Pregnantish

When Fabi traveled from California to Nashville for a football game in 2014, she never imagined her life would radically change. One night at a bar she met Josh, a handsome Army Ranger who had been stationed nearby. They would later describe the encounter as "love at first sight." The two were just starting out their lives in their 20s when Josh received a devastating diagnosis, he had a rare form of cancer called synovial sarcoma. 

Josh knew he wanted to preserve his sperm and later spoke to Fabi about his wish to marry her and try to have a baby with her, despite the fact that he may not be there to raise their child. Josh and Fabi married on November 12, 2016 and Josh passed away just one month later.

While this part of Josh and Fabi’s love story together ended, in many ways it continues to this day as she undergoes multiple IVF rounds to try to create healthy embryos and the chance at getting pregnant with her great love and continuing his legacy.

This episode is presented by The American Cancer Society, the leading cancer-fighting organization, with a vision to end cancer as we know it, for everyone. For more, visit cancer.org.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Those who have followed Sarah Kennedy Ellis’ career as a top CMO for blue chip companies, like Adobe, and now as a VP of Global Growth and Demand at Google, know how talented, driven and successful she is. 

What they may not know is that no matter how dedicated and focused Sarah is on one of her most important goals - having a baby - she has silently struggled behind the scenes... until recently.

In one of her most vulnerable tweets to her business focused audience earlier this year Sarah shared,  “After three and a half years & counting, nine cycles of IVF, two miscarriages in the last six months, I think it's time for me to finally just say it out loud publicly. Infertility is a special kind of Fresh Hell that takes a toll on even the strongest, most resilient people I've met in life.” 

She added “..one thing I've learned most is how important it is to share your journey to be part of a community of women battling the same. I built my career being transparent as a leader, and I have with my team, but I've been weirdly shy to share this new part of who I am here.”

In this episode, Sarah shares her story of building her career while navigating fertility treatments, why she knows she picked the right man to marry and company to work for, and what she wants others at Google - and outside of her work - to know about why it's important to advocate for your health and fertility.

Today's episode is brought to you by Fertility Out Loud, a platform and social media community which provides resources and tools to help you along your fertility journey, and support from a community of women and couples who have been where you are. Visit fertilityoutloud.com for more. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rebecca Soffer’s life changed overnight in 2006 when her mom died in a car accident, and her dad died of a heart attack on a business trip just a few years later. She never expected to be living without her parents in our early 30s navigating jobs, relationships and life. 

From this isolating and heartbreaking experience, Rebecca launched a platform that she desperately craved - Modern Loss - a community for real talk around grief and grieving. She knew that she wasn't alone in wanting an approach to grief that wasn't full of platitudes and toxic positivity or Band Aid solutions, but one that honored not only how people mourned and remembered loved ones, but that allowed them to process these life defining moments in whatever way made sense for them. 

Rebecca has authored two books on grief, including her newest,  The Modern Loss Handbook: An Interactive Guide to Moving Through Grief and Building Your Resilience. 

On this episode, Andrea and Rebecca talk about the messy reality of grief, how people can better support those grieving and why building resilience can be helpful and empowering during our most challenging times.

This episode on Grief and Resilience, is presented by pregnantish - the first and only media site that helps people navigate the complexities of infertility and modern family building and tell their stories. For more, follow us on social @pregnantish (@pregnantishmag on Twitter) or find us online at pregnantish.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ariel Taylor had her first pregnancy and child in her early 20s and realized soon after that that she not only loved being pregnant, but that she loved being a mother and couldn't bear the thought that some people who wanted to become parents wouldn't be able to either because of their infertility, or because they didn't have the anatomy to create or deliver a baby themselves. 

So in 2015, Ariel decided to become a gestational surrogate for the first time, helping a couple in her area who were going through secondary infertility. Since then, she's been a surrogate four times, and recently announced her next surrogacy journey with a friend who lost her ability to carry a pregnancy because of cancer treatment. Ariel has also been an egg donor five times, and recently started an infertility therapy practice. 

This episode explores why Ariel wants to work with people on all sides of this journey, including intended parents and egg donors/surrogates, why she advocates for change and better access to fertility treatments, and what she wants the infertility community and the general public to know about Third-Party Reproduction. 

This episode was sponsored by EMD Serono, a leader in the fertility space for more than 20 years. They have a legacy of helping couples throughout their fertility journey by offering resources, medications and support. Learn more by visiting fertility.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ever since the first IVF baby was born, just over 40 years ago, the fertility field has grown steadily and rapidly.  What does the future hold?

On this episode, which is divided into three parts, Andrea invites experts in the field to explore what we can expect moving forward with the advancements in the field, how to best protect ourselves and our specimens over time, and why we need better access to treatment and advocacy for people who are building their families 'with help'.

This episode delves into: 

• The start of IVF, with the first American 'test tube baby', advocate Elizabeth Jordan Carr, and what she's witnessed in ART in her lifetime
• The future of fertility, with members of the TMRW Life Sciences Team, Tara Comonte and Cynthia Hudson, who speak about transparency and scalability as more eggs and embryos are frozen.
• The ethics and law around fertility preservation and accountability, with Family and Fertility Lawyer, Alexis Cirel

While it's never a good time to be infertile or need assistance to have a baby, this conversation shows that the future of fertility looks bright.

