This articlewas originally published by The 19th, *_in partnership with [USA Today](https://www.usatoday.com/)\. Sign up for The 19th’s daily newsletter.**__* Sara Toups thought it was early signs of menopause. Her breasts were sore, her belly bloated with discomfort. She started to wonder if she had missed her period. Shouldn’t she have gotten it weeks ago? Toups was 44 — old enough, she figured, that any chance of pregnancy was long behind her. She had made peace with it. A former special education teacher, Toups had never made enough money, had never been in quite the right relationship to …