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Being infertile sucks. Co-hosts Sarah and Kaela are your friends who get it. This is a podcast by real women sharing truths about the hardships and hilarity of infertility, IVF, and trying to conceive.
Episodes
Tuesday Oct 23, 2018
Tuesday Oct 23, 2018
Sarah & Kaela are answering your questions in this episode! They cover all sorts of topics including if penis length affects fertility, coping with baby showers, juggling work and doctor appointments, anxiety during pregnancy after infertility, sperm morphology, alcohol and fertility treatments, and they even touch on topics like porn stars and satin sheets! Spoiler alert, length doesn’t matter at all - at least not for fertility.
Bree Molyneaux - Hypnosis for Fertility
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hypnosis-for-fertility/603391428
Bree Molyneaux - Hypnosis for IVF
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hypnosis-for-ivf/603374475
Email questions, comments, and other mafia matters to infertilemafia@gmail.com
Join the closed Facebook group: The Infertile Mafia
Follow on Instagram @infertilemafiapodcast
Monday Oct 15, 2018
Monday Oct 15, 2018
October is Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month. 1 in 4 women experience a miscarriage, and many of them suffer in silence. In this bonus episode, Kaela is joined by Christine, of Infertility Illustrated, and together they are breaking the silence to share stories from listeners about how they have honored their losses and what has given them closure and comfort.
Featured song: “Rizpah” by Families
https://open.spotify.com/track/3KTzZwOhSIeKi16L2vd80I?si=xH1yO5cMSr6zJtGkFrH5Lw
Email questions, comments, and other mafia matters to infertilemafia@gmail.com
Join the closed Facebook group: The Infertile Mafia
Follow on Instagram @infertilemafiapodcast
Tuesday Oct 09, 2018
Tuesday Oct 09, 2018
In this special episode, Sarah & Kaela are highlighting artists being featured at “Challenging Conception: The ART of Infertility in Chicago.” "The ART of Infertility is a traveling art exhibit and oral history project that documents the experience of infertility. Through storytelling and artwork, The ART of Infertility translates the experiences of infertility patients to medical practitioners, physicians, legislators and the general public. It is hoped that the project displays the human experiences of infertility rather than reinforce the medical discourse of the disease." Here are the artists being featured in this episode!
Elizabeth Walker & Maria Novotny, Ph.D. - http://www.artofinfertility.org/
Elizabeth & Maria are the co-founders and co-directors of the ART of Infertility. They discuss how they began their work together after meeting in May of 2014 in Washington, D.C., where they were both lobbying for infertility legislation on Capitol Hill. They also give insight into their mission of bringing awareness to the many facets of infertility and family building.
Raina Cowan - http://rainacowanarttherapist.com/
Raina is a licensed clinical professional counselor and registered art therapist with a Master’s degree in art therapy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She talks about her art therapy practice and what it means to use art as a way to cope with infertility and loss. She also shares her personal experience with recurrent pregnancy loss and adoption.
Christine McDonough - https://infertilityillustrated.com/
Christine is a talented illustrator who talks about using art to cope with the humor, absurdity, and pain of infertility and pregnancy loss. Her popular Instagram account, @infertilityillustrated, is “designed to illustrate an average day in the life of someone dealing with infertility.” She talks about her creative process and what inspires her creative illustrations. For more info on Christine, listen to “Episode 36: Mafia Meet Christine - Infertility Illustrated.”
Shannon Novotny - http://www.shannonnovotny.com/
Shannon identifies herself as a scientist first, but she’s also a very talented visual artist who knows science can’t always satisfy our human subjectivity. She shares that as “human beings, we can never truly experience objectivity. My work attempt to bridge the [science] gap by subjectively illustrating the self-renewal processes in the world around us in a way that can hopefully inspire us to be just as durable.” She also opens up about her experience with secondary infertility and loss and how art has helped her process her experience with loss and infertility.
Join us at “Challenging Conception: The ART of Infertility in Chicago” on October 13th for a live panel discussion from 6-9pm.
Open Studio Project Inc
903 Sherman Avenue
Evanston, IL 60202
Email questions, comments, and other mafia matters to infertilemafia@gmail.com
Join the closed Facebook group: The Infertile Mafia
Follow on Instagram @infertilemafiapodcast
Tuesday Oct 02, 2018
Tuesday Oct 02, 2018
Sarah & Kaela are talking drugs - specifically IVF ovarian stimulation drugs. They share a few facts about some of the most common injectable FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) and LH (luteinizing hormone) drugs like Follistim, Gonal-F, Menopur, Bravelle, and more! Sarah shares some insight on why women with PCOS should be careful with stims containing LH and Kaela gives another drunk fertility history story. This time, it’s all about the origins of drugs like Menopur. Hint: the story involves the Pope, nuns, and lots and lots of urine! They also talk about NBC’s “This Is Us” and how infertility has become a main theme in one of the most popular shows on TV. And finally, they discuss whether or not the hair salon helps or hurts your self esteem.
