AllPaths Podcast

In this episode of the AllPaths Podcast, we sit down with journalist and author Ruthie Ackerman to discuss her memoir, The Mother Code , and her journey to parenthood. For much of her life, Ackerman resided in the "hell no" camp regarding children, driven by a family mythology that she possessed a "flaw" in her DNA inherited from a long line of women who abandoned their children. However, after re...

This episode of the AllPaths podcast features Dr. Kim Murray, a licensed marriage and family therapist and certified perinatal mental health provider, candidly recounting her history of recurrent pregnancy loss, the physical and emotional toll of hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), and her and her husband’s struggles with postpartum depression. Dr. Murray’s family building journey was shaped by a generat...

In this episode, Toronto-based coach Reema Kiran shares her personal experience of becoming a single mother by choice. Despite initial fertility assessments suggesting she would have a high egg yield, her attempts at egg freezing resulted in only two eggs, a result she realized was not a sufficient "insurance policy." This medical setback, combined with the feeling that her biological window was c...

This episode of the AllPaths Podcast features Alisa DeLage, LICSW, a clinical social worker who shares her personal and professional insights into the complexities of family building. Alisa’s own journey began with the excitement of a pregnancy and the feeling like her story, married to her high school sweetheart, was unfolding exactly how it was supposed to. However a traumatic miscarriage at 11...

In this moving episode of the AllPaths podcast, we sit down with Katie Gilliam, a Massachusetts mom and community advocate, to discuss her complex and emotional journey to parenthood. After an initial PCOS diagnosis and a difficult encounter with a fertility specialist who labeled her "the problem" due to her body size, Katie and her husband Chris achieved a successful pregnancy through IUI. Howev...

In this episode of the AllPaths podcast, we sit down with Darlene Pinkerton and Kaitlin Pinkerton-Locher, mother-daughter trailblazers who have spent decades at the forefront of third-party fertility. After a hysterectomy at age 25 left Darlene unable to carry a pregnancy, she and her husband, attorney Tom Pinkerton, provided the genetic "ingredients" to create their daughter, Kaitlin. Because Dar...

This episode of the AllPaths podcast features Dana Rudolph, founder and publisher of the two-time GLAAD Media Award-winning LGBTQ+ parenting site Mombian . Dana shares her personal family-building story from the early 2000s, detailing her and her partner’s experience with reciprocal IVF. She reflects on the medical complexities of syncing cycles and the legal hurdles they faced in New Jersey, wher...

In this episode of the AllPaths podcast, we sit down with Elana Frank, the CEO and founder of the Jewish Fertility Foundation (JFF) , to discuss her journey to parenthood. Elana shares her experience navigating fertility treatments in both Israel and the United States, including the discovery of her blocked tubes after months of ineffective procedures and the eventual birth of her three sons throu...

In this episode of the AllPaths podcast, sit down with Carol McMurrich, the founder and director of Empty Arms Bereavement Support . Carol shares her deeply personal story of losing her first daughter, Charlotte, to stillbirth at 41 weeks after an uncomplicated pregnancy, an experience that left her feeling "totally floored" and disconnected from reality. She reflects on the "visceral fear" that a...

In this episode of the AllPaths podcast, hosts Emily and Liane sit down with Cynthia, a licensed social worker and seasoned health and wellness coach, who first connected with our organization over twenty years ago as a peer support group attendee. After enduring years of infertility and recurrent pregnancy loss, Cynthia finally welcomed her daughter through IVF. Following a later, life-threatenin...

In this episode we meet Will, a Boston native living in Texas who offers a unique perspective on adoption as both an adoptee and a new adoptive father. Adopted at birth from a Brazilian birth mother by white parents, Will shares what it was like growing up in a multiracial household where adoption was a normal, open part of the conversation. He recounts his emotional journey to reconnect with his...

In this episode, Jessica Attime, a life-long New Englander, shares her transition from waiting for the "perfect time" to start a family to navigating the unpredictable reality of infertility. From the all-consuming effort to conceive to experiencing a heartbreaking miscarriage, Jessica and her husband were eventually given a diagnosis of unexplained infertility. The conversation explores the emoti...

