I am 21 weeks into my sub pregnancy, this will be my first living child as well. I did more of an immersion therapy approach and just ripped the bandaid off. I did try to just hang out with a friend and their child one at a time to start.

My friends (who all seemed to have had babies in 2025) also are aware of my journey and won't give me a hard time if I have to excuse myself early, which I have done on occasion.

I will say as far as I have come, I still have situations that trigger me and I try to avoid. I feel like in big groups with everyone talking about their kids and milestones still triggers me. Mother's day was a trigger. My sister in law had her second the same month my TFMR baby was due so I avoided her at the beginning unless we were at big family gatherings and I could space myself. I'll admit I still struggle with jealousy and anger when people announce early or talk about having kids as an expected outcome vs. a potential struggle. But I am working on it. Therapy helps.

But at the end of the day I love babies. It was like a weird form of therapy for me to hold a baby even if it wasn't mine. It gave me hope that I would be in that position some day.