Infertile AF: Infertility and Modern Family Building through ART

Joshua U. Klein is the Chief Clinical Officer at Extend Fertility, and he’s also Ali’s doctor, who worked with Ali and Vince on their one and only round of IVF—which brought them baby Sonny in Dec 2015. Four years later, Ali reunites with the Harvard Med School grad to unpack what they went through together, from Ali walking into his office as a "broken woman" to the emails she sent him at...

On today's episode, Ali talks to Debbie about her unexpected pregnancy at the age of 36, how she dealt with the heartbreak of losing that baby in the third trimester, starting to have kids again at the age of 39, and the eight rounds of IVF--and 450 shots--that lead to where she is today. "When I put my hands on my hips, I can still feel the soreness of those 21-gauge needles," she say...

Ali goes deep with her friend Sam, who was diagnosed with premature ovarian failure three years ago, at age 25. Faced with the fact that if she wants to have a biological children, she’ll have to do IVF, Sam discusses how she's dealing with the challenges of her diagnosis, including how hormone replacement therapy has put her into pre-menopause, how she tells (or doesn't tell) guys she dat...

America is an actress, singer and mama who has gone through hell—and back again—to finally have her beautiful baby daughter. Today, she talks to Ali about her years-long struggle to have a healthy pregnancy and delivery, including multiple miscarriages, multiple stillbirths, and what happened when they decided to pursue surrogacy in India. America talks about going through a very dark time—at one...

Today, Ali talks to Holly about her unexplained infertility, including IUIs that didn't work, IVFs that didn't take, and an adoption that ultimately fell through. Holly, who's one of the strongest mamas Ali has ever met, discusses how she finally had her son--and how he was born with a very rare medical condition that has already required several surgeries and countless hospital visits...

Meg is the author of, “The Waiting Line: What to Do (and Not Do) When Someone You Love Is Struggling with Infertility.” Today, she talks to Ali about getting pregnant at age 37, back-to-back blighted ovums, the MTHFR gene, Hashimoto's disease, and finally having her son. Now in the midst of secondary infertility, Meg also reveals how she got ghosted by her doctor and the best and worst things...

Rebekah is a fellow NYC mama and infertility warrior who struggled to get pregnant in her mid-30s before going through "mini IVF." Today, the mom of three is focusing on supporting other women as a fertility coach, a doula and the creator of the website, https://its-conceivable.com/ . Today, she talks to Ali about not wanting children when she was growing up, egg quality vs. egg quantity,...

If you've been following the secondary infertility story of our beloved recurring guest, Stacy, you know that she’s gone through so much: multiple miscarriages, two IVF cycles, and sadness, disappointment and frustration that isn't quantifiable. Today, in parts 4 and 5, Stacy tells us what happened with her second retrieval (hint: it includes running down the freeway with a bag full of nee...

You might know Bridget Marquardt from the reality series "The Girls Next Door," which depicted her life as one of Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner's girlfriends. Today, Ali—a Playboy mag editor for 10 years—talks to Bridget about freezing her eggs while living at the Mansion, being terrified of needles, the "emotional, financial and physical roller coaster" of infertility, the dev...

This is the story of Vanessa, a.k.a. "Mama," and Jory, a.k.a. "Mommy," who live in California and have two adorable toddlers, Axel and Lexa. Today, Vanessa tells Ali all about how she and her wife conceived their two children via at-home insemination (and why her wife carried one and she carried the other); the dumb things people say to her at the park (ie: asking her if she's...

In 2017, Agnes Fischer wrote a book, "Eggs Unscrambled," the girlfriend's guide to everything you need to know about your reproductive organs, including freezing your eggs. Today, Agnes talks to Ali about avoiding pregnancy in her early 20s and early 30s, how women are conditioned to think they have to breed, "fertility treatment light," IUIs and IVF, her blog, "FrozenPleas...

Today, Ali talks to Dara, a registered dietitian at the fertility clinic Reproductive Medicine Associates (RMA) of New York, about her own infertility struggles. Dara discusses having PCOS as well as toxic fluid in both her fallopian tubes, requiring surgery to block them off. Also covered: Feeling shameful about her chemical pregnancy, getting pregnant twice more through IVF, and the dietary advi...

