Pregnantish

NASCAR fans may know Samantha Busch as the wife of stock car racing driver Kyle Busch; but in more recent years, more have learned that in addition to being a wife, a mom, and a lifestyle blogger, Samantha is also an infertility advocate through her non-profit, “The Bundle of Joy Fund” and her book, “Fighting infertility, Finding my Inner Warrior Through Trying to Conceive, IVF and Miscarriage.”As anyone in the infertility community knows, there is rarely a straight line to parenthood. In Samantha’s case, trying to become a mom again after she and Kyle had their son Brexton, was a chapter full of heartache, set backs, confusion and unexpected beauty after they found their surrogate match.On this episode, Andrea and Samantha discuss how she navigated tough decisions during her most recent miscarriage, why nobody should ever say “just” get a surrogate, her advice on how to navigate the surrogacy process, and why, despite finding resolution and completing her family, she’s still committed to advocating for people struggling to conceive. This episode is sponsored by Donor Concierge, a leading fertility service helping intended parents navigate the challenging process of finding an egg donor, sperm donor or surrogate. For more, visit donorconcierge.com

Emmy winning reporter Darla Miles never imagined that she'd be the center of a story involving infertility, repeated miscarriages and trying to conceive at 50 years old, especially as she has reported on extraordinary stories throughout her career.In her 30s, Darla met her husband and was thrilled to get pregnant at 36 just before their wedding; but that pregnancy ended and kicked off a decade+ long challenge to conceive and other challenges, including the sudden loss of Darla's husband, who was also her best friend.With a history of miscarriage, an autoimmune disease and now being considered of “advanced age”, some people think Darla's goal of having a baby is unrealistic. But, Darla is determined to exhaust her options as it's in her heart to become a mom.This episode is about resilience in the face of adversity, why we need more education about our fertility, and how far some of us will go to fulfill our most important goal of parenthood.This episode is presented by Donor Egg Bank USA, a leader in frozen donor egg. Two of their many financial plans include a guarantee that you’ll bring home a baby or receive a 100% refund. To learn more, visit donoreggbankusa.com

Sperm donation has been around since the 1950s and has helped build countless families for people with male factor infertility and/or for women without male partners.When it started, and in the decades that followed, most sperm donors were anonymous and many people who used sperm donors were actually discouraged from telling their offspring that they were conceived this way. But, as donor conception grew, so did the data and feedback from this group, who often demanded to know their genetic roots.On this pregnantish podcast, Andrea interviews two women, Sydney Sharon & Hayley Darknell-King, who live in different countries but share a similar experience of learning as adults that their biological dads were sperm donors. Sydney's dad was a sperm donor in the 1980s and Hayley was conceived, via sperm donation, during the same period. Both women know sperm donation from another perspective, too, as women in lesbian marriages who relied on sperm donation to build their respective families.This episode explores Sydney and Hayley’s personal stories and discoveries as they learned about their conception stories and DNA, how this information has positively changed their lives and/or made them question their identities, and how this information has shaped them as parents of donor conceived people today.This episode is sponsored by California Cryobank, which carefully selects the highest quality sperm donors to give clients the best possible opportunity for a safe and successful pregnancy. In fact, less than 1% of applicants can become a California Cryobank donor. Interested in starting your search? Head to cryobank.com and enter the code PREGISH to gain access to a free Level Two subscription in 2023.Hayley Darknell-King is an editorial guest and isn’t affiliated with California Cryobank.

How will the recent Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe Vs Wade impact the infertility community and those who face complicated pregnancies?According to the guests on the pregnantish podcast, Dr. Krishna Upadhya, VP of Quality Care and Health Equity at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, reproductive specialists Dr. Serena Chen and Dr. Lucky Sekhon, and fertility advocate, Davina Fankhauser, the future implications of assigning 'personhood' status to embryos will create less access to necessary fertility treatments, more vulnerability for doctors and patients, and worse and potentially dangerous outcomes for those who have pregnancies that require medical attention.This episode and conversation was recorded in front of a live studio audience of fertility advocates in New York City in the fall of 2022, and is supported by Doctors For Fertility, a non-profit whose mission is to educate and advocate for IVF and reproductive care. Find out more at doctorsforfertility.org

When Fabi traveled from California to Nashville for a football game in 2014, she never imagined her life would radically change. One night at a bar she met Josh, a handsome Army Ranger who had been stationed nearby. They would later describe the encounter as "love at first sight." The two were just starting out their lives in their 20s when Josh received a devastating diagnosis, he had a rare form of cancer called synovial sarcoma.  Josh knew he wanted to preserve his sperm and later spoke to Fabi about his wish to marry her and try to have a baby with her, despite the fact that he may not be there to raise their child. Josh and Fabi married on November 12, 2016 and Josh passed away just one month later. While this part of Josh and Fabi’s love story together ended, in many ways it continues to this day as she undergoes multiple IVF rounds to try to create healthy embryos and the chance at getting pregnant with her great love and continuing his legacy. This episode is presented by The American Cancer Society, the leading cancer-fighting organization, with a vision to end cancer as we know it, for everyone. For more, visit cancer.org. 

Those who have followed Sarah Kennedy Ellis’ career as a top CMO for blue chip companies, like Adobe, and now as a VP of Global Growth and Demand at Google, know how talented, driven and successful she is. What they may not know is that no matter how dedicated and focused Sarah is on one of her most important goals - having a baby - she has silently struggled behind the scenes... until recently.In one of her most vulnerable tweets to her business focused audience earlier this year Sarah shared,  “After three and a half years & counting, nine cycles of IVF, two miscarriages in the last six months, I think it's time for me to finally just say it out loud publicly. Infertility is a special kind of Fresh Hell that takes a toll on even the strongest, most resilient people I've met in life.” She added “..one thing I've learned most is how important it is to share your journey to be part of a community of women battling the same. I built my career being transparent as a leader, and I have with my team, but I've been weirdly shy to share this new part of who I am here.”In this episode, Sarah shares her story of building her career while navigating fertility treatments, why she knows she picked the right man to marry and company to work for, and what she wants others at Google - and outside of her work - to know about why it's important to advocate for your health and fertility.Today's episode is brought to you by Fertility Out Loud, a platform and social media community which provides resources and tools to help you along your fertility journey, and support from a community of women and couples who have been where you are. Visit fertilityoutloud.com for more.