Email questions, comments, and other mafia matters to infertilemafia@gmail.com
Join the closed Facebook group: The Infertile Mafia
Follow on Instagram @infertilemafiapodcast
Tuesday Sep 25, 2018
Tuesday Sep 25, 2018
Kaela & Sarah are talking about sex...and infertility. Let’s face it, intimacy in your relationship can really take a hit when you're going through infertility. In this episode, Sarah and Kaela offer up some ideas of how others have dealt with infertility in their sex life. They share a few practical tips, some less than “conventional” methods, and even a few funny stories about how people keep the spice alive in their relationship while also battling infertility.
Email questions, comments, and other mafia matters to infertilemafia@gmail.com
Join the closed Facebook group: The Infertile Mafia
Follow on Instagram @infertilemafiapodcast
Tuesday Sep 18, 2018
Tuesday Sep 18, 2018
September is PCOS Awareness Month so Sarah & Kaela are talking about it! PCOS is the most common infertility diagnosis for women, however, many women don’t even realize they have it or know what to do to treat it. They talk about what PCOS is, treatment options, and even share some fun stories about the history of PCOS - did you know Hippocrates was lookin’ out for you and you're the queens of the stone age?! And finally, they share listener comments about what they wish they had known about PCOS and tell you why women with PCOS are total badasses.
*Sorry about Sarah's audio - she recorded with her webcam mic. Oops!
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3164771/
Email questions, comments, and other mafia matters to infertilemafia@gmail.com
Join the closed Facebook group: The Infertile Mafia
Follow on Instagram @infertilemafiapodcast
Tuesday Sep 11, 2018
Tuesday Sep 11, 2018
Kaela & Sarah are talking about down regulation for IVF. They share listener comments and let you know what to expect from a down regulation protocol (birth control, Lupron, etc.) including symptoms and side effects. They also discuss some recommendations and reasons behind not doing down regulation at all.
They respond to some recent infertility news about the the viral photo of the baby surrounded by IVF syringes - including their frustrations on misconceptions of adoption. They give their opinions on a recent interview from a doctor who claimed female physicians “don’t work as hard...as male physicians” and give a big shout out to all the smart, talented, and caring physicians out there!
And finally, Kaela has a new idea for a Jamaican themed “Jerk Hut” and they read listener questions about endometriosis and hostile cervical mucus. Yep, we’re talking about mucus again.
Email questions, comments, and other mafia matters to infertilemafia@gmail.com
Join the closed Facebook group: The Infertile Mafia
Follow on Instagram @infertilemafiapodcast
Tuesday Sep 04, 2018
Tuesday Sep 04, 2018
In the second half of this two part episode, Sarah & Kaela are once again talking about infertility in Hollywood. This time, they’re talking about infertility in movies and share some opinions on how infertile women and couples are portrayed in film today. A few of the movies they talk about include: “Game Night,” “The Help,” and “Up!” They also share two recent documentaries, “One More Shot” and “Vegas Baby,” that capture the feelings and experiences of real people going through the struggle of infertility. Kaela also gives an update on “The Handmaid’s Tale.” She’s feeling uncomfortable!
Finally, Sarah share’s her doctors opinions on a few controversial fertility treatments that Kaela knows a lot about. First, treatment of MTHFR and Folic Acid vs L-methylfolate. And second, IVIg Immunotherapy for an overactive immune system (Natural Killer cells, Cytokines, Antinuclear Antibodies, Antiphospholipid Antibodies, the list goes on…). Find out if Kaela agrees with Sarah’s doctor!
Email questions, comments, and other mafia matters to infertilemafia@gmail.com
Join the closed Facebook group: The Infertile Mafia
Follow on Instagram @infertilemafiapodcast
Tuesday Aug 28, 2018
Tuesday Aug 28, 2018
In this two part episode series Kaela & Sarah are talking about infertility in Hollywood. In part 1 they talk all about TV shows over the past few decades that have depicted infertility in an accurate (or not so accurate) way. A few of the shows they cover include: Friends, Fuller House, Orange Is The New Black, This Is Us, Orphan Black, The Handmaid’s Tale, and the OG infertility champion Charlotte from Sex & The City!
Email questions, comments, and other mafia matters to infertilemafia@gmail.com
Join the closed Facebook group(s):
The Infertile Mafia
The Infertile Mafia - Bosses & Babies
Follow on Instagram:
@infertilemafiapodcast
Tuesday Aug 21, 2018
Tuesday Aug 21, 2018
Sarah & Kaela sit down with the wildly popular illustrator behind the Instagram account @infertilityillustrated. Her name is Christine and she’s infertile, too! She talks about how illustrating the crazy, and sad, and even hilarious moments of infertility have helped her cope. After a diagnosis of PCOS, a round of IVF, and recurrent miscarriages, she’s gearing up for a frozen embryo transfer. Kaela and Sarah talk to her about transporting embryos across state lines, doctors and their bedside manner, and give a big shout out to all the nurses in the world! And, of course, they venture off topic a few times to talk about things like laundry, ironing, dogs, reptiles, rodents, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, The Bachelor, and “under boob!”
Find Christine on Instagram: @infertilityillustrated
Email questions, comments, and other mafia matters to infertilemafia@gmail.com
Join the closed Facebook group(s):
The Infertile Mafia
The Infertile Mafia - Bosses & Babies
Follow on Instagram:
@infertilemafiapodcast