Infertility Crossroads

Do you feel like your partner shuts down as soon as you try to talk about your struggles with infertility? Or maybe you are the one feeling like you just can't talk to your partner about your struggles because it's too hard. Friend, you are not alone. Infertility can cause a huge wedge between you and your partner. The good news is that it doesn't have to stay that way. In fact, going...

Holy smokes! We've published 37 episodes and wow am I proud. When I first started this podcast I was worried I wouldn't have enough content to get through 5 episodes and here we are! Summer is here which means I'm taking a break from the podcast for the next few months. Don't worry though! I already have 5 episodes ready to drop in the fall to kick of Season 2 of Infertility Crossr...

This episode is all about the friends and family who are supporting you on your fertility journey. It’s one I created for you to SHARE with others. Infertility is incredibly hard, isolating, and lonely. Most people who have never been through it don’t understand. So the burden to educate falls on us, those who are struggling. On the episode today I’m sharing five tips for our friends, family, neig...

In this episode, I’m chatting with Lindsay Blount. Lindsay learned that she was donor conceived as an adult.  Through this information, Lindsay has been learning what it means for her, her children and her family.   Through her experience, Lindsay has become an advocate for the rights of donor conceived people and has worked hard to help educate recipient parents about the donor conceived experien...

In this episode, we are joined by Elaine Bogard. Elaine is a soul midwife and a fertility shaman who helps women overcome fertility obstacles, heal from pregnancy loss and sexual trauma, and become the mothers they have always been meant to be. She's located in the beautiful state of Hawaii. We discussed ways to help women recover from pregnancy loss, and overcome challenges to conception, inc...

Infertility is full of mixed feelings and emotions. What I like to call the both / and. It’s hard AND it’s beautiful. It’s painful AND it’s fun. It’s broken AND amazing things happen. When we can start getting ourselves into a place of feeling gratitude AND pain and get comfortable in the uncomfortable space of both/and amazing things start to happen. And once I realized this on my own infertility...

Lana is a driven and focused woman who didn't have a plan for how she was going to have a family until she met her husband. But their journey towards parenthood wasn't as smooth as they hoped. After 7 long years of trying different things and taking breaks to navigate their next steps, Lana found herself with only one genetically abnormal embryo that they couldn't transfer. But Lana&#3...

Advocacy Day is an annual event that takes place in Minnesota, other states across the US and at the federal level.  The effort is led by  RESOLVE , The National Infertility Association in the United States.   This is an event and opportunity for people to gather at the state capital to advocate for families who are suffering from infertility, have limited to no access to infertility care, and to...

Do you ever feel like if you think about what would come next if THIS cycle fails you are jinxing yourself? Have you looked back on a failed cycle and thought “if only I believed that cycle would work” that it would have? I’m going to raise my hand and say I’ve totally felt that way. Today on the show, I’m joined again by my friend and colleague Naomi Woolfson from Embrace Fertility. Today we are...

To me, infertility = failure. Failed cycles, failed blood tests, failed pregnancy tests. But what if we switched our mindset from failure to possibility?? What would happen? On the podcast today, I’m joined by Kristin Dillensynder, a certified mindset coach who helps high achieving women thrive while on the rollercoaster of infertility. Kristin breaks down why your mindset matters, helps you redef...

You don’t have to jump when there are stairs. It sounds so simple yet so often we are standing on the edge of a cliff and we think and believe our only option is to jump. I made the mistake of jumping off the cliff of my fertility journey. But you don’t have to. Join me in this short episode where I share my cliff, share what I think the stairs look like and challenge you to find your own set of s...

When we were considering using donor eggs to build our family, one of the things that crossed my mind was how my kids, who wouldn't be genetically connected to me, would fit in our family.   This may have crossed your mind too.  Will they be accepting of our choice? Will they treat my child the same way they treat their family members who are genetically connected? These are common conce...

