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 approac...
Aug 25, 2022•27 min
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 go...
Jun 09, 2022•48 min
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 delv...
May 19, 2022•56 min
*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 af...
Apr 28, 2022•34 min
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 w...
Apr 24, 2022•29 min
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 w...
Apr 14, 2022•35 min
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 circumstance...
Mar 24, 2022•30 min
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 the...
Feb 10, 2022•27 min
Meet Matchmaker Rachel Russo, a solo parent who believes that having a baby on her own is one of the single best decisions she's made for her love life. At 30 years old, Rachel had a client who was also a top fertility doctor and offered her the opportunity to freeze her eggs for free. Rachel declined, thinking marriage and babies would soon come. Little did she know then that six years later, as she faced a tough fertility journey, she would look back on the doctor's offer with some regrets. Ra...
Jan 27, 2022•38 min
This month, December 2021, IVF turns 40. Or, more specifically, Elizabeth Carr, the first US IVF baby, turns 40. Making headline news in 1981, Elizabeth was known as a “test tube” baby. The Washington Post coverage at the time said that the test tube baby, " is the first successful product of a 21 month old in-vitro fertilization program that literally fertilizes human eggs in plastic dishes at the Eastern Virginia Medical School. Both the baby and our mother Judith Carr, a 28 year old Westminst...
Dec 23, 2021•37 min
To many SoulCycle riders and fans, Master Instructor Emma Zaks looks like the model of good health as she inspires people in her weekly classes to live up to their fullest potential. Others know Emma from her time on Broadway, following in her parents footsteps. What some of her fans and followers may not know is that Emma is also a stroke survivor and an infertility advocate. Navigating her undiagnosed autoimmune disease in her early 30s & and now struggling to conceive with her husband, po...
Dec 02, 2021•44 min
Nia Sanchez, Miss USA 2014, never thought she'd have a fertility issue as she was young and healthy when she and her husband, actor Daniel Booko, started trying to conceive in 2019. To their surprise, they were diagnosed with 'unexplained infertility' and pursued fertility treatments, all the while finding ways to support each other through the tough experience. On this episode we explore why it's a fallacy that women of Latin descent are always fertile, why what you see isn't always what you ge...
Sep 23, 2021•44 min
If you saw Krisily Fernstrom on Instagram today, you'd see a woman going through infertility and egg retrievals quote, “hoping, praying and waiting” to become a mom. IVF warrior is in her bio, along with TV host, Movie Critic and Miss Rhode Island USA. She was also a contestant on The Bachelor and the popular reality show spinoff, The Bachelor Pad. Some people may remember her as Krisily Kennedy, from Charlie O'Connell's season, when she was runner-up and considered by some as 'the most hated wo...
Jul 29, 2021•45 min
Deidre Downs Gunn, M.D, held the state title of Miss Alabama, before entering the national Miss America competition in 2005. And, she holds another title today: Deidre is the first Miss America to enter a same sex marriage and build a family with her wife. Deidre and her partner Abbott met on a dating site in 2017 while Deidre was finishing a fellowship and reproductive endocrinology and infertility. She now practices as a fertility specialist at UAB Fertility and is expecting a baby with Abbott...
Jun 23, 2021•36 min
You may recognize the Dürt family: Matthew and his partner Elliot, from the headlines their family story made just a couple of years ago. Elliot's sister Lea donated her eggs to the couple and Matt's 61-year-old mother, Cecile, carried and delivered their first baby (who is also her first granddaughter!) -- making her one of the oldest women in the world to give birth! Matt and Elliot are now the proud parents of a little girl named Uma. As if this wasn't already a very modern family story, the ...
Jun 07, 2021•1 hr
Identical twin sisters Amy and Courtney, who jokingly refer to themselves as 'lefty' and 'righty', both knew that they'd have to pursue IVF in order to have children so they wouldn't pass down a rare genetic condition. They didn't imagine the years of fertility treatments, set-backs and losses they'd experience, or that they would become even more connected than they already were. 36 years after sharing their mother's uterus, the twins are sharing a pregnancy journey again -- this time through C...
Jun 02, 2021•34 min
If you saw meditation and mindfulness expert Josephine Atluri with her family today, you may think she had no issues trying to conceive. She has 5 children and twins on the way! But, Josephine’s path to parenthood was anything but straight or simple. Multiple IVF rounds, late term pregnancy loss, international adoption and surrogacy are all part of her family story. And each chapter of her family building journey, which is still unfolding now, has its own story with plenty of unexpected twists a...
May 20, 2021•39 min
"So Tell Me About the Last Time You Had Sex" is a question Ian Kerner often asks people in his sex therapy practice and it's the title of his new book. In this interview, Ian and Andrea discuss the difference between procreative sex and recreational sex, and Ian shares why we may need to update our 'sex script' in order to stay connected through tough challenges like grief and infertility. Ian s a licensed psychotherapist, best-selling author and nationally recognized sexuality counselor who spe...
Apr 15, 2021•38 min
When people look at entrepreneur Samantha Busch and her husband, NASCAR driver Kyle Busch, they may see a picture-perfect life and family, and have no idea how much this couple struggled behind the scenes to become parents. Both faced an infertility diagnosis that led them on a path they never expected while in the public eye, and one that resulted in their Bundle of Joy Fund. They developed this non-profit in an effort to advocate for infertility awareness and remove financial barriers by grant...
