Basking Ridge Mom Struggled With Fertility, Pens Book To Help Others

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — While fertility issues are not uncommon, the discussion around it is. Basking Ridge mom Donna Shaw is breaking that stigma to share her own "crazy fertility journey" in her book "Poppin' Past Forty."

"Why aren't people talking about this and raising awareness? You will have hiccups but still have success," said Shaw, who was able to have her daughter, Paloma, just shy of her 44th birthday.

Shaw was inspired to write her book before her daughter turned 1. She was out walking the dog with her daughter and just "kind of had this overwhelming intense desire" to share her story.

She took out her phone and began filming herself talking about her journey on her YouTube channel, which was mainly for health and wellness.

Immediately, the video jumped to 100,000 views, and she began receiving dozens of emails from people with questions.

"That's when I started writing the book. This information needs to be in the world," Shaw said.

Shaw didn't meet her husband until she was 41 years old and he was 45, at a spiritual workshop. It was love at first sight.

"He told me the second day I knew him that he 'was going to make babies (with me)' we just clicked," wrote Shaw on her website poppinpastforty.com.

They were engaged six weeks later and married six months later before beginning their fertility journey. Shaw encountered miscarriages and chemical pregnancies and saw three or four big, top-rated New York doctors with no luck.

Shaw was told she had less than 5 percent chance of getting pregnant. But she didn't give up.

She decided to try IVF (in vitro fertilization), a process of fertilization in which an egg is combined with sperm in vitro, or outside the womb.

Insurance covered one round. She ended up trying two rounds but "$30,000 later and no results," said Shaw.

"I went into this deep depression, I wanted to be a mom since I was 5 years old," said Shaw.

She ended up going to Dr. Sami David, who was able to help get her pregnant through a non-medicated intrauterine insemination (IUI) procedure, in which the sperm is placed directly into the uterus using a small catheter.

It took four months with Shaw also seeing an acupuncturist and doing Reiki and prayer before the fourth round was successful.

Paloma "is an amazing human, a miracle. She is beyond her years. She is an incredible kid," said Shaw.

Now Shaw is sharing her journey in her book, which was released in September, and offers group and private coaching.

"It makes my heart joyous that I can share this story and help change people's lives. When you can be a little piece of someone's story — and they can have a richer life because of it — I feel every day I am grateful I went through my crazy rocky road just so I could give women hope."

Shaw said her goal is to help bring 100,000 happy, healthy babies into this world.

For more information on Shaw and her book, visit poppinpastforty.com or Facebook or Instagram or YouTube.

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