In this powerful comeback episode for Season 2, Kelly opens up about her journey to becoming a single mother by choice. Currently nine months pregnant and due April 15th, Kelly shares her evolution from envisioning a traditional family life to embracing single motherhood. Her story encompasses the challenges of failed fertility treatments, the emotional decision to pursue IVF during COVID-19, and the personal growth that came with choosing an unconventional path to motherhood. Detailed Timeline ...
Oct 28, 2024•53 min•Season 2Ep. 1
In this bonus episode, I share an interview I conducted inside my Membership Community with Trusts and Estates Attorney , Kathleen Hunt, Unique Law. We cover the key parts of an estate plan that every single mother by choice should have including, The differences between a will and a trust. What every woman should set up as soon as she owns a home or gets pregnant. Considerations for picking guardians How do you provide for your child financially if something happens to you How to protect your k...
Oct 15, 2021•50 min•Season 2Ep. 25
Welcome to the last episode of season one of Motherhood Reimagined. To mark the end of this season I have invited a return guest to the show. Sige was my guest for the second episode of the first season. During that interview, Sige was pregnant with her son and told us she would come back to tell us how she felt about the single-mother-by-choice path. It has been thirteen months since our last conversation and she is very honest and raw about the first year with her child. She shares her struggl...
May 30, 2019•35 min
My guest today is slightly different than the others. Katerina decided to be a single-mother-by-choice at the age of 23. Katerina tells me why the single-mother path was her first option and why she found it empowering. Katerina conceived her son via a sperm donor. She tells me about the donor selection process and the things she had to consider to make her plans reality. We discuss her support system and the early years with her son. Including the loneliness that comes with motherhood. She is n...
May 22, 2019•39 min
In today’s episode, we’ll be doing something a little bit different from the usual format. I’m interviewing my two friends, Jackie and Abby, who also live here in Mexico. We’ve received questions about how we ended up here and why, so we wanted to talk about how we met, why we moved here, and what’s different about living in Mexico versus living in the states. Jackie, Abby, and I met in a single-moms-by-choice travel group online in a thread discussing the idea of moving abroad to save money. In...
May 15, 2019•1 hr 13 min
My guest today is Brenda, a single-mom-by-choice who had a difficult 4-year journey to motherhood and has made it her mission to help women feel empowered about their reproduction options. She shares her shock at the realization that her OBGYN never mentioned the finite window of fertility. Brenda believes that it is an important conversation to have and encourages women to be proactive in the conversation. Brenda tried IUI (Intrauterine insemination) with no results and ultimately decided to sw...
May 08, 2019•56 min
Vivian began her path to motherhood with a plan to conceive a child with a close friend. Sadly, she miscarried and a new plan was in order. She chose a sperm donor and moved forward on her journey. We discuss the difficulty of changing “the plan” and what it taught Vivian about herself. She has also made the decision to have a second child via a sperm donor. She explains why she felt now was the time and her hopes for a larger family. We explore the excitement of finding half-siblings and how it...
May 01, 2019•54 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Tammy is a single-mother-by-choice who used both an egg and a sperm donor to conceive her son. She went to Panama for donor egg IVF with sperm she had shipped from California Cryobank. We discuss the decision to leave the U.S. to have her fertility treatments and IVF (In vitro fertilization) process. She became pregnant on her second try and came back to the U.S. to deliver her child. The pregnancy was difficult for Tammy, she had gestational diabetes, hypertension, and preeclampsia. As a result...
Apr 24, 2019•53 min
Alex is a single-mother-by-choice who decided to take the adoption route to build her family. She tells me about how she educated herself on the process and how she conquered the emotional hurdles. As well as the stigma of being a single woman wanting to adopt. Alex was in her 30s when she decided to pursue adoption. She spoke to agencies and dove into the research process to really find the option that best fit her. She has some insight on what she found out about international adoption versus ...
Apr 17, 2019•52 min
Brooke is the solo mom of twin boys. She started her journey at the age of 40 and underwent an emotional path to motherhood. Brooke used both a sperm and an egg donor for her pregnancy. She tells me about her hesitation to use an egg donor but how she conquered those fears and pushed forward in her process. Brooke was a highly creative child who spent her 20s and 30s traveling and focusing on her career. However, a glance at a forgotten online dating profile triggered her need to go ahead and be...
Apr 10, 2019•50 min
Joanna is a single-mother-by-choice who conceived two children, one with her own eggs and the other with a donor’s eggs. As an only child having more than one child was very important to Joanna. She tells me about the process of conceiving her first child, and the painful decision to reduce her pregnancy when genetic issues were discovered with one of her twins. Joanna explains how she chose her sperm donor, whom you used for both pregnancies. Then she shared the much harder process of conceivin...
Apr 03, 2019•49 min
After her mother passed away, Laura decided she needed to make another connection with another human being and began her unconventional path to motherhood. She went through three years of multiple attempts at IUI (Intrauterine insemination) and several miscarriages. Finally, in 2014, Laura was able to conceive her daughter with IVF (In vitro fertilization.) Laura is very honest about the long and grueling process that led to her pregnancies. We discuss the sperm donor process and how opened id d...
Mar 27, 2019•56 min
My guest today is Jackie, a single-mom-by-choice who wanted to have a co-parenting agreement at the beginning of her journey. The plans for co-parenting fell through and Jackie conceived her child with a sperm donor. Jackie talks about how she approached the co-parenting arrangement and why it didn’t work out. She also discusses her difficult pregnancy and recovery. Jackie dealt with postpartum depression after her delivery. She shares what it was like to cope with those startling feelings and h...
