Pregnantish

Emmy-award winning news anchor and reporter Jenny Anchondo has reported on stories for over a decade, and has spent her career hearing people's life stories, but admits that until being touched by pregnancy loss and secondary infertility, she never had the desire to share her own story.   Part of Jenny's story is the lack of awareness and knowledge she says that she had about her fertili...

Emma Groenbaek grew up not only with the awareness about the fact that she was conceived via sperm donation, but pride connected to it. In fact, as a child, her bedtime book was the story of how she was created with the help of science and donor conception.  So, perhaps it's no surprise that when social media came around, Emma, now 27 years old, started blogging, educating and posting about h...

When Benjamin Carmichael and Becca met doing advocacy work for Planned Parenthood in New England in 2018, they never imagined that months later, they'd match on Tinder, get engaged to marry exactly three years to the day, and set out to have children together. But both have always known that they wanted to become parents.  For any couple, this chapter of trying to have a baby can be exciting...

For over 25 years, Karen Salmansohn has been a multi bestselling author with approximately 2 million books sold globally.  Her first book, “How To Be Happy Dammit” gained a slew of public fans including Madonna, Tony Robbins and Deepak Chopra and Karen has since added coaching, speaking and consultation to her body of work.  In this episode on happiness, which also explores how Karen bec...

When model and wellness influencer Tess Annique met retired NHL hockey star, Sheldon Souray in treatment for addiction in January 2017, she never imagined the two would later fall in love and marry. The two were good friends and shared life's most vulnerable moments as they tried to get sober. But months later, when they reconnected through a text message, Tess admitted she knew something had chan...

Just three months after Mallory Weggemann was rendered paralyzed after treatment for her back pain, she re-entered her happy place - the pool - and tried to regain not only her sense of strength, but her sense of self. Through this incredible challenge, Mallory learned about resilience, vulnerability, hope and persistence – qualities that not only helped her excel as a Paralympic Champion on...

When CNN Entertainment Reporter and New York Times best-selling author Chloe Melas married her husband, Fitness Influencer Brian Mazza, she expected them to start their family when they were ready, just as their friends had. After all, she was healthy and in her 20s and she didn't know anyone who had openly struggled with infertility.  But when she was diagnosed with Low Ovarian Reserve at 29...

Actor Camille Guaty is known for her many roles on TV and in films including Gotta Kick it Up, Prison Break and Scorpion. But what people watching her may not know is that behind the scenes, she struggled for many years to get and stay pregnant. Since getting pregnant via egg donor IVF in 2019, Camille has been public about her experience and why she not only doesn't hold shame for using an egg do...

NASCAR fans may know Samantha Busch as the wife of stock car racing driver Kyle Busch; but in more recent years, more have learned that in addition to being a wife, a mom, and a lifestyle blogger, Samantha is also an infertility advocate through her non-profit, “The Bundle of Joy Fund” and her book, “Fighting infertility, Finding my Inner Warrior Through Trying to Conceive, IVF and...

Emmy winning reporter Darla Miles never imagined that she'd be the center of a story involving infertility, repeated miscarriages and trying to conceive at 50 years old, especially as she has reported on extraordinary stories throughout her career. In her 30s, Darla met her husband and was thrilled to get pregnant at 36 just before their wedding; but that pregnancy ended and kicked off a decade+ l...

Sperm donation has been around since the 1950s and has helped build countless families for people with male factor infertility and/or for women without male partners. When it started, and in the decades that followed, most sperm donors were anonymous and many people who used sperm donors were actually discouraged from telling their offspring that they were conceived this way. But, as donor co...

How will the recent Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe Vs Wade impact the infertility community and those who face complicated pregnancies? According to the guests on the pregnantish podcast, Dr. Krishna Upadhya, VP of Quality Care and Health Equity at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, reproductive specialists Dr. Serena Chen and Dr. Lucky Sekhon, and fertility advocate, Davina Fankhau...

When Fabi traveled from California to Nashville for a football game in 2014, she never imagined her life would radically change. One night at a bar she met Josh, a handsome Army Ranger who had been stationed nearby. They would later describe the encounter as "love at first sight." The two were just starting out their lives in their 20s when Josh received a devastating diagnosis, he had a rare form...

