Motherhood—especially solo motherhood—rarely unfolds exactly the way we imagined. Fertility treatments don’t always go as planned, babies don’t follow sleep schedules, and even our best-laid visions of how life “should” look often get disrupted.

In this episode, I’m sharing one of our private Village Podcast episodes on the theme of Managing Expectations and Embracing Flexibility. Inside The Village, each month we take on a broad coaching topic that applies across every stage of the solo motherhood journey, from considering this path to parenting young children. Along with a monthly coaching episode like this one, members also receive a companion workbook and access to an entire library of past themes.

In today’s conversation, you’ll hear about:

• Releasing unrealistic expectations of perfection, both in parenting and in life
• Building resilience when things don’t go according to plan (another failed transfer, a toddler meltdown, or changes in your own path to motherhood)
• Practical ways to adjust plans with more ease and less pressure
• Learning to “ride the wave” of unpredictability, even when it feels uncomfortable

Whether you’re just beginning to imagine solo motherhood or you’re deep in the day-to-day of raising your child, this episode will help you soften rigid expectations, prioritize what matters most, and find more peace in the process.

And if you love this episode and want more like it, I’d love to welcome you inside The Village—a community designed to support women at every stage of the journey with resources, coaching, and connection.

👩‍👧‍👦The Single Greatest Choice is the single mother by choice resource you’ve been craving for every stage of your SMBC journey. You can find 1:1 Coaching for every stage of solo motherhood by choice, Community Groups for thinkers, triers, and pregnant SMBCs, The SGC The SGC Village Membership Community, Retreats for early stage SMBCs and Family Trips for moms & kids.

🏘️Join our community, The SGC Village

Reach out to Katie over at katie@singlegreatestchoice.com

Even with careful planning, none of us can predict how our path to motherhood will unfold.

When we last spoke with Tara Resnick, she was preparing for another egg retrieval and left us with quite the cliffhanger. Today, she’s back to share the next chapter of her journey toward solo motherhood.

In this conversation, Tara speaks with honesty and vulnerability about the setbacks she’s faced—multiple egg retrievals, the financial strain of treatment, and the deep emotional toll of pursuing IVF as a single woman at 42. She also opens up about the regrets she carries: wishing she had pursued IVF or at least frozen eggs earlier, and staying in relationships longer than she now wishes she had.

What makes Tara’s story so powerful is not a picture-perfect narrative, but her willingness to share the messy middle—the heartbreak, the resilience it takes to keep going, and the importance of self-compassion when the outcome is still unknown.

Tara’s reminder for all of us: resilience isn’t about toxic positivity. It’s about choosing yourself, holding onto hope, and finding peace even in the hardest seasons.

“Choose yourself, always.” – Tara Resnick

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s really like to walk through IVF on your own—the ups, the setbacks, the financial and emotional weight—I hope this conversation will make you feel less alone.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Tara’s second and third egg retrievals, including the unexpected decision to pursue a Duo Stim cycle
• The financial and emotional impact of IVF as a single woman
• The vulnerability of navigating fertility treatments without a partner
• Receiving difficult PGT results and the decision to transfer an untested embryo
• How to balance hope and grief without falling into toxic positivity
• Why Tara believes trying was still the right choice for her, no matter the outcome
• And more

Connect with Tara:

• Instagram | @TaraLaurennn
• Simple Coaching for Health & Weight Loss
• Evolve with Tara: Solution Focused Coaching

👩‍👧‍👦The Single Greatest Choice is the single mother by choice resource you’ve been craving for every stage of your SMBC journey. You can find 1:1 Coaching for every stage of solo motherhood by choice, Community Groups for thinkers, triers, and pregnant SMBCs, The SGC The SGC Village Membership Community, Retreats for early stage SMBCs and Family Trips for moms & kids.

🏘️Join our community, The SGC Village

Reach out to Katie over at katie@singlegreatestchoice.com

Julie thought she was freezing her eggs for a future partner.

Instead, she ended up fertilizing all of them on her path to become a mom on her own—then finding love and partnership afterward.

That’s the short version of Julie Ferguson’s story, but there’s so much more to it.

Julie is a PR firm owner and solo mom by choice who’s been through more than her share of plot twists on the road to motherhood: divorce, miscarriage, five egg retrievals, two IVF cycles, and one hard-won embryo that became her son. She opens up about what it really took—emotionally, physically, and financially—to make her dream of motherhood happen.

And her story doesn’t end there.

Now a proud mom to a two-year-old, Julie shares what it’s been like to date as a solo mom, including an unplanned pregnancy at 45 and the evolving relationship that followed. We talk about rediscovering yourself in motherhood, building connections with other donor sibling families, and Julie’s advocacy work with the Stork Foundation, which helps families access IVF through grants.

Whether you’re still navigating fertility as a single woman or already parenting solo, Julie’s mix of honesty, humor, and hope is one you don’t want to miss.

In this episode, we cover:

• Navigating miscarriage, divorce, and solo motherhood during the pandemic
• Doing multiple egg retrievals and two rounds of IVF in her early 40s
• The emotional toll of losing an embryo and trying again
• Making the leap from egg freezing to IVF with donor sperm
• Advocating for IVF access through the Stork Foundation
• Dating as a solo mom and navigating an unexpected pregnancy at 45
• Building a donor sibling community and raising a happy toddler solo
• Why prioritizing self-care matters in solo motherhood
• And more

Resources mentioned:

• The Stork Foundation
• Little Words Project - Hope Bracelet
• Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART)
• It Starts With the Egg Book
• Pulling Down the Moon Holistic Fertility Center

Connect with Julie:

• Instagram: @chijules
• Julie’s PR Firm

👩‍👧‍👦The Single Greatest Choice is the single mother by choice resource you’ve been craving for every stage of your SMBC journey. You can find 1:1 Coaching for every stage of solo motherhood by choice, Community Groups for thinkers, triers, and pregnant SMBCs, The SGC The SGC Village Membership Community, Retreats for early stage SMBCs and Family Trips for moms & kids.

🏘️Join our community, The SGC Village

Reach out to Katie over at