Ever since I was little, I knew I wanted to have my own family someday, I knew I wanted to be a mother and I wanted to be able to love and teach them all the things I learned and loved growing up. As funny as it sounds that is where my real journey began on my journey to motherhood. I loved kids so much that I got my first babysitting job at 13 years old. I figured with any desire or goal that I have in life I would first have to do research and gain experience, what better than being around kids all the time! As I grew up into my teens, I got longer babysitting gigs and in my early 20s I moved up to being a live-in nanny. The experiences and the joy I got from each of my jobs were something I will always hold on to because they taught me different parenting styles, how to deal with difficult situations and how to go about fixing them. I was at a good place to where I knew what kind of mother I wanted to be and with a college degree in nutrition under my belt 2 years later as well meeting and marrying my husband a year and half later I was at a good place to start building my life so that I could have the family I always desired and planned so much for.
My husband had long conversations on when and how we wanted to go about having kids along with our parents’ viewpoints we wanted to wait a few years until we we’re better financially and knew where we wanted to be geographically. Those years go by and we both have jobs in our fields and have settled in my hometown of riverside county California, a place I love! Now was the time to start the family I always wanted, however, sometimes even the best of plans….come with obstacles….
FWM: Share your background and your inspirations.
My name is Brittney Lewis and I was born and mostly raised in Southern California, a place I love. I grew up with both loving parents who have been married for over 35 years. I have one older brother. I grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness and I am still very active and strong in the Faith. I have a background in Nutrition and Fitness which I also practice a great deal in my life. My parents live with me due to my dad being disabled and I love having them around to help me and support me in all that I am trying to do in my life.
My family are the people who inspire me the most and all of them for different reasons. My dad who always told me “If you don’t plan, you plan to fail” always made me put into effect plans and dreams I had for my life and how I wanted it to go. My mom for always making sure I was careful and cautious when I made decisions, so that I don’t regret them later. My brother who makes sure I don’t take everything so seriously and to make sure some of my silliness come out. My husband and my daughter who honestly just gets me through my trials no matter how hard it gets and they drive me to do better and work harder in everything I want to do.
FWM: “If knew then what I knew now on how hard my path to motherhood would be I would have done a lot of things differently.” Explain.
Its funny, I quite honestly have thought about how differently I would have done things if I knew then what I do now, all the time. It’s a constant battle in my head and a thought that haunts me every day. What I would have done differently is that I would have started going to an annual checkup of my reproductive system as well as my hormones to make sure everything was functioning normally, I would have made the effort to get my eggs frozen so that I could preserve my fertility no matter what age was when I wanted to start having kids. Both my husband and I wish we both would have just started having kids right after we got married in our mid 20’s. It’s hard to think of that though, because I do have my daughter and if I had done something different then I might not have her, so it’s a double-edged sword. However, we know we can’t go back in time so we just try to focus what we can do now to solve the problem.
FWM: Take us through your journey to have your first child.
The journey on having my first child was exciting, scary and a bit ironic when we found out we were pregnant with her. My husband and I started trying for our first child in January of 2018…and month after month, it wasn’t happening…a lot of frustrating moments and crying during this time was very real! I soon started to look up fertility treatments as I was not getting pregnant after months of trying, which I figured wasn’t a good sign. I needed a referral to this fertility clinic so off to the primary doctor we went. After going, talking to him about our medical history, telling him how we have been trying to conceive for months and a mandatory urine pregnancy test later…a Surprise! I was pregnant! How ironic that I went to go find out why I was not getting pregnant only to find out I was! I truly believe that God was looking out for me this day, and how what a funny sense of humor he has.
Nine months later… a beautiful baby girl was born. And how how much I loved her. She was my dream come true and what I always pictured for myself. I was relieved to see that it was possible for me to get pregnant and feeling like I had a grip on the matter.
FWM: You have documented your story on YouTube. Why is it important to you? What is your mission?
