When I was on the frontline of the battle against infertility, Mother’s Day was difficult to celebrate. Of course, I honored my own mother but something inside me yearned for the ability to celebrate it with my own child.

I wanted to experience pregnancy. I wanted to watch my tummy grow. I wanted to feel the baby kicking and moving inside of me. I wanted to be the one who could console my child when no one else could. But it wasn’t happening…

Thankfully, I had a husband who was understanding and got me through the day without tears (he was good at distracting me). And I had a mother who encouraged me to never give up hope. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.” Even though he was referring to the Civil Rights struggle, it is applicable to this personal struggle of dealing with childlessness. With infertility, the finite disappointment rolls around on a monthly basis, but don’t allow it to make you lose hope in having a child.

Childlessness can drain you emotionally, if you let it. It can sink you into great despair, if you let it. I encourage you to find creative ways to maintain ongoing, infinite hope.

How will you cope with Mother’s Day 2012? Please share with us your ways of maintaining hope!