Those who have followed Sarah Kennedy Ellis’ career as a top CMO for blue chip companies, like Adobe, and now as a VP of Global Growth and Demand at Google, know how talented, driven and successful she is.  What they may not know is that no matter how dedicated and focused Sarah is on one of her most important goals - having a baby - she has silently struggled behind the scenes... until recen...

Rebecca Soffer’s life changed overnight in 2006 when her mom died in a car accident, and her dad died of a heart attack on a business trip just a few years later. She never expected to be living without her parents in our early 30s navigating jobs, relationships and life.  From this isolating and heartbreaking experience, Rebecca launched a platform that she desperately craved - Modern Loss -...

Ariel Taylor had her first pregnancy and child in her early 20s and realized soon after that that she not only loved being pregnant, but that she loved being a mother and couldn't bear the thought that some people who wanted to become parents wouldn't be able to either because of their infertility, or because they didn't have the anatomy to create or deliver a baby themselves.  So in 2015, Ar...

Ever since the first IVF baby was born, just over 40 years ago, the fertility field has grown steadily and rapidly.  What does the future hold? On this episode, which is divided into three parts, Andrea invites experts in the field to explore what we can expect moving forward with the advancements in the field, how to best protect ourselves and our specimens over time, and why we need better...

*This episode is part of the pregnantish 'Reality of Infertility' series featuring reality stars and public personalities who have undergone fertility treatments to build their families and are sharing their fertility journeys in honor of awareness, education, and advocacy. Those who watch reality TV and Bravo, in particular, know that Golnesa "GG" Gharachedaghi from “Shahs of Sunset” has never be...

In honor of National Infertility Awareness Week, this "Reality of Infertility" episode featuring reality stars Kendall Long and Caroline Lunny from Bachelor Nation, and Golnesa "GG" Gharachedaghi from Shahs of Sunset, is a candid talk about egg freezing, IVF, navigating fertility treatments without a partner, miscarriage, how to pick a sperm donor and more.  Taped live in front of an audience...

For fans of the hit CBS show Survivor, Season 29 runner-up Jaclyn Misch is the definition of bravery. She competed and dominated challenges that would make many of us bow out or buckle. In some ways Jaclyn's "Survivor" journey mirrored her journey with her husband, fellow survivor contestant Jon Misch, as they tried to conceive over the years. Born with MRKH Syndrome, a condition in which a w...

If you saw Lauren McGregor walking down the street, you’d see a woman glowing with pride that she’s in her third trimester, pregnant with a baby she only dreamed about. What you wouldn’t see is everything behind this pregnancy - the fact that Lauren is carrying the love of her life Chris’s baby, and that he will never be earthside to raise his son with her. You wouldn’t se...

If you've ever watched the reality show “The Bachelor” you may remember Holly, who was on the 12th season of the popular series and the winner of Season Two of the reality show spin off, The Bachelor Pad. Holly actually met her husband, Blake Julian, on the show, and they're one of the few couples in “Bachelor Nation” who are still together today. Millions watched as a pair fell in love and follow...

Meet Matchmaker Rachel Russo, a solo parent who believes that having a baby on her own is one of the single best decisions she's made for her love life. At 30 years old, Rachel had a client who was also a top fertility doctor and offered her the opportunity to freeze her eggs for free. Rachel declined, thinking marriage and babies would soon come. Little did she know then that six years...

This month, December 2021, IVF turns 40. Or, more specifically, Elizabeth Carr, the first US IVF baby, turns 40.   Making headline news in 1981, Elizabeth was known as a “test tube” baby. The Washington Post coverage at the time said that the test tube baby, " is the first successful product of a 21 month old in-vitro fertilization program that literally fertilizes human eggs in plastic...

To many SoulCycle riders and fans, Master Instructor Emma Zaks looks like the model of good health as she inspires people in her weekly classes to live up to their fullest potential. Others know Emma from her time on Broadway, following in her parents footsteps. What some of her fans and followers may not know is that Emma is also a stroke survivor and an infertility advocate. Navigating her...