Stephanie Cartin

Follow Stephanie and her amazing advocacy work for female business owners and fertility warriors alike on Instagram @stephjillcartin @entreprenistas @hellomarkid

Five sentences about me…

I am a resilient infertility warrior and finally a mama to a vibrant 2.5-year-old miracle baby girl, Mollie Hope. When I am not singing show tunes with Mollie or enjoying the Florida sunshine, I am focused on building multiple businesses; Entreprenista, Socialfly, and Markid. You can typically find me helping women founders and leaders with their business or fertility journeys. I am an advocate for women that are navigating complicated fertility or pregnancy journeys and believe that by sharing our stories, we can help each other connect and not feel alone. I would not have been able to get or stay pregnant if it were not for sharing our story and connecting with this incredible community.

Five sentences about what I've endured in the fertility realm...

After numerous medical procedures during our infertility journey including surgery for polyp removal, an HSG that resulted in an infection, multiple uterine biopsies, hysteroscopies, 5 IUI's, an egg retrieval and transfer that resulted in our embryo splitting, diagnosis of twin to twin transfusion, the loss of one of our twins at 17.5 weeks (our baby Emmy), PPROM (Premature rupture of membranes) 17 weeks on bed rest, 11 of those inpatient in the hospital plus a NICU stay, we finally had our miracle baby, Mollie Hope. This list only includes the medical procedures but it does not even scratch the surface of the mental anguish I had to overcome on a daily basis going through what seemed like daily challenges and set backs. Once we were finally pregnant, even through the daily bumps in the road I had a mantra and I would say “Every day pregnant is a good day”. I would find the small wins each day and did not allow myself to give up hope that our baby girl could survive.

One thing I wish I knew going into my fertility journey...

You are your own You are your own best advocate and make sure you are working with a doctor that you genuinely trust and feel comfortable sharing everything with. You cannot be afraid to speak up to your doctor. You know your body better than anyone. Listen to your body. I learned that doctors are only doing the best they can do with the knowledge and information that they have, and sometimes they do not have all of the information, so it is up to us to share with them so they can continue to learn too. When my amniotic sac ruptured at 17.5 weeks after laser ablation surgery, multiple doctors shared that Mollie had almost no chance of survival and after I did not go into labor because of my water breaking, it was strongly suggested that I terminate my pregnancy. I did my own research, connected with other moms who had been through something similar, and learned that babies can in fact survive without amniotic fluid. I took this information to my doctor and he was open to learning. I advocated for myself and my baby and refused termination and because of that, she is here today and she is perfectly healthy. I will always be there for others just as everyone was there for me. best advocate.

One thing about me that is forever changed because of my fertility journey...

I am so much stronger because of all we went through during our fertility and pregnancy journey. I have such a perspective on what is important in life and feel I can problem solve and get through absolutely anything. I also am so committed to helping as many women as I can by sharing our experience and have realized just how important sharing and connecting is.

One funny moment or anecdote from my fertility journey...

I have always been a big Britney Spears fan since my high school days and for my birthday, I got tickets to her concert at the Borgata in Atlantic City. My egg retrieval ended up falling on my actual birthday and the concert was 2 days prior so I ended up having to leave the concert right at the end to get back to my hotel room to do my trigger shot in time. I remember running to my room and being in so much pain because at that point I was filled with so many follicles. I forgot about this moment until now writing it.

One product, practice, or ritual I adopted during my fertility journey, which I have/have not kept a part of my life...

I had mantras throughout my fertility and complicated pregnancy journey and I have held onto this practice. My mantras are what got me through and also visualization. I still use these practices daily and have such a strong belief to always hold onto hope and to find as much good as possible even from terribly hard situations.