Infertile AF: Infertility and Modern Family Building through ART

Maggie, aka @bean.and.biscuit, has two baby sons who were born one month apart. Today, she tells Ali the incredible story of how this happened, starting with several failed rounds of IVF, including one round that ended in a miscarriage. Maggie and her husband then turned to surrogacy, and the surrogate got pregnant with one of their healthy male embryos. And then, soon after—in a miraculous turn of events—Maggie got pregnant with a boy, too.

 

Today we are partnering with Proov, the first 5 minute, at-home progesterone test to confirm ovulation. Go to proovtest.com, enter the code INFERTILEAF20, and you’ll get 20% off your first order. 

 

We are also partnering with Extend Fertility, extendfertility.com/, the largest egg freezing practice in the nation. Extend has now expanded to offer a full range of infertility services—including IVF—in a small practice environment that is more personal, data driven, and higher quality.

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Today's guest is Michael Frank, a brilliant author whose novel, "What is Missing," takes on infertility as one of its central subjects. The reason Michael knows so much about infertility is that he went through it with his wife, and as he tells Ali, "I found it personally to be one of the hardest things I ever lived through." Find out about their three miscarriages, how he dealt with feeling "powerless and quite lonely," and the Buddhist refrain that changed his perspective.     Today's episode is brought to you by Beli Vitality for Men, which provides men with the right nutrients for optimal reproductive and sperm health. Use code InfertileAF to receive 25% off your first bottle at http://bit.ly/Belibaby

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Ali's guest today is Nicole Lawson, who went through years of infertility, including three devastating miscarriages, before choosing to go the surrogacy route. Today, she has two healthy daughters via surrogacy--and she tells Ali all about the entire process, including some of the fears and reservations she had. Nicole was so moved by the surrogacy process that she started her own agency, called Abundant Beginnings, in L.A.

 

On this episode, we're partnering with Mom Culture, an online lifestyle brand created to spread positive vibes and to highlight both the salty and the sweet sides of parenthood—and the road to parenthood. Their Rainbow Mama tee and Rainbow Babe tee were created in collaboration with Dr. Zucker of the #IHadAMiscarriage campaign. Check them out at www.momculture.com and use code: INFERTILEAF for 20% off your entire purchase through February 29th.

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Not all of these stories end with babies. Today, Ali talks to Katy, who went through four years of infertility, including a failed IVF cycle and depression and anxiety, which left her feeling "stripped down" to her core. "I never thought the ending would be that i didn't have a kid," Katy says. But after a hysterectomy and some deep soul searching, Katy decided to stop trying, and now she is focusing on crafting a beautiful, childfree life, including her blog, chasingcreation.org.

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Today, Ali talks to Sarah Larson Levey, the founder and CEO of Y7 Studio. After talking about how Y7 yoga was a huge part of Ali's infertility story, they talk about Sarah's two devastating miscarriages, "being a complete hysterical fucking mess," the toll it took on her relationship, and how she managed this heavy emotional and physical stuff while building one of America's fastest-growing companies. Also: Sarah talks about how, even though she's five months pregnant now, it's still hard to fully relax.

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Kristyn is the founder of The Fertility Tribe, an incredible online community based on "redefining fertility together." Today, Kristyn tells Ali about how "nothing on the road to motherhood was easy" for her, from the "Clomid crazies" to her first failed frozen embryo transfer. Now a mother of toddler twins, she also talks about the 25 nights she spent pregnant in the hospital, her "traumatic" birth situation, and the things she wishes she knew before starting infertility treatments.

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In this Season Two kickoff, Ali talks to Keeley, a producer in London, about her unexplained infertility journey, resulting in eight rounds of IVF in England, Spain, and finally, Russia. Keeley talks about her "total shitshow" of a second transfer, undergoing one traumatic "pregnancy in an unknown location," making the difficult decision to use donor eggs, and how her husband has been a "total legend" through it all. 

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Karen describes herself as part teacher, part mom, fully inappropriate and forever infertile. She is the creator of Hilariously Infertile, a brand that includes an Instagram with more than 66,000 followers, stand-up comedy gigs, and a book (see hilariouslyinfertile.com for more). Today, she talks to Ali about IUIs, Clomid, the dangers of Google searching, discovering leggings, and why when going through IVF, you should "set the bar low."

 

Today's episode is sponsored by Extend Fertility, which offers egg freezing, IVF and more--with the goal of making fertility more accessible, and with services priced 20-40% lower than the national average. For more, visit extendfertility.com

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Jasmin is an entertainment editor and writer whose New York Times essay about egg freezing, "Great Eggspectations," caught Ali's attention this spring. Today, she talks to Ali about how, since most of her friends were doing it, she jumped at the chance to freeze her eggs at 36 (but what she wishes she knew then). Also discussed: her possible endometriosis, the fortune teller who changed her life path, getting leftover IVF drugs from her friends, and how every six months, she pays money to keep her eggs on ice.    Today's episode is sponsored by Extend Fertility, which offers egg freezing, IVF and more--with the goal of making fertility more accessible, and with services priced 20-40% lower than the national average. For more, visit extendfertility.com.

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Today, Ali talks to Dr. Dorette Noorhasan, the Medical Director and Co-Founder of CCRM Dallas-Fort Worth, about being an infertility specialist while going through her own infertility journey. Dorette discusses working with a surrogate as a single woman, the devastation when those two transfers didn't work out, needing a mental break, and how, after marrying her husband, they tried again with a surrogate. Dorette's memoir, "Miracle Baby: A Fertility Doctor's Fight for Motherhood," is out now.

 

Today's episode is sponsored by Extend Fertility, which offers egg freezing, IVF and more--with the goal of making fertility more accessible, and with services priced 20-40% lower than the national average. For more, visit https://extendfertility.com

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Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy