Infertile AF: Infertility and Modern Family Building through ART

Today, Ali is talking to Maureen Brown, CEO and Co-founder of Mosie Baby, a revolutionary at-home insemination device that she created with her husband. Maureen tells Ali all about her infertility journey, being diagnosed with unexplained infertility, how she didn't want to go through IVF, how " it broke our hearts, and it broke us mentally, thinking about the financial constraints," a...

Today, Ali is talking to  mama, speaker, activist, and New York Times Bestselling author Alexis Jones, whose memoir, "Joy Hunter," talks about her infertility journey -- and so much more. Alexis gets into it all with Ali, including five frustrating years of unexplained infertility, navigating the world of IVF, a heartbreaking miscarriage, working with an expensive egg donor, finally gettin...

Today, author Tasha Van Howe shares her  personal tale of tragedy and triumph, which includes navigating her marriage to her high school sweetheart through years of infertility; losing a son shortly after he was born; the inability to walk after labor; a roller coaster of failed attempts at IVF; suicidal thoughts; and an adoption gone wrong that ended in complete heartbreak. Now 43 with no living...

Today, Ali is talking to Infertility Warrior and Peak and Valley Beads founder Rachel Sloan, about her family building journey. Included: male factor infertility;  being a military family (& doing IVF at a military hospital), placenta complications attributed to the IVF process, deployment, postpartum depression, starting her own business, being pregnant with twins in the time of Roe v Wade be...

On today's episode, NYC-based Lifestyle influencer Esther Santer and husband, Avi Rosenberg, share their male factor infertility story. Esther and Avi talk about how not having children is an anomaly in their Jewish community, which has a "big emphasis on family;" her needle phobia and how she never thought she would have to do IVF; how everyone assumed she was the problem; and how it...

In 2017, Arielle Bogorad was diagnosed with unexplained infertility and, after more than a year of trying IVF drugs, she was told she was a “poor responder” to them and would have a hard time achieving chromosomally normal embryos. Today, Ali talks to her about her family building journey, including how, in 2019, she was able to obtain 2 normal embryos with one being transferred and resulting in h...

Today Ali is talking to an ART O.G.! It's Ellen Weir Casey, "The Original Fertility Advocate," who forged her own unique path to parenthood in the very early days of IVF. "Infertility wasn't even a word then," Ellen says. "It was, 'You're not getting pregnant. There's no way you're getting pregnant.'" Ellen tells Ali her entire family building jo...

"There is so much about pregnancy and fertility health that no one talks about," says this week's guest, author and infertility warrior Leslie Schrock. Leslie has written two books, "Bumpin: The Modern Guide to Pregnancy," and "Fertility Rules," in which she debunks myths and empowers you to be your own advocate from preconception to pregnancy and beyond. Today, Ali tal...

Today, Ali talks to Jewish Fertility Foundation founder Elana Frank about getting married but not getting pregnant right away, going through fertility treatments in Israel, getting put on Clomid without even getting an exam, and so much more. She also talks about IUIs, IVF, transferring multiple embryos, embryo donation, having her babies, and why she started the JFF.  TOPICS COVERED IN THIS EPISO...

Sasha Hakman is not only a fertility doctor, she is a fertility patient, and today we are talking about ALL OF IT. In her podcast debut, Sasha (formerly known on IG as Dr. Fierce) talks about why female physicians have a greater percentage of infertility, and how that specifically affected her when she went through her OBGYN residency for four years, and then her REI fellowship for an additional t...

Bailey Hawkins is an IVF mama, and today she's going to tell us everything she went to to have her son -- and where she and her husband are now in their family building journey. Bailey talks about having endometriosis and very painful periods from a young age (and how her mom also have severe endo); how the Receptiva DX test changed the game for her; being called "irrational" by her do...

Lisa McCarty  is a women's health and infertility advocate who has been through so much, including 14 IVF transfers. Today, Lisa tells Ali the whole story, including IUIs, moving on to IVF, discovering she had Asherman's syndrome, the anxieties of pregnancy after recurrent miscarriage and loss, and so much more. She also talks about the benefits of therapy during infertility, including Cog...

Today, Ali is talking to Darlene, a woman who emailed Infertile AF asking to share her family building story. Darlene is a self-described "kindergarten teacher who spends all day with kids but is yet to have kids of her own." She and her husband have been trying for a baby since 2020, including 4 failed IUI's, 2 cancelled IVF cycles and a tragic pregnancy that was diagnosed as cornual...

