A few of my favorite Creating A Family shows are:

1. Affording Infertility
2. Reducing Multiple Births (I’m interviewed in this one — even so, it is full of great content by Dr. Stillman)
3. How to make the big decisions in infertility

I also like these podcast episodes from the Twin Peas Blog and Podcast:

1. Budgeting for Infertility
2. Rewrite Your Story
3. Advocacy for Infertility

Let me know what you think of these podcasts/interviews. What would you like to hear?

This week they posted the first of their three series interviews with me. I’m honored to be in the same category as the other women I mentioned in this post. The podcast is only 8 minutes long I hope you’ll listen, WegoHealth podcast.

This book is a must read if you’ve just started your infertility journey. It is also a great resource for women and couples who have already started fertility treatments. You’ll find some tips on how to save money going-forward.

To purchase a copy from Amazon click here: Budgeting for Infertility.

To learn more about how you can work with Evelina and Angie Best-Boss to minimize the cost of your family building efforts, visit their website (myfertilityplan.com) and blog. Join Eveline and Angie on Facebook at My Fertility Plan and follow them on twitter at @myfertilityplan.

Read more about Budgeting for Infertility at US News and World Report.

These are tough questions when you are in the midst of infertility. How can you life a happy life when you are so sad you cannot get pregnant? It’s an uphill battle, no doubt. However, it can be done. Want to know more? Listen to what Jerilynne (aka MamaRed) has to say!

Contact MamaRed at jl@mamaredspeaks [dot] com. Visit her website at MamaRedSpeaks or read more about her efforts at One Million Moments of Kindness Blog.

A resource Jerilynne wanted me to share with you is ChildlessNotByChoice.com which is a forum for support and sharing.

Creative Commons image courtesy of churl.

It’s that time of year when everyone is full of holiday cheer – or at least that is the hope. However, holidays can be very stressful. It’s the time when family members get together, some for the first time since the last holiday season. The holidays are extra stressful because people say or do things that can hurt our feelings, unbeknown to them, because we don’t keep our family and friends updated on what is going on in our lives.

This week I received an email from one of my husband’s friend’s wife. She told me that she had no idea all that we had been through with infertility. She said she thought something was up because we were pregnant with twins. Then she had no idea about all of the stress we experienced with their early birth. Keep in mind, this email is coming to me 4 years later.

Our family and friends should be our support system. I didn’t do a good job of utilizing my family during our infertility, but I recognize now that had I done so it would have been so much easier for Dave and me. Hopefully you can avoid some of my mistakes and look at this time of year as an opportunity to let your family into your world. Even if they don’t “get it” or they don’t know how to offer you support, you’ve done your part to keep them involved.

For more tips on how to enjoy the holiday season, read this 8 page compilation of stories from RESOLVE.

Creative Commons image courtesy of Size8Jeans.

As you may know, I’m a big proponent about providing information on the risk of a twin/triplet pregnancy. Although I truly believe and advocate for the right to assisted reproductive technologies (ART), I would love to see a reduction of twins because of the risk to the mom and the babies. I think you’ll enjoy the information Dr. Steinman provides in this podcast about spontaneous and ART twinning.

A few items we discuss in this podcast are:

1. What increases your chances for conceiving twins with spontaneous conception (vs. ART).  We briefly discuss how IGF applies (or doesn’t apply) to ART. Dr. Steinman talks about calcium – something you might want to discuss with your RE. Di d you know that ICSI results in the highest rate of ART twins.

2.  In spontanous pregnancies, age plays a role in twinning, but the reverse is true with regard to ART. Hear his thoughts and scientic information on both the man’s and woman’s age and fertility treatments.

3. His advice – be cautious when undergoing ART to minimize the risk of a twin pregnancy.

Insurance coverage – Dr. Steinman believes it would reduce the rate of twins. He agrees that one of the problems in the U.S. with regard to ART is the financial drain to couples. Hear what they do in Israel – you’ll want to move there!

