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, and becoming a single mother after her then-wife transitioned into a man. Come along with us on the road of Alix's self-discovery as she candidly takes us through success, addiction, recovery, sobriety, love, heartache, turkey basters, IVF, an ovarian cyst, medical error, infertility insurance coverage, sociopolitical norms, PhD research, women's rights, queer kinship, socialism, teaching university, and motherhood to two incredible kids. We cap off this special episode with a real-time performance of one of Alix's heartfelt, spoken word poems.Author, writer, poet, professor, performer and public figure Alix Olson has been reviewed and raved about in Ms. Magazine, Utne Reader, Progressive Reader and more. Historian and activist Howard Zinn has called Alix "an ingenious poet, a brilliant performer, a funny person, a serious thinker. Quite simply, extraordinary."Learn more about Alix Olson at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alix_Olson. Learn about her work as an Assistant Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) at Emory University.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 at @ivfupodcast. Donate to help IVFU keep going at Venmo.com/ivfupodcast and PayPal.me/ivfupodcast. Get in touch! Email us your thoughts, questions and transcript requests at ivfupodcast@gmail.com.

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 surrogacy again for her second child, and was inspired to leave her entertainment career to open Abundant Beginnings Company, a surrogacy agency, with her business partner Julie Allgood. Meanwhile, Nicole's mother, Pamela Hirsch, after caring for her daughter through the struggle and realizing the fortune of having a fortune when you can pay for your child's IVF treatment and support, was inspired to found the Baby Quest Foundation, which awards grants to couples, single parents, military veterans with infertility and others who long to have a family, but don't have the funds. Join us for Bring Your Mother to Work Day at IVFU!If you have questions about surrogacy, becoming a surrogate for a family in need, or finding a surrogate for your own family journey, find Nicole at Abundant Beginnings Company, https://abcsurrogacy.com. For more information about Baby Quest, to make a donation, offer to volunteer, or apply for one of their annual fertility grants, (next deadline March 15, 2022!) visit https://babyquestfoundation.org. 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 at www.instagram.com/ivfupodcast, www.facebook.com/ivfupodcast and www.twitter.com/ivfupodcast. Donate to help IVFU keep going at Venmo.com/ivfupodcast and PayPal.me/ivfupodcast. Get in touch! Email us your thoughts, questions and transcript requests at ivfupodcast@gmail.com.

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 to family after deciding to stop IVF and restore peace and happiness to her life, her marriage, and her family. She and Sam discuss the good and bad of IVF Facebook groups, the difference in TTC for women over 40, low ovarian reserve, egg donation, pineapple core, myths and medical breakthroughs.Find Oana on her Facebook Group and her website www.getthegoldenegg.com.SEND IN YOUR QUESTIONS for our Season 2 finale with fertility therapist Savannah Sanfield. Ask anything, get free answers. Questions due by 11/11. Send to ivfupodcast@gmail.com or DM Sam at www.instagram.com/ivfupodcast.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 at www.instagram.com/ivfupodcast, www.facebook.com/ivfupodcast and www.twitter.com/ivfupodcast. Donate to help IVFU keep going at Venmo.com/ivfupodcast and PayPal.me/ivfupodcast. Get in touch! Email us your thoughts, questions and transcript requests at ivfupodcast@gmail.com.

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 IVF to the Jewish stance on egg donation and surrogacy, and more. A female priest and a female rabbi share their personal experiences with Ashkenazi Jewish genes, Christian lesbian marriage and same sex motherhood, third party reproduction, Jesus, the Pope, the Talmud, the Torah, Jewish scholarship and Christian fellowship, all with a passion for spreading the word that it’s okay to do IVF and alternative reproduction in the eyes of religion, and that normalizing these pathways to making families is the best thing we can do to support people going through it.Learn more about Reverend Julia’s work at Grace Church NYC.Learn more about Rabbi Rachel at Temple Beth Shalom, Shaarey Tikvah, and Camp Timbrel.SEND IN YOUR QUESTIONS for our Season 2 finale with fertility therapist Savannah Sanfield. Ask anything, get free answers. Questions due by 11/11. Send to ivfupodcast@gmail.com or DM Sam at www.instagram.com/ivfupodcast.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 at www.instagram.com/ivfupodcast, www.facebook.com/ivfupodcast and www.twitter.com/ivfupodcast. Donate to help IVFU keep going at Venmo.com/ivfupodcast and PayPal.me/ivfupodcast. Get in touch! Email us your thoughts, questions and transcript requests at ivfupodcast@gmail.com.

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 she got pregnant by accident which surprised the entire world - and forced her to do a lot of explaining!Jay is the Founder and CEO of Wonder Woman Writer, LLC, a freelance writer, stand-up comic, and proud mompreneur to two boys, one with special needs. Find her pieces in Time Magazine, Parents Magazine, Huffington Post (HuffPo), and ScaryMommy, and find Jay herself in Self, Fast Company, Medium, and more. As an infertility subject matter expert, she’s been interviewed on news outlets such as CNN, NPR, FOX, NBC, and BBC America, plus the documentary, “Vegas Baby”. Her blog, "The Two Week Wait", was awarded the Hope Award for Best Blog from Resolve: The National Infertility Association and was also named the “Best IVF Blog” by Egg Donation Friends. Visit Jay at Twitter or Instagram @jennjaypal.SEND IN YOUR QUESTIONS for our Season 2 finale with fertility therapist Savannah Sanfield. Ask anything, get free answers. Questions due by 11/11. Send to ivfupodcast@gmail.com or DM Sam at www.instagram.com/ivfupodcast.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 at www.instagram.com/ivfupodcast, www.facebook.com/ivfupodcast and www.twitter.com/ivfupodcast. Donate to help IVFU keep going at Venmo.com/ivfupodcast and PayPal.me/ivfupodcast. Get in touch! Email us your thoughts, questions and transcript requests at ivfupodcast@gmail.com.

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 remarried, Tara also shares her excitement in this new, third chance at motherhood, and as her butch biological clock will tell you, it's not a moment too soon.Find out more about Tara, her live performances and her book The Clancys of Queens at www.taraclancy.com.Find out more about The Moth Radio Hour and live storytelling events at themoth.org.Get ready for our IVFU Season 2 Finale by sending in your questions for our expert therapist Savannah Sanfield! Questions due by Nov 11 (11/11). Send to ivfupodcast@gmail.com or DM Sam at www.instagram.com/ivfupodcast.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 at www.instagram.com/ivfupodcast, www.facebook.com/ivfupodcast and www.twitter.com/ivfupodcast. Donate to help IVFU keep going at Venmo.com/ivfupodcast and PayPal.me/ivfupodcast. Get in touch! Email us your thoughts, questions and transcript requests at ivfupodcast@gmail.com.