Waiting for Max - Navigating Birth Trauma, Surrogacy, and Postpartum Healing: Emily’s Story

Send us Fan Mail When we picture our path to parenthood, very few of us imagine sitting beside an incubator in the NICU, undergoing multiple rounds of IVF, or turning to surrogacy to bring a child home. In this heartwarming and deeply honest episode of *Quiet Connection*, Chelsea connects with children’s book author Emily Rosen to explore what happens when your journey to becoming a parent looks completely different than you planned. Emily opens up about the sudden 34-week delivery of her son, Max, the heavy emotional toll of his 16-day NICU stay, and the postpartum anxiety that followed. She shares how channeling her grief and waiting into creativity inspired her children’s book, Waiting for Max, designed to help older siblings process a brother or sister’s NICU stay. Emily also opens up about her subsequent three-year struggle with infertility, endometriosis, and navigating surrogacy to welcome her daughter, Eva. If you’ve ever felt isolated by birth trauma, struggled with your mental health, or felt like your body betrayed you during the journey to grow your family, this conversation is a gentle, supportive reminder that you aren’t alone. **Key Takeaways:** - **The Weight of the NICU:** Why even a brief stay in the NICU can trigger intense postpartum anxiety, guilt, and birth trauma for perinatal individuals. - **Reclaiming Control in Crisis:** How small routines, like reading books daily or printing physical photos, can help parents feel connected to their baby amidst medical chaos. - **Using Creativity as Therapy:** How processing grief and waiting through writing led Emily to create a book that gives young siblings a gentle voice during a high-stress medical event. - **Navigating Complex Infertility:** The emotional roller coaster of IVF, endometriosis, chemical pregnancies, and making the decision to pursue surrogacy. - **Making Peace with the Unexpected:** Learning to heal from the envy and sadness of a broken dream while fully embracing the unique path that brought your children home. **Soundbites:** - *"The wait felt like forever. Whether you're there for two days or two months, it's really unbearable not getting to be with your baby at home like you thought you would."* - *"Motherhood should come with a therapist. Life should come with a therapist, but motherhood especially."* - *"If you're in a NICU experience or any difficult experience, creativity is a great way to process and express how you're feeling."* - *"She was the last embryo we could use, and it feels like she was meant to be our child. I remind myself that I have Eva, and she's the baby I'm supposed to have."* - *"Whatever you're going through or you went through, you aren't alone. Other people have been there and are ready to support you."* Support the show  *Special Thanks to* Steve Audy *for the use of our theme song: Quiet Connection* Want to be a guest on Quiet Connection - Postpartum Mental Health? Send Chelsea a message on PodMatch