If you’ve been struggling to get pregnant, you may be piling worries on top of questions on top of more worries. Questions like, “Is my body doing what it’s supposed to? How will I know if it isn’t? Do I even have any eggs left?” may be causing you anxiety.  Seeking out information from expert sources or your medical team can help lessen some of this anxiety. The more information you have, the more you can understand your path forward.  When it comes to ovarian reserve specifically, studies have shown that Diminished Ovarian Reserve impacts anywhere...

It’s no secret that an infertility diagnosis is deeply distressing for anyone going through it. Immediately afterward, there is often relief that maybe some questions will be answered as to why family-building has been so difficult thus far. There is often grief, too. Depending on what the diagnosis is, an individual or couple may be required to shift the vision and expectations of how they will have a child. Then there is the multitude of decisions to be made, including the direction of treatment and the financial planning to accommodate the high cost of fertility treatment....

I remember the first time I felt what I would later discover was endometriosis. I was fifteen, and I had recurrent stabbing pain in the lower left side of my abdomen. It was the worst pain I had ever felt. I was literally sweating. My mom took me to my pediatrician, an older man who had been my doctor since I was born.  “It’s just cramps,” he told us. “The only other thing I can think of is if her appendix were on the wrong side, but we would have known that by now.” There was...

Unless you’ve been a part of the TTC community for a while, you may not have heard of one of the less obvious causes of infertility: a genetic condition called a balanced translocation (also referred to as reciprocal translocation).  Balanced Translocation affects approximately 1 in 500 people. However, in those with recurrent pregnancy loss, it has been shown to be substantially higher at 3 – 7%. When either partner has a translocation, the risk of miscarriage increases from 20% to approximately 40%. The frustrating part is that the majority of people with a balanced translocation have...

One of the biggest questions women often have with regard to pregnancy and work is “How to tell your boss you’re pregnant,” but what about when getting pregnant becomes more difficult than you imagined? For those of us who need fertility treatments to grow our families, there comes a time during our journey when we need understanding and support from our colleagues, but it can be difficult to bridge those kinds of conversations at work.   So how (and who) should you tell at work that you’re trying to conceive or going through fertility treatments? The question...

Fertility treatments are expensive and stressful, and for many of us, we only have a window of a few cycles to get it right. That makes every single step of the process incredibly important, which only adds to the overall anxiety. Sigh.  For those who are new to the world of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), some IVF and IUI protocols require you to inject yourself with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) at a very specific time during your ovulation cycle. Also known as the "trigger shot," this can be a lot of added pressure for someone without a...

Here’s the thing about infertility: It isn’t just about the painful, physically draining tests and treatments. It isn’t even just about the emotional aspect — the longing for something your body won’t give you. It’s also about the culture we live in, and how that culture views and speaks about family-building. We’re still living in a world in which people ask things like “are you pregnant?” and “so when are you having kids?”. We’re still being told that topics like fertility and miscarriage are taboo. And we still have a culture of toxic positivity where infertility...

If you’re experiencing difficulties in growing your family, making the decision to enter the world of fertility treatments can be, to put it mildly, overwhelming. This vulnerable and emotional position is filled with difficult decisions and a rollercoaster of emotions to go along with it. At a time in your life where you feel as though you can go from laughing to crying and back again, sometimes within a matter of minutes, it’s easy and entirely normal to feel a tad scatter-brained throughout the process.  10 Questions To Ask at Your First Fertility Appointment That being said, if you’re anticipating your first fertility consultation,...

The holiday season is a layered time. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 64% of people who already struggle with their mental health say that the holidays make them feel worse. For three or four months, people balance family events, social obligations, and financial pulls, while still managing their everyday lives. If you know someone who is navigating infertility, they're probably managing even more.  “Approximately 85-90% of infertility cases are treated with drug therapy or surgical procedures,” explains RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association.  Those going through treatment often don’t have the luxury of working...

On an early 2022 episode of The Ladygang podcast, each of the show’s three hosts reflected on the worst piece of advice they’ve received. For me — and, I imagine, countless other people who’ve dealt with fertility struggles — one host’s pick resonated hard.  One of the show’s co-hosts, Becca Tobin, who welcomed her first child via surrogate, called out a specific breed of bad advice.  What Not To Say to Someone With Infertility “When you’re going through fertility stuff and you’re talking to other people about it, people who haven’t had fertility struggles, and they...