His book is available at Amazon.com, click here to buy a copy!

Hannah tried artificial insemination (aka IUI) 3 times before moving on to IVF. During the middle of her IVF cycle her doctors stopped the procedure because they determined she was menopausal. She believed that she was meant to be a mom and decided to continue trying to have a child by changing her diet, detoxifying her body, adding antioxidants and made other nutritional changes to create a healthy body which would accept a pregnancy. In addition, she has a background in energy healing so she performed some energy work too. The result lead to a pregnancy and healthy baby. Six months after the birth of her child she became pregnant again — and after the doctors had told her she’d never become pregnant.

Hannah opens up in this interview and provides some excellent information to help you achieve your dream of motherhood.

To learn more about Hannah visit her website. She is also the author of a book called Birth, A Conscious Choice. She has ebooks too. Sign up on her website and receive an ebook for FREE. Need help removing those blocks? Hannah offers infertility coaching programs too.

Insurance coverage is just part of the advocacy for fertility issues. There are some states that might be at risk for offering IVF treatments. If you live in Colorado you are at true risk of having your rights to IVF treatment taken away or changed drastically. There is an initiative on the ballet for November. Learn about Amendment 48 and encourage everyone you know to oppose this measure.

Read more about the Family Building Act. Click here to send a form letter to your congressman/woman and click here to send a letter to your senator.

Thank you Renee for great information and for your efforts to help the infertile community!

I’ll be out of town for training for the next week so I thought I’d link to some of my favorite posts and podcasts. In addition, I’ve listed a few of my favorite resource links. I’ll be back next week.

• “I felt like I wanted to die.”
• Why Do I Think Its Possible?
• Progressive Study from Malta
• Jimmy and Christine Moore – podcast
• How Would I Be?
• Why Are You Ashamed?
• The Things People Say – podcast
• Why Are You Ashamed?

Resources: About.com-Infertility, INCIID, RESOLVE, The American Fertility Association, Fertility LifeLines, Better Bedrest, and the March of Dimes

When the ability to become pregnant using the tradition methods doesn’t work many of us result to fertility treatments. All of the testing, poking, prodding, etc. isn’t for everyone. Others determine that they don’t want to even start fertility treatments and proceed with the adoption process without ever sticking themselves with one needle. Or some couples determine that after a few attempts with IUIs or IVFs they want to add a child to their family and they do so through adoption or surrogacy.

Adoption is a great way for some couples to build their families. I recognize that adoption is not for everyone and some couples choose to live child free. It’s a couple’s choice and a difficult one for many.

Kathryn and her husband decided that adoption was a better option for them than proceeding with a second IVF. They are the proud parents of boy/girl twins. If you didn’t know their children were adopted, you’d never know because they do look a little like Kathryn and her husband.

This is an inspirational story. Kathryn also gives some great advice about adoption alternatives and how to manage the process. As she mentions, adoption comes with it’s own set of challenges.

I hope you’ll leave your opinion about this interview in the comment section. Thanks for listening.

Mary Ann is a Physician’s Assistant with the Center for True Harmony Wellness & Medicine. Prior to joining True Harmony, she worked with two different RE clinics. She gained insight from those experiences and determined that women need to be educated about their family building options before they seek the help of a RE to help them become pregnant (and at a much younger age).

True Harmony is a truly unique medical practice. They desire to help the whole woman by offering massage, acupuncture, Reiki, dance, and other alternative medicines along with traditional OB/GYN services. They offer a Fertility Assistance Program that includes massage, acupuncture, nutrition & IV therapy, and consults with the physicians.

If you live in the Phoenix Metro area I suggest you contact True Harmony. If you are outside the Phoenix, AZ area I recommend you locate a facility like True Harmony.

For more ideas about how your OB/GYN can assist you in your family building efforts, click to read the article 10 Questions To Ask Your OB/GYN When You Are Trying To Conceive.

