Friday Film Clip: Pursuing Single Motherhood

As part of our documentary, One More Shot, (which we are currently fundraising for at Indiegogo), Noah and I have interviewed a variety of different people who have created their family in alternative ways.

Meet Jasmine. We fell in love with Jasmine because of her honesty about the difficulties of being single in her 40's and desperately wanting to be a mother, and because she chose a road less traveled by, deciding to become a single mother through egg and sperm donation in her mid 40's.

 

Her story is the story of many people whose romantic life didn't go "according to plan." She was coming out of a long-term relationship at 38, and could hear the pounding of her biological clock almost daily. She looked into adoption, which isn't always easy for single people in their 40's, and she quickly decided to do multiple IUIs, which didn't work. She moved on to IVF with donor sperm and her eggs, which she put on ice, (she called them kidsicles) so when Mr. Right came along she would have her "back-up plan," in the freezer. A few years went by and Mr. Right hadn't shown up. She decided to defrost all six embryos and ended up getting pregnant with a singleton, only to miscarry at 7 weeks. That was it. The freezer was empty, but her desire to be a mom and her confidence that she would be a fabulous mom was still going strong. She continued to date with little luck, and then one day had a revelation. She could get donor eggs and donor sperm and rock it as a single mom! She would be the only decider about things and she would be able to give her love to a little person and create a family on her terms.

So that's what she did. Of course, it's more complicated than that-- with egg donors falling through etc. etc. Her journey to parenthood took a good 7 years. A few weeks before she was set to transfer her embryos, she met a guy. This guy was different. On their third date she told him her plan to pursue single motherhood, and was ready to embrace whatever reaction he had. She had made up her mind, her baby was coming.  And luckily, her new beau was totally supportive and they are still together today. Her baby is probably about 7 months old now.

Jasmine's story is empowering and inspiring.  Going through fertility treatments alone and deciding to be a single parent aren't easy decisions to make. But we live in a time where these things are possible.  It's the definition of making a modern family and redefining what family means.

Happy Friday! Please continue to help us spread the word about the film as we are about to enter week two of our fundraising efforts!

INDIEGOGO: http://igg.me/at/onemoreshot

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/OneMoreShotFilm

FILM WEBSITE: www.onemoreshotfilm.com

TWITTER: @onemoreshotdoc

 

Comments

[W]

This is fantastic! Exactly what I went through in making my decision to go it alone.

[Laura @ Making Baby Provence]

I am so grateful that you are making this film. I'm also grateful that I found you. My husband has 3 children from his first marriage. I have never been married and have no children. We have had 4 failed IVF cycles and are considering embarking upon cycle 5. However, we are thinking it's time to use an egg donor. We definitely have a very non-traditional, modern family. We love our life, though. Infertility is the hardest thing we have ever experienced, but we are learning to find the blessings along the way. Thank you for speaking out so loudly for all of us.