What do you do when your third baby shower invitation this month comes in the mail? You begin to dread the mail as much as you dread seeing your period. Not to mention you may feel like your friendships are beginning to suffer because of your feelings.

The fact is there will always be someone having a baby. You will always run into pregnant women at the mall, even if you go out of your way to not pass any maternity or baby-related stores. The pregnant population will find you.

You need to develop good coping strategies for dealing with the feelings that arise from seeing pregnant women in your life as well as babies. Sometimes you may choose to avoid being in situations with pregnant women and babies. Other times you can't get out of the situation. By knowing ahead of time how you will deal with it, you can more easily accept the situation.

If the people in question are relatives or good friends, you may want to sit down and talk to them about how you are feeling. If they know about your struggles to conceive they themselves may be unsure of how to behave or act around you. Help them by spelling out for them what you need from them. You might tell a good friend that you'd love to come to her baby shower, but that it's too painful for you to be there. Explain to her how happy you are to be invited to celebrate and that you really are excited for her, but that you are simply too overwhelmed to attend.

If you find that your friends are not inviting you to baby showers or other baby-related functions, and you are equally offended by this, remember that most likely they are trying to spare your feelings. Be honest and tell people what you want and need. They are not mind readers and are probably making the mistake out of kindness.

In situations where you do not feel comfortable sharing your personal struggles, you may choose to simply invent an excuse to leave or walk away until the conversation turns to something else. Steer the conversation in another direction yourself. If you have a friend with you who does understand, look to her for support in making this change.

The keys to dealing with issues of everyone else being fertile can be difficult and overwhelming. There will be times when it is possible for you to be around others who are obviously fertile. Tell those who are closest to you how they can help you and what you need from them. True friends will do their best to accommodate you. To those that you are around who are not privy to your fertility struggles, turn a deaf ear and move on whenever you politely can.

Finding support for fertility issues is imperative. Whether you find that support online, in real life, or through counseling or groups, you simply need to make that connection. Staying connected to your spouse is also a necessity. Working on your relationship is key to making it down the road to fertility. While the road isn't smooth and it does have its bumps, these relationships will help you sustain your sense of mental and physical well-being.