IVFU

Writer/activist/spoken word star Alix Olson has never been predictable, but no one is more surprised than she to realize how much it means to be a mother. Hear the origin story of her first son, born after her sperm donor made his contribution into a "well-rinsed Tostitos jar," and her shock at wanting a second child, but then experiencing painful secondary infertility, having to "play straight" to access her insurance coverage, an...

Daughter Nicole founded a surrogacy agency after her struggle with infertility, while her mother Pam launched the Baby Quest Foundation to award grants for fertility treatments to those who can't afford it. After struggling for years with infertility, through IVF, miscarriages, fertility treatments, fertility meds, pregnancy fails, and more, Nicole Lawson was able to have her first child through a surrogate. She worked with surroga...

Fertility coach Oana Gharbi shares her story and strategies for coping with IVF, secondary infertility, hormones, protocols, pompous doctors, and sometimes, when it's best to stop and live your life. Having experienced her own personal pain and loss with the death of her first husband, then acute secondary infertility with her second husband, Oana discovered her true calling as a coach and advocate for people still on the journey t...

Reverend Julia Offinger, Associate Rector of Grace Church in New York City and Rabbi Rachel Brown, educational director of Temple Beth Shalom in Hudson, Ohio talk candidly with Sam about the roles of faith, love and grace in the struggle to make a family. It’s a rare chance to ask the direct questions about the religious rules of IVF and alternative reproduction, from the Episcopal stance on infertility to the Catholic stance on IV...

Comedian/writer/advocate Jennifer 'Jay' Palumbo talks openly about how infertility changed her career, her priorities and her marriage – and how she still comes out laughing. After grueling IVF treatments, embryo transfers, pregnancy fails and office baby showers, Jay finally had a successful pregnancy which produced her son Michael and moved her to become an advocate and a figurehead in the fertility/infertility fight. Then s...

Writer, comedian and frequent host of The Moth Radio Hour, Tara Clancy talks candidly about the many hoops she and her first wife jumped through to become legal, lesbian moms, from fighting for insurance coverage as one of the earliest same-sex couples to do reciprocal IVF, to getting both parents' names on the birth certificate, to the moment when gay marriage became legal – the day after her second son was born. Now remarrie...

Resolve activist and fertility advocate Brooke Kingston shares the rewards of living child-free - and giving your dogs their own living room. Sam and Brooke talk openly about the possibilities for happiness and self-empowerment when choosing to live child-free after infertility, or "child-free not by choice." Baby showers, pregnant sisters and sibling rivalry, women's rights, IVF and infertility support, marital issues, march on Wa...

Chris and Jesse's second experience with fost-adopt was "a completely different rodeo," as they became a beautiful family with a fragile baby and his toddler brother. Learn how they were supported through foster-to-adopt and family services organization Vista Del Mar as they worked to care for children who were victims of abuse and mental illness, the sacrifices they made to ensure the kids got the best physical therapy, occupation...

Married couple Chris and Jesse share their turbulent story of trying to make a family through the foster-to-adopt system. You'll learn about their big gay wedding (one of the first in California after gay marriage became legal), their entry into the fost-adopt emergency placement system with guidance from historic adoption and child placement agency Vista Del Mar, their unexpected relationship with the baby's birth mother, and thei...

Schoolteacher Melissa talks frankly about forging her own unique path to motherhood as a single Black woman in the white-centric world of fertility. You'll hear how Melissa's experience with premature ovarian syndrome has given her a crash course in infertility, trying to become a single mom by choice, Black sperm and egg donors, the cost of IVF and fertility treatments, and the value of getting fertility support and medical info f...

Robin Hopkins and Jaimie Kelton, creator/hosts of award-winning podcast If These Ovaries Could Talk, don't hold back about the unique challenges, dark moments, and hilarious swings of queer family-making, including reciprocal IVF, the different parenting roles of lesbian moms, the hunt for a sperm donor, donor siblings, infertility support, and more.

Check out Robin & Jaimie's award-winning podcast (and their

book of the sa...

That's right, friends, IVFU is back with all new stories about making a family the new-fashioned way. Subscribe and share and tune in Sept. 15 for episode 1 of Season 2.

Get more info on IVFU and download our theme song "Freak in

Love" at www.ivfupodcast.com.

Keep up with the latest IVFU updates and special announcements!

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Donate to help IVFU keep going at Venmo.com/ivfupodc...

Season finale: Hear Sam & Kaylee's postpartum secrets and surprises. Kaylee and Sam reconvene after Darwyn's birth to discuss the adventure they've shared, confess what they were both thinking in the hospital, and explore the surprising secrets of motherhood no one ever talks about.

For episode transcripts and to download our theme song, “Freak in Love,” visit ivfupodcast.com

For more information about Sam’s live stories...

Meet Kaylee as she's 8 months pregnant with Sam's son, Darwyn. Is that weird? Yes and no. They talk about their paths to this moment, their relationship to each other and the baby, and the who, what and why of carrying someone else's child.

For episode transcripts and to download our theme song, “Freak in Love,” visit ivfupodcast.com

For more information about Sam’s live stories, performances and music please visit sams...

Hear Dr. Luk's IVF insights. Sam talks candidly with her first fertility specialist, Dr. Janelle Luk of Generation Next Fertility, about her personal journey to being an REI, what makes a great doctor, and why we can't just make tons of babies easily, the way rabbits do, dammit.

For episode transcripts and to download our theme song, “Freak in Love,” visit ivfupodcast.com

For more information about Sam’s live stories, perfor...

Hear Kathleen's transracial adoption story. What happens when you know you want to adopt, but no one wants you back? Maybe you wind up finding the perfect match in a child who is nothing like you.

To read Kathleen's blog about parenting visit thisoldmom.com. 

For Kathleen's essays about transracial parenting:

I Racially Profiled My Black Child – This Old Mom

Why Am I Brown? – This Old Mom

How Does A White Mom Explain Micha...

Therapist Savannah keeps us sane. Sam talks with her own therapist, Savannah, whose specialty in infertility issues stems from her own journey to have a child through egg donation. Together, they unpack the emotional minefield of infertility - a minefield that's different for every person who walks through it.

Savannah Sanfield is a marriage and family therapist, certified parent coach and maternal mental health specialist. She supp...

Dive into Maureen's solo IVF quest and activism. Social worker Maureen could only be described with one word: resilient. Okay, two words: resilient and hilarious. Somehow, between doing IVF as a single woman, navigating sperm banks, egg donors and the cost of it all, she still finds the strength to lobby for IVF health coverage at the state capitol.

For episode transcripts and to download our theme song, “Freak in Love,” visit&n...