Center for True Harmony Wellness & Medicine located at: 2152 S. Vineyard #138, Mesa, AZ 85210. ph 480-539-6696.

In this show I interview Stephanie, a RESOLVE volunteer and a mother of quadruplets. Stephanie tried to become pregnant without the assistance of medical treatments for 18 months. She did become pregnant using Clomid, a common drug used to induce ovulation. Her pregnancy was ectopic (i.e., in her fallopian tube). She had to have emergency surgery to remove the ectopic pregnancy because if her fallopian tube had burst she could have died.

When Stephanie and her husband were ready to try for another pregnancy, they used injectibles with timed intercourse. Keep in mind…she didn’t undergo an IUI or IVF treatment! When they went in for their first ultrasound they saw FOUR sacks. Her pregnancy was very stressful and very scary. She was placed on hospital bed rest at 18 weeks then sent home only to return to the hospital at 22 weeks for the remainder of her pregnancy. Her babies were born prematurely and this added to the emotional strain of her entire experience.

Her story is very moving and offers listeners an appreciation for what it is like for women pregnant with multiples. Life with quads can be overwhelming at times, but Stephanie is a mom to be applauded to her dedication to her children and to helping others who struggle with infertility or premature birth.

Please leave your comments about this show. Also, let me know what topics you’d like me to address in future episodes. If you would like to be interviewed on the Twin Peas Pod, please leave a comment with a link to your blog or email or send me an email.

Resources discussed in this podcast:

RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association: www.resolve.org.

Better BedRest: www.betterbedrest.org.

Aaron and Malky struggled to conceive their first child. They became pregnant with the assistance of Clomid/IUI. Unfortunately, their dreams of being parents were dash when their first child, their daughter, was stillborn. It’s heart breaking when a baby is born too soon or stillborn. They are still very emotional about their experience, and rightfully so: It is not something you move past or forget.

They became pregnant again, shortly after Malky’s mother passed away. They named their second child after her. As grateful as they are to have a child they would love another. After experiencing primary infertility they are now experiencing secondary infertility. They have devoted 12 years of their lives, their marriage, to building a family.

What I love most about Aaron and Malky is their dedication to each other and their family. They have a deep love for one another and approach their life challenges as a team. They are truly beautiful people. Their story is both sad and heartwarming. I hope you enjoy the interview.

Be sure to leave your comments about this episode, or call our comment line at (206) 203-4138. Who knows, you may even end up on the show!

Couples in the midst of their infertility journey will benefit from the openness in which Jimmy and Christine tell about their experience with a failed IVF attempt, how they are managing their marriage, the disappointment of their failed IVF cycle as well as their friendships and family relationships. Jimmy and Christine are an amazing couple and an inspiration to others struggling with infertility.

Be sure to leave your thoughts on episode 5 in the comment section below!

Creative Commons photo by [phil h].
Did you enjoy this podcast? Please review The Twin Peas Pod in the iTunes Store!

Did you miss anything I said? Don’t worry, there’s a full transcript waiting for you — just click the following link!

TRANSCRIPT OF EPISODE 4:

The Things People Say

No matter where you are in your infertility journey, people probably have said things to you that hurt or make you want to scream at them for their total lack of understanding and compassion about your situation. I’m sure you’ve heard one or more of the following:

You’re just not having sex enough.
Start the adoption process and you’ll get pregnant in no time.
Just relax you’re stressing out too much, you’ll get pregnant.
Go on vacation, once you’re in that kind of environment you’ll get pregnant.
Sometimes these comments are irritating, while others are intentionally hurtful. A friend of mine relayed the following statement made by his mother-in-law to his wife, Cathy: “Your marriage to Tim has been a waste since you are not able to have a child with him.” Truly the things people say when couples are in the midst of infertility can be insensitive, yet they might not even know it!