Feb 25, 2021•57 min
If you came across Gregory Sdeo on Twitter, you may think his account is a joke. After all, his handle is "Balls Don't Work" and his name is listed as "Got No Sperm" -- but there's no joke here. Greg is one in the estimated 40-50% of men with an infertility diagnosis that's impacted his ability to start a family with his wife. This episode explores why we often frame infertility as a woman's issue, how Greg and his wife have navigated this diagnosis and how to support more men facing this medica...
Feb 04, 2021•36 min
Actress and Entertainer Athena Reich, who has been called one of the best Lady Gaga impersonators, created a show called #ARTBIRTH just around the time that birth was on her mind. When Athena was in her mid-30s, she did what she says, 'Any clock-ticking lesbian would do' and she picked a sperm donor with the goal of getting pregnant via IUI or IVF. What Athena didn't know at this time was that she'd embark on a painful infertility journey that eventually led her to embrace the other side of thir...
Dec 31, 2020•34 min•Ep. 11
Jennifer Grobrecht never expected to be expecting. Born with MRKH, a condition in which a woman is born without a uterus, Jennifer didn't imagine she could or would ever carry a pregnancy. But, through the generosity of a family she didn't know, and a scientific breakthrough that allowed a uterus transplant to happen, Jennifer delivered a healthy baby. Jennifer is just the third woman in the world, and the second in the US to deliver a baby from a uterus that was donated to her from a deceased d...
Dec 23, 2020•41 min•Ep. 10
If you looked at good friends Abbey and Wendy, who met 8 years ago at a beach house on Fire Island, you'd have no idea that they share so much more than meets the eye. These friends, who were single after divorce and relationships that weren't going anywhere, had dreams of motherhood and decided to build their families, instead of waiting for the right men to come along. After a series of failed IVF and IUI treatments due to Diminished Ovarian Reserve and other issues, Wendy pursued adoption - b...
Dec 20, 2020•39 min•Ep. 9
When we think of infertility and menopause, we don't generally picture someone who looks like Kelly McLay - who is a fit and youthful looking marathon runner. Kelly didn't think of herself this way, either, when she was diagnosed with menopause at 24 years old. Kelly became one of the one in the 1000 women who reach menopause before the age of 30. And yet, we don't hear these stories enough and many think infertility is almost always caused by a woman who just waited "too long" to start trying. ...
Nov 05, 2020•46 min
Pregnancy Loss Awareness Month is in October, but we all know that this devastating experience affects countless people throughout the year. Some estimate that 1 in 4 experience miscarriage and no matter how common it may be, it is still misunderstood, taboo in some circles and incredibly painful. In 2014, after a 16 week pregnancy loss, Psychologist Dr. Jessica Zucker was compelled to change the conversation around miscarriage and created a campaign called "I had a miscarriage." She never expec...
Oct 15, 2020•37 min
Infertility advocate Aprill Lane always knew that she wanted to have four children; but when she and her husband were diagnosed with Unexplained Infertility in their 20s, she turned to endless IVF cycles and adoption to build her family. A decade of treatments and trying later, Aprill and her partner welcomed their fifth child spontaneously. Today, Aprill's made history as one of the first women in the country (and the world) to donate her uterus to another woman, who she doesn't know, who has a...
Oct 01, 2020•27 min
On this episode of the Pregnantish Podcast, Andrea explores a chapter of her own family building story: gestational surrogacy. Contrary to popular belief, this process is still somewhat rare, with approximately 750 gestational surrogacy births a year in the United States. Unlike traditional surrogacy, which is less common today, gestational surrogacy occurs when the surrogate is not genetically related to the embryo she is carrying. The "Intended Parents" have undergone IVF, with their own genet...
Aug 19, 2020•25 min
Third-party reproduction, egg and sperm donation, is becoming more popular as the number of singles, infertile couples and members of the LGBT community build their families with the help of fertility treatments. The first known baby born via egg donor was in the early 1980s. Just a few decades old, there’s still a lot we don’t know about egg donation. However, what we do know is that more agencies and donors pop up every year as the demand increases and there’s a lot of interest in this categor...
May 28, 2020•49 min
The tropes of the sperm donor and the families they help create are well worn, to be kind. The stupid college kid trying to make a couple quick bucks, the infertile couple making a last ditch effort, etc – some of these stories might be true, but they're just a fraction of what sperm donor stories really look like.In this episode, Andrea sits down with two people whose stories speak to the different lives sperm donation touches. First, we hear from Selena, a single mother by choice with a messag...
Dec 17, 2019•54 min
Egg freezing is a part of the path to parenthood for a growing number of people. In recent years, technological innovation in the way eggs are harvested and frozen and shifts in cultural norms have opened the procedure up to a wider group of people hoping to start families. However, there are still plenty of misconceptions surrounding it.In this episode, Andrea sits down with Sarah and Ko to talk about how egg freezing has changed for themselves and for society. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pr...
Dec 04, 2019•48 min
