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Ali's guest today, Pam Schumann, is CEO of SMP Pharmacy, a groundbreaking fertility and specialty pharmacy that is dedicated to empowering patients and clinics throughout their fertility journeys. Pam talks about how she joined the fertility community from a professional perspective before enduring her own infertility struggles. She talks about her low ovarian reserve, going through IVF more than 20 years ago, how IVF took a toll on her marriage, her "really bad quantity but really good quality" results, having her son, and how, later, he found out he was an IVF baby. She also talks about the extraordinary things SMP Pharmacy is doing, the importance of decision support, and the personalized, on-demand trackable injection training that SMP is offering, which has completely transformed the process for patients and nurses alike. "I think anything that gives people control of their decision making is very useful," Pam says. "We are a women-run pharmacy and so we understand both the emotio

Alex Kornswiet is an infertility advocate, a mental health advocate, a miscarriage survivor and a surrogacy warrior, and today, she and Ali are getting into all of her family building deets. Alex talks about marrying her high school sweetheart, finding out they had infertility issues, doing a fresh IVF transfer with her first son (it worked!), and why, at one point, she felt like a  "fraud" in the infertility community. She also talks about her devastating miscarriage and how she navigated the grief, realizing her doctor wasn't the right fit for her and switching clinics, using a courier service to transport her embryos, the crush of a cancelled cycle, and being diagnosed with Asherman's syndrome. Alex also discusses her surrogacy journey, including how they matched quickly with a surrogate, the surprise pregnancy that rocked their world, and how today, she is a proud mama of three boys. TOPICS COVERED IN THIS EPISODE:Infertility; IVF: Asherman's Syndrome; miscarriage; embryos; cancelled c

Today, Ali is talking to her friend and one of the Fertility Rally founding members, Michelle G. Michelle is a full spectrum doula, a yoga teacher, a reiki healer, an IVF warrior, a pregnancy loss survivor and a foster parent, and on this episode, they're getting into all of it. What Michelle and her husband, Lucas, thought was a simple Male factor diagnosis turned into multiple surgeries, IVF miscarriages, IUI miscarriages, donor sperm and three egg retrievals. The silver lining is that Michelle and Lucas became foster parents at the end of 2022. But their family building story is not over yet. As Michelle says, "Our story is still not over and we hope to continue 'finding forever' in 2023." Follow her or connect @via.mirabella on Instagram. TOPICS COVERED IN THIS EPISODE:Male factor infertility; microtese; vericocele; IVF; IUI; donor sperm; miscarriage; Covid; adoption; chemical pregnancy; trauma-informed therapy; foster parentingEPISODE SPONSORS:FERTILITY RALLY @fertilityrally www.ferti

It's been two and a half years, and lot has happened since Ali last talked to her friend, Victoria Nino @expectinganything. Today, Victoria brings us up to speed on where she is now (spoiler alert: 8 and a half months pregnant!). She talks about what she did when her doctor said, "Don't get your hopes up, Victoria, because it's not that great of an embryo," another transfer that didn't work, and then a surprise pregnancy of "an unknown location." She also gets into what happened next, including some very cool messages from an intuitive friend, being "all in with gypsy magic," and why they call their next baby, "Star Baby." TOPICS COVERED IN THIS EPISODE:Failed IVF transfers; donor eggs; gypsy magic; IVF; pregnancy after loss; surprise pregnancy; pregnancy of unknown location; IVF success; epigenetics. EPISODE SPONSORS:FERTILITY RALLY @fertilityrally www.fertilityrally.comNo one should go through infertility alone. Join the Worst Club with the Best Members at fer

Jenna Cuccionilli has one of the biggest hearts Ali has encountered in this community, and today, Jenna and Ali are talking about Jenna's 5-plus year infertility journey, including being diagnosed with PCOS at the age of 16, five miscarriages, one stillbirth and how now, they have five embryos left. Jenna gets into the details of her first miscarriage, one week before she and her husband Pete's wedding, why she calls herself "half crunchy," starting with IUIs and moving onto IVF, and why she turned her household into a non-toxic household. She also talks about the devastating loss of their baby, Graham, who was stillborn when she was around 20 weeks pregnant. Jenna gives advice to anyone navigating stillbirth, where they are now on their family building journey, and why her word for 2023 is "breakthrough." TOPICS COVERED IN THIS EPISODE:Miscarriage; IUI; IVF; pregnancy after loss; still birth; non-toxic environment; infertility and weight loss. EPISODE SPONSORS:FERTILITY RALLY @fertili

