My journey to becoming a mother did not follow the path I once imagined. It unfolded through IVF, donor conception, waiting, surrender, and love. It ultimately made me regain trust, in science, in the power of love, and in God’s plan.

The Waiting That Changed Me

Infertility has a way of slowing time. Each month felt like holding my breath. Each appointment carried both hope and defeat. I learned quickly that IVF is not just something that happens to your body, it reshapes your spirit. There were moments of gut-wrenching heartbreak, when the dream of motherhood felt impossibly far away.

And yet, even then, love was already forming. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was becoming a mother long before I held my child in my arms.

Choosing Hope Again and Again

For me, choosing donor egg and donor sperm was not a loss of something. My entire IVF opportunity was given through the utmost kindness and generosity of strangers. It was an expansion of unconditional love. My child’s story began with very specific intention, science, and so much love.

Families are created in many ways, and every one of them is valid, sacred, and worthy of celebration.

Becoming a Mother Before I Ever Held Her

When my daughter was born, I felt something profound the moment we locked eyes: I already knew her. She had been growing in my heart for years. And, I truly believe we chose each other.

That realization stayed with me and is core to our story. Eventually, it became the seed of a book. I wrote I Grew in Mommy’s Heart because I couldn’t find the story I needed when it was time to explain our journey to my child. I wanted her to grow up knowing she was chosen, prayed for, and loved beyond measure.

Why I Shared Our Story

It gently explains the science of IVF and donor conception through warmth, imagination, and reassurance. This book doesn’t focus on the parents’ pain, ordeal, or sacrifices. Rather, it is told from the child’s perspective and honors the love that carried the journey forward.

Every child deserves to know their beginning was filled with love.

If This Story Is Yours Too

If you are walking the IVF path right now, I want you to know this: Love is already quietly at work, within you, and all around you.

If you’re IVF parents, donor-conceived families. or anyone who took the long path to family looking for a way to share your child’s origin story with tenderness and joy, I hope this book could be part of that conversation when the time feels right.

You can find I Grew in Mommy’s Heart on Amazon, and I hope it finds the families who need it, just as it found its way out of my heart.

With love,
Mel

I Grew in Mommy's Heart: Myers, Mel, Heenop-Rheeder, Tina: 9798999548825: Amazon.com: Books