Talking Away the Taboo with Dr. Aimee Baron

In this episode, Dr. Baron sits down with Shari Ungerleider, Senior Manager and Head of Education and Outreach for jscreen , to share her journey as a mother to her son Evan, who was diagnosed with Tay-Sachs disease. Her story illuminates the power of love, resilience, and the importance of genetic awareness and education. Shari shares the story of her son life, from missed milestones to his diagn...

In this episode, Dr. Baron sits down with Lauren Makler, CEO and co-founder of Cofertility , to discuss her profound journey navigating a sudden medical diagnosis and how it changed her perspective on family building. This honest conversation explores the intense intersection of medical trauma, the desire to become a parent, and finding agency when life feels out of control. At 29 years old, Laure...

In this episode, Dr. Baron sits down with Rabbi Daniel Fellman, Senior Rabbi of Temple Sinai in Pittsburgh, to discuss his deeply personal experience with loss and fertility challenges. Recorded live in Pittsburgh, this raw and honest conversation explores the unique intersection of communal religious leadership and private grief. Rabbi Fellman shares the story of his and his wife Melissa's fertil...

In this episode, Dr. Baron sits down with Dr. Lauren Hofstatter, a clinical therapist often known as "the orthodox therapist," to unpack the complex realities of how Jewish couples navigate intimacy, marriage, and fertility through a traditional lens while protecting the privacy of their relationships. Dr. Hofstatter shares her insights from her popular, anonymous social media platform where commu...

In this episode, Dr. Baron sits down with Rabbi Megan and Paige GoldMarche, a dedicated couple working within the Jewish communal space, to discuss the deeply personal and complex realities of their family-building journey. Together, they share the emotional, physical, and financial hurdles of facing infertility as a queer couple while holding a profound desire to build their future family. Megan...

In this episode, Aimee sits down with Marla Rottenstreich, a fitness professional, doula, and COO of One Israel Fund. She opens up for the first time about her fertility journey, navigating a congenital uterine anomaly, pregnancy complications, and grief. This conversation is a vulnerable exploration of how deep medical trauma reshapes the path to parenthood. Marla opens up about being diagnosed a...

In this episode, Aimee sits down with Susan Kirshner-Sheldon to discuss her journey through later-in-life dating, making Aliyah, and navigating the challenges of infertility and pregnancy loss. Susan candidly shares her experience of dating, the joy of finding her husband Jeremy, and the subsequent roadblocks they faced while trying to build a family.  Susan walks us through the physical and emoti...

In this episode, Aimee sits down with Jonah Platt, actor, musician, and host of The Being Jewish Podcast. Aimee first reflects on the milestone of 200 episodes and  impact of IWSTHAB on the Jewish community, before pivoting to Jonah's personal story. Jonah Platt discusses the complexities of navigating health, faith, and the public eye while trying to grow a family. This conversation is a vulnerab...

In this episode, Aimee sits down with Clare, a mother of three and reproductive rights advocate to discuss her experience with termination for medical reasons (TFMR). Clare shares how a complex twin pregnancy led to a heartbreaking decision and explains why she feels it is vital to share her story openly. She discusses the complex reality of a reproductive journey that spans over a decade, beginni...

In this episode, Aimee sits down with Emily Sklar, a podcast producer and media personality, to discuss her proactive decision to freeze her eggs at age 35. After years of prioritizing her career in the Detroit, DC, and LA radio scenes, Emily opens up about her mother's influence and a professional pivot led her to claim her future by securing the possibility of motherhood on her own terms. Emily...

In this special re-released episode, Aimee Baron, MD, founder of I Was Supposed To Have A Baby, shares her deeply personal experience with a second-trimester miscarriage. She explores the unique trauma of navigating a medical crisis while away from home for the Passover holiday and the lasting impact that loss had. Aimee walks through the timeline of a pregnancy that appeared healthy at her 16-wee...

In this episode, Aliza Abrams-Konig, surrogacy consultant for I Was Supposed to Have a Baby, sits down with her husband, Samuel Konig, to discuss the unique and often overlooked experiences of fathers during the surrogacy process. The couple recounts the surreal moments of their journeys, from the stress of legal uncertainties to the specific heartache of seeing someone else's name on their newbor...

