191. Nothing About This Was Simple: Amanda Bryk on Miscarriage, Pregnancy After Loss Anxiety, and Finding Community

In this episode, Aimee sits down with Amanda Bryk, a new IWSTHAB board member, to talk honestly about miscarriage, anxiety, and the complicated reality of building a family after loss.

Amanda shares her first miscarriage and the shock of learning there was no heartbeat at an early ultrasound, navigating that moment without her husband Darren present due to residency, and the emotional weight of making decisions no one prepares you for. As her losses continued, Amanda opens up about how anxiety followed her into subsequent pregnancies and how grief doesn’t disappear just because you go on to have living children.

Together, Aimee and Amanda talk about balancing careers, relocations, and family planning, the absence of miscarriage leave in the workplace, and the pressure to share deeply personal information just to get through the day. Amanda reflects on circumstantial infertility, social media support after loss, invasive questions that often come from ignorance, and the unexpected comfort of finding others who truly understand. This conversation also explores partnership. Amanda shares how she and Darren navigated different expectations around family size, guilt, responsibility, and how they kept showing up for one another through uncertainty, COVID, moves, and traumatic pregnancies.

If you’ve experienced miscarriage, pregnancy loss, fertility anxiety, or the emotional whiplash of holding gratitude and grief at the same time, this episode is for you. You’re not alone, and you’re not doing it wrong.

More about Amanda Bryk, JD:

Amanda Bryk is a non-practicing attorney who worked in the financial markets practice of an AM100 law firm for 5 years. Amanda struggled with multiple pregnancy losses and secondary infertility and turned to social media when she felt alone within her community. She is excited to be a part of IWSTHAB and give back to a cause deeply personal to her family. Amanda now devotes her time to her husband (a urologist specializing in male infertility) and 3 children, volunteering at their school and volunteering within the Hollywood, Florida Jewish community.

Connect with Amanda:

-Check out Amanda on Instagram

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