Often regarded as a “last resort” medicine, acupuncture is added to a fertility patient’s protocol when nothing else has worked. But HOW does acupuncture actually help improve fertility? Why do fertility patients love it so much?!

In this episode, Danica interviews fellow fertility acupuncturist and colleague, Laura Erlich, for an insightful conversation that explains the unique role acupuncturists can play when they join the fertility patients’ team.

We’re experts as perspectivizing this tough time, skilled at restoring hope and known for consistently presenting ways to “think outside the box” to view your situation with more patience and grace.

Let’s face it - our world is changing. We’re evolving to be more reliant on technology, and that includes how we build our families.

This episode takes the sting out of doing IVF and reminds us all that we’re part of something bigger…

To work with Laura Erlich, visit mothernurturela.com.

To save 20% on any course within SeedFertility.com, enter promocode BABYMAKERS20 at checkout.

Sharing tips, strategies and success stories that inspire… these doctors’ episodes inform and help women and couples to better understand their options; from a holistic and biomedical standpoint.

Executive Producer: Danica Thornberry

Associate Producer: Miranda Ogletree

Audio Engineer: Patrick Edwards

This episode is sponsored by:

wellpeople Integrative Healing (wellpeoplehealing.com)

The Seed Fertility Program- (seedfertility.com PROMO CODE: BABYMAKERS20)

This fascinating episode explains how the foods we choose during our cycle can serve as fertile “medicine” or they can work against our best efforts to conceive and stay pregnant.

Registered dietician and podcast host Robyn Goldberg joins Danica for a discussion that speaks to the listeners who’ve ever felt confused or overwhelmed by the information available about what to eat, particularly when trying to conceive.

It’s a matter of truly understanding the power of nutrition and how food works once we eat it — because that knowledge informs our relationship with food, as well as the choices we make about dieting.

Listeners will learn why certain foods are recommended during the phases of their menstrual cycle to support reproductive hormones, and why staying flexible about our lifestyle and food choices is important in maintaining our fertile potential.

With decades of experience in Los Angeles helping patients overcome various forms of overly-structured and disordered eating, Robyn Goldberg shares what she feels is most helpful in creating a balanced approach to eating, staying nourished and preparing for pregnancy.

To work with Robyn or learn more about her book and podcast, visit theeatingdisordertrap.com.

To work with Danica and her team of holistic providers, either virtually or in-person in Los Angeles, visit wellpeoplehealing.com.

This episode is sponsored by SeedFertility.com, the leader in online fertility education… Empowering fertility patients worldwide using a combination of Fertile Thoughts and Fertile Foods.

Use promocode BABYMAKERS20 to receive 20% all courses at SeedFertility.com and take back some control in a journey that feels out of your control.

In this episode, Danica interviews former fertility specialist, Dr. Paul Magarelli to discuss the integration of holistic modalities like Chinese medicine into the modern protocol of IVF.

Sure, there’s a bridge now between the ancient art form of acupuncture and the modern science of babymaking, but it wasn’t always the case!

Listeners will gain perspective as well as useful insight and advice from this conversation between two seemingly unlikely friends with the same goal … to help women and couples become parents.

Talking to your fertility doctor can be intimidating, but feeling comfortable enough to ask any question can help you relax enough to make a difference.

Los Angeles fertility specialist Catherine DeUguarte, MD joins Danica in this casual conversation that attempts to “normalize” the fertility treatment conversation.

Making more eggs, male factor, testosterone, marijuana, timing of sex, cold plunges, supplements and exercise are just a few important topics covered in this episode.

You can find Dr DeUguarte at pfcla.com

Executive Producer: Danica Thornberry

Associate Producer: Miranda Ogletree

Audio Engineer: Patrick Edwards

This episode is sponsored by:

wellpeople Integrative Healing (wellpeoplehealing.com)

The Seed Fertility Program- (seedfertility.com PROMO CODE: BABYMAKERS20)

Endometriosis excision surgeon, patient advocate, and author of “Beating Endo”, Dr Iris Kerin Orbuch sits down with Danica to help patients learn much more about endometriosis and adenomyosis — in an effort to help them develop an individualized plan for treating (and beating!) endo.

Everyday Dr Iris Kerin does detective work for patients who arrive at her office saying, “My doctor sent me here, but I don’t have any symptoms.”

There’s a litany of different ways that endo reveals itself and this episode examines each one; helping to answer questions like: “Do I have endometriosis? Do I really need surgery?”

The one thing Dr Iris Kerin wants patients to know is that endo is NOT limited to painful periods! It’s a leading cause of unexplained infertility and pregnancy loss, gastrointestinal issues, chronic pain, pelvic pain, pain with intercourse, anxiety, depression and urinary/genital dysfunction.

Listeners will learn why a HOLISTIC (whole body) approach is what really makes a difference in longterm management of endo and improvement of fertility.

To schedule a consultation with Dr Iris Kerin Orbuch, visit LAgyndr.com or on Instagram @dririsorbuch.

The movies mentioned in this episode are available for download - EndoWhat.com and BelowTheBelt.com for those looking to learn even more.

Executive Producer: Danica Thornberry

Associate Producer: Miranda Ogletree

Audio Engineer: Patrick Edwards

This episode is sponsored by:

wellpeople Integrative Healing (wellpeoplehealing.com)

The Seed Fertility Program- (seedfertility.com PROMO CODE: BABYMAKERS20)

This episode focuses on “girl power”, humor and optimism; it’s an uplifting reminder to stay focused on what you CAN do and what IS within your control.