This episode is sponsored by TMRW Life Sciences, whose mission is to safeguard life's most precious cells.  They have created a technology so your frozen eggs or embryos are digitally identified and tracked, linking them to you forever, and giving traceability and transparency that hasn’t existed in this way prior. Learn more by visiting tmrw.org.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*This episode is part of the pregnantish 'Reality of Infertility' series featuring reality stars and public personalities who have undergone fertility treatments to build their families and are sharing their fertility journeys in honor of awareness, education, and advocacy.

Those who watch reality TV and Bravo, in particular, know that Golnesa "GG" Gharachedaghi from “Shahs of Sunset” has never been shy to use her voice to challenge and support people she loves and that she's not scared to go after what she wants; but what people may not know is how much this has extended to the way Golnesa became a mom.

Golnesa has been vocal about her path to parenthood with sperm donation, which also includes a devastating ectopic pregnancy that could have literally killed her. This experience led to the removal of both of her fallopian tubes. Determined to try again, Golnesa pursued IVF months later and got pregnant with her baby boy Elijah, the love of her life, who is now a toddler.

In this episode, Andrea and Golnesa discuss the many extraordinary ways families are created today, why Golnesa pursued single motherhood, and why she feels her fertility and family story was always meant to be.

This episode is sponsored by Donor Concierge, a leading fertility service helping intended parents navigate the challenging process of finding an egg donor, sperm donor or surrogate. For more or for a free consultation, visit donorconcierge.com/contact 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In honor of National Infertility Awareness Week, this "Reality of Infertility" episode featuring reality stars Kendall Long and Caroline Lunny from Bachelor Nation, and Golnesa "GG" Gharachedaghi from Shahs of Sunset, is a candid talk about egg freezing, IVF, navigating fertility treatments without a partner, miscarriage, how to pick a sperm donor and more. 

Taped live in front of an audience at the 'reality show restaurant', Sur in West Hollywood, these popular TV personalities share what they wish they knew before pursuing egg retrievals and fertility treatments, and why they are passionate about using their voices to educate young women about their fertility today. 

This episode is sponsored by Extend Fertility, the nation's largest egg freezing clinic which was founded on the premise that democratizing egg freezing could ultimately deliver better results for both patients and providers. If you're thinking about preserving your fertility through egg freezing or IVF, and for a free egg freezing consultation, contact them at extendfertility.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For fans of the hit CBS show Survivor, Season 29 runner-up Jaclyn Misch is the definition of bravery. She competed and dominated challenges that would make many of us bow out or buckle. In some ways Jaclyn's "Survivor" journey mirrored her journey with her husband, fellow survivor contestant Jon Misch, as they tried to conceive over the years.

Born with MRKH Syndrome, a condition in which a woman's reproductive system is not fully developed. Jaclyn knew she'd need help to bring a baby into the world, but she didn't expect the tough twists and turns that she and her husband would have along the way. 

This episode is a candid look at surrogacy, why Jaclyn has used her voice to spread awareness of MRKH, miscarriage and infertility, and how she's managed to keep hope and resilience alive on and off camera.

Thanks to episode sponsor, CSP, The Center for Surrogate Parenting, part of Ovation Fertility and the most experienced and longest standing surrogacy agency in the world. For over 40 years, they have successfully matched thousands of intended parents and surrogates to ensure a healthy journey and a happy outcome for all. For more, visit https://www.creatingfamilies.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you saw Lauren McGregor walking down the street, you’d see a woman glowing with pride that she’s in her third trimester, pregnant with a baby she only dreamed about. What you wouldn’t see is everything behind this pregnancy - the fact that Lauren is carrying the love of her life Chris’s baby, and that he will never be earthside to raise his son with her. You wouldn’t see how devastating the year 2020 was for Lauren after Chris passed away. And you wouldn’t know that despite these circumstances, Lauren still feels really lucky.

Lauren and her late partner, Chris, decided to freeze his sperm after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. 

She now shares her story in the hopes that it can help others consider preserving their fertility when faced with a terminal illness, to ensure that people fill out the necessary paperwork that she’s grateful to have completed before her partner’s death, and to support others who look to build a family and life after death, despite heartbreaking circumstances.

Thanks to today's episode sponsor, EMD Serono, a leader in the fertility space for more than 20 years. They have a legacy of helping couples throughout their fertility journey by offering resources, medications and support. Learn more by visiting fertility.com 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you've ever watched the reality show “The Bachelor” you may remember Holly, who was on the 12th season of the popular series and the winner of Season Two of the reality show spin off, The Bachelor Pad. Holly actually met her husband, Blake Julian, on the show, and they're one of the few couples in “Bachelor Nation” who are still together today. Millions watched as a pair fell in love and followed their story when they got married in 2012. But, what fans didn't know about the pair was that they were struggling behind the scenes to get and stay pregnant. 

Diagnosed with Stage Four Endometriosis in 2014, Holly had surgery to try to treat it, believing it would lead to a successful healthy pregnancy. She never imagined all the years and all the tears that her journey to parenthood would take. As she processed multiple failures and losses, she and Blake largely kept quiet, at least to their fans. But when her daughter Poppy arrived through adoption in 2019, Holly came out in a vulnerable and "real talk" Instagram post, which was titled, “My Seven Year Secret.”

On this episode, Andrea talks to Holly about why she's now “out loud” with her fertility story, how she and Blake navigated miscarrying, and the challenging experiences they faced in their marriage while trying to build their family, and why she now says that Poppy was worth the wait -- even if she had to wait another seven years to be her mom.

Today's episode is brought to you by Fertility Out Loud, a platform and social media community which provides resources and tools to help you along your fertility journey, and support from a  community of women and couples who have been where you are. Visit fertilityoutloud.com for  more.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.