This is Fertility

This is Infertility is back with a brand-new season! Join us on Jan 16th as we kick off season 6. We have new guests, new twists, new turns, and stories filled with hope, wonder, and everything in between. Be sure to subscribe and share this podcast with your family, friends, and loved ones. We'll be releasing a new episode every other week.

At Progyny, we believe in the flexibility and power of giving patients the ability to choose -- choose their doctors, choose the best treatment plan, and ultimately choose what feels comfortable during their journey. For this season's recap, we decided to highlight episodes that featured choice and adversity and how some of our guests have overcome the unfortunate realities we sometimes face on th...

Today's episode highlights something we talk about a lot on This Is Infertility — how a fertility doctor can make a huge difference in one's journey. Today's guest, Amber Walther, discovered soon after trying to start a family, that the process wouldn't be so "cut and dry." As a teacher, Amber's plan was to take some time from school and hopefully return after the summer break with a new family me...

Today's episode is a little different than the usual personal encounters with infertility we share on this podcast, but in celebration of Veterans Day, we wanted to bring you a special episode. Today, we are joined by Anne Marie Dougherty, CEO of the Bob Woodruff Foundation. This foundation was started to support Veterans through physical care, beyond what they receive from Veteran health care. Jo...

Today's guest is Progyny's own, Justin Smith. Prior to joining the Progyny team, Justin spent 17 years in the U.S. Military service as an Army Medic. During the peak of the war with Iraq and Afghanistan, Justin was on the brink of battling something he had yet to encounter, infertility. In this episode, Justin takes us on the journey of what it was like to be in the military and go through fertili...

Today's guest has been on the podcast before. In Episode 54, Emily Rich shared her experience with freezing embryos prior to going through cancer treatment. Now, as that battle has passed, Emily shares with us something extremely special. Throughout this episode, we go along with Emily on her family building journey in real-time. Through video updates, she documented her process from the moment sh...

Today's guests are Demi and Tom Schweers. Once the couple got married and bought a home, they started thinking about creating a family, but things have proved a bit more complicated than originally planned. Demi was diagnosed with both multiple sclerosis (MS) and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and the couple suffered two miscarriages, but these challenges have only strengthened the couple, who...

Today's guest enters the realm of fertility treatments despite never in her 38 years being diagnosed with infertility. Angela Hatem's journey began with seeking out a sperm donor to fulfill the one thing that she wanted but couldn't have without a partner: a child. What she expected to be a fairly simple journey turned out to be quite complex. In today's episode, we hear how Angela goes from think...

Marilyn Gomez is a mother to a rainbow baby named Mila. But like many Latin women, she faced many stereotypical assumptions and comments as she worked to grow her family. After five and a half years of Clomid , IUI , and IVF , she and her husband finally found success after pairing their treatment with pre-implantation genetic testing , increasing their odds of a healthy pregnancy and baby. In thi...

There are few things scarier than excruciating, physical pain for a reason unknown. Except, maybe, experiencing the worst pain of your life while on a three-hour flight, fainting, and waking up with an oxygen mask, surrounded by concerned flight attendants urging the pilot to make an emergency landing. That is exactly what happened to today's guest, Dontaria Terrell, when a cyst burst 30,000 feet...

"Do you want to have kids?" For some people this question may come with ease, for others, it may raise more questions and emotions. Today's guest is comfortable with not knowing whether or not she sees herself as a parent but most importantly she's given the ability to pursue a treatment that can preserve her fertility if she decided to change her mind. In this episode, we hear from Sarah Fisher L...

Going through IVF is challenging no matter what, but the difference between going through treatment without coverage and then again with coverage, can make a big difference. Today's guest shares her experiences with IVF before and after receiving the Progyny benefit through her employer. Caitlin Day expresses the overwhelming process of managing every aspect of her fertility treatment , and how mu...

The Fertility 101 Series, because there's no shortage of daunting terms to keep your mind running, is a quick and dirty breakdown on a specific topic with insights from a fertility expert. In today's episode, we explore Endometrial Receptivity Testing, a clinical aspect of embryo transfer and implantation. Mike Large, from CooperSurgical, walks us through the process and breaks down some of the co...

o two fertility journeys are the same, and with unique nuances of the emotional, physical, and financial strains on the parent(s), the path to parenthood is often long and strenuous. While immediate success with treatment like IUI or IVF is ideal, sometimes a happy ending takes time. In this episode, we hear from Hilary Patterson, a Progyny member with a diagnosis of diminished ovarian reserve , a...

The Fertility 101 Series, because there's no shortage of daunting terms to keep your mind running, is a quick and dirty breakdown on a specific topic with insights from a fertility expert. Dr. Lowell Ku from Dallas IVF will help break down what can lower sperm quality, thus impacting overall male fertility. Each of these causes start with the letter T and can serve as a good reminder to practice h...

June is Pride Month and with all the different paths to parenthood available for LGBTQ+ couples and individuals , it's a great time to elevate these voices from the community. In today's episode, we meet Heather and Jess Camarillo, a same-sex couple from California who struggled to start their family and documented the process on their Instagram. While the couple wasn't surprised they needed to go...

The Fertility 101 Series, because there's no shortage of daunting terms to keep your mind running, is a quick and dirty breakdown on a specific topic with insights from a fertility expert. In today's episode, we explain holistic approaches that can often be additive when trying to conceive or struggling with infertility. Acupuncture, bodywork, and Eastern Medicine are used to treat stress , target...

It's National Infertility Awareness Week, and this year, we've crafted two episodes that address the age-old truth: it takes a village. Not only does it take a village to raise a child as the saying goes, but it also often takes a village to start or grow a family, especially with an infertility diagnosis. Reproductive endocrinologists, nurses, Patient Care Advocates, managers, and HR leaders all...

It's National Infertility Awareness Week, and this year, we've crafted two episodes that address the age-old truth: it takes a village. Not only does it take a village to raise a child as the saying goes, but it also often takes a village to start or grow a family, especially when challenged with infertility. Reproductive Endocrinologists, Nurses, Patient Care Advocates, managers and HR leaders, p...

Two years ago, we shared the story of Chrissy Hogie's long fertility journey which included IVF , pregnancy loss , and all the ups and downs she went through in the process. If you haven't listened yet, here is Episode 77: Heart Shaped Uterus, Low Sperm, and a Successful Pregnancy . Like many who are on this journey, Chrissy was inspired to change the way people accessed care for fertility treatme...

Intimacy may not feel like an important aspect of someone's infertility journey , but ultimately, it can be critical. There are more conversations about the physical and financial struggles that people face as opposed to the mental and emotional struggle – which are equally as important. In today's episode, Dr. Jacqueline Sherman, an Intimacy and Relationship Coach, shares how she helps coach her...

The Fertility 101 Series, because there's no shortage of daunting terms to keep your mind running, is a quick and dirty breakdown on a specific topic with insights from a fertility expert. Today's topic focuses on surrogacy and what's part of this process – especially from the legal slide. Dean Hutchinson from Circle Surrogacy gives insight into the different regulations for each state, the requir...

Finding the right doctor can be difficult and finding one with a similar background or who looks like you can be even harder when you're a part of an underserved community. This issue, which often impacts women of color , was exactly what Ashlee Wisdom and Eddwina Bright set out to solve. Enter Health in Her Hue , a digital platform that connects Black women and women of color to culturally compet...