Confessions of a Slow Cooker : A Fertility Podcast

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

When you find out you may have to fertility issues of any kind a lot of emotions can come up: Frustration, worry, fear, feeling like you're going to be late to a party you assumed you'd be right on time to...and shame. Shame is the worst of these as it's a total liar and can complicate what is already hard to begin with.

Dr. Jeff Deaton knows this all to well in his work as a reproductive endocrinologist both in private practice and in his current role at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. His medical expertise was certainly impressive, but what struck Ashlyne even more was his compassion for the people involved. She felt so comfortable with him that she inadvertently talked about a teenage trauma for the first time ever in public!

Dr. Deaton's Book: When Waiting Becomes Life

Website: http://jeffdeatonmd.com

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pod-ology/id1896900354

To get in touch with Ashlyne:

Instagram: 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

We talk to a lot of women who have trouble conceiving, but what about someone whose "fertility trouble" isn't that at all? What about someone whose trouble is what to do when she does get pregnant? You know, like how to be a mother in the first place?

Mandy Cai was born in China and sent to a boarding preschool–yes, that is a weird phrase to see typed for most of us–from age 2.5 through 7 years. Although it wasn't a form punishment but rather a sign of status at the time that a couple could afford to send their child to such a school, it definitely did some damage to its student body...at least to Mandy.

Not having any idea what having a mother looked or felt like during those formative years led to coping mechanisms she'd have to reckon with throughout life (addiction), and as mentioned, it really reared its ugly head when it was time for her to become a mother herself. What did that even MEAN?

Mandy Cai's story is unique in some ways, but also not for a lot of us who don't grow up with a clear source of what it means to be a parent.

Now a certified birth coach and owner of The New School of Motherhood, she aims to help women like her feel empowered and as ready as possible during one of the most amazing challenges we face.

For more from Mandy:

https://www.thenewschoolofmotherhood.com/

Instagram: @thenewschoolofmotherhood | @_mandycai 

To get in touch with Ashlyne:

Email: [email protected]

https://confessionsofaslowcooker.com

Instagram: @confessionsofaslowcooker | @ashlynehuffblue

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

Not everyone has difficult story from the outset. Lindsey Garcia can attest. She and her husband decided to try for a baby and BAM, she was pregnant the next month! Literally one and done.

A few years after that, it took a mere 3 months of trying for son number two.

But as it tends to do, life threw the Garcias for a loop when a vasectomy that didn't take led to a third pregnancy, then a devastating miscarriage...and two months later, a breast cancer diagnosis.

Listen to Lindsey tell all the things including her terrifying bout with postpartum after the second birth, the unexpected loss of her mother-in-law, and of course, the lack of time to grieve the loss of her miracle baby when she had to start the fight of her life post cancer diagnosis.

To get in touch with Lindsey:

https://www.instagram.com/lindseyhgarcia/

To get in touch with Ashlyne:

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

Email: [email protected]

https://confessionsofaslowcooker.com

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

If you've been on the hamster wheel of trying to get pregnant only to hit dead end after dead end with your own health? It can be so defeating and can cause you to stop believing 1. you'll ever be a parent and/or 2. you'll ever get any better.

Dr. Jeffrey Brown hopes you jump off of that spinning wheel and schedule an appointment with someone like him: a doctor of osteopathy specializing in fertility (specifically PCOS, endometriosis, hormones, etc.).

Our bodies are one unit, and even though every organ and system might have a different function, they all affect each other and throw the whole thing out of whack. So instead of zooming it, he zooms out in search of the root cause (which could also be trauma from a long time ago) and ways to bring everything back to a flow state.

For more from Dr. Jeffrey Brown:

  - Webinar: https://hormonehealthwithdrbrown.com/webinar
  - Free E-book (for listeners dealing with chronic pelvic pain): https://hormonehealthwithdrbrown.com/free-ebook
  - Website: https://hormonehealthwithdrbrown.com

To get in touch with Ashlyne:

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

Email: [email protected]

Website: https//confessionsofaslowcooker.com

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

Sarah Herron is no stranger to being vulnerable. Not in front of a worldwide TV audience on The Bachelor as the first contestant with a visible disability (and subsequently on Bachelor In Paradise), not through her vast social media presence, not in building her non-profit SheLift, and certainly not in her pursuit to be a mother via IVF.

Her relentlessness is inspiring, and alongside Alex Leddy (who is both Ashlyne and Sarah's acupuncturist), Sarah recounts her 4 egg retrievals, 5 transfers, 2 positives (with one devastating loss of her son). Around her twin daughters' second birthdays, there is cause for celebration of all she went through to get here. And all there is left to accomplish.

To get in touch with Sarah:

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

http://shelift.org

To get in touch with Ashlyne:

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

https://confessionsofaslowcooker.com

email: [email protected]

To get in touch with Alex:

http://www.alexleddyacupuncture.com/staff/

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

I've heard of women wanting to get pregnant at the same time as their friends (or sisters), but I'm not sure that applies to co-workers going through IVF.

The road to starting IVF can be fraught on its own. The process during IVF is rarely straightforward and instead full of unexpected twists and turns and setbacks. So imagine going through it alongside someone you work with every single day.

Host Ashlyne Blue and former colleague Ashley Ernst experienced this for multiple years. Listen as they talk about their respective journeys and the inevitable comparisons drawn in terms of eggs retrieved, embryos obtained, and the timing of getting pregnant (or not).

To get in touch with Ashley Ernst (especially if you experience uterine lining issues!): https://www.instagram.com/ashleyc.ernst/

To get in touch 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

We all know it takes two to tango...or whatever. And while not everyone has or wants a partner to become a parent, a lot of the time, there is one. So, what about them in all of this?

Ashlyne's husband Marcus Blue has no problem being candid about his experience with fertility struggles and ultimately the IVF process–but like most guys, that wasn't always the case.

This episode is a big one, not because Marcus says anything so monumental or different than any other IVF parent might say, but just that he's speaking at all on a public forum. We usually only hear from the women IF we hear from them.

It's a raw episode, but it's also pretty funny at times. Don't be afraid to share this one with the partners out there. It takes all of us!

To reach out to Marcus: Instagram - https://instagram.com/mjblu/

To get in touch 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

Ashlyne has alluded to the woman she first sought IVF advice from when she knew she was headed in that direction (see Episode 2: The ABCs of IVF Part 1). And here she is in all her wonderfully honest and compassionate glory.

Molly Dodge has her own IVF journey–with a twist: she can ONLY get pregnant through IVF as her fallopian tubes had to be removed. Listen along to her retelling of her personal path to becoming a mother of two daughters with her wonderful husband Barclay Dodge (chef and owner of Aspen's only Michelin-starred restaurant BOSQ).

She cares deeply about everyone around her going through their own fertility journeys, and she emphatically wants you to reach out with any questions: Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/mollymol3/

To get in touch with Ashlyne-

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

https://www.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

What do you do when you know your body can have a baby–because you have one already–but it just won't do it again?

Whitney Parker shares her harrowing experience with 5 miscarriages of all types as well as an eventual round of IVF in her pursuit to have her now two beautiful children. The grief losing a baby no matter how many weeks along you are is no joke, and when it happens multiple times, it can feel like a cruel trick.

Whitney is raw, steady, and open. You'll want to hear her story.

Whitney's Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/whitneytaylorp622/

If you have questions or want to share your fertility story, email [email protected]

http://confessionsofaslowcooker.com

Ashlyne's IG: @ashlynehuffblue | @confessionsofaslowcooker

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