I Sat Alone In A Fertility Clinic Waiting Room

After heartbreak, unexplained infertility, and a deeply personal decision, coach and author Reema Kiran found her way to solo motherhood, and is now helping other women do the same.

There is a moment Reema Kiran will never forget. She was sitting in a fertility clinic waiting room, trying to hold herself together. Around her, couples sat hand in hand. She was the only woman there alone.

She was in the early stages of her fertility journey as a single woman by choice, someone who had already grieved the relationship she thought would lead to marriage and was now sitting in a clinic, considering egg freezing. Around her, couples were there trying to have a baby. She was there trying to buy herself more time to find a partner.

It was only later, after trying to freeze her eggs twice, that she realized she was too late. The outcome was not what she had hoped for. She was able to retrieve only two eggs, which did not feel like the sense of security she had expected. It was not an insurance policy that would allow her to comfortably wait for a partner who may or may not come in time.

That realization shifted everything. She was now facing a decision she could no longer postpone: continue waiting for a partner who may not arrive in time and risk losing her chance at motherhood, or move forward on her own and become a single mother by choice.

“I did not want to settle. I stopped waiting. And I made the hardest, best decision of my life.”

No guidebook prepared her for that waiting room moment. Not because fertility information is scarce, there is plenty of it, but because almost none of it speaks to what it actually feels like to walk this path as a career driven woman navigating cultural and family expectations, sitting alone in a room built for couples.

The Gap Nobody Was Filling

As an Indian woman, Reema’s journey carried layers that most resources did not account for. The questions were not just medical, they were deeply personal. What will my family think? Am I going against my culture? Will I be enough for my child? Am I being selfish?

She found herself searching for someone who had lived this experience and could speak to both the emotional and practical realities of choosing single motherhood.

That person did not exist yet. So she became her.

Today, Reema is a proud mother to a three year old daughter and the founder of Choice Mom Coach, where she supports women through every stage of this decision. After writing late at night, during nap times, and in the quiet hours while her daughter was at daycare, she distilled everything she learned on her journey and from her clients into her book, Choice Mom: An Empowering Guide to Becoming a Single Mother by Choice.

What No One Tells You

The decision to become a single mother by choice is not a single moment. It is a slow unraveling of the life you imagined and a deliberate rebuilding of something new.

For many women, the hardest part is not just the fertility process. It is grieving the partnership you thought you would have, and allowing yourself to move forward anyway.

Here is what Reema has learned, both from her own experience and from the women she now coaches:

“You do not need to have made the decision to start preparing. Many women lose time waiting until they are completely sure. Exploring options such as fertility consultations, egg freezing timelines, and financial planning does not commit you to anything. It gives you more choices.”

Cultural pressure is real, and you are allowed to feel it. For women from South Asian or other traditionally family oriented backgrounds, choosing this path can feel like it contradicts everything they were raised to believe. It does not. It simply asks more of you, and there is a growing community of women who understand exactly what that feels like.

Isolation is the biggest obstacle, not just the logistics. What breaks women down is the feeling of being completely alone in it. Finding even one person, whether a coach, a community, or a book, who truly understands this path can change everything.

“Isolation is the biggest obstacle, not just the logistics.”

Where To Start

If you are somewhere in this journey, whether you are still quietly wondering, “Could I really do this?” or you are already deep in fertility treatment, Reema wrote Choice Mom for exactly where you are.

It is a coaching guide, with reflection prompts and mindset tools in every chapter. It is the kind of companion she once needed and could not find.

Choice Mom: An Empowering Guide to Becoming a Single Mother by Choice is available now on Amazon. To learn more about coaching and community support, visit choicemomcoach.com.

Reema Kiran is an ICF certified Professional Certified Coach, and founder of Choice Mom Coach. She lives in Canada with her daughter. Follow her on Instagram and YouTube.