Margaret Cali: I Didn’t Know It Was Fertility Burnout…
Margaret Cali, IVF Readiness Integration Strategist, shared on LinkedIn:
”I didn’t know it was fertility burnout. I just knew that one morning, I couldn’t get out of bed.
Not because of one bad day. Because of years of trying so hard to be fine.
I was 25 when we started trying. Over the years, I became a woman on a mission. I wanted a baby so badly that I didn’t notice the warning signs my body was giving me. My body stopped feeling like my partner and started to feel like the enemy. By the time I took leave from work, my relationship with myself was one of deep sadness.
From the outside, I looked like I was coping. I kept turning up.
I see the same pattern in many women preparing for IVF, especially those going again after an unsuccessful cycle. Their lives are planned around appointments.
They’re watching their bodies for signs. They’re doing the sums for another round. And because they’re still functioning, everyone assumes they’re okay.
It’s rarely one appointment that wears a woman down. It’s the build-up: the next appointment, the next wait, the next result, and then the expectation that she’ll gather herself and go again.
Keeping going isn’t the same as being ready. A woman can be moving forward medically while still carrying everything that’s already happened.
Every appointment prepared my body. Nothing prepared me for what it was costing the rest of me.
Emotional support shouldn’t only begin when a woman reaches breaking point. It can start before treatment, while there’s still room to prepare.
For fertility-care professionals: what signs tell you a patient may be pushing through, rather than truly ready to go again?”

Other articles featuring Margaret Cali on Fertility News.
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Nov 11, 2026, 15:53Lucy Froese: You Don’t Have to Wait Until You’re Pregnant to Start Feeling Better
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Nov 11, 2026, 15:48Louise Thompson: The Fertility Care You Have Access to Can Depend Entirely on Your Postcode…
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Nov 11, 2026, 15:37Anna Figiel: What Happens When Fertility Treatment Ends Without the Outcome Someone Has Hoped For?
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Nov 11, 2026, 15:27Laura Rienzi: Biology Did Not Send Everyone the Same Calendar Invite…
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Nov 11, 2026, 14:58Asima Ahmad: Rethinking Women’s Health
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Nov 11, 2026, 14:53Katie South: Should Having Stepchildren Affect a Woman’s Eligibility for NHS-Funded IVF?
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Nov 11, 2026, 14:44Bassel Noah Joins Institut Marquès Abu Dhabi as Medical Director
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Nov 11, 2026, 14:29Lowell Ku: Movember Reminder – Fertility Isn’t Only a Women’s Health Issue