Lemons? The Mind? The Body? Infertility? What does it all mean? On the episode today, Naomi Woolfson from Embrace Fertility joins me as we explore the surprising connections between our minds, our bodies, and our thoughts when it comes to making fertility decisions.  Spoiler alert - she uses an example with a lemon that will make you go "whoah! I totally get it!" Our minds and bodies are deep...

In today's podcast episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Lauren Makler from Cofertility . As someone who has personally experienced a unique road to her fertility, Lauren understands the emotional rollercoaster that we can go through to build our family. That's why she's on a mission to revolutionize the egg donor and egg freezing process.  During our chat, Lauren shares her own medical...

I didn't grow up dreaming of using a donor to have my children. After our second failed IVF cycle, my doctor brought up the idea of using a donor and I was a hard no. I would NEVER use someone else’s genetics to create a child. My whole world came crashing down when the doctor told me donor might be my only chance at being a parent and experiencing pregnancy.  On the episode today, I am divin...

Emily Derrick is a licensed marriage and family therapist who is also a six time egg donor and gestational carrier.  She has had personal experience with many aspects of third party reproduction, both personally and professionally. During the episode, we talk about Emily’s experience becoming an egg donor, why she chose to be an egg donor, what the egg donor process was like for her, the outc...

Today's episode is part 2 of a series I'm doing on fertility coaching.  If you haven't listened to Episode 22 - What is a Fertility Coach and Why Should I Invest in One I highly recommend checking out that episode first.  In that episode I talk all about what a fertility coach is, why it is good to have one, the difference between a coach and a therapist and what how to decide if having...

What the heck is a fertility coach and why should you invest in one? If you've ever asked this question or wondered this, today is the episode for you!  This is part 1 of a 2 part series.  Join me next week for Part 2!  A fertility coach is a professional who specializes in helping individuals and couples navigate the challenges of infertility and reproductive health. They provide e...

Did you know that your brain is wired to fill in the gaps when you don't know things? Did you also know that the fear of the unknown is known as the biggest fear of all?  Infertility is full of unknowns.  Things we don't know.  Things we can't control.  And because our brains want to fill in the gaps we are wired to worry and spiral and try to fill in what is missing.   On...

I have a confession...sometimes I wonder if my exposure to toxins in my environment impacted my ability to get pregnant using my own eggs.  I will never know the answer to that question but it is something I've become more aware of over the last 10 years.   We hear it all the time...contaminates in the air, water, food, skin care, make-up, etc are causing issues in our bodies.  It c...

Failed IVF cycle after failed IVF cycle is the absolute worst for so many reasons.  For me, it was because I thought IVF with my own eggs was going to work, no questions asked.  The reality is that IVF doesn't always work and in fact, only works about 45% of the time for people under the age of 35.   On the podcast today I'm talking about 5 reasons why your IVF cycles with your own...

Do you feel like your partner shuts down as soon as you try to talk about your struggles with infertility? Or maybe you are the one feeling like you just can't talk to your partner about your struggles because it's too hard.   Friend, you are not alone.  Infertility can cause a huge wedge between you and your partner.  The good news is that it doesn't have to stay that way.  In...

Making decisions can be difficult and can often leave us feeling overwhelmed. The advice out there is to take your problem and break it into smaller parts. Then take time to consider the different options. Sometimes people recommend pros and cons lists, checking in with yourself, getting advice from others who have gone through a similar experience. All this is great advice but there is something...

Choosing to use an egg donor is a big decision. Once you've made that one though...another big decision comes and it is around what kind of donor to choose. I hear it all the time from my clients and from people I connect with on Instagram.  I also felt the exact same way: all the options are overwhelming and it is hard to know what the best choice is. As future parents we are constantly thin...

I recently did a poll on my instagram and I wanted to share the results with you.  I've personally been feeling tired.  Burnt out.  And I asked if others were feeling the same thing.  I got an overwhelming response of YES! You are feeling burnt out just like me.  It got me thinking...when we are feeling tired, burned out, or are forced to take a pause on our fertility jour...