Ali's guest today is the incredible interior designer, photographer, mom of two, and wife of magician and "Magic for Humans" star Justin Willman. Jill shares all the details of her family building journey, from being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of 18 to her first miscarriage, to finally getting pregnant with her son -- although it was far from an easy pregnancy. Jill talks about how she and Justin met, how they made a list of baby names the night they got engaged, and what happened when her first pregnancy ended after eight weeks. She also talks about how, when she finally got pregnant with her son, she "bled the whole time," the anxiety of pregnancy after loss, and how Justin, who was doing a show across the country, almost missed Jack's birth. Jill also discusses how, after her body had been through so much with her pregnancy with Jack, they were advised to use a surrogate if they wanted to have any more children, how they found the perfect surrogate for them (shoutout

Ali's guest today is Kristin Marsoli, a loyal Target shopper, an aspiring novelist, and a cancer survivor. Knowing she couldn’t carry a baby because of her medical history, when Kristin and her husband were ready to start their family, they turned to surrogacy. After a long journey with many bumps in the road, they finally welcomed their beautiful son into the world in 2014. Kristin then turned her personal experience with surrogacy into her profession, taking the role as the Marketing Director at Circle Surrogacy. Kristin educates intended parents, surrogates and egg donors about surrogacy and egg donation through Circle’s marketing efforts, and is passionate about helping make parenthood possible for others. On this episode, Ali and Kristin get into allll of it — as well as what song was number one in 2004. (Can you guess?) For more info on Circle Surrogacy, check out circlesurrogacy.com TOPICS COVERED IN THIS EPISODE:Cervical cancer; cancer survival; infertility; radical hysterectomy; surrogacy; IVF; s

Today's guest, Deja Riley Izydorczyk, is a a fitness instructor and an ambassador for Lululemon, she was named one of Forbes' Black Women Changing the Face of Fitness. She is also a huge influencer on social, with almost 100,000 followers on Instagram and nearly 105,000 followers on TikTok, where she and her husband, Jimmy, have been chronicling their fertility journey. Deja tells Ali all about what she and Jimmy have been going through since they started their family building journey, including unexplained infertility, four failed IUIs, a devastating miscarriage, screaming in the shower, and now the next phase: IVF. Deja is still in the midst of her journey, so follow along on her IG @dejarile or on TikTok @dejarileyizy -- and stay tuned for another Deja episode down the line. TOPICS COVERED IN THIS EPISODE:IUI; unexplained infertility; pregnancy loss; miscarriage; polyps; fitness during infertility; IVFEPISODE SPONSORS:FERTILITY RALLY @fertilityrally www.fertilityrally.comNo one should go through in

Today, Ali is talking to warrior mom Erin Bulcao about her real and raw fertility journey. Erin talks about how not ovulating led her to see a fertility specialist when she was in her late 20s, and why they recommended she start with IUIs. She talks about getting pregnant with triplets via IUI, and why it was recommended by her medical team, for the health of both Erin and her babies, that they reduce the pregnancy to twins. After discussing the aftermath of that decision and that procedure, as well as the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade, Erin shares how she felt "horrible and embarrassed." She also shares the difficulties of bringing one twin home while the other was still in the hospital, when and why her marriage almost "crashed and burned," moving on to IVF, and the importance of switching clinics and advocating for herself. Erin also talks about more losses, including an excruciating miscarriage that seemingly lasted forever, and finally bringing home their rainbow baby, via a final rou

Today, Ali is talking to Monica Bivas, IVF warrior and advocate, mindset and holistic fertility coach, and author of "The IVF Planner." Monica talks about her stage-four endometriosis, finding out that IVF was her only option to have healthy pregnancies, the several IVF cycles she went through, and how IVF can be considered taboo in the Latina community. She talks about having her now-17 year old daughter through IVF, and how blood clots in her umbilical cord during another pregnancy lead to the devastating stillbirth of another daughter, at 39 weeks. Monica explains what happened next, including depression, suicidal thoughts, her marriage almost "crumbling," more IVF cycles, the anxiety of pregnancy after infertility, how it felt when her next daughter (who is now nine years old) was born and how she turned her "pain into her purpose." Follow Monica on IG at @monicabivas TOPICS COVERED IN THIS EPISODE:Endometriosis; Stage-four endo; IVF; successful IVF; IVF in the Latin community; tab

