Infertile AF: Infertility and Modern Family Building through ART

Lindsay Fischer is the best-selling author of "The House on Sunset" and "The Two Week Wait Challenge," and today, she's telling Ali her entire infertility story. Included: How trauma therapy helped her heal from an abusive relationship, the importance of self-care, and what happened when her husband did an at-home semen analysis. Lindsay also talks about IUIs, her horrible experience with Clomid, a retrieval that went horribly wrong, and the anxiety she felt—and the constant dehydration she suffered—when she finally did become pregnant with her twins.

EPISODE SPONSORS:

FERTILITY RALLY www.fertilityrally.com ( http://www.fertilityrally.com/ ) and @fertilityrally, offers

24/7 Community, Content and Curated Events. Give yourself or a fellow infertility warrior the gift of support while navigating your journey. EVERYONE is welcome.

TICKETS FOR FERTILITY RALLY LIVE ARE ON SALE NOW!

GO TO FERTILITYRALLY.COM ( https://fertilityrally.com/ ) to snag yours!

EXTEND FERTILITY

Extend Fertility began offering egg freezing at 40% below the national average cost. By 2017, they were the largest egg freezing practice in the nation. Today, they've expanded to offer a full range of infertility services, including IVF, in a small practice environment that is more personal, higher quality and data driven. To make an appt or see more, go to extendfertility.com ( https://extendfertility.com/ )

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/infertile-af/donations

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Today, Ali is talking to Roohi Jeelani, MD, FACOG at Vios Fertility Institute. Roohi is a superwoman: An icon in the infertility community, a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist, an outspoken advocate, a mother, a wife, and an industry disrupter. Roohi uses her ginormous social media following—almost 100,000 followers—to empower her patients and the #ttccommunity at large. She talks to Ali about the moment she knew she wanted to become a fertility doctor, being diagnosed with PCOS at the age of 12, her own infertility journey—including IUIs and IVF, and the power of social media. Roohi is currently going through treatment to try to have her third child, and she explains how "sometimes doctors make the worst patients" — and how she gets through the dreaded two week wait. 

EPISODE SPONSORS: 

Fertility Rally, @fertilityrally, offering 24/7 Community, Content and Curated Events. Give yourself or a fellow infertility warrior the gift of support while navigating your journey. EVERYONE is welcome!

Fertility Rally Live--featuring big name speakers, 16 breakout sessions, and tons of giveaways, is happening on 4/17/21. Get your tickets at fertilityrally.com 

VIOS Fertility Institute, @viosfertility. Vios is a different fertility clinic experience built on a foundation of patient-centered care, evidence-based medicine, and innovative technology. With clinic locations throughout Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Louis, the Vios Fertility Institute team understands the challenges of infertility. To learn more about Vios Fertility Institute and schedule your first appointment, visit ViosFertility.com.

A few years ago, Rachel went to the hospital with a terrible stomach bug, though she was going into surgery for a laparoscopy, and possible appendicitis, and woke up with a diagnosis of Stage Three Ovarian Cancer and a full hysterectomy. Today, she tells Ali all about her life-changing experience, including how the hysterectomy thrust her into menopause and rendered her infertile. "Infertility crept up on me. No one talked to me about it," she says. "I felt overlooked by everyone because I was young. They didn't give me access to any resources." Now 26, Rachel explains what options she has when she does begin trying to conceive, how she still struggles to find community, and why she calls her infertility her "dirty little secret."

EPISODE SPONSORS:

FERTILITY RALLY www.fertilityrally.com and @fertilityrally, offers

 24/7 Community, Content and Curated Events. Give yourself or a fellow infertility warrior the gift of support while navigating your journey. EVERYONE is welcome.

TICKETS FOR FERTILITY RALLY LIVE ARE ON SALE NOW! 

GO TO FERTILITYRALLY.COM to snag yours!

