Sperm donation. Yeah, it has a connotation. You might have a movie scene in your mind and certain way you feel about it in general. But here at Confessions, we gotta talk about all sides of fertility and family building.

Donor conceived himself, Daniel Bayen is an open sperm donor ("open" meaning his name is not withheld in records). He takes it so seriously, it's his entire career. He talks about his views on the whole process, how involved he is/isn't with his recipients, how he feels about a lot of topics like traditional sperm banks and other donors who don't seem to take it as seriously, and what it's like to have biological children all around the world.

To get in touch with Daniel:

Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/donordan/?hl=en

Open Donor Association: https://www.opendonorassociation.com

To get in touch with Ashlyne:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashlynehuffblue/

https://www.instagram.com/confessionsofaslowcooker/

Website: https://www.confessionsofaslowcooker.com

Email: [email protected]

This audio and video podcast was produced, edited, and distributed by Small Batch Sound. https://www.smallbatchsound.com

If you heard last week's podcast, you already know the first half of Mackenzie's journey. We hope you enjoy the second! If you didn't hear last week's episode you really need to go back and listen or else this one won't totally make sense!

To get in touch with Mackenzie:

https://instagram.com//macksoderquist/

Holistic Fertility Institute and Dr. Aumatma Simmons: https://holisticfertilityinstitute.com/

Trilife Health and Kaylyn Wilson (My Functional NP in Fort Collins): https://trilifehealth.com/

Real Food For Fertility by Lily Nichols
https://lilynicholsrdn.com/books/

To get in touch with Alex:

http://www.alexleddyacupuncture.com

To get in touch with Ashlyne:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashlynehuffblue/

https://www.instagram.com/confessionsofaslowcooker/

Website: https://www.confessionsofaslowcooker.com

Email: [email protected]

This audio and video podcast was produced, edited, and distributed by Small Batch Sound. https://www.smallbatchsound.com

It's all in the name...Slow Cooker Instant Takes is a shorter, sporadic bonus series featuring past guests who either have updates to their stories they want to share (i.e. we finally got pregnant or I have a new book out) or in this first case, if someone had something else he/she wanted to talk about that was not in their original episode.

Today, Jennifer Newell talks about her adoption journey.

Enjoy!

To get in touch with Jennifer:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenn_newell/

The Connected Child: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0071475001?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback

To get in touch with Ashlyne:

https://www.confessionsofaslowcooker.com

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @confessionsofaslowcooker | @ashlynehuffblue

This audio and video podcast was produced, edited, and distributed by Small Batch Sound. https://www.smallbactchsound.com

At any point during Mackenzie's journey, she could have said "screw this". A lot of us would have, to be honest. This is part 1 of a very complicated journey to pregnancy. It involves Lyme disease, vaccine injury, norovirus, a parasite, COVID, irregular and non-existent periods, lots of doctors, IVF, a death in the family, a wedding and MORE...and yet, she stuck through it. And now she's 36 weeks pregnant as of this episode's release date.

Joining us again (because she's Mackenzie's acupuncturist too) is Alex Leddy, who was part of Mackenzie's health care team––a big part.

You might be thinking...it's already a longer episode and there are TWO? Yes. It's worth it though. There are so many of us out there who wonder if we should just quit. And Mackenzie's story is the perfect example of why you might want to stick it out and try another thing. And then maybe another.

To get in touch with Mackenzie:

https://instagram.com//macksoderquist/

Holistic Fertility Institute and Dr. Aumatma Simmons: https://holisticfertilityinstitute.com/

To get in touch with Alex:

http://www.alexleddyacupuncture.com

To get in touch with Ashlyne:

https://www.confessionsofaslowcooker.com

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @confessionsofaslowcooker | @ashlynehuffblue

This audio and video podcast was produced, edited, and distributed by Small Batch Sound. https://www.smallbactchsound.com

Your fertility journey starts way before you start trying. The same body that carries you through all the other moments of your life will be the one you rely on to do what you want it to do while TTC...so why not learn what's under the hood as soon as you can?

Dr. Alicia Newsome is a functional doctor who specializes in women's health (fertility, hormones, fibroids, endometriosis, overall health). Her motto is all about finding out exactly what's under the hood, not just putting a bandaid on a symptom for short term relief.

Listen (or watch) this conversation if you want really good information about how you can approach your health from the inside out AND if you want some laughs. They giggle a lot for people who have one had one short conversation before this taping :)

To get in touch with Dr. Newsome:

https://www.dralicianewsome.com

Worthy of Rest book:https://go.dralicianewsome.com/checkout-worthy-of-rest

To get in touch with Ashlyne:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashlynehuffblue/

https://www.instagram.com/confessionsofaslowcooker/

Website: https://www.confessionsofaslowcooker.com

This audio and video podcast was produced, edited, and distributed by Small Batch Sound. https://www.smallbactchsound.com

Email: [email protected]

Not everyone arrives at their IVF journey for the same reason. Not everyone has issues in the traditional way. Take Tiffany Robertson for example: her husband had had a vasectomy years before they got married in his first marriage, and they had the option of trying a risky resersal or going the IVF route. IVF it was.

