King couple pens book on infertility

By Mark Pavilons
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative

A King City couple wants to help spread awareness about infertility to youngsters.
Stephanie and Vince Macri are promoting their book, “Auston the Magical Egg,” in time for Canadian Infertility Awareness Week (April 18-24).
Stephanie pointed out that 1 in 6 Canadian couples face troubles to conceive children. It is more common now than ever before that children are being conceived through assisted reproductive measures, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF).
“My husband Vince and I struggled to conceive for many years and have faced a large amount of heart ache throughout our journey to parenthood.”
The book is admittedly very close to their hearts. It uses simple, light-hearted language and imagery appropriate for young children. It also sticks as close to the truth as possible, explaining how children conceived through assisted reproduction (like IVF) came into this world.
Macri said they feel extremely blessed to have their “miracle baby, Mason,” who was conceived via in vitro fertilization.
Once Mason was old enough to start asking questions, the couple began thinking about how common their journey was, and how few resources there are to help parents figure out how, or even if, to share that journey with their kids.
“We hope our story helps families, like our own, communicate about a tricky subject, and help children like Mason understand not only how common this journey has become, but more importantly, how special they are.”
The couple had ideas for the book for some time and finally started to put pen to paper last spring, wrapping up the manuscript last summer.
“Publishing our book was a huge and optimal goal for us – we really wanted to have something special not only for our family, but something to share with families just like ours within the infertility community.”
The writing process was new to them and involved a lot of research.
“We researched a lot and met with several publishing companies to fully understand the scope of the business, and understand the full end-to-end process. We finally decided to go ahead with FriesenPress, which is a well known Canadian-based publisher. They were fantastic and held our hands the entire way.”
The response from readers has been “overwhelming.” Comments like “it gave me goosebumps” and “wow – what a beautiful story” are among the feedback.
“It has really resonated with our readers, specifically those that have struggled through their journey to parenthood, or even know a loved one who has. Whether you have been directly impacted by infertility or not – the story is truly light-hearted for any child to really understand and know how loved they really are,” Stephanie said.
The main takeaway from the story is they want readers to understand that families come in different shapes and sizes, and sometimes parents need a little help, time, and a bit of magic to become parents. That children who were conceived through assisted reproduction understand how common this has become, but more importantly understand how special and loved they really are.
Stephanie admitted that she's a “huge infertility advocate who shares awareness, support, and ultimately hope to the infertility community.” She participates in several podcasts, vlogs, and is current a blogger for Fertility Matters Canada.
The book is available at over 40,000 retailers across the globe. You can visit the website directly at www.austonthemagicalegg.com for purchase, which links out to the following links: directly through our publishes @ FriesenPress, Amazon, Chapters/Indigo, iTunes Bookstore, etc.