Fertility Nurses Unfiltered

"You don't qualify. You're not infertile yet." That is what Amanda Rice heard from her insurance company when she called, diagnosed with cancer for the third time before age 40, asking for help freezing her eggs before chemotherapy. Instead of accepting that answer, she built a movement. This week, just in time for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we sit down with Amanda Rice, three-time cancer surv...

"The biggest red flag for an agency is when they say we have a tiered program where the more you pay, the faster you'll match." That's how Dr. Brian Levine sums up what's broken in American surrogacy, and he has spent the last several years trying to fix it. This week we sit down with Dr. Brian Levine, double board-certified reproductive endocrinologist and OB/GYN, founding p...

While everyone else was focusing on the baby, she focused on me." That is how Lauren Dewey describes the moment her sister-in-law handed her a care basket after her son was born, and it is the moment that changed the course of her life. This week we sit down with Lauren Dewey, founder of brooksybox, for an honest conversation about all the parts of the motherhood journey that people forget to...

"A low AMH does not mean you can't get pregnant on your own." Dr. Roy Handelsman says it more than once in this episode, on purpose, because it may be the single most misunderstood number in fertility care. This week we sit down with Dr. Roy Handelsman, a board-certified OB/GYN and fellowship-trained reproductive endocrinologist at HRC Fertility, for a clear, honest, and genuinely fa...

"We became our own island." That is how Kyle Herman describes the years he and his wife spent navigating infertility in near silence, and it is exactly the isolation this conversation sets out to break. This week, in the window between Labor Day and the 25th anniversary of 9/11, we sit down with Kyle Herman, an Army veteran, police officer, and first responder who is becoming one of the...

"I did hyperventilate because of the cost. That, to me, was one of the most overwhelming parts." That is how Lauren Clements describes the moment she realized IVF was her only path to a family, and it is exactly why this conversation matters so much. This week we sit down with Lauren Clements, founder and CEO of Brilora Fertility Foundation, and Charla Grimm, the organization's Commu...

"You are losing control. You are losing something you had hoped for." That is how Dr. Vasiliki Moragianni describes what a pregnancy loss actually takes from you, and it is exactly why this conversation matters so much. This week we sit down with Dr. Vasiliki Moragianni, double board certified reproductive endocrinologist and the founder and director of the Recurrent Pregnancy Loss Cente...

You pay it every year. Sometimes for years. And most people have no idea where their embryos, eggs, or sperm are actually stored, what they're really paying for, or what happens if something goes wrong at 2am on a weekend. This week we're getting unfiltered about fertility storage, one of the least talked about pieces of so many people's journeys. Our guest is Charlie Boyer, co-founder...

You threw out the plastic cutting board. You swapped in the steel water bottle. You stopped microwaving your leftovers in the takeout container. And you are still lying awake wondering if it was enough, or if the plastic that has been part of your life since before you can remember has already made a decision your body has to live with. If that spiral sounds familiar, this episode is for you. Laur...

Nobody drops off a casserole when your transfer fails. If a friend got a cancer diagnosis, you would expect the world to rally. Meals would show up. Someone would think to ask how the partner was holding up. But couples going through fertility treatment carry a comparable weight in near total silence, and the person standing right next to them carries it silently too. This week we sat down with Ba...

Some stories begin with heartbreak. This one begins with hope. After three and a half years of infertility and four devastating losses, Jessica Butcher was searching for a path to motherhood built on trust and real connection, not paperwork and price tags. Amanda Konko felt called to carry for another family, but the traditional agency process left her feeling like a number in a pen. Then the two...

One week you're being seen every few days with bloodwork and ultrasounds. The next, you're told "see you at 12 weeks" and sent out the door. So what happens in between? This week, Laura and Ashlee sit down with Dr. Alecia Fields, a board certified OBGYN, FACOG, and trained doula, to talk about one of the most jarring transitions in the entire fertility journey: the handoff from y...

