When people talk about chemical pregnancies, they often mention that these pregnancy losses occur so early, that many women don’t even know they’re pregnant — and will have no idea that they’ve lost a pregnancy. But for infertility patients, that line of thinking doesn’t quite apply. Thanks to diligent cycle tracking, early testing, and frequent visits to your reproductive endocrinologist, fertility patients are more likely to know if they’ve suffered a chemical pregnancy. And finding out you’re pregnant only to learn that your pregnancy won’t last, is particularly devastating for those who had difficulty conceiving in...

Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) has been used in the United States since 1981 to help individuals and couples grow their families. During the early years of IVF, success rates were relatively low – approximately a 10-15% live birth rate per egg retrieval. To make up for this, IVF clinics routinely transferred more than one embryo to try to increase the chance of success. In fact, it was not uncommon to transfer two to four embryos at a time, especially in patients in their late 30s and 40s. Needless to say, a lot has changed since then.  ...

If you’re about to begin undergoing fertility treatments, there’s a chance you’ve asked yourself “does IUI even work?”. Maybe you’ve heard multiple success stories from IVF patients, but few from those who have conceived via IUI — or maybe you’re simply discouraged by the relatively low success rates (we’ll get into those below, but spoiler alert: IUI is unsuccessful more often than not).  But IUI can work — it worked for me in 2018, when I conceived my twins. Though I had a lot of doubts going into the procedure, it ended up being the right choice...

I’m currently in the two-week wait following my fourth frozen embryo transfer, and honestly, it feels like the stakes couldn’t be any higher for us than they are right now. On one hand, I’m hopeful: we did a whole slew of testing following our last failed transfer, and my doctor changed up my protocol due to the results of my ERA (Endometrial Receptivity Analysis).  On the other hand, I’m terrified. In the past year, I have had an early miscarriage, moved forward with PGT-A testing, and grieved two failed transfers with euploid (normal) embryos. Since I’ve...

I was 28 when I began trying (and trying and trying) to conceive. As a journalist covering fertility and prenatal health, I had all this information right at my fingertips, but nothing could prepare me for the frustrating, isolating reality of facing fertility challenges before age 30. At the time, my friends all fell squarely into one of two camps: Either they’d gotten pregnant immediately — often before even transitioning from “not not trying” to trying in earnest — or, they were actively avoiding pregnancy. None of them had drawers devoted to ovulation trackers in their...

Sponsored by Organon Kristyn Hodgdon is an IVF mom, current fertility patient, Co-founder and Chief Community Officer of Rescripted. This article is the opinion of the author and reflects the author's views. The author is not a healthcare professional. Let’s set the stage: You may have been trying to conceive (TTC) for a while now. You may think you’re doing everything right, however, month after month you’re hit with that single pink line or the negative symbol on a pregnancy test. With each passing month, you may feel a little bit more helpless and in search of answers. You...