Confessions of a Slow Cooker : A Fertility Podcast

Not everyone has difficult story from the outset. Lindsey Garcia can attest. She and her husband decided to try for a baby and BAM, she was pregnant the next month! Literally one and done. A few years after that, it took a mere 3 months of trying for son number two. But as it tends to do, life threw the Garcias for a loop when a vasectomy that didn't take led to a third pregnancy, then a devastati...

If you've been on the hamster wheel of trying to get pregnant only to hit dead end after dead end with your own health? It can be so defeating and can cause you to stop believing 1. you'll ever be a parent and/or 2. you'll ever get any better. Dr. Jeffrey Brown hopes you jump off of that spinning wheel and schedule an appointment with someone like him: a doctor of osteopathy specializing in fertil...

Sarah Herron is no stranger to being vulnerable. Not in front of a worldwide TV audience on The Bachelor as the first contestant with a visible disability (and subsequently on Bachelor In Paradise) , not through her vast social media presence, not in building her non-profit SheLift, and certainly not in her pursuit to be a mother via IVF. Her relentlessness is inspiring, and alongside Alex Leddy (...

I've heard of women wanting to get pregnant at the same time as their friends (or sisters), but I'm not sure that applies to co-workers going through IVF. The road to starting IVF can be fraught on its own. The process during IVF is rarely straightforward and instead full of unexpected twists and turns and setbacks. So imagine going through it alongside someone you work with every single day. Host...

We all know it takes two to tango...or whatever. And while not everyone has or wants a partner to become a parent, a lot of the time, there is one. So, what about them in all of this? Ashlyne's husband Marcus Blue has no problem being candid about his experience with fertility struggles and ultimately the IVF process–but like most guys, that wasn't always the case. This episode is a big one, not b...

Ashlyne has alluded to the woman she first sought IVF advice from when she knew she was headed in that direction (see Episode 2: The ABCs of IVF Part 1). And here she is in all her wonderfully honest and compassionate glory. Molly Dodge has her own IVF journey–with a twist: she can ONLY get pregnant through IVF as her fallopian tubes had to be removed. Listen along to her retelling of her personal...

What do you do when you know your body can have a baby–because you have one already–but it just won't do it again? Whitney Parker shares her harrowing experience with 5 miscarriages of all types as well as an eventual round of IVF in her pursuit to have her now two beautiful children. The grief losing a baby no matter how many weeks along you are is no joke, and when it happens multiple times, it...

What about the mother of the would-be, wannabe mother in all this? And what if she has two daughters (or sons for that matter) on completely different fertility journeys at the same time? Ashlyne talks to her own mom to talk about just that––as well as her own challenges with miscarriage and pregnancy. A mix of funny stories and difficult moments that are all too common...just maybe not discussed...

Jennifer Wayne was going to have a career in music. And she did. And then she was on TV. And then...wait 35 is considered geriatric? She needs to freeze her eggs? She can't? But wasn't getting pregnant supposed to be like the easy part? No, not everyone will have all of Jennifer's story. But a lot of us have run up to the wall of infertility with the same questions around age and timing and the un...

Like so many fertility stories, there is just so much you might not know about your friends and neighbors' struggles. It might not be because they don't want you to know, it may be that they are just in the thick of it. Case in point, Ashlyne finds out a lot she didn't know about her dear friend Rebecca June Smith. From an early diagnosis of PCOS and the assumption she wouldn't be able to have chi...

It's commonly said that every pregnancy is different, and the same goes for miscarriages. Whitney Newby knows this all too well as she had a miscarriage (3) between each of her four successful pregnancies. Listen as Whitney shares the rollercoaster her body and heart endured during this journey as well as tips she learned through her experience. For more from Whitney Newby: http://brighterdaypress...

Nashville-based singer/songwriter Courtney Dashe never envisioned that she would spend so much time and effort forming a family...I mean, who does really? A long time = a long story, and one Courtney spared no detail on. This is an episode for the women who don't want the "short version" of something so important, so harrowing, so scary at times. Not to win the I-Had-It-Worse-Than-You competition...

We've all heard about acupuncture, but did you know it can help in your fertility? Acupuncturist Alex Leddy (and Ashlyne's personal acupuncturist) talks about the ways it can impact your stress levels, pathways inside the body, and the specific protocols she implements for those in the transfer phase of IVF. Alex also shares a little bit of her own fertility journey. If you've ever wanted to know...

Jennifer Newell (and Ashlyne’s best friend of over twenty years) was diagnosed Premature Ovarian Failure (now known as Primary Ovarian Insufficiency) at sixteen. In the Wild West that women’s healthcare during that time, she was left to do a lot of self-advocacy and navigation on her own. Infertility is not a fun subject for anyone. Not for the one who is unable to get pregnant (if she wanted to),...

In the third and final installment of the ABCs of IVF, Ashlyne walks through the embryo transfer process (or in her case, two transfers) and how it felt to navigate the unexpected loss of one of her two precious embryos. Have a question or have a fertility story to share? Email Ashlyne@confessionsofaslowcooker.com Instagram: @confessionsofaslowcooker | @ashlynehuffblue

In second installment of three-part series called the ABCs of IVF, Ashlyne Blue goes through the most involved part of the IVF process: the egg retrieval. The prep your body has to go through, the stim cycle of meds, all the way to the procedure itself. Have a question or have a fertility story to share? Email Ashlyne@confessionsofaslowcooker.com Instagram: @confessionsofaslowcooker | @ashlynehuff...

There are multiple ways to get to the point where you might consider in vitro fertilization (IVF). But no matter the reason, the process largely remains the same. That process, however, is quite complicated and sort of daunting. In this three-part series, Ashlyne Blue breaks down the whole thing using her personal journey starting with the initial consultation and the work-up (part 1), the egg ret...

Last episode you heard how much Ashlyne struggled to GET pregnant. Enter her sister Maddie who had the exact opposite problem...among other issues. Listen to a very candid, a very sistery conversation with lots of awkward stories, a few tragic moments, and laughs throughout. Maddie's Instagram: @madelynesee Ashlyne: @ashlynehuffblue | @confessionsofaslowcooker confessionsofaslowcooker.com | ashlyn...

Host Ashlyne Blue shares her fertility journey that ultimately ended up in IVF. She also makes the case for why this podcast is much needed (and why it's ok that she's not a doctor). Confessionsofaslowcooker.com Want to share your fertility journey on the pod? Email us at ashlyne@confessionsofaslowcooker.com Instagram: @confessionsofaslowcooker @ashlynehuffblue

A brief introduction to the show before the good stuff gets dropped. Confessionsofaslowcooker.com If you have a fertility story you'd like to share, email us at ashlyne@confessionsofaslowcooker.com

New fertility podcast due March 3rd :)