In this episode, IWSTHAB's Surrogacy Support Consultant Aliza Abrams Konig sits down with Andrea Syrtash, a relationship expert and founder of  Pregnantish , and her cousin Elana Syrtash-Ochs, an early childhood educator and enentrepreneur, to discuss their shared journey through gestational surrogacy. The conversation explores the profound emotional shift that occurs when a family member steps in...

In this two-part conversation, we return to Sarah Guigue's fertility journey with honesty, vulnerability, and deep intention. When we first recorded in November 2025, Sarah was still pregnant. She made the brave choice to speak in the middle of it, not  after  the ending was known, because she wanted to capture the raw intensity of pregnancy  after  loss. The fear. The hope. The constant calculati...

On this re-released episode of Talking Away The Taboo , Dr. Romy Shulman joins Aimee Baron, MD for a thoughtful and practical conversation about how to celebrate Purim while honoring your mental health. Purim is meant to be joyful, but it can also feel overwhelming. Together they explore how choosing a smaller Megillah reading with fewer children can create a more manageable and meaningful experie...

In this episode, Aimee speaks with "Q" about infertility, identity, and redefining motherhood. She shares her diagnosis of PCOS and the emotional toll of years of fertility treatments, including multiple IUIs. Q discusses the decision she made to look into other options. She opens up about the heartbreak of closed doors, including her 15-year hope of adopting from Ethiopia, which became complicate...

In this episode of Talking Away the Taboo , Aimee sits down with Shira Sussi, a registered dietitian nutritionist specializing in pregnancy and postpartum nutrition, for an honest conversation about pregnancy loss, the challenges of returning to work afterward, and her journey of building a family while holding joy and grief simultaneously. Shira shares her path to motherhood, which includes multi...

In this episode of Talking Away the Taboo , Dr. Baron is joined by  Hadassah Eventsur , an occupational therapist and life coach, for a deeply needed conversation about neurodiversity in Jewish life, and how that contributes to a smaller family size.   Hadassah reached out to name something many women feel but struggle to articulate: the pain of wanting a large family while knowing that undiagnose...

In this episode of Talking Away the Taboo , Dr. Baron is joined again by Pam Krooth as they pick up right where their first conversation ended, the moment Pam received the call about a little boy available for adoption. Pam shares her experience adopting her son, David, from Ethiopia, including the emotional weight of the legal process, the heartbreak of separation during visa delays, and the real...

In this episode, Aimee sits down with Amanda Bryk, a new IWSTHAB board member, to talk honestly about miscarriage, anxiety, and the complicated reality of building a family after loss. Amanda shares her first miscarriage and the shock of learning there was no heartbeat at an early ultrasound, navigating that moment without her husband Darren present due to residency, and the emotional weight of ma...

In this episode, Tamar and Giddy share their story - how they met, fell in love, and built a marriage shaped by multiple losses, 11 rounds of IVF, and the constant waiting that comes with not knowing what's next. They talk openly about how infertility impacts a marriage, how they learned to support each other while grieving differently, and the role therapy, creativity, faith, and community played...

This episode brings together the science, the medicine, and the lived experience behind BRCA mutations.  Emily Goldberg, JScreen's Director of Genetic Counseling Services, breaks down what these mutations are, how they're inherited, and what the actual cancer risks look like. Dr. Melissa Frey, a GYN oncologist at Cornell who works closely with high-risk families, walks us through what happens afte...

Like so many, Pam Krooth, LCSW, spent years trying not to get pregnant, only to find herself aching for the thing she once assumed would come easily. What followed was a long, emotional road marked by pain, heartbreak, and the slow, painful shift between expectation and reality. Throughout Pam's story, we see how the path to the family she hoped for looked nothing like what she once imagined, and...

A husband and wife sit down together to share their full fertility journey - from trying earlier than expected, to three heartbreaking miscarriages, IVF, October 7th, and ultimately, welcoming two beautiful daughters. In this deeply personal conversation, Rabbi Danny and Tamara Stein speak openly about the experience from both perspectives: the pain of loss, the fear of pregnancy after miscarriage...

What  happens when you have a profound loss, but no grave to visit?  In this episode, Danielle shares her unique fertility journey — one that challenges our assumptions about what "fertility struggles" look like. From the joy of welcoming her third child to the unexpected trauma that followed, Danielle opens up about grief that doesn't come with a funeral, the profound loss of her ability to have...