EXTEND FERTILITY

Extend Fertility began offering egg freezing at 40% below the national average cost. By 2017, they were the largest egg freezing practice in the nation. Today, they've expanded to offer a full range of infertility services, including IVF, in a small practice environment that is more personal, higher quality and data driven. To make an appt or see more, go to extendfertility.com

Kimberly and Mark, aka @bombprooffamily have been through a lot since they first got together via Match.com. Today, Ali welcomes her first couple on the show to talk about all of it, including multiple pregnancy losses, going into "full denial" when they didn't hear a heartbeat, infertility, secondary infertility and unexplained infertility, how they coped, and more. They also talk about being angry and sad, and how Mark wrote the children's book, "Whirlwinds to Rainbows" as a tribute to his bombproof wife--and strong women everywhere. 

EPISODE SPONSORS:

FERTILITY RALLY www.fertilityrally.com and @fertilityrally, offers

 24/7 Community, Content and Curated Events. Give yourself or a fellow infertility warrior the gift of support while navigating your journey. EVERYONE is welcome.

SAVE THE DATE FOR FERTILITY RALLY LIVE ON 4/17/21

EXTEND FERTILITY

Extend Fertility began offering egg freezing at 40% below the national average cost. By 2017, they were the largest egg freezing practice in the nation. Today, they've expanded to offer a full range of infertility services, including IVF, in a small practice environment that is more personal, higher quality and data driven. To make an appt or see more, go to extendfertility.com 

Abbe Feder is an actress, an infertility advocate, creator of the podcast "Maculate Conception," and co-founder of InCircle Fertility (@incirclefertility), which provides coaching, education, support and guidance to anyone navigating the shitshow of infertility. Today, Ali is talking to her amazing friend about her years-long journey, including multiple IUIs, multiple unsuccessful transfers, two pregnancy losses, a surrogate who changed her mind, PTSD, switching doctors, heartbreak after heartbreak, and so much more. Abbe also recalls the very difficult decision she and her husband made to reduce her pregnancy when she was pregnant with triplets, and how that third baby became her "angel baby," who brought them their healthy twins. 

EPISODE SPONSORS:

FERTILITY RALLY @fertilityrally offering 24/7 Community, Content and Curated Events. Give yourself or a fellow infertility warrior the gift of support while navigating your journey. EVERYONE is welcome. 

SAVE THE DATE FOR FERTILITY RALLY LIVE ON 4/17/21 

EXTEND FERTILITY 

Extend Fertility began offering egg freezing at 40% below the national average cost. By 2017, they were the largest egg freezing practice in the nation. Today, they've expanded to offer a full range of infertility services, including IVF, in a small practice environment that is more personal, higher quality and data driven. To make an appt or see more, go to extendfertility.com

Meet Lauren, an #infertilitywarrior who has gone through a ton so far throughout her fertility journey, including a near-fatal pulmonary embolism from being on birth control when she was 19; discovering her husband's male factor infertility, four IUIs and medicated cycles, and lots of "glimmers of hope and heartbreak." After IVF and some devastating failed embryo transfers, depression and a diagnosis of endometriosis, Lauren and her husband decided to pursue adoption, which is where they find themselves now—feeling hopeful for the future, but still guarding their hearts. Follow them on IG @thehopefulkampffers

EPISODE SPONSORS: 

Fertility Rally, @fertilityrally, offering 24/7 Community, Content and Curated Events. Give yourself or a fellow infertility warrior the gift of support while navigating your journey. EVERYONE is welcome!

VIOS Fertility Institute, @viosfertility. Vios is a different fertility clinic experience built on a foundation of patient-centered care, evidence-based medicine, and innovative technology. With clinic locations throughout Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Louis, the Vios Fertility Institute team understands the challenges of infertility. To learn more about Vios Fertility Institute and schedule your first appointment, visit ViosFertility.com. 