Michelle Buteau is a brilliant and real AF comedian, actress and host best known for appearing on Netflix's "The Circle" and in the movies "Isn't it Romantic" and "Always be My Maybe." She's also a fierce infertility and surrogacy advocate, who Ali first met in early 2020 when they were both in Albany, NY for Surrogacy Lobby Day. Today, Michelle tells Ali all ab...

On today's episode, Ali talks to Katy Seppi, creator of @childlesscollective, and Alisha, creator of @twobechildfree, about living -- and thriving -- without children after infertility. Katy, who told her full infertility story on Ali's podcast in 2020, talks about all the work she is doing to support those in the community who have pivoted from their family building journeys and are now l...

Dr. Kelli Burroughs is a board certified OB/Gyn who has been practicing in Texas with Sweetwater OB/Gyn since 2009. Dr. Burroughs graduated from Spellman College in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. She currently serves as Department Chairman of Obstetrics and Gynecology for Memorial Hermann in Sugar Land, Texas. Today, she tells Ali all about her two and a half year battle with infertil...

Mary Leah and Rodney Miller spent 10 long years trying to build their family. Today, Ali talks to the couple about how they met, how Mary Leah was told that her eggs were not viable and that she’d likely never be able to get pregnant; and their ultimate decision to pursue embryo adoption. Mary Leah and Rodney talk about the effect infertility had on their marriage, how at certain points they had d...

Sonia Iwanek-Chesley is a proud donor egg mama to Taya, her sweet daughter who was born in January 2023. She is also one of Ali's dearest friends, after Sonia joined the Fertility Rally fam and became one of their support group leaders. Today, Sonia tells Ali all of the details of her family building journey, including meeting her husband, doing several IUIs, a chemical pregnancy, a miscarriag...

Kirsten McLennan is the author of "This is Infertility," which tells the story of her six year journey through IVF and surrogacy. Kirsten's son Spencer was born through gestational surrogacy in 2019 in Utah. On this episode, she and Ali talk about all of the significant challenges and setbacks they went through, as well as their very real experiences with IVF and surrogacy. Says Kirste...

Kirsten Jordan is the first woman ever cast on Bravo's Million Dollar Listing New York. In college, she was diagnosed with PCOS, and later, when she was told she was going to need IVF to conceive, she decided she did not want to go down that road. Kirsten soon started working with Dr. Christina Burns, a previous Infertile AF podcast guest, and they started changing Kirsten's lifestyle and...

Today, talks to Chris Jackson, CEO and President of Cicero Diagnostics. Chris  has been in diagnostic lab testing for over 30 years, focusing on health care sales and marketing . He has launched more than 35 products during his career, with the majority in the field of women's health & reproductive medicine. Ali and Chris talk about how Cicero Diagnostics is  Giving a Voice to Silent Endom...

On today's episode, Ali interviews  Rosanne Austin, Master Mindset Coach, Fertility Fairy Godmother, and "Am I The Reason I'm Not Getting Pregnant?" author, about going through seven years of failed fertility treatments. Rosanne explains how she did treatment after treatment, also trying everything from acupuncture to boiling black chickens, before having her son without assisted r...

Today, Ali is talking to Dr. Christina Burns, a doctor of Chinese Medicine and a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist. She is also the founder of Naturna, an integrative fertility clinic in NYC, dedicated to the comprehensive fusion of Eastern medicine and Western science. Christina explains why and how she got into a healing profession, how she was diagnosed with PCOS and low ovarian reserve, and...

Huge episode today! Ali is talking to "Jar of Hearts" and "A Thousand Years" singer Christina Perri about her long and difficult family-building journey. Christina and Ali get deep about how Christina met her husband (a legit "meet cute,"), when she found out she was pregnant with her now-five-year-old daughter, Carmella, and how "A Thousands Years" is hands down on...

Today Ali is talking to singer-songwriter Lauren Kelley, who is still in the midst of her years-long infertility journey. Lauren says she "had a feeling" she'd have trouble getting pregnant. And unfortunately, she was not wrong. Lauren explains what happened when she and her husband started to try for kids, and what happened when they discovered that one of her tubes was blocked and th...