I remember one day when my mother-in-law and I were talking on the phone. I don’t recall the exact reason we were on the phone, but to no fault of hers the conversation turned from supporting me to my supporting her. She was talking about how she wanted a grandchild and even it meant she would have an adopted grandchild she would be okay with that. I was kind of taken aback the conversation turned from “I’m so sorry you’re struggling and that you’re not able to get pregnant” to “I want to be a grandma.” So what I realized during that conversation was that our infertility didn’t just impact me and Dave, it actually impacted our entire family. What I also realized is that people don’t think about the couple that is struggling, they think about themselves. And it’s just human nature, it’s not a right or wrong, it’s just the way that it is.

So how do you deal with these comments? Because when we are in the midst of infertility we have to recognize that these unwelcome and sometimes inappropriate comments will be made by friends, family and associates. We must also realize that people don’t always think first and speak second. I believe it is up to us to determine how we manage these comments internally as well as directly with their maker.

So how do you handle these unwelcomed comments? First, in order to maintain your sanity, you need to address the maker by letting them know their words upset you. This is easier said than done. I know that. Let’s take Cathy’s mother for example. Cathy could have said, “Mom, I love Tim very much and regardless of whether or not we have children we will happy together, isn’t that what’s really important?” Second, is to educate and inform. Whether you education them on infertility in general or your specific challenges is really up to you. The point here is to inform others about what you are going though to give them an opportunity to be more compassionate. They may or may not disappoint you. Finally, request the maker to keep future potentially harmful comments to themselves no matter how “helpful” they are trying to be.

We may not be able to deflect all of the comments that come our way. Relationships can be difficult to navigate during infertility, so it’s important to communicate openly and honestly with those you care about so that they can help, rather than hurt, you along your journey.

cc photo courtesy of Flickr user theparadigmshifter.

In today’s episode, I discuss how to manage relationships as you navigate your infertility journey. I openly discuss how I handled my relationships during our infertility. Infertility creates an interesting dynamic between the fertile and infertile as well as those who just don’t “get it.”

When we found out one of Dave’s friends was expecting it was devastating to me. We had other friends who were pregnant or trying to conceive, but for some reason this particular news hit me harder than I anticipated. All of a sudden I wanted nothing to do with this couple. Why? I have no idea. Still to this day, I don’t know why I struggled emotionally when I found out this particular couple became pregnant.

To make matters worse, Dave and I seemed to forget how to communicate with one another during our infertility. It was like we spoke two different languages and neither of us could understand the other. And even though we thought we were good communicators prior to our infertility, this challenge taught us we still had a long way to go.

Relatives can stress any marriage. Throw infertility or anything baby related into the mix and watch the sparks fly. When Dave and I found out we were infertile I did little to bond with his family and I hoped they would reach out to me in my time of need. Since I failed to communicate with them about my emotions they had no idea how to approach me or how to manage their relationship with me. Whether you talk openly with your own relatives or in-laws or do so together as a team, communication with relatives is important even if it is only to educate them on the medical aspects of your journey. Even if they don’t “get it” they might just surprise you with a little bit of compassion.

Reproductive Endocrinologist Jeffrey Fisch , M.D.

Welcome to episode 2 of the Twin Peas Podcast. This episode features 4 great tips to help you select the best fertility doctor for you!

In today’s episode, I discuss how my husband Dave and I navigated finding an RE (Reproductive Endocrinologist) for our IVF treatment. I recommend talking with more than one doctor. Each RE has different opinions about how to approach treatments. Also, talk to other people to find out if the doctor you are thinking about using has a good reputation. Some doctors are known for good and some for bad practices.

In this podcast, I mention Dr. Jeffrey Fisch at the Sher Institute of Reproductive Medicine in Las Vegas, Nevada. Check out the website for SIRM at www.haveababy.com.

Did you miss anything I said? Don’t worry, there’s a full transcript waiting for you — just click the following link!

TRANSCRIPT of episode 2:

Navigating Infertility Doctors

Choosing an infertility doctor, i.e., Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE) might be one of the most important decisions of your life. Your selection may impact whether or not you become pregnant. In this episode, I’ll describe how we chose our doctor and give some tips that we learned that might be helpful to you in your search.

