What Will Be - Julie Pandya Patel

Julie was thirty-seven when she and her husband, Samir, decided to start a family after a year of marriage. What Will Be is the story of how Julie and Samir confronted the challenges of trying to get pregnant, navigating fertility treatments, dealing with constant uncertainty, and came out the other side.

Throughout that time, Julie was desperate for advice and empathy from someone who had been there. She scoured message boards on the internet in search of success stories, a tiny ray of hope, anything to keep her going. And she promised herself that if she ever became that success story, she would share her experience on one of those message boards to help other women looking for the same thing. In the end, she decided to take it one step further and write a book about her journey.

Millions of women and men in this country struggle with infertility, experience a miscarriage, or have to walk away from the dream of starting a family. Nearly 15 to 20 percent of all pregnancies end in miscarriage in the US. The national fertility rate fell to a record low in 2018 and the New York Times reports that millennial women are having fewer children than they'd like. Fertility issues are something that most people will experience in their lifetimes, yet very few people are empowered to talk about it.

For those who are actually living through the challenges of getting pregnant and carrying to term, it's easy to feel like you have no one to turn to and no light at the end of the tunnel. Julie wants others on this path to know they are not alone, which is why her memoir chronicles the raw emotions she experienced day in and day out on her journey to becoming a mother. What Will Be takes readers through every setback and celebration, documenting both the traditional fertility treatments Julie took under the supervision of her doctor, as well as the less traditional, naturopathic supplements and practices she sought out and experimented with.

If Julie's story helps even one woman find the courage not to give up, her work here is complete.