Today, Naomi, a 24-year-old living in England, talks to Ali about being faced with the most difficult decision of her life: Having to decide what to do when, halfway through her pregnancy, doctors discovered that her son, Bear, had a congenital heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot. Naomi gets real about making the decision they did and why; telling her then four-year-old son, Tristan, why his b...

Today, Ali talks to Anna Victoria—the fitness entrepreneur and influencer behind the hugely popular Fit Body App—about the painful infertility road she's been traveling with her husband, Luca. Anna Victoria gets into some real talk, including two failed IUIs; how not being able to work out has affected her emotional and physical health, and the frustrations of being told by doctors that things...

Today, Ali welcomes back her #ttcsister and recurring guest Stacy, who is taking us along as she straps into her secondary infertility roller coaster ride. When we last spoke to Stacy, she was in the middle of her very first IVF cycle. Now, she fills us in on how that first cycle and retrieval went, why she and Ari decided to do a second IVF cycle right away--and how she manages when things are &#...

Today, Ali talks to Nichelle Sublett, Mrs. North Carolina 2018, about the five painful years of infertility she endured—and why she chose to spread awareness about infertility after winning the pageant. Nichelle is finally pregnant with a baby boy, due at the end of August, and here she recalls her "horrible" path, including PCOS, five miscarriages, IVF, considering a surrogate, marital st...

Amanda Rice is a self-proclaimed "cancer overachiever" who was diagnosed with—and beat—cancer three times before turning 40. She’s also the badass founder of Chick Mission, a nonprofit that gives young women who are diagnosed with cancer scholarships to freeze their eggs. Today, Amanda talks about getting brushed off by doctors, her bilateral mastectomy, "dress-up chemo,” an egg retrie...

Today we meet Shira, a brilliant lawyer, amazing mom, and Ali's friend from SoulCycle, who opens up about her intense, emotional struggle with infertility. Shira details everything she went through, including an unexpected diagnosis of endometriosis "everywhere," getting pregnant after two years of trying, and the brutal decision she and her husband had to make when they found out that...

Ali’s guest today is Dr. Mark Trolice, an OB/GYN and reproductive endocrinologist who runs Fertility CARE in Winter Park, Florida. Marks gets real about the 10 years of infertility he and his wife experienced before adopting their five children. He calls infertility "a life crisis" and how not being able to help his wife caused him to "spiral down into an abyss of despair." Mark&#3...

On today's episode, Ali talks to Elli, an American living in Paris, about how different infertility is in France versus the U.S. Case in point: The health care system in France covers fertility treatments (for free!) up to a woman's 43rd birthday. Elli talks about being on the Pill for 20 years, going down an internet rabbit hole, one very insensitive doctor she came across, being in a &#3...

Today, Ali checks in with Stacy, her first recurring guest, as she goes through her secondary infertility journey. When we left off, Stacy had suffered three miscarriages and was about to start her very first IVF cycle. Now, she's 9 days into it, and she's sharing all the details, from waking up at 5:30am to do her injections to what happened when the hormonal and emotional side of everyth...

On today’s episode, Ali talks to Melissa, a friend from high school who reached out in the hopes that her complicated infertility story would help other people. In addition to severe endometriosis and other health issues that left her in and out of the hospital for years, Melissa gets candid about her seven cycles of IVF, the devastating double miscarriage she says "should be on an episode of...

Continuing our celebration of Pride Month, this week's guest is Kristi, who had two children of her own before becoming a surrogate for a same-sex couple living in Israel. Kristi shares the intimate details of her surrogacy experience--before revealing that now, years later—and after undergoing a hysterectomy—she and her husband are using a surrogate of their own to try and have a third baby. ...

Ali's guest today is Elshane, a fashion stylist by day, blogger by night and mama 24/7. Self-described as "If Carrie Bradshaw were a mom," Elshane, who has nearly 100,000 followers on her highly entertaining, extremely chic Elshane's World Instagram account, tells Ali all about her journey with secondary infertility. Included: Six unsuccessful IUIs, how she and her husband managed...

Happy Pride Month! Ali's guest today is Michael, one of the dads behind Two Dads U.K., whose mission is to raise awareness of same-sex parenting and help other same-sex couples and other single gay people realize that becoming a parent shouldn't just be a dream. Michael talks about coming out; building a family with his husband, Wes; the 3-4 years they researched surrogacy; the birth of th...