We found three doctors in our local area by asking our others for recommendations. By opening up with everyone we knew we were able to get the names of two of the top local doctors as well as a referral for one doctor with a questionable reputation. Since we didn’t know which doctor might be the best one for our situation, any information was good information to have at the start of our search.

With a few doctor’s names in hand, we did some research on the doctors by visiting their websites and asking people about their experiences. Did they become pregnant, what they liked about the doctor, what they didn’t like about the doctor or their staff, etc. We looked at their success rates, costs of treatments, and payment plans. Most of the doctors we looked at were competitive in most areas such as success rates and costs. No RE’s were covered under our health insurance policy so the choice was ours to make.

We decided to scheduled appointments with two of the three doctors we researched. The first RE was great. He gave us a lot of information about our options based on our medical status and discussed how long each procedure might take and when we could schedule an IVF treatment. He even got us started that same day on a Clomid Challenge because the timing was just right in my monthly cycle. During his exam, he noticed that I was lactating. Odd for a woman who hadn’t yet delivered a baby to be lactating! Come to find out my Prolactin levels were elevated so my body mistakenly thought I was breastfeeding.

We kept our scheduled appointment with the second RE just-in-case we ended up liking him better. We already knew what to expected, to some extent, and we were excited to get our opinions on a second doctor so that we could start our treatments. After more than 60 minutes of waiting in the lobby without any communication from his staff, we left. Dave is not a patient person and he was counting the hours he was missing work, especially since we had liked Dr. #1. Dr. #2′s office called us to try to reschedule, but they weren’t as flexible as we needed them to be to squeeze us in, so we told Dr. #2 no thanks.

We were all set to move forward with Dr. #1. We completed our application and we were about to schedule our first IVF cycle when a friend of mine contacted me with life changing information. The doctor we were about to use was part of a multiple-practitioner office. My friend, Kelly, informed me a woman she knew used the same RE’s clinic, but not the same doctor -keep in mind, and experienced two failed IVF attempts. The news really only mattered to me because our condition was almost an exact replica of this woman and her husband. This same woman went out of town, to Nevada, to become pregnant and did become so with twins at this clinic. So, I needed to learn more.

Not really wanting to repeat the process of completing another application or hassling with an out-of-town treatment I almost ignored the well meaning advice from Kelly to check out this new clinic. But, after checking out their website I was hooked. Some of the information I’d been longing to find in other places was right in-front of me. Something told me it would be worth a telephone interview with a doctor from this clinic.

The interview with Dr. Jeffrey Fisch changed our lives. After looking at my test results, Dr. Fisch made a comment that he thought I might have a pituitary tumor because of my excess prolactin. What? Dr. #1 never mentioned anything about a pituitary tumor. In fact, he downplayed my prolactin levels after receiving my blood work reports. A pituitary tumor is a non-cancerous brain tumor and they are very common in women. Dr. Fisch recommended an MRI to confirm a tumor because he would need to know this information to determine how to treat my prolactin during an IVF cycle.

We talked with Dr. #1 about my possible tumor and he didn’t really think an MRI was necessary and he didn’t think he would treat my elevated prolactin during an IVF cycle. We followed the advice of Dr. Fisch and schedule an MRI. Mainly because Dave and I wanted to know if I did in fact have this odd non-cancerous tumor that can cause blindness or severe headaches. The MRI showed that I did indeed have a small tumor.

With results in hand, Dr. Fisch told us he would treat my prolactin levels to minimize any possible problems during an IVF cycle. Dr. #1 still said he wasn’t going to let the levels impact his decision not to use any medication. However, before making our final decision on which doctor to use, I perused the cost of their plans and the terms they used to describe a successful procedure. Dr. #1′s office used a 23 week pregnancy as a success milestone. Dr. Fisch’s office, on the other hand, doesn’t deem a procedure successful unless it ends with a live birth.

