Fertility Forward

Surrogacy gives people with fertility struggles the opportunity to have a biological child. However, the idea can feel daunting beyond measure. Today we are joined by the founder of Newborn Advantage Surrogacy, Mindy Berkson. Mindy married her venture capital background with her industry experience, as well as her personal experience as a secondary infertility patient, to help intended families grow their families. In this episode, we find out more about the mother-daughter duo offering well-rounded concierge services to both intended parents and surrogates and learn the ins and outs of surrogacy. Mindy explains everything from the most important criteria when choosing a surrogate and what makes for a strong surrogate candidate, to how surrogacy laws differ state-to-state. Tune in to hear the communication guidelines between intended parents and surrogates, Mindy’s advice for intended parents, and so much more! 

Today, we are excited to welcome Carey Cook to the Fertility Forward podcast. Carey is a holistic fertility coach for LGBTQ+ families who are spiraling into the anxious abyss of expanding their families. With an MA in Counseling Psychology, Carey helps people gain tools to navigate tough decisions, manage big feelings, and avoid common pitfalls. Having gone through her own fertility journey, she became more aware of the unique challenges faced by LGBTQ+ families when growing their families, ultimately inspiring her individual-based coaching program. In our conversation with Carey, we hear about her personal fertility journey and how she and her wife navigated both the clinic and private embryo donation route, the difference between embryo adoption and donation, and her thoughts on the rollercoaster (of emotions, grief, and trauma) that the fertility journey is. Tune in now, to hear about her work as a somatic therapist, and so much more. 

What if there was a possibility that western medicine can’t do everything our bodies need to create a conducive environment for fertility? Joining us today on Fertility Forward is acupuncturist, Sharon McDermott to discuss how acupuncture and Chinese medicine can contribute to fertility treatment. Tuning in, you’ll hear all about how Sharon’s approach is different from traditional medicine, the importance of advocating for yourself as a patient, why women lack confidence about birthing, and why you need to slow down and evaluate options when making birthing decisions. Sharon then goes on to break down different body and personality types and what food they need specifically, before explaining what Chinese medicine can do in fertility treatment that western medicine is unable to do. Finally, we discuss how Sharon’s treatments can improve sleep. So to hear all about why you need to understand your body and how Sharon can help, tune in now! 

Regular exercise has many benefits for your physical and mental health, but women undergoing fertility treatment are often told that high-intensity activity can actually decrease their chance of becoming pregnant while increasing their risk of ovarian torsion. Fitness fanatics, rejoice! Because we’re here to tell you that there ARE ways to exercise safely throughout your fertility journey. Joining us is Lauren Blandin, a professional ballet dancer turned yoga instructor, medical massage therapist, and registered nurse, but to the community of women that she serves in New York City, she is fondly known as The Fertility Yoga Nurse. Fertility Yoga is a restorative modality created by Lauren that utilizes mind/body techniques to regulate chronic stress, safely manage the physiological changes that occur throughout fertility treatments, and address the isolation that is often experienced during the fertility journey. If you are trying to get pregnant or you’ve had difficulty getting pregnant, Fertility Yoga could be a useful tool to help you on your journey! Tuning in today, you’ll find out what it entails and how it can benefit not only your physical health, but your mental health too, plus so much more. We hope you’ll join us! 

Stigma, shame, isolation, and a lack of patient education are commonly associated with the fertility journey. Today’s guest, Lauren Berson, knows this firsthand from the three years she spent going through failed treatments, a miscarriage, and being provided with false information. A combination of Lauren’s personal and career experiences inspired her to found Conceive, the solution to so many of the pain points of infertility. During this episode, Lauren talks about the types of supportive and educational resources that Conceive offers its members, the benefits of being part of the Conceive community, and the measurable patient outcomes that they are working towards achieving as a company. The fertility journey can take over your life; Conceive can help you take it back. 