April Christina is one of the biggest endometriosis advocates in this community and today, Ali hears April's entire fertility journey, from when she first got her period at the age of 9 to where she is today -- still in the midst of it all. April talks about her very early menstruation; her endometriosis diagnosis in her early 20s (and how when she was diagnosed, she had never even heard of endo before); her two endo surgeries; being in a depressive state; the discovery of her chocolate cysts; how she met her husband and when they started talking about family building; knowing that IUIs were not the right thing for her; and how her first IVF cycle did not go as planned. April also talks about her Endo Brunch, the power of community, the trauma of infertility, feeling isolated, and where she and her husband are now in their journey. (Hint: A new IVF cycle is starting soon.) April Christina is also a partner of Fertility Out Loud’s newest offering, Fertility Outreach a text-based platform providing aspiring

Today, Ali is talking to her incredible PIBAC (Partner in Biz and Claw), Fertility Rally co-founder Blair Nelson, aka @fabivfmama. Blair was on Ali's 8th episode three and a half years ago, and sooooo much has happened since then: Blair did many more rounds of IVF, Blair had her baby girl, Hadley, Blair and Ali launched Fertility Rally in 2020, Blair got pregnant again in the fall of 2022, and then Blair received some devastating news that her baby, in utero, has an extremely rare disease called Limb Body Wall Complex, which is fatal. Blair talks about all of it on this episode, including what's going to happen next. TOPICS COVERED IN THIS EPISODE:Balanced translocation; IVF; FETs; pregnancy after infertility; parenthood after infertility; rare diseases; Fertility Rally; limb-body wall complex; TFMR (termination for medical reasons). Follow Keegan @theivfdad and check out his book here: https://www.theivfdad.com/EPISODE SPONSORS:FERTILITY RALLY @fertilityrally www.fertilityrally.comNo one should go th

On this episode, Ali talks to Sarah, a U.S. citizen who's been living --and going through secondary infertility -- in Shanghai, China. Sarah emailed Ali, "I have always had good access to mental health support and friends in the US, but the past two years I have been living in Shanghai, China. The border remains closed due to covid so we have not been able to travel out at all. I recently experienced a miscarriage here, between 8 and 9 weeks, had a D&C, and really struggled to find anyone to talk to about it. While Shanghai is a very very modern city, it really lacks the sort of mental health awareness and access we have in the US and it was a real struggle." Sarah shares what it's like going through secondary infertility in China, where for many years, there was a "one child" policy; the cultural differences she's faced; finding community (or the lack thereof); how some people have embryos in China but are not allowed in the country; and more. TOPICS COVERED IN THIS EPISODE:In

Today Ali is talking to a very dear friend of hers, Payal @payalponders, who she met when Payal joined the Fertility Rally family. Payal is mama to Zion Edward, who was with us earthside from 7/4-7/6/22 --and she's going to tell us all about her sweet son, as well as her entire fertility journey. Payal talks about meeting her husband Ron, why she had a feeling she might need fertility treatments, doing 3 IUIs, doing 3 egg retrievals, and doing two FETs. She also talks about her placenta abruption when she was 24 weeks two days pregnant with Zion, including what happened at home, what happened in the hospital and the NICU, and what happened when they realized sweet Zion was not going to make it. This is a very special episode, and Ali can't thank Payal enough for sharing. Here's to Zion Edward and ice cream forever. TOPICS COVERED IN THIS EPISODE:Infertility; IUIs; egg retrievals; FETs; frozen embryo transfers; pregnancy after loss; placenta abruption; NICU; baby and infant loss.  EPISODE SPONSORS:

Today Ali is talking to a dear friend of hers who she met through Instagram. Her name is Jess Veit,and she is an IVF Warrior and advocate, a bright light in the IG community, and mama to her rainbow baby, whose nickname is Sunny. You probably know her from IG @onesunnystory. On this episode, Jess tells Ali how she got to where she is today, including 9 years of trying, 