Meeting patients where they are in their fertility journey is one of Dr Jennifer Shulman’s many super powers. As an acupuncturist of 20 years, Jenn knows when to insert humor into this challenging conversation to help patients stay calm during an uncertain process.

Through means of creating a realistic health plan and helping her patients continue to put one foot in front of the other, Jenn Shulman is a bright light always shining on an often dark path.

Together with Danica’s experience, this episode covers 40 years of combined patient stories and thoughts on sub-fertility, infertility, IVF, and the many ways that acupuncture plays a big role in creating successful fertility outcomes.

If you’re already seeing an acupuncturist, you’ll be reminded of why you keep going back… or you’ll allow this episode to encourage you to check it out — for an extra dose of support on your journey.

To work with Jenn, visit www.JenniferShulmanAcupuncture.com or @acupuncturejenn on Instagram.

And remember, listeners of The Babymakers Fertility Podcast save 20% on all Seed Fertility online courses at SeedFertility.com, using the promocode BABYMAKERS at checkout.

"It’s what we DO with our time that makes the biggest difference” — and that’s particularly true if you’ve been told you don’t have many eggs left in your reserve.

Rather than rushing straight into a round of IVF and working against your eggs’ innate tendencies, women are learning how to lower the internal chatter created by thoughts of scarcity and not-enoughness…

Former fertility patient Maureen describes her process in this inspiring episode — as she describes how she went from “diminished reserve” to “mother”; and explains why she’d do it all the same over again to create the life she has now.

This episode is sponsored by SeedFertility.com - the home of the first online fertility Masterclass and ancillary courses, including programs for Egg Freezing, Endometriosis and Healing After Loss.

Listeners save 20% using promocode BABYMAKERS at checkout on SeedFertility.com.

This interesting conversation between Danica and Dr Tannaz Tolou presents the idea of “Individualized Care” and how the simple act of listening to our patients can reveal pathways to diagnosis and success.

Topics covered in this episode include: navigating the adverse effects of diet (sugar), stress, inflammation, our immune system, endometriosis, PCOS, and male factor.

This interview attempts to bring awareness to the fact that there IS more patients can do to help themselves succeed on their fertility journey; as knowledge really is powerful… especially in this field of nuanced medicine.

Dr Tolou generously shares her insights into a variety of different IVF protocols and why some are more effective than others; and she discusses a few of the most important diagnostic tests and procedures that should be considered to help fertility patients move forward on their journey.

Also mentioned is a discussion of the ways in which fertility doctors are changing some of the traditional IVF approaches to match the needs of their patients in the post-covid era.

To contact Dr Tannaz Tolou for an appointment or to learn more about her practice, call 818.881.9800, email [email protected] or visit www.center4fertility.com.

This episode is sponsored by SeedFertility.com. Listeners interested in improving the holistic aspect of their fertility journey can save 20% on all Seed Fertility online courses by using the promo code BABYMAKERS at checkout.

The diagnosis of PTSD, until recently, has mostly been assigned to war veterans and victims of assault. However, the traumatizing struggle that many women and couples face when dealing with a diagnosis of infertility is ongoing. It’s not limited to an isolated event or circumstance. “Fertility PTSD”, by comparison to typical PTSD, subjects its patients to be re-triggered on a regularly repeating basis.

As fertility patients “hang in”, month after challenging month, they develop a range of symptoms that include: an inability to trust, difficulty feeling safe, anxiety and panic, insomnia, isolation and physiological symptoms such as palpitations and in some cases, sympathetic shock which arises as they approach routine ultrasounds and exams, procedures and protocols.

With each cycle attempt, they courageously tell themselves to “fight the good fight” and ignore bodily cues of dysregulation, in hopes of conceiving, staying pregnant and moving beyond the reproductive life chapter.

This episode with Maternal Mental Health Psychologist, Dr Ivy Margulies, explains the physiological connection behind the metaphorical phrase “The Uterus Is Our Second Heart”; as the powerful connection between our mind’s perceptionand our body’s physiology can no longer be denied in this vulnerable community.

Dr Ivy is an expert in the field of women’s reproductive psychology. She has dedicated her life to the mission of helping women during all stages of womanhood; including everything from infertility and childlessness, to loss of babies, infants and children, and including the grief that occurs due to the loss of their long held family building dream.

As Dr Ivy explained, “When you’re stuck in feeling, you’re not thinking (rationally)”.

This episode gives women (and their partners) a plethora of perspective, information, insights and effective strategies to better understand PTSD… as it pertains to baby-making and parenthood.

Dr Ivy Margulies is taking new clients, in-person and virtually. Visit her website www.DrIvyLove.com to learn more; or reach out directly via email to schedule: [email protected].

This episode was sponsored by SeedFertility.com, the original resource of online fertility education. For specific tools to reconcile pregnancy loss and grief associated with infertility, consider Healing After Loss — a course available inside SeedFertility.com that provides a downloadable workbook, a new perspective, and unique strategies to restore the hope that often gets lost along the way to motherhood. Use promo code BABYMAKERS and save 20%.

Executive Producer: Danica Thornberry

Associate Producer: Miranda Ogletree

Audio Engineer: Patrick Edwards