But not going the traditional route can have an interesting under belly. For instance, Tiffany tended to downplay her IVF experience because it wasn't as traumatic as others. Obviously Ashlyne tries to talk her out of that!

Listen to a beautiful conversation with a strong Southern woman whose challenges and experiences have made her who she is today. Oh, and she was divorced like Ashlyne was around the same time, so they talk about navigating that a lot.

If you'd like to get in touch with Tiffany, please reach out to Ashlyne.

[email protected]

The book Tiffany mentioned:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0830784373?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback

To get in touch with Ashlyne:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashlynehuffblue/

https://www.instagram.com/confessionsofaslowcooker/

Website: https://www.confessionsofaslowcooker.com

Email: [email protected]

This audio and video podcast was produced, edited, and distributed by Small Batch Sound. https://www.smallbactchsound.com

Information and knowledge, and therefore sound advice and prescriptions, well they come from knowing and testing a hypothesis. In other words, you might be giving–or getting–less than accurate advice on things that haven't been fully tested, thought through, or realized.

Is that jumbled sounding? If it is, I apologize. Physicians Assistant Amy Dave learned this the hard way. As a PA, she'd been telling women PMS and bloating and all the things were normal. After all, she experienced them too.

But after surviving cancer (twice), going through IVF (two sons), and having a miracle third son, she realized her body was not optimized. Through her own personal research, she learned to listen to what her body needed and was already pleading for during each phase of her monthly cycle. By giving it what it actually needed vs. what culture or society or her inner monologue thought it should get, Amy was able to get rid of all of her monthly symptoms leading to a better Amy all around. (Even her kids noticed!)

To get in touch with Amy:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewealthofwellnessllc

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewealthofwellnessllc/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-dave-pa-c-2461a3165/

Website: https://thewealthofwellness.com/

To get in touch with Ashlyne:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashlynehuffblue/

https://www.instagram.com/confessionsofaslowcooker/

Website: https://www.confessionsofaslowcooker.com

Email: [email protected]

This audio and video podcast was produced, edited, and distributed by Small Batch Sound. https://www.smallbactchsound.com

"Not all fertility stories are the same."

There are no truer words when it comes to Rebecca Lazzelle. From assuming she wanted to be a mom from her earliest days as a child to a second marriage ending in a big mess of domestic violence, the idea of becoming a mother was upended.

Listen or watch as Rebecca shares the twists and turns both in her personal life and in her view of motherhood. It's a doozy!

https://rebeccalazzelle.com

Her book: https://www.rebeccalazzelle.com/books

To get in touch with Ashlyne:

https://instagram.com/ashlynehuffblue/
https://instagram.com/confessionsofaslowcooker/

Email: [email protected]
https://confessionsofaslowcooker.com

This audio and video podcast was produced, edited, and distributed by Small Batch Sound. https://www.smallbactchsound.com

Endometriosis is a bitch. What's even worse is when you go for YEARS a. not knowing you have it b. suffering and c. people in your life questioning if you are overselling the whole thing. It's enough to make you crazy.

Add a budding country music career (and the slog that comes with the early days) and you're telling Nelly Reeves's story.

Listen to Ashlyne and Nelly talk about how they met, their odd amount of things in common–including music stuff, and of course, the fertility of it all.

To get in touch with Nelly:

https://www.instagram.com/nellyjoymusic/?hl=en

"Baby Showers" song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKqZaDWQyXo

To get in touch with Ashlyne:

https://www.instagram.com/ashlynehuffblue/

https://www.instagram.com/confessionsofaslowcooker/

https://confessionsofaslowcooker.com

[email protected]

This audio and video podcast was produced, edited, and distributed by Small Batch Sound. https://www.smallbactchsound.com

So you're not getting pregnant on your own. And IVF isn't working either. You can make an embryo, but it just won't stick. Enter the world of surrogacy––the Wild West of Surrogacy more like. Jessica Butcher was in this spot, and for whatever reason (and by "whatever" we mean many reasons), the traditional surrogacy agency route just didn't feel right. Whether it was the the lack of transparency, the time everything took to maybe possibly be semi-satisfied with the potential surrogate who would hopefully be growing your baby safely in her uterus...it was just not for her.

Enter Amanda Konko. As a surrogate, she felt the same on the other side of the equation. It just didn't feel right either!

Through their own journey as the intended parent and surrogate, Jessica and Amanda realized it could be so much better, this surrogacy thing. Personal, no middleman or coordinator, complete transparency throughout, and an emphasis on absolute alignment between the intended parent and surrogate so that the process can feel like a team effort rather than what can end up feeling...sterile. And what did they do? They founded an independent surrogacy agency around all of it: Little Seed Match!

Website: https://www.littleseedmatch.com

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/littleseedmatch/

To connect with Ashlyne:

https://instagram.com/ashlynehuffblue/

https://instagram.com/confessionsofaslowcooker/

[email protected]

https://confessionsofaslowcooker.com

This audio and video podcast was produced, edited, and distributed by Small Batch Sound. https://www.smallbactchsound.com