EP135: The hidden losses inside an infertility journey — with Natasha D'Arcangelo
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What does grief look like when there's no baby to mourn — but the losses keep coming anyway?
In this episode, I sit down with Natasha D'Arcangelo, licensed mental health counsellor and Chief Clinical Officer at LB Health, to talk about a side of reproductive loss that rarely gets named: the cumulative grief of infertility.
Natasha shares her own ten-year journey to motherhood — including two rounds of IVF, four fibroid removal surgeries, a hysterectomy at 35, a failed domestic adoption match, and an international adoption process that spanned a global pandemic. It's a story full of grief, resilience, plot twists, and hard-won wisdom.
But this episode isn't just personal. Natasha brings her clinical lens to everything — and the result is a conversation that's equal parts raw and practical.
In this episode we cover:
- Why infertility is a grief experience, even when there's never been a positive pregnancy test
- The shame spiral of feeling like your body "had one job" — and how therapy helped Natasha recognise and release that narrative
- What it's really like to match with a birth mother, prepare your home, and then have it fall through
- The layers of loss inside adoption journeys that people rarely talk about
- How to find the right therapist (and why it's okay — expected, even — to try more than one)
- Red flags to watch for in a therapeutic relationship
- Why the people around you, however well-meaning, often make it worse — and what actually helps
- The unexpected role her dog played in pulling her out of depression
Connect with Natasha:
If this episode resonated with you, you might also be interested in exploring what it means to process reproductive loss as trauma — not just grief. That's exactly what we explore inside the Pregnancy Loss Recovery Method™.
Connect with Sharna
Find me here: @reproductivelossleadership
If today's conversation resonated with you, I'd love to stay connected.
My mission is to help change the landscape of pregnancy loss care through education, advocacy, research, and evidence-informed, trauma-informed support. Whether you're navigating your own loss, supporting someone you love, or you're a healthcare professional wanting to improve the care you provide, there's a place for you here.
You can follow my work, explore educational resources, listen to more podcast episodes, or learn about the Pregnancy loss recovery method & Integrated Pregnancy Loss Care framework Or the Pregnancy Loss & Trauma-Informed Specialist Certification.
Together, we're creating a future where every pregnancy loss is acknowledged, every family is supported, and every practitioner feels confident to provide compassionate, person-centred care.
I'd love to hear what resonated with you from today's episode.
Share your thoughts, leave a review, or connect with me on social media—your voice helps shape this conversation and reach more families who need it.
Thank you for being part of this community. Together, we're changing the future of pregnancy loss care.
Follow the podcast page: @pregnancyloss_podcast
