Gunce is the Head of Research at Glow. She writes a lot of those nifty insights and also intrudes on conversations in the Glow community. She loves working at Glow, a lot, a lot. And kinda feels this might be the best - most important - job she will every have.  Here is her story:

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Somewhere in the middle of the four year period that I spent trying to conceive a child, I had one of my best friends ask me to babysit her six month old daughter - who was an absolute darling. As cute as cute can be. It was a special occasion and their sitter had unexpectedly cancelled. As I knew my friend would never have asked me unless she had no other choice, I said, of course, yes, my husband and I will be right over.

When we arrived at their place, she gave me basic instructions, diapers here, food there, bedtime in half an hour. And then, they left. We did as told but about an hour after we put the baby down to sleep, she woke up crying, as babies sometimes do.

Excited to spend more time with her, I immediately grabbed the baby from her crib and brought her out to the living room, where we proceeded to coo and ahh at each other. She was so sweet, so precious…

My husband interrupted my communion.

“Why are you crying?”

Funny thing… I had not realized that I was.

But as soon as he pointed it out, I virtually buckled over with the intensity of my primal need for a child. The deep and hopeless longing all but shattered my heart….and I broke apart.

My husband deftly extracted the bewildered child from my arms and disappeared with her to her bedroom to put her back to sleep. Then he came back and held me until I was myself again. My scarred and scared self.

For as long as I could remember, I had wanted to be a mom. I had my theoretical daughter’s name picked out well before I was thirteen years old.

And yet, between schools and jobs and cross-country moves, the timing had never been right.

And once we got the timing right, everything else started to go wrong.

Then, the waiting was no longer voluntary. Then, we waited with increasing impatience. We waited for test results. We waited in doctor’s offices. We waited in <a href="https://glowing.com/glow-fertility-program">IVF</a> suites. We waited for blood work. We waited to see a heartbeat. We waited.

It took drastic measures for my fifth <a href="https://glowing.com/glow-fertility-program">IVF</a> cycle to work. For my daughter to be born. It took the cessation of a successful ten year career. It took vast amounts of money. It took an undeniable toil on my heart, body and soul.

And that’s why I am here at Glow.

I am here to help an incredible company develop an ambitious new approach to both fertility and infertility.

I am here because I know exactly how scary this journey can be. How heart-wrenching. How debilitating.

I am here because I have walked that path. I’ve shed those tears. I’ve worn that brave mask.

I am here because if there is any way I can help Glow make the journey easier for other couples out there – then that’s what I want to do.

Thanks for listening to my journey.