Mar 20, 2019•36 min
Karin chose to be a single-mother-by-choice in her late 20s. She is now married with a step-daughter and two-parent family structure. I asked Karin to tell me what it was like to date while pregnant and how she weeded out the creeps from the serious candidates. She also tells me about her plans to conceive a child through a friend’s sperm donation and the shift to a sperm donor bank when her original plan didn’t work. She describes the mindset she went through while looking for a new sperm donor...
Mar 13, 2019•51 min
Stacy is a return guest who shared her story about conceiving a child with a surrogate and adopting a second child. Today, she tells me about her experience with the adoption process and what she wants other women to know about the “illusion” created by the industry. Stacy’s path to motherhood was an eight-year journey. Through miscarriages, a failed adoption, and a failed surrogacy, Stacy had to keep moving forward with the faith that her child was waiting for her. She walks the listener throug...
Mar 06, 2019•55 min
Stacy is a return guest who shared her story about conceiving a child with a surrogate and adopting a second child. Today, she tells me about her experience with the adoption process and what she wants other women to know about the “illusion” created by the industry. Stacy’s path to motherhood was an eight-year journey. Through miscarriages, a failed adoption, and a failed surrogacy, Stacy had to keep moving forward with the faith that her child was waiting for her. She walks the listener throug...
Mar 06, 2019•55 min
My guest today is Marni, a single-mother-by-choice who chose the path when the community wasn’t very accessible. She does an excellent job of painting what it was like twelve years ago and the challenges of finding donors. Marni needed both an egg donor and a sperm donor to conceive her son. At the time of Marni’s process, her choices were very limited and sperm donors were always anonymous. She explains how she chose her donors and why she actually had to fight for her sperm donor in the end. S...
Feb 27, 2019•45 min
Christine is a firefighter and the single mother of a 10-year-old and a 13-year-old. In today’s interview, she shares about the difference between the way she pictured her adult life growing up and the way her adult life actually played out. She talks about moving from the Midwest to California, changing careers, delaying motherhood, and then finally deciding to become pregnant via IUI. Christine talks about her lightbulb moment – the moment she realized that she would be OK if she never found a...
Feb 20, 2019•48 min
Signe Fjord is a single-mother-by-choice who has used her experience of building a family to counsel women considering alternatives paths to motherhood and to write children books. Signe’s books celebrate family in all of its forms. Signe grew up hearing fairy tales and wishing for her life to be a fairy tale. As an adult, Sign feels that promoting fairy tales is harmful to children and grown-ups alike. Signe tells me about her decision to become a single-mother-by-choice and the long process th...
Feb 13, 2019•45 min
At the age of 38, Elena had her eggs frozen, by her early 40s, she was using those eggs and a sperm donor to conceive a child. She is now the proud mother of a healthy 3-year-old girl. Like most women, Elena had her own ideas of how motherhood was going to be but life went another direction. We discuss how Elena was able to move past her expectations of motherhood. She recommends the benefits of therapy and finding people you can trust to listen and help you sort through the complex emotions tha...
Feb 06, 2019•35 min
My guest today is Ann, a single-mother-by-choice who was faced with the heart-wrenching decision to not carry triplets. She shares her story and all the reasons she made her difficult choice. We hear the details of her 8-month fertility process and in hindsight what she wishes she would have asked and considered beforehand. Ann was 31 when she realized she was in a relationship just to have a baby. When she learned her partner was sterile, she realized that she only wanted a baby, not the man. S...
Jan 30, 2019•59 min
I’m happy to welcome Jill to the podcast. Jill is a life coach and mentor for people facing big life-altering decisions. Her favorite topic to address is solo parenting. Jill is a single-mother-by-choice who had a definite idea of what her life was supposed to be. Jill is involved with an organization called Uncharted You. She shares what it was like to let go of her “fairy tale” and move forward in becoming the proud mother of her now healthy and thriving son. Jill tried IUI (Intrauterine insem...
Jan 23, 2019•51 min
Gail Sexton Anderson is the CEO and founder of Donor Concierge, an organization that helps clients find egg and sperm donors. Gail explains how her organization approaches the sensitive topic of egg and sperm donation and surrogacy. She also offers great advice for women currently looking for donors or surrogates. Gail shares her observations of common hang-ups clients have regarding the donor and surrogacy process. She suggests ways to make the process more comfortable for the donor and the cli...
Jan 16, 2019•38 min
Stacy is a single mother by choice who had a grueling eight-year journey to motherhood. She shares her struggles with infertility and the disappointments regarding the adoption and surrogacy processes. She researched every avenue available to her and suffered many miscarriages. In the end, the surrogacy process and adoption process paid off and she became the proud mother of two children. One through surrogacy and one through adoption. Stacy explores her emotions during this time. She also discu...
Jan 09, 2019•51 min
Welcome to Motherhood Reimagined, the podcast that helps women who are choosing single motherhood to find a community and helpful resources to prepare for unconventional paths to motherhood. My guest today is Sige Weisman, a therapist who is currently expecting her first child via a natural IUI (intrauterine insemination.) Sige shares why she decided to leave a loving, yet unready relationship to pursue single motherhood. She explores her connection to love and family and how the IUI path has ch...
Jan 02, 2019•30 min
