely misaligned for others.

• Why the word childless can feel truthful while still carrying old stories of disappointment or being perceived as less than.

• How some women reclaim their lives without kids by changing the word they use.

• How other women reclaim their lives without kids by keeping the same word and changing what it means to them.

• Why you are not reacting to the word itself, but to the meaning you believe the word gives you.

• How you get to decide how much power any label has over you.

You will also hear Lana share why she personally identifies as childless, and how that word honors the truth of wanting motherhood while still reflecting a full, meaningful life without children.

Most importantly, this episode reminds you that whether you identify as childfree or childless, you have permission to feel proud of the woman you are. Proud of how you kept going. Proud of how you learned to hold complexity. Proud of the life you are building, even if it looks different than you once imagined.

You are not your terminology.
You are not unfinished.
You are not behind.
You are not less than.

You are whole.

Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode

The Other's Day® Brunch
A beautiful, connective event for women without children, happening May 9, with a special Friday night experience added this year.
Check for updates or join the waitlist here:
👉 https://lanamanikowski.com/othersday

Free Resource: Top 27 Things People Say When You're Childless and How to Respond
If you have ever found yourself navigating unsolicited advice, intrusive questions, or "helpful" suggestions about becoming a mom, this guide is for you.
Download it for free here:
👉 https://lanamanikowski.com/thingspeoplesay

If this episode resonated with you, make sure you are subscribed to The "So Now What?" Podcast so you do not miss future conversations about navigating life after infertility and building a meaningful, grounded future without the children you dreamed of.

I hope you have a beautiful week. I love you, and remember that it is never too late to discover your meaning.

When fertility treatments end without a baby, you don't just grieve the child you hoped for. You grieve the future you were building your life around.

In this episode of The So Now What? Podcast, you explore post-traumatic growth after infertility and why it matters for women who are childless not by choice. Not in a toxic-positivity way. Not as a lesson you were supposed to learn. But as a way to understand what happens after years of trying, waiting, and living in a fertility holding pattern.

If you've ever thought, I'm not the same person I was before IVF, this episode helps you understand why—and what becomes possible next.

• Why infertility and fertility treatments do count as trauma, even if no one ever named it that way

• How years of IVF, IUI, medical procedures, and waiting shaped your nervous system and identity

• Why the end of fertility treatments feels so disorienting, not just sad

• What post-traumatic growth actually means and what it does not mean

• The seismic "rebuild" moment that happens when the life you planned no longer exists

• The five areas where post-traumatic growth often shows up after infertility

• Why growth is optional, not required, and only happens when you feel safe enough

• How to move forward without erasing your dream of motherhood or minimizing what you endured

• What it looks like to find a starting point again after the fertility holding pattern ends

You didn't go through infertility to grow.
You didn't suffer for a reason.
And you don't need to reframe your loss to justify moving forward.

Post-traumatic growth simply explains what happens when your assumptions about the future break and you're left asking, So now what?

This episode helps you see that wanting forward movement does not mean you're forgetting what mattered. It means you're ready to stop living in permanent disappointment and start building a life that feels connected, grounded, and meaningful—on your terms.

This episode reflects the core work you do inside Thrive After Infertility, the coaching program created for women who have completed fertility treatments and are ready to stop feeling incomplete because fertility treatments failed.

Inside Thrive, you learn how to:

• Move out of the fertility holding pattern

• Reconnect with your body and nervous system

• Navigate relationships in a world full of parents

• Create meaning and direction for the decades ahead

Growth doesn't come from time passing. It comes from learning how to intentionally rebuild after loss.

If you've ever been told, "You can always adopt," or "Everything happens for a reason," and didn't know how to respond, download the free guide:

The Top 27 Things People Say When You're Childless (and How to Respond)
👉 Get the free guide here: lana-manikowski.com/thingspeoplesay