Today, Ali is talking to Alexie, who had her daughter through IUI before tragedy struck at home: When her daughter was 16 months old, Alexie's husband died unexpectedly. Alexie talks about navigating grief as a young widow and co-founding a self-care gift shop, Crying Out Loud, after connecting with other women who had also lost their partners at a young age. Alexie also talks about getting back into the dating scene in her mid-30s, finding new love, and how today, she and her partner are going through IVF, using both her partner's sperm and donor sperm, still unsure what the outcome will be. 

EPISODE SPONSOR: BELI for WOMEN

Beli is formulated with the right nutrients to help boost your fertility, increase egg quality and support IVF to increase your chances of conception and a healthy pregnancy. 

To get started with Beli, go to belibaby.com and use code ALI15 for 15% off your first month of either Beli Women or Beli Men. Again, that's code ALI15 at belibaby.com. 

EPISODE SPONSOR: Fertility Rally

Fertility Rally, @fertilityrally, offering 24/7 Community, Content and Curated Events. Give yourself or a fellow infertility warrior the gift of support while navigating your journey. EVERYONE is welcome!

It’s the 100th Episode! Today Ali interviews her husband, Vince, about his version of their infertility story. Over some Coors and White Claws, they start with how the met and fell in love in high school, what happened when they moved to New York in 2003, and how their lives changed when they decided to have kids. They also discuss how, after Ever was born with no problem in 2009, their world was rocked when they found themselves going through unexpected secondary infertility, two failed IUIs and four miscarriages. Their marriage, they admit, almost didn’t last. They wrap it up with questions from the IG community. 

SPONSORS:

CIRCLE SURROGACY:

Learn more at circlesurrogacy.com, and follow them on social media @circlesurrogacy

PROOV:

Go to proovtest.com, enter the code INFERTILEAF20, and you’ll get 20% off your first order. 

PACIFIC FERTILITY CENTER:

For more information and to get started today, check out their IG at @pacificfertilitycenter, email them at [email protected], or call (415) 834-3000 

Suzie Welsh Devine is a Fertility and IVF Nurse, and the founder and CEO of Binto, and she has dedicated her career to reinventing the way women take care of their health. "It's very odd to be in the patient seat now," she says, explaining how she's gone from IVF nurse to IVF patient. Suzie talks about being in the midst of her infertility journey, including uterine polyps, endometriosis, loving your body but also hating it, her miscarriage last summer at seven weeks, her most recent transfer, and where she and her husband are now. 

EPISODE SPONSORS:

Binto, @mybinto

Binto offers personalized supplements for your body and no one else’s. Binto is the women’s health company on a mission to help women everywhere get access to safe and effective over-the-counter products, alongside access to licensed healthcare professionals, all at an attainable price-point. Go to mybinto.com today and use code infertileAF at checkout to get 20% off your first month.

Fertility Rally, @fertilityrally

Offering 24/7 Community, Content and Curated Events. Give yourself or a fellow infertility warrior the gift of support while navigating your journey. EVERYONE is welcome!

Today, Ali talks to Aimee, the founder of @iwassupposedtohaveababy about Infertility in the Jewish community. Inspired by the questions, "Why in the Jewish community is this so closeted?" and "Why is no one talking about this?" Aimee, a member of the Orthodox Jewish Community, started her organization in 2019 to help others in her community feel less alone. Aimee explains how in the Modern Orthodox Community, she tries "to straddle the modern world while still upholding the ideals and basic tenets of the religion," and also talks about her unexplained secondary infertility, how she lost 4 pregnancies at 16 or 17 weeks, and how, finally pregnant with her final two babies—twins—she suffered from panic attacks and PTSD. "Hearing, 'There's no heartbeat,' just changes you," she says. 

EPISODE SPONSOR: 

Fertility Rally, @fertilityrally, offering 24/7 Community, Content and Curated Events. Give yourself or a fellow infertility warrior the gift of support while navigating your journey. EVERYONE is welcome!