Hi my name is Niki. I have been in the IVF world since May 2012 and wandering through this journey of IVF with my husband and the friends I told along the way. Once you enter this journey you start to feel alone, even if you tell other people. No one understands it unless you are starting it or gone through it. We went through 3 rounds of IVF and had 1 success. Our miracle baby, Gabbie, is now 2.
We decided we wanted to try for our 2nd child before Gabbie gets too big and we get older.
After Gabbie was born, we were NOT afraid to tell others that she was an IVF baby, I had a few friends reach out and ask about our journey through IVF. I realized we were helping others by just telling our story, they did not feel alone. So I started researching on Facebook and websites for places to join for women that are going through IVF, why didn’t I do this before?? One thing led to another and I would see people posting their socks at their appointments. I loved the idea but couldn’t find out what a sock buddy was or even how to get one. So I started my own group just to help myself and others connect, what a fun idea right? About 50 of us from several other groups joined right away. So here I am watching as the numbers jump, writing everyone down which turned into a spreadsheet, passing 2 buddies out to each person. HERE we go, our first set of buddies went out. Not too long after that the sock buddies started posting photos of their packages coming in and others wearing their socks at their appointment. I had tears in my eyes just thinking … They aren’t alone! We’re in this together!
Now we are 1 year and 3 months in and we have over 921 members on the Sock Buddy group and we also have a UK page which has about 513 members. It’s amazing to see the relationships that have been created. I can only take credit for starting the pages but the women who are in the group are the ones who have made the page what it is today. I can’t thank the ladies that have been there to help admin, the two Melissa’s, Danielle, Kathryn, Zoe, and Laura, without them I wouldn’t have been able to keep it going for so long. Now that I will try again for my 5th cycle for baby #2 I will hope to find new friends. Show us your sock ladies!