We decided to go with Dr. Fisch because he seemed to be a more thorough doctor and because the goal of his clinic was for us to end up with a baby, not just a pregnancy. Using an out-of-town doctor wasn’t the most convenient choice, but since he diagnosed my tumor over the phone with a few test results in hand, I figured it would be worth the hassle.

Some of my recommendations to you: 1) get more than one opinion on your medial status or your results because their might be one doctor who is more competent than another, 2) find out as much information you can about your options based on your infertility so that you can talk intelligently with an RE about what treatments might be best for you, 3) research the doctor to determine what they deem a success, is it a pregnancy or is it a child, 4) ask others their opinions on which the doctor’s they’ve used. I was part of a support group meeting where a woman made the decision to change her doctor based on the comments from the other women in the group about their doctors. The opinions of others can make a difference.

Dr. Fisch practices at the Sher Institute of Reproductive Medicine (SIRM) in Las Vegas. SIRM has offices nationwide. I’m not advocating they are the only RE clinic to use, but their website, www.haveababy.com is full of great information. Patients travel from around the world to use their services.

Good luck in choosing your doctor. It is a tough decision and one to be taken seriously, especially when it’s your dime.

In my next episode, I’ll talk about how to manage some of your relationships during your infertility journey.

Text copyright 2008 Twin Peas LLC, Music copyright 2008 Disc of Light Media.

CC photo “The Promise…” by Flickr user HappyHorizons

Hello and welcome to episode one of The Twin Peas Podcast with Kelly Damron.

In today’s episode, our host Kelly openly describes the time when she and her husband found out they were an infertile couple. First, she noticed that her cycles were not quite right. Then she had a hunch it wasn’t just her.

Kelly encourages you to be your own advocate by learning about your medical conditions so you can discuss your options intelligently with your doctors. Navigating the infertility journey is challenging even with a strong marriage, communication will help you stick together when the going gets tough!

Please share your thoughts about this Episode in the comments section below.

Did you miss anything Kelly said? Don’t worry, there’s a full transcript waiting for you — just click the following link!

Transcript:

In this podcast I’m going to talk about how my husband and I found out we were infertile and how that impacted our marriage…We had been married for about three years when we decided to have the conversation about whether or not we were ready to have a child. We both agreed we were ready. I was surprised that we were both ready at the same time. Dave, my husband, was nervous about how having a child would change our relationship. We had, had an easy, fun marriage without children and he was afraid that would all change if we brought a child into the mix. I, though, wasn’t really concerned about what was going to happen to our marriage because, in my opinion, we had a very strong relationship and a child wasn’t going to change that. I was ready to be a mom.

The first month we tried I was late. I was ecstatic. I beamed at the thought I was pregnant. I truly convinced myself that I was. But my period started a few days later. And it was my experience with what would become recurring disappointment. Some women call it the two week wait, disappointment of the two week wait. I laugh, now, at how naive I was in thinking that becoming pregnant would be easy and would happen so quickly. Dave and I had a friend that had confided in us that she and her husband were going through infertility. They had been trying for a long time to have children. I think it was about four years when we had this conversation. Dave and I felt sorry for her. We listed to her, and gave her any advice we could offer. Neither of us ever dreamed that someday we be in her shoes.

Every month my cycle seemed to tease me. There were a times where I was late only to have my period start five to seven days later. I started to anticipate every month in hopes that this one might be the one. But every month I was disappointed that my cycle that started, basically, on cue. After 6 months I wonder if maybe something was wrong. But I thought the easiest thing to do was to tracking my basal body temperature. What I noticed after five months of tracking was that my cycles were totally inconsistent. There would be one month where I would spike my temperature at day ten then the next month it would be day twenty. There was no way I could possibly time intercourse to have a child with that form of cycle irregularity.

I took my temperature charting to my Ob/gyn and he confirmed my suspicions, that my cycle was out of whack and there was probably something wrong. He prescribed a drug known as Clomid. He told me that Clomid would help regulate my cycles and force my body to ovulate. He expected that I would be pregnant within three months. I was ecstatic that after almost a year of trying that within three months I would be pregnant.

