If you’ve been following along with my journey for a while, you know that in this most recent chapter of growing our family we did two additional IVF cycles, experienced three losses and went through four transfers (the most recent of which stuck!) So here’s some exciting news… If you’re reading this it means I’m officially on maternity leave with our rainbow IVF baby! And even though over the next few months I’ll be focusing on nurturing myself, my family and this new baby - I want you to continue to feel so loved and supported as a member of the thrIVF fam as this community means the world to me and getting to walk alongside you in your infertility journeys is truly one of the greatest honors ❤️ So here’s what you can expect from this corner of the internet over the next couple of months…

When Sarah started working with me she was using humor to mask a lot of her emotions and struggling from chronic headaches. She didn’t realize how much she was struggling until she found me on TikTok and realized that my content really resonated with her. As someone of “advanced maternal age” (her words not mine) who was diagnosed with PCOS and dealing with male factor infertility she wasn’t so sure how this whole thing would turn out…

So a little while back I did a poll on IG stories asking y’all if you’d be interested in me adding 10 fun or random facts about me to the website. So I decided this would be the perfect topic for a quick blog post so here we go….10 fun (and mostly random) facts about me…

I've never been big on goals. The exact precision of predicting the future never felt great to me, but intentions, I can totally get behind, and, if they’re you're cup of tea too, read on for three intentions to set for your infertility journey in the New Year.

This wasn’t the story I was expecting to share. Then again, life isn’t filled with perfect stories with happy endings. It’s a journey of messy middles. Highs and lows. And some of the best surprises you never saw coming. And here’s what I know now with more certainty than ever…

Let me start with a full blown confession. I am a terrible baker. In fact, the last time I tried to make some cookies that weren’t break and bake, I got the portions all wrong so much so that I had to throw out my batter and start all over again when the sand like consistency refused to become anything that remotely resembled a cookie… It was rough. I could have given up right there, but I didn’t.

The infertility journey can quickly become a roller coaster of emotions. One minute you think you’re doing fine and the next you’re bursting into tears on your bathroom floor or angrily fuming at the internet as everyone around you seems to get getting pregnant, except you. There are days where it truly feels like the world is against you.

If you've been on your fertility journey for any length of time, you’ve learned how to talk in acronyms. Your new magic power is transforming phrases and procedures into an alphabet soup - AMH, CD, FSH, HSG, RE, TTC, and TWW. This secret-sounding fertility code is fine and dandy until a few more letters find their way into the conversation. One particular acronym is one that few couples want to hear…one that’s much more intimidating than letters abbreviating lab values and cycle days. IVF.

This is Part 2 of a 2 part series on 10 Tips to Prepare for Your First IVF cycle. If you missed Part 1 of this blog series, now would be a good time to get caught up before diving into Part 2. And if you’re all caught up, then welcome to Part 2 of 10 Tips to Prepare for Your First IVF Cycle.

When our doctor finally told us it was time to move onto IVF, there was a part of me that was actually quite excited. It was the first time in our journey that I finally felt like we were doing something that could work. Hope was alive again. But with that excitement and hope also came a lot of anxiety. What would our protocol look like? How would the shots feel? What if it didn’t work? I learned a few things from both my own IVF journey (and after the fact) that might help as you prepare for your first IVF cycle. Read on for all the reflection learnings and wisdom nuggets.

My husband, Ory had a feeling something was wrong. I remember him bringing it up one evening before we were going to bed. “I don’t think things are working like they’re supposed to,” he said. I didn’t want to believe something could be wrong. We hadn’t even been trying all that long, so I brushed it off. Apparently he knows me super well (aka that I would stay in denial for quite some time), so he took matters into his own hands, bought an over the counter test kit from the pharmacy and sure enough discovered that we might have a problem after all.