According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 7.5 million women across the United States suffer from infertility or the inability to carry a baby to term. Many suffer in silence. The stigma or taboo behind infertility leads many women on a downward spiral of negativity.

Yet where does this taboo come from? When it comes to Latinas, several things are at play. For one, Hispanics are second in pregnancy rates behind African Americans. And then there’s the cultural tropes: in many Latino households, building a family is what’s expected of adults. So when Latinas are hit with infertility, how do they deal with the pressure to become pregnant when it’s harder than what you’ve been told? The answer for many is secrecy.

Annette Prieto-Llopis is all too familiar with that scenario. Through her journey, she found the best way to cope was to share her story. She knew many women who were not able to tell even their own families. So she broke with the stigma and even started an infertility support group through her church–and has since passed on the baton. Why? Because in 2015, Annette gave birth to a baby girl.

Though she had a difficult pregnancy, she says she’s happy it happened when it did instead of seventeen years ago.

Listen to the full story here: http://www.npr.org/2017/02/24/517040458/how-to-make-a-baby-in-17-years