As more and more couples turn to in-vitro fertilization (IVF) to start or expand their families, concerns have been raised about a possible link between IVF and autism spectrum disorder. If you Google ‘Autism and IVF’, you’ll receive approximately 6,860,000 results, all with conflicting outcomes. It can be very overwhelming to get a definitive answer. While we share just a fraction of those studies below, you’ll see that the cause of autism is still very much in debate. What is autism? Autism spectrum disorder, or autism, is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects how a person behaves,...

The dreaded two-week wait. You know the drill: you've timed everything just right, you've done all of the necessary preparations, and now it's a waiting game before you can take a pregnancy test.  The two-week wait, which occurs in the luteal phase of your menstrual cycle, is the time between ovulation (when the egg is released from the ovary) and either the start of your period or the time when you can take a pregnancy test.  During this time, your body is going through some pretty major changes. If you've successfully conceived, an egg will have...

Using a donor gamete (egg, sperm, or embryo) can be overwhelming. Four years after my husband and I decided to adopt two embryos, one of which is now our three-year-old son, I still have questions. Maybe some would have been answerable. Perhaps they were, and still are, unknown to the genetic donors. I don’t know. The path to parenthood has many possible roads, and, for many of us, a lot of them are not clearly marked. We often go into this process confused, scared, uneducated, and with far more questions than answers. For me, the biggest...

If you’re on TikTok a lot (and aren’t we all?), there’s a good chance you’ve stumbled on a video with the hashtag #MucinexDPregnancy. Essentially, these videos claim that taking the medication, which is commonly used for cold, flu, and sinus symptoms, can help boost a person’s odds of getting pregnant. But before you try this hack at home, let’s fact-check this one. Because in case you haven’t heard, not every piece of health-related information on the internet is grounded in truth. So, does Mucinex help you get pregnant?  In one viral video, a creator begins by...

All couples navigate their family planning journey differently. But, no matter where your journey takes you, you may start by exploring which fertility option is the best and most viable for you and your family.  Along the way, you may also find that hearing others’ stories of how they navigated family-building proves to be helpful and eases any feelings of isolation. This is especially true for LGBTQIA+ couples who have the added task of researching everything from legal questions to finding LGBTQIA-affirming medical providers.  Mafê Villas Boas shared some insight into how they/she and their/her partner,...

So you’ve decided to do pre-implantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) on your embryos, and now that you’ve gotten the results back you find out some of your embryos are mosaics. You’ve heard of aneuploid and euploid embryos before, but what is a mosaic embryo? Can mosaics be transferred?  Let’s take a step back for a second.  What is a mosaic embryo? A euploid embryo is normal, and all of the cells in the embryo have the right number of chromosomes (46). An aneuploid embryo is abnormal, and all of its cells have a different number...

As soon as the words “donor eggs” left my doctor's mouth and hit my ears, my whole world came crashing down. There was no way I was going to do that.  After my husband Michael and I got married in 2012, we started trying to have a baby. We found out quickly that Michael had male factor fertility challenges, but we never suspected I would have fertility issues as well. After four intrauterine inseminations (IUI), all of which failed, we were referred to a Reproductive Endocrinologist.   During our visits, we discovered that I had low...

There is nothing quite like being a dad.  Before I became a dad to my firstborn on a foggy Tuesday morning in May 2020, I was an expectant dad who understood how everything could change in a heartbeat.  Soon after my son was born, a nurse whisked me away from my wife’s side to be at his for comfort. I remember whispering to him, “Hey buddy, this is Daddy… I’m right here.” I placed my right index finger in the palm of his left grip, and the moment he grasped onto it with his tiny...

Many women are familiar with or have heard of endometriosis and the painful, heavy periods and pelvic discomfort that may come with it. Adenomyosis is a disease that causes similar symptoms, which is why it can be misdiagnosed as other conditions, such as fibroids or endometriosis. It is, however, its own condition.  With the help of Dr. Jessica Bauer of IVF MD, in this article we will walk you through what adenomyosis is, the signs and symptoms to look out for, how it differs from another, more common gynecological condition, and what options there are...

You know the drill: one minute you're feeling on top of the world, and the next, you're crying over a sad dog commercial. As women, our emotions are closely tied to our hormones, which can be influenced by our monthly menstrual cycles. Understanding how our hormonal fluctuations may impact our mood throughout the month can help us be better prepared to manage those feelings when they arise.  The science of ovulation Throughout the month, women's bodies undergo a hormonal dance that can make us feel like we're on a never-ending rollercoaster. In fact, according to...