Many people are under the impression that couples therapy is a last resort solely associated with divorce. Our guest today joins us to share the true goal of couples therapy and its role in helping couples achieve relationship satisfaction and a greater connection with themselves and one another. Dr. Stephanie Simon is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in perinatal mental health and couples therapy. She has a doctorate from PGSP Stanford PsyD Consortium and a wealth of clinical experience. Her current focus is on helping couples overcome the challenges that accompany infertility, fertility treatment, pregnancy, and postpartum. In this episode, she shares her experiential approach to couples therapy using Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and insight into navigating the challenges of fertility treatment as a couple. Tune in to find out why couples therapy may just be the best gift you could ever offer yourself and your partner and why it’s so vital that we destigmatize it as a society. 

These days it’s easy to take for granted our ability to communicate instantly, often across vast distances, with people we’ve never met before. But back in 1981, without the internet or email to rely on, finding a like-minded community was far more challenging. And yet today’s guest, Jane Mattes, was able to do just that when navigating the intimidating territory of single parenthood at the start of the 1980s, a time when being a single parent was far more taboo than it is today. The small community of women that Jane became a part of went on to become the non-profit Single Mothers By Choice (SMC), an organization which has since provided thousands of women with an invaluable support system. In our conversation, Jane talks about her journey as a single mother, why she is so proud of the SMC community, and how her work as a psychotherapist has overlapped with her work at SMC. We discuss the three categories of women who seek the support of SMC while also unpacking some of the key questions that single mothers grapple with, like telling children about their origin story and how to approach dating as a single parent. Jane has been a key player in an extraordinary movement that has impacted thousands of lives. To learn all about her incredible journey and the inspiring work over at SMC, be sure to tune in today! 

Today on Fertility Forward, the podcast, we have the honor of hosting Lindsay Nakash. She is a registered dietician who is renowned for optimizing patient health with accessible and convenient nutritional support. With extensive experience providing critical nutrition therapy to patients with a variety of different medical conditions including diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, GI disorders, and hypertension, she’s with us today to talk about making peace with your food. Lindsay shares her transition into the fertility world as a registered dietician and her favorite aspects of working with this population. She shares a story about fertility she experienced and some of the reasons she wanted to become a dietician. She talks about her experience in Italy as a nutrition student and how that impacted her greatly. For all this and more, don’t miss out on this episode with Lindsay Nakash! 

We are taught that food should be our primary source of vitamins and minerals and while that is true, there is no shame in taking supplements to support your health; especially when pregnant or trying to conceive. Joining us today on Fertility Forward is the nutrition specialist, Casey Seiden, to discuss how supplements can fill gaps in your nutritional needs. Tuning in, you’ll hear all about why supplements are important, and the difference between prenatal and multivitamins. Learn why you should take prenatal vitamins before you plan on becoming pregnant, why we need to be mindful of the potential inability to absorb folic acid, and how anemia affects pregnant women. Casey also talks us through some of the most important supplements to take before delving into how our needs change after the age of 35. There is a common misconception that supplements should be taken first thing in the morning and in this episode, Casey explains that different supplements need to be taken at specific times of the day to optimize their absorption. Finally, our guest encourages us to accept the fact that we may need to take supplements to be as healthy as we can be. To hear all about how you can enhance your fertility journey, your pregnancy, and your life as a whole with supplements, tune in now! 

Finding balance and welcoming that balance into your life will help you create a lifestyle that leads to being a healthy person while also having room for the indulgences and other “good” parts of life you don’t want to miss out on. Our guest today is Katie Dewhurst, the founder, and CEO of Hello Balance, a health and wellness company helping millennial women optimize their health through food. She’s a certified functional medicine health coach and nutritionist, a cookbook author, and the founder of the Hello Baby Prenatal Nutrition course. Her health coaching approach is based on the latest science and research and is not about restriction, diets, or rigid lifestyles, but about eating more of the right foods. It doesn’t have to be boring and it will heal the body from the inside out. As listeners tune in to today’s episode, they’ll hear from Katie all about nutrition and lifestyle factors as they relate to fertility, trying to conceive, and pregnancy. We discuss blood sugars and why balancing them is an integral part of finding balance in your health journey. She also shares details about her Prenatal Course and what participants can expect to learn. For all this, and so much more, don’t miss this episode of the Fertility Forward podcast.