Dave laughed at me that I was so obsessed about becoming a mom. But I was getting up there, I was in my thirties and I was ready. For some reason, I thought something else might be wrong that maybe it wasn’t just me, that maybe it was him too. Somewhat against his will and to humor me, he had his sperm tested by his general physician. To his surprise, but not really to mine, his test results were less than favorable. More testing by the Urologists confirmed the initial test results, Dave was diagnosed as infertile. Basically, he was producing too few sperm and those that he did have didn’t swim very well or weren’t quite the right shape. All round the news about Dave’s sperm was not so good.

We both had issues, which was good we couldn’t blame each other for our infertility. But, my problem was mainly hormonal and easily treatable. Dave’s condition; was well, sobering and sad. His diagnosis was probably harder on me than it was on him.

After we found out that we both had problems, my life’s mission became determining what our options were. I search everywhere to learn everything about infertility. What it was, what caused it, how it was treated, what it cost, what the doctors where doing, who were the doctors in my area. Anything that I could learn about infertility, I tried to learned. I also convinced my Ob/gyn to run some tests for me that would be covered under my insurance policy, because the infertility doctors and their tests were not covered by my insurance company. He obliged and also provided me with information about my results so that I use that when talking with a Reproductive Endocrinologists, known as an RE.

But Dave and I found ourselves on different spectrums in our relationship, our goals and our dreams. I was willing to do anything it took to become a mom, to spend any amount of money and to go through any type of procedure. Dave had decided that with his infertile diagnosis that he wasn’t meant to be a father and he was okay with his infertile condition. He tried to convince me how wonderful life would be for us without a child. We could do anything we wanted to do, we could travel anywhere in the world, we could buy anything we wanted to buy, and we could do all of this without the hassle or having to worry about a child.

What he didn’t realize is that I didn’t feel the same way. And I wasn’t willing to lead my life without a child. When we started talking about how much infertility treatments would cost and what our options were, we found our marriage disconnected. He didn’t want to undergo a procedure that might not work. I believed, though, with my heart and my soul that infertility treatments would work for us. I didn’t care about the money. It’s just money. We did have to borrow from our home equity line in order to undergo infertility treatments and it’s not fun to have to make both an emotional and financial decision about something that is supposed to come so naturally.

One day Dave says to me, “I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to have to pay to have a child. No infertility treatments, no adoption.” He was adamant, his had made his decision. He wanted to live his life without a child. I stared at him in total disbelief and could not believe this was my husband. So, I gave him two choices. Choice one was we would get a divorce and go lead our separate lives and I would hope to find someone who would want to have a child with me. Choice two was that he would have to at least try infertility treatments to have a child. He soon decided that he would give infertility treatments a shot if that meant we attempt to save our marriage. Our marriage was rocky for a period of time. We went through counseling, I mainly went through counseling, and he joined me on occasion. We fought a lot and we cried a lot. But somehow we managed to stick together and support each other.

So next time I’ll talk about once we decided to go through IVF how we chose our doctor.

Copyright 2008 by Kelly Damron. Original music copyright 2008, Disc of Light Media -composed and performed by Kevin Kennedy-Spaien.

A few of these amazing people encouraged me to write my book, Tiny Toes: A Couple’s Journey Through Infertility, Prematurity, and Depression. Others continually encourage me to pursue getting my message out to the world to make a difference for other couples in similar situations. While others help me manage the world of technology, it’s not one of my better skill-sets so thankfully I recognize this and seek assistance from those that have talents I do not.

My first podcast interview was conducted by Kevin Kennedy-Spaien of Health-Hack.com and I think he did a fabulous job. The interview is about me and my book. It’s only 12 minutes long so please consider listening while you work, or blog, or eat.

I’d love any feedback so please leave your comments about topics you’d like to hear in future podcasts.