In this episode of the AllPaths podcast, we are excited to introduce the organization's new Executive Director, Lauren Hart Clancy. A longtime volunteer who has led peer support groups and co-chaired our annual Footsteps for Family Building Walk, Lauren brings personal family building experience as well as her professional background in public health, advocacy, and community building to this role....

In this episode, we welcome Dr. Harrell Jordan, a nurse educator and author who discusses the often-overlooked perspective of male infertility within the Black community. After being diagnosed with a low sperm count and abnormalities early in his marriage, Dr. Jordan shares his multi-year struggle to conceive, which involved failed IVF cycles, surgeries, and the emotional strain of balancing perso...

In this episode of the AllPaths podcast, we sit down with Ruthie, a Boston-area school counselor and educator, to discuss her incredibly complex and high-stakes journey to motherhood. Ruthie’s story begins at age 34, when she...

In this episode of the AllPaths podcast, hosts Emily and Liane sit down with author Amy Gallo Ryan to discuss her infertility memoir, You May Feel a Bit of Pressure: Observations from Infertility's Heart-Wrenching Ride . Amy shares her struggle with unexplained infertility, recounting the grueling process of multiple IVF rounds, the isolation of quitting her job to focus on treatment, and the hear...

In this episode of the AllPaths Podcast, we are joined by Rachel Spekman, a therapist and career strategist from Massachusetts. Rachel shares her arduous three-year journey to motherhood, which involved multiple fertility treatments, multiple losses, and navigating the healthcare system as a same-sex, mixed-race couple. Eventually she had two successful frozen embryo transfers, leading to the birt...

In this episode, we speak with Lana Manikowski, an author and certified life coach who navigated a seven-year infertility journey that ended at age 44 after multiple rounds of IUIs and IVFs left her without a baby. Lana candidly discusses her decision to forgo further routes like adoption to avoid additional heartache, reframing the choice to stop treatment not as a failure, but as a courageous ac...

In this episode, we welcome Rijon Charne, the founding attorney of Sunray Fertility Law. Rijon’s specialization in reproductive health law was a direct result of her personal experience as a cancer survivor and the educational and financial hurdles she faced during her own fertility journey. Just two days after graduating from law school, Rijon was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. During this ti...

In this episode, Kristy Koser, a licensed professional clinical counselor specializing in reproductive mental health, shares her family building journey. After years of struggling with infertility and experiencing multiple miscarriages during IUI and IVF cycles, Kristy and her husband eventually welcomed their daughter via surrogacy in 2017. Because Kristy and their gestational carrier lived close...

In this episode of the AllPaths podcast, we welcome Jacqueline Fitzpatrick, who offers the rare perspective of being both a seasoned IVF nurse with over 15 years of experience and a former IVF patient. Jacqueline shares the candid details of her family building journey, which was complicated by a pituitary gland cyst that prevented her from ovulating. She discusses the clinical challenges she face...

In this special Valentine’s Day episode of the AllPaths podcast, host Emily is joined by her husband, Andy, for a candid conversation about the impact of fertility and family building challenges on relationships. Now 20 years into their marriage and parents to 13-year-old triplets via IVF, they draw on their own experience to answer a series of questions submitted by the community regarding the st...

In this episode of the AllPaths podcast, we sit down with Dr. Carmel Wiseman, a fertility optimization specialist who acts as a "detective" to uncover the hidden barriers preventing people from growing their families. Dr. Carmel shares her eight-year journey, which began at age 41 and included multiple miscarriages, IUIs, and IVF cycles in both the United States and Israel. She details the unique...

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Malcolm "Kip" McKenzie, a retired OBGYN with 35 years of experience with 20 years of focus on treatment of endometriosis, particularly complex surgical management. We discuss the complex and often misunderstood reality of living with endometriosis, which can impact many people’s ability to conceive. Reflecting on the misconceptions surrounding the condition, K...

In this episode, we talk with Nancy Weatherby, the Intended Parent Outreach Manager at Circle Surrogacy, about her personal and professional experience with family building through surrogacy. Nancy shares her story of being diagnosed at age 17 with MRKH syndrome, a rare birth defect that typically means a person is born with ovaries but without a uterus. She details the medical complexities of thi...