There is a million and half reasons why I decided to document my fertility story. One of the reasons was that I knew that this journey may not be easy and being able to talk about my feelings, the process of taking medications/supplements and how and what I am doing to better myself for success was something I felt could be a healthy outlet for me. Another reason is that I wanted to show others what this process was like and for those who are also going through this wouldn’t feel alone and they could feel like they can relate to someone. You can have the best support system in the world, but infertility can cause a lot of doubt, lack of self-worth, low energy and reduced confidence. Knowledge is power so, If I could give anyone insight and a way to learn from any mistakes I made or anything good that I did to help. A third reason is that I want to spread awareness, I feel like we lack the support, education, and resources that could help a lot of women and couples become parents. I don’t want anyone to miss out on a special gift if there is a possibility they can be helped.
My final reason is a bit self-gaining, but it has truth to it. I started documenting my journey on YouTube in hopes that If I could get enough attention both on my channel and my social media that I could perhaps gain a sponsor in the process that would allow me to continue my journey. I am sure people are well aware that fertility treatments as well as the medications are very expensive and I knew that if we couldn’t be successful right away that our savings would quickly start running out and we would no longer be able to afford our treatments, especially with inflation going on. That was a scary notion, and I couldn’t risk it, so I have been working so hard reach out to those who could potentially help me get my channel and I out there. It’s been a hard process, but I know if I continue to work hard and persevere that maybe just maybe I will succeed both in my goal to grow my faith but also my goal to bring awareness to a topic that has been swept under the rug.
Link to the Documentary Series: https://youtube.com/c/brittneylewis1
FWM: How has the treatment process taken a toll on you emotionally and physically?
Going through fertility treatments has been the one of the hardest things I have ever gone through. I constantly have to take different medication both orally and through injections, this leaves me quite hormonally, tired and I am constantly covered with bruises. We have had some fails from this so far and it takes such a toll on your mental health particularly for me because the reason why we have to do this at all is because of me, the problem we have has to do with me…that is a hard pill to swallow because I feel like a failure. I am doing everything under the sun to improve my situation, eating healthy, drinking lots of water, taking supplement, making sure I move and be active just enough to get good blood circulation. We are now just dabbling into acupuncture.
So, my body and mind get quite a beat up, but I know that if I am focused and determined this can work!
FWM: Tell us about your Fertility trailer that the wonderful Video-maker Darnell Lamont Walker created. Take us through a few key points.
Darnell Lamon Walker is such a good guy and right away was on board to try to help me after I explained what I was doing and why I was doing it. I knew I needed something to combine all my videos and what I was talking about in them into some kind of teaser or trailer to not only give people my story in a nutshell, but to help better explain the importance of infertility and the problems and potential solutions associated with it and that is the trailer that Darnell and his associates represented for me. I couldn’t be happier with it and it’s something I can share to other media outlets in hopes to get their attention. I wanted to show them that Its ok to raise a voice for a good cause, that infertility is a big problem that is affecting more and more people, and the want and need to have the support, education and resources I talked about before.
I wanted it to scream…we count too!
My Fertility Story Trailer: Special Edition! – YouTube
FWM: How is your journey inspiring others?
I have heard from others that they are pretty impressed that I am speaking out about something I believe in and fell strongly about. These days it’s hard to get your voice heard on any subject so it takes a lot of hard work, perseverance and perhaps a connection or two to get the voice to be louder. I want to be heard; I will shout it to the roof tops, I will knock on every door I can think of, if it means I can get one step closer to my goal. If I can show that to people, if I can show the passion, I have for myself and this goal then maybe they will be inspired for the things they are striving for too. Inspiration can move mountains and we should always try to move mountains.
I encourage anyone going through primary, secondary or any type of infertility to not give up and what I can take away from all this all this is that knowledge is power…if you know you want to have kids I don’t care what age you are, go get yourself checked out, make sure everything looks good…this is your life, your choice and your fertility journey. Knowledge is power! So, make it yours!
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