{"id":11724,"date":"2023-05-05T08:16:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-05T12:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=11724"},"modified":"2023-05-03T10:35:02","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T14:35:02","slug":"colgate-love-stories-christian-10-and-nora-linn-11-massey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2023\/05\/05\/colgate-love-stories-christian-10-and-nora-linn-11-massey\/","title":{"rendered":"Colgate Love Stories: Christian \u201910 and Nora Linn \u201911 Massey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

They Tightened the Knot<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Colgate
Jaqueline Clair Photography <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

On March, 27, 2022, the caption on purely_nora’s Instagram post read: \u201cWe are overjoyed to finally share that we are expecting Baby Massey in August.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On face value, the post was the type of pregnancy announcement commonplace on the app. But the rest of the caption tells a different, more difficult story. \u201cWhile we have big smiles in this picture, the last five years have been long, difficult, and often painful,\u201d it reads. \u201cWe\u2019ve been through various diagnoses, multiple medicated cycles, three failed IUIs, two miracle pregnancies that resulted in losses, one egg retrieval for IVF, one successful embryo transfer that resulted in a miscarriage, and ultimately, our second transfer that brought us here.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nora Linn \u201911 Massey, who runs the account, has been outspoken on social media about her struggles with fertility, specifically aiming to end the stigma she says society has toward talking about the subject. By her side is her husband, Christian Massey \u201910. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou feel terrible seeing your partner going through the physical parts,\u201d says Christian. \u201cBut I feel like the mental part is just so much worse. When you both want something so badly, a child, and it just keeps failing, failing, failing, it wears you down a little bit.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nora says the process of going through IVF treatment ultimately strengthened their marriage. \u201cGoing through something like that, and having a lot of disappointment, it made us stronger,\u201d she says. \u201cWe are such a better team, we know each other super well. He did all of my IVF shots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was an experience that I wouldn\u2019t wish\nupon a couple, but, I think, for us, it has made us\nappreciate parenthood so much more.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like many Colgate couples, Christian and Nora met on the Hill when they lived in the same residence hall (Andrews). After graduation, they dated long distance while Christian lived in New York City and Nora was still in Hamilton. One day, after living in Chicago postgrad, Nora had an ah-ha moment: She wanted to be with Christian in New York, and she wanted this relationship to work. So, without a job, she moved into a tiny apartment with two roommates that was outside her budget. Soon, they married and added a dog to their family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout their seven years of marriage, Nora\nand Christian have had their share of trials and\ntribulations. They\u2019d started IVF treatment once\nbefore, but ultimately chose to stop due to personal\nstruggles. They\u2019ve dealt with family issues and\nmultiple miscarriages. But Christian describes their\nrelationship like a knot: When things got tough, the\nknot got tighter and tighter, rather than loosening\nand falling apart.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Nora\u2019s Instagram page is full of firsts: Maggie\u2019s first farmer\u2019s market outing, her first picnic in Central Park, and her first Christmas. \u201cWe\u2019ve been through a lot of garbage, especially with our fertility journey,\u201d Nora says. \u201cI think we\u2019re in the best place we\u2019ve ever been.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nora is an executive assistant at General Atlantic, and Christian is the director of investor relations at CenterBook Partners. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christian \u201910 and Nora Linn \u201911 Massey strengthened their relationship during a difficult struggle with fertility. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1222,"featured_media":12432,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[880,636,1467,1466,1468,1464,1465],"coauthors":[168],"class_list":["post-11724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alumni-updates","category-colgate-love-stories","tag-colgate-love-stories","tag-family","tag-fertility","tag-ivf","tag-marriage","tag-parenthood","tag-pregnancy"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-336","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/05\/Nora-Newborn-0508_original_edit.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11724"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12433,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11724\/revisions\/12433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11724"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=11724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}