In the realm of fertility and the pursuit of building a family, the journey can often be filled with twists and turns. However, amidst the search for effective solutions, a newfound ally has emerged, offering renewed hope to those seeking to conceive: Dehydroepiandrosterone, also known as DHEA.  What is DHEA?  DHEA, short for dehydroepiandrosterone, is a precursor hormone that’s naturally produced by your adrenal glands. A precursor hormone serves as the building blocks for other, specific hormones —  in this case, estrogen and testosterone.  DHEA is considered an androgen, a class of hormones that are primarily...

Caroline McMorrow • Jun 2, 2023

One night at dinner, a conversation came up with my 13-year-old son that reminded me of a moment I had when I was just a little younger than he is now.  I was almost 11 — one of the oldest in my 5th-grade class — and I was your typical New England preppy: plaid skirts, boat shoes, chunky fall sweaters, and heavy straight-across bangs that always seemed to have a cowlick in the front just above my right eyebrow. I had gone into school believing it was a regular day until my class was split into...

Elizabeth Carr • May 31, 2023

FSH: Many of us know of it as it relates to a menstrual cycle, but what role does it play, exactly? Follicle-stimulating hormone, or FSH, is produced by the pituitary gland in the brain and not only initiates follicular recruitment during the menstrual cycle, but also promotes follicular growth, or ovarian stimulation, leading up to the releasing of an egg by the ovaries during ovulation.  In a typical fertility workup, FSH is one of the hormones evaluated to help determine a woman’s ovarian reserve or the number of eggs remaining in the ovaries.  To better break...

Brighid Flynn • May 29, 2023

Sponsored by Organon. Visit fertilityjourney.com to learn more.  Photo of author and infertility patient, Jenny Cooke Malstrom. Jenny Cooke Malstrom is a licensed marriage and family therapist, infertility patient, and reproductive mental health advocate. Her online therapy practice, Sea Change Therapy, serves people in Washington and Florida. She has spent the past decade navigating infertility both personally and professionally, including: primary infertility, in vitro fertilization (IVF), miscarriage, endometriosis, secondary infertility, and recurrent pregnancy loss. She loves spending time by the water with her husband, their IVF son, and mini-Aussie puppy. This article is written from Jenny’s point of view...

Jenny Cooke Malstrom • May 28, 2023

This article was sponsored by Fairhaven Health.  I was speaking with my new therapist recently, and in recounting the last several years of my fertility journey, she responded with, “Wow, you’ve experienced a lot of loss.” I’ll be honest: I hadn’t really thought of it that way until that very moment. But when I count the 7 embryos we’ve lost, compounded on top of the loss of my best friend to breast cancer at the age of 31, I would have to agree with her assessment.  Now, if you haven’t dealt with fertility challenges, you may...

Kristyn Hodgdon • May 25, 2023

Non-traditional paths to parenthood are frequently misunderstood, and surrogacy is arguably the path that is most in need of cultural demystification. Surrogacy involves so many moving pieces, and both the medical and legal processes are complicated. On top of that, there’s this persistent misconception that surrogacy is just for the uber-privileged when in reality, people turn to surrogacy for a range of reasons.  In order to help others better understand what surrogacy really entails, we spoke with Dean Hutchison, Vice President of Legal Services at Circle Surrogacy, who broke down some of the important facts about...

Vivian Nunez • May 24, 2023

If you’re trying to start a family and find out you’ve been diagnosed with Diminished Ovarian Reserve (DOR), it’s completely understandable to feel anxious and stressed. After all, the very definition of DOR can make you feel that your chances of getting pregnant have been significantly slashed: “Women are born with a finite number of eggs,” explains Edward Nejat, MD, MBA, FACOG, reproductive endocrinologist and practice director at Generation Next Fertility. “That number declines throughout the reproductive lifespan. At the time of menopause, the average age of which is 51, all of the eggs have been...

Sarene Leeds • May 24, 2023

When it comes to assisted reproductive treatments like IUI and IVF, costs can vary based on the state, health insurance, fertility diagnosis, and so much more. Finding the right treatment or family planning path for you and your family is also complicated.   The medical system and health insurance system don’t make it any easier.  According to the CDC, 1 in 5 women struggle with getting pregnant after one year of trying. A new study published by Maven Clinic, a virtual clinic specifically for women and family’s health, also found that nearly 97% of all women surveyed...

Vivian Nunez • May 22, 2023

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,...

Jennifer “Jay” Palumbo • May 21, 2023

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...

Jennifer “Jay” Palumbo • May 18, 2023