Ali is talking to best friends this week! Today, her guests are Ronit and Vida, who met while working together at Nike in Los Angeles, who both come from health and fitness backgrounds, and who both found themselves going through infertility at the same time. Today, they both share their infertility journeys, including how they each had a miscarriage one week apart, how they supported each other as best friends, how the losses affected their relationships with their husbands, and how they blamed themselves. They're also going to discuss how after delving into some deep research and trying to figure out the root cause of their fertility issues, they decided to found a company called We Natal. WeNatal is the first prenatal supplement intentionally optimized for her and for him. Reimagining the gender paradigms around fertility and pregnancy, WeNatal is shifting prenatal care from women-centered to couples-centered—from Me to We. For more, check out https://wenatal.com/TOPICS COVERED IN THIS EPISODE:Miscarri

Get ready for a very entertaining conversation! Today Ali is talking to Lauren Massarella, a wellness and lifestyle blogger from Chicago, who co-hosts "Cozy Conversations," a bi-weekly podcast about everyday life experiences, pop culture, current events, and everything in between, with her sister, Michelle. Ali and Lauren dive deep into Lauren's infertility struggles, starting with "horrible" endometriosis for a big chunk of her life, the lack of sex education she got as a young woman, going through IVF with her husband, Anthony, how they finally got pregnant, some unique pregnancy complications, and finally, having their healthy baby girl.  TOPICS COVERED IN THIS EPISODE:Endometriosis; surgery; infertility; IVF; sex education; pregnancy after infertility; parenthood after infertility. EPISODE SPONSORS:FERTILITY RALLY @fertilityrally www.fertilityrally.comNo one should go through infertility alone. Join the Worst Club with the Best Members at fertilityrally.com. We offer 4 support groups p

Today, Ali is talking to Keegan Prue, whose book, "The IVF Dad," chronicles he and his wife's struggle with infertility, going through two rounds of IVF, two miscarriages, and three embryo transfers before the birth of their first daughter--and then even more before having their next baby girl, who was just born less than a month ago. Keegan talks about how to be a supportive partner through infertility, why he's always wanted to have kids, what happened when they "hit the wall," how his wife had a blighted ovum, hearing the dreaded phrase, "I'm sorry, there's no heartbeat," pregnancy after loss, and so much more. TOPICS COVERED IN THIS EPISODE:Unexplained infertility; the male point of view; Letrizole; IVF; FET; blighted ovum; miscarriage; grief; successful cycles; genetic testing; a double-thawed embryo; pregnancy after infertility; parenthood after infertility. Follow Keegan @theivfdad and check out his book here: https://www.theivfdad.com/EPISODE SPONSORS:FERTILITY

Lisa White is an author, an IVF mentor and an occupational therapist, and today, she's going to talk about riding the emotional rollercoaster of the infertility and IVF journey, and how it can feel incredibly overwhelming, lonely and painful. Lisa asks, "How do you stay hopeful and not lose yourself or your dreams for your family in this process?" Lisa tells Ali about being told they had less than one percent chance conceiving without assisted reproductive technology (ART), discovering polyps in her uterus, getting no embryos during a round of IVF, her lifelong love of journaling, the importance of surrounding yourself with like-minded people during infertility, achieving IVF success with only one healthy embryo, becoming a mom at the age of 40, the emergency hysterectomy that saved her life, and a ton more. Follow Lisa on IG at @ivf.manifesting.a.miracle and check out her book, "Hold On, Baby" here: https://ivfmanifestingamiracle.com/holdonbabyTOPICS COVERED IN THIS EPISODE:Male factor in

Reproductive endocrinologist Dr. Lora Shahine is on the show today! You guys probably know her from TikTok, IG, and also her passion for educating and supporting the fertility community. Today, she's talking about all the things, including her own infertility journey--and why so many doctors (one in four actually!) face infertility. Lora talks about the importance of social media in her medical practice, egg freezing, being diagnosed with secondary infertility, the 3 IVF transfers she went through, and why working remotely has had some pros and cons for patients when it comes to going through treatment. TOPICS COVERED IN THIS EPISODE:Secondary infertility; IVF; transfers; failed transfers; stims; egg freezing; doctors going through infertility. EPISODE SPONSORS:FERTILITY RALLY LIVEDo not miss our FREE VIRTUAL EVENT: Fertility Rally Live For Anyone Trying to Conceive and New Moms After Infertility on 10/22! The All-Day, Educational and Inspirational Event Returns to Support the ‘Worst Club with the Best Me