EP130: The grief no one names with Guest Jules Dwyer

 In this episode, I'm joined by Jules Dwyer; hypnotherapist, rapid transformational therapy (RTT) practitioner, and mother of two boys conceived through donor egg IVF, for a conversation about the deeply layered grief that lives inside a fertility journey.

Jules shares what five years, 13 IVF cycles, and three pregnancy losses actually looked like from the inside, including the part we rarely talk about: the profound attachment that forms to embryos in a lab, the grief that accumulates with every failed cycle, and the quiet devastation of losing a pregnancy within a process that tells you to just keep going.

We talk about:

• Why doing mode can become a form of dissociation — and how Jules spent years "project-managing" her fertility instead of actually processing it
• The turning point that shifted her from talk therapy (cycling in her head) to RTT and somatic work (connecting back to her body)
• What the grief inside an IVF cycle really looks like — from follicle scans to the two-week wait to the phone call that ends it
• The layered loss of transitioning to donor egg conception, and the long surrender that finally made space for it
• Why our nervous system can turn against pregnancy when we're not supported through loss
• What surrender actually is — and why it's not one moment, but a series of tiny, uncomfortable micro-movements

Jules also speaks to the experience of parenting after loss, and why two pink lines don't erase the fear that was built across years of trying.

If you've ever felt like the losses inside your fertility journey didn't "count enough" to grieve, or like talk therapy was leaving something important unaddressed, this episode is for you.

Connect with Jules: Instagram: @julesdwyer_

Connect with Sharna: International Institute for Reproductive Loss & Trauma Leadership: https://www.instagram.com/reproductivelossleadership/ 

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