She came to the conclusion that she was probably going to get children or a marriage, but not both. So she chose children. Dr. Meggie Smith is a reproductive endocrinologist at Nashville Fertility Center and a single mom by choice, currently pregnant with her second daughter, both conceived from eggs she froze at 31. In this episode, she sits down with Laura and Ashlee to pull back the curtain on...

Western medicine tells you what's broken. Eastern medicine asks why. And when the two actually work together? That's where fertility patients stop feeling like a number and start feeling supported. Dr. Mary Sabo has spent 20 years building bridges between worlds that too often stay divided. As a doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine and founder of Lillian Horn in New York City, she&#3...

You've been told fertility is a birthright. It isn't. And the sooner you understand that, the more power you have to actually do something about it. This week, we sat down with Dr. Jaime Knopman, double board certified OBGYN and reproductive endocrinologist at CCRM New York, national director of fertility preservation for the entire CCRM network, and author of the new book Own Your Fertili...

Dr. Keri Bergin didn't start her career in medicine. She started at the front desk of a fertility clinic. From a Craigslist job listing that landed her at the front desk of RMA New York at age 21, to completing her fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at that same institution, Keri's path to becoming an REI is unlike almost any other in the field. She's also a membe...

Dr. Callum Potts knows what it feels like to want a family and wonder if it's ever going to happen. As the founder and medical director of CCRM Miami, he's one of the leading voices in reproductive medicine. He's also someone who has navigated infertility firsthand alongside his partner, gone through IVF, and is now a proud dad of twin boys. That combination of clinical expertise and lived experie...

If you've ever Googled "what should I eat to get pregnant," this episode is for you. We're sitting down with Jillian Beck Rogers, a fertility nutrition and wellness coach who brings both lived experience and science-backed strategy to her work with women navigating the fertility journey. Jillian has her own story with unexplained infertility, and it's exactly what led her to...

You've probably been told to rest during your IVF cycle. Maybe even to stop exercising completely. But what if that advice is more outdated than helpful? This week we're sitting down with Julia Neto, a pre and postnatal fitness specialist and founder of Her Move Wellness, who has spent years working alongside REIs, acupuncturists, and nutritionists to bridge the gap between fertility treat...

Nobody talks about what it costs to be the person on the other side of the exam room. Kate Ryan walked into the fertility world as a patient. She went through failed IUIs, pregnancy loss, and a long road that eventually led her to donor egg IVF and the son she has today. But what she found along the way was bigger than her own story. She saw patients losing themselves in the process, providers run...

What would you do if you found out the treatment you needed to build your family could cost $20,000, $40,000, or even $200,000 out of pocket? For most people, that number is the end of the road. For Elana Frank, it was the beginning of something bigger. Elana is the founder and CEO of the Jewish Fertility Foundation, a nonprofit that has allocated over $3.25 million in fertility grants to more tha...

You've heard your doctor's perspective. You've heard your nurse's perspective. But what about the person who is literally holding your embryos in their hands? For most patients, the IVF lab is a black box. You hand over your eggs, your sperm, and your hope, and then you wait. What happens on the other side of that door is rarely explained, rarely demystified, and rarely talked abou...

What happens when the nurse sitting across from you has cried the same tears you are crying right now? Not because the job is hard. Because she has lived it too. This week, Laura and Ashlee are joined by Megan Kukic, a fertility nurse, IVF patient, and founder of 412 Fertility Services. Megan occupies a rare and incredibly human seat in the fertility world: she has stood on both sides of the exam...

Breaking the Silence on Life After Infertility What happens when fertility treatment ends and there is no baby, no roadmap, and no one talking about what comes next? In this episode, we sit down with Lana Manikowski, certified life coach, bestselling author, and one of the most important voices in the fertility space today. After seven years of IVF and IUI treatments that did not result in a child...

This episode is dropping during National Infertility Awareness Week, and we could not think of a more fitting week to bring you this conversation. If you have ever felt like the system was not built for you, like you were too exhausted to fight, or like your voice was too small to matter, this episode is going to change the way you think about advocacy. We sat down with Barb Collura, founder of Vi...