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,...

When I was unable to watch Netflix’s Love is Blind finale in real time, I dreaded the inevitable spoilers I’d see on social media the next day. But instead of spoilers, all I saw was criticism of the show and one of its hosts, Vanessa Lachey. Specifically, social media users were complaining about the host’s invasive questioning of each of the show’s married couples' plans for having “babies”.  Days later, I finally watched the finale and saw exactly what everyone was upset about: At several points throughout the reunion-style finale, Lachey mentioned that she was...

For many people, diving into the world of infertility or fertility preservation comes with a lot of realizations about their own bodies and health — things they never even knew were possibilities. For example: Maybe you’re undergoing fertility testing to take control of your reproductive future…and you learn that you have a thing called diminished ovarian reserve. Terms like this — which sound like a foreign language to someone who hasn’t stepped into the world of reproductive medicine, but quickly become a part of your vocabulary as you navigate this world — can be frightening...

Sponsored by Organon. Visit FertilityJourney.com to learn more.  Photo of author and real-life IVF patient, Jennifer Palumbo. Jennifer Jay Palumbo is a writer, public speaker, infertility advocate, author of the blog “The 2 Week Wait,” and a proud IVF (in vitro fertilization) mom of 2 boys. This article is based on her own fertility journey. As someone who has personally struggled with infertility, I know firsthand just how stressful it can be. No one is ever fully prepared to manage the feelings and emotions that may come with the inability to conceive. My husband and...

My husband and I met in our late twenties. We are both the oldest children of big families and neither of us was particularly fixated on having kids. Instead, we spent an amazing ten years working and traveling. One of our first big experiences together was moving to London, and from there, we also lived and worked in Barcelona.  In our late thirties, while we were living in New Zealand, we both felt the pressure of the biological clock's countdown but still remained ambivalent about having children. We talked about it a lot and always...

"Am I feeling more tired than usual?" "Are my breasts more tender than they normally are?" When trying to conceive, you may begin questioning every possible pregnancy symptom. While your first instinct may be to take a home pregnancy test, you might be wary about doing so if you're concerned that the results won't be accurate. It's a valid fear – there's nothing worse than taking a pregnancy test only to get hit with a big fat negative because you took it too soon.    Whether you're in the two-week wait after an embryo transfer...