Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Walker.
Hi Nicole, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Our story started with two young adults wanting to start a family. My husband Evan and I married young, and we knew we wanted to have our own family. We debated timing, and our decision was made in May of 2017. Fast forward to January 2018, and we were pregnant for the first time. We were ecstatic. Unfortunately, this pregnancy ended in a miscarriage a few short weeks later. Ultimately we were down, but we knew we wouldn’t give up. The average time to conceive before doctors recommend additional testing is a year for our age. We quietly continued our journey to having a baby.
In March 2019, we started seeing our fertility specialist in Franklin, TN. We tried different treatments, but by November, we knew it was time for IVF. IVF at our age at the time (23) is terrifying. This was when I started to open up about our journey on my private social media pages. Our first embryo transfer was in February of 2020, and we were finally blessed to be pregnant again. Weeks passed, we saw the heartbeat and baby growing, and we graduated from our fertility clinic. This was right at the peak of Covid, and at almost 10 weeks, I had my second OB appointment. This was the first appointment my husband couldn’t be part of. I went in alone for my scan, and instead of hearing the heartbeat, I heard silence. Once again, my baby had died. This time hit so much harder – we had seen our baby, made plans, and ultimately lost the future with the baby we had planned. We were far enough along that I needed a D&C. Thankfully, our medical team could have Evan at the hospital for my surgery – I don’t think I could have gone by myself.
This loss led to us both slipping into a depression – we opted for genetic testing and found out that it was a girl, our Rosie, and she was genetically perfect. When I was pregnant, I made a hand-lettered sign for our nursery with the Bible verse 1 Samuel 1:27. I was sitting on the couch one night, and I told Evan, “I want to make a sign shop,” which, if you know me, I’m always full of ideas that I bounce back and forth in my head. I told him my plan – a handmade sign shop where we could spread joy from our products and give back to the infertility community by donating our profits. I’d love to say he was instantly on board, but Evan is my opposite – where I am spontaneous and live on the edge, he is responsible and logical. Ultimately though, he thought it was a great idea, and Signs for Rosie was born!
Signs for Rosie was our way to give back, as I stated above, but it was also our way of clawing out of our depression. It gave us a purpose, and we loved what we did. We weren’t crazy busy to some people, but we were successful for us – a first-year shop. We sold approximately 500 signs within a year of being opened, which is great for two people working out of their homes as a passion project! During our year of being open, we, unfortunately, lost our third pregnancy from our second embryo transfer, and our third transfer failed. I continued to share my experiences, hoping people would see how common infertility is. After our third transfer failed, we decided that we were done for a while – we needed time to get our finances back in line (IVF is expensive, and our insurance didn’t cover treatments). We instead decided to do one last round of testing, and then we were taking the rest of the year off. We even planned to buy a camper and live a little!
April 2021 was our testing month. Our doctor called us with our normal results and said that whenever we were ready, they would get us back in for another transfer. He left the ball in our court, and it was officially time for us to live a life outside of infertility. However, there was a mixup that same night. I received a portal message from my nurse with the timeline for our next transfer. What? Reading it, I saw that the first appointment (when the funds were due for treatment) was less than two weeks away. Did I mention that infertility is expensive? How were we going to make this work? I told my husband I had received the calendar, and his answer was an immediate “no way.” But something in me said we have to do it – it felt too coincidental, and we had to go for it.
So naturally, as marriages go, we compromise, and Evan found a way to make the finances work. On May 25th, 2021, we transferred two embryos, one of which became our triple rainbow baby, Adelaide. My pregnancy was nerve-wracking. I had multiple issues, and it was clear by November that we had to put our sign shop on hold. In January, our baby was born three weeks early. It was a traumatic birth experience, but we are both here and healthy. A few months into loving her, we started throwing around the idea of reopening. We knew we wanted to continue to have an impact on the infertility community, and being on the “other side” of our journey fueled us with the desire to do this even more. We knew our little sign shop would be hard to scale – only two of us are now an infant in the mix. I brought up the idea of a rebrand to Evan – a way to still give back to the infertility community, but something we could make a bigger impact with. A boutique/blog duo where the initial dream for Signs for Rosie could live on. We could share stories from those in the infertility community on the blog, and through the boutique, we could donate a portion of all profits. Ultimately, he agreed, and effective September 1st, we are Rosie’s – a place where you can shop with a purpose.
Our dream of becoming parents led us down a path that neither of us could ever expect. Even though we went through so much heartbreak and pain to get here, we know it led us to this moment in life. We hope our story can inspire others – if we can do that, our dream will be a success. An infertility journey is often lonely, but it doesn’t have to be. There is a vibrant community online, and our goal is to uplift and give back to the people who helped us through our darkest times.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been smooth?
I think this was covered in the previous answer, but it was not a smooth road. If I had to describe this journey in any way, it would be rocky. There were many times we were up at night working on signs for orders and weren’t sure that this was what we were meant to do. We were fulfilling orders at the same time as we were going through miscarriage after miscarriage, and it was tough. Some of our signs were used for pregnancy announcements, and it was hard to make those signs – I’m so happy for them but sad for me. A miscarriage shakes you to your core, and there were times I didn’t want to do it anymore. I didn’t want to keep going through our struggles, but we kept going, and I’m so glad we did.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next, you can tell us a bit more about your business?
At Rosie’s, we have a unique setup – a hybrid that features a blog and boutique. We carry items for both baby and mama. We are different from others because we are purpose-driven – we want to make a difference in the infertility community and do that by donating a portion of all profits. We also spread awareness throughout the blog, featuring stories from real-life people affected by infertility.
I’m most proud of our mission. This is more than just selling clothes for us. Yeah, that’s part of it, but our purpose is much bigger than that. Everyone talks about changing the world, but we believe we can positively impact the infertility community. There are a lot of non-profits in this space, but we believe a purpose-built business would make a great partner by being able to contribute through donations.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs, or other resources you think our readers should check?
Instagram has been a lifesaver for me. I created an account specific to my IVF journey so I could connect and share with others going through similar situations, and it has been so nice not to feel alone. For the first year or two of our infertility journey, we felt so alone, and it has been nice to connect with others who understand what we have gone through.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.shoprosiestn.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/shoprosiestn
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/shoprosiestn
