Infertile AF

Continuing our celebration of Pride Month, this week's guest is Kristi, who had two children of her own before becoming a surrogate for a same-sex couple living in Israel. Kristi shares the intimate details of her surrogacy experience--before revealing that now, years later—and after undergoing a hysterectomy—she and her husband are using a surrogate of their own to try and have a third baby. 

Ali's guest today is Elshane, a fashion stylist by day, blogger by night and mama 24/7. Self-described as "If Carrie Bradshaw were a mom," Elshane, who has nearly 100,000 followers on her highly entertaining, extremely chic Elshane's World Instagram account, tells Ali all about her journey with secondary infertility. Included: Six unsuccessful IUIs, how she and her husband managed to laugh hysterically while doing her shots, and why she's proud to be a member of the IVF community.

Happy Pride Month! Ali's guest today is Michael, one of the dads behind Two Dads U.K., whose mission is to raise awareness of same-sex parenting and help other same-sex couples and other single gay people realize that becoming a parent shouldn't just be a dream. Michael talks about coming out; building a family with his husband, Wes; the 3-4 years they researched surrogacy; the birth of their daughter, Talulah; and how they’re working hard to make LGBTQ parenting better, safer and more equal.

Today, Ali talks to Stacy, who's in the midst of her infertility story—and who's agreed to be Ali’s first recurring guest, so that everyone can listen along as she goes through it in real time. On this first check-in with Stacy, we find out what’s happened so far, including the birth of her healthy daughter Noa, now 3; the three subsequent miscarriages that rocked her world; secondary infertility “guilt;” and what Stacy and her husband, Ari, have chosen to do next. 

It’s Ali's first guy on the pod: Today, she talks to Danny, a friend from high school, about the heartbreak he and his wife, Stacy, endured while trying to become parents. Danny tells the unfathomably tragic story of losing their newborn daughter when she was just one hour old, how it strengthened them as a couple, how it felt to finally get pregnant again, and how Stacy's diagnosis of cervical cancer was another unexpected blow. "Stacy is tough as nails," he says. "I admire her to no end."

Today, Ali talks to Halina about her long journey to become a mom—including how some major life events shaped her world views. Halina opens up about how being an eyewitness on 9/11 traumatized her, life with PCOS, and years of battling an eating disorder. She describes the pain of losing one twin in utero, as well as a miscarriage that required blood transfusions. Today, the mom-of-two says, “It’s not that the pain goes away. The pain just gets easier to live with over time.”

Today, Ali talks to Blair, the founder of Fab Fertility, a blog and Instagram account (@fabfertility) that provides resources and aims to empower women. Blair, who’s about to start her second IVF cycle, gets real with Ali about her own roller coaster, including giving herself an injection on a transatlantic flight, the miscarriage that caused her to “lose her shit,” giving up alcohol and going plant-based, and why, even though she hasn’t had her dream baby yet, she’s not even close to giving up.

Ali's guest this week is Leah, an incredible woman whose story has so many twists and turns that it seems like a movie. But it's not. It's her real life. Her journey, which she is still in the midst of, includes blocked fallopian tube surgery, a tragic miscarriage and a diagnosis of Asherman's Syndrome. Through it all, she says: "There've been setbacks, but then there've been miracle moments where things aligned and it was a clear sign for me: 'Don't give up. Keep going.'"

This week, Ali talks to her friend, Donna, about her years-long quest to become a mother, including doing countless rounds of IVF (she literally lost count), why she chose to keep it a secret from some of her closest family members, and how, even though she didn't end up having a baby after all, she's very happy that she tried. "Never, ever, in a hundred million years did it dawn on me that I wouldn't have children," Donna admits. She is sharing her story to help other women who are struggling. 

This week, Ali talks to Gail, one of her besties, about the years of infertility hell she went through before ultimately adopting her now-five-year-old twin boys, Dylan and Leo. Gail gets personal about how she and her husband, Erik, handled multiple rounds of IVF (including how he once gave Gail a shot in her bum in a bar bathroom), how it felt to hear they had a "zero" percent chance of getting pregnant on their own, and how they finally found a great adoption agency and an incredible birth mother. 

In this episode, Ali talks to Alison, an absolutely magnetic NYC-based doula, who went though years of infertility before making a career out of helping other women before, during and after pregnancy and delivery. Before answering listeners' questions about being a doula, Alison tells her own incredible story, touching on everything from miscarriages to abortion to infertility anger to IUIs and IVF. To find out more about her, go to http://www.doulaalison.com.

In this episode, Ali talks to Kimberly, a single-mother-by-choice who, in her late 30s, wanted to have babies but hadn't found the right partner. Or, as she puts it, "I can't find Mr. Right, and I don't want to settle for Mr. Okay." Kimberly explains how she made the decision to do it on her own, how she navigated the complicated world of donor sperm (hint: it took a massive spreadsheet) and how today, she juggles working and raising three incredible, energetic boys (hint 2: she gets up at 3:45am!).  

In this episode, Ali talks to Jean, a talented actress and comedian (A.P. Bio, Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre) living in Los Angeles, about the years-long infertility roller coaster she and her husband endured. Included: Going through several miscarriages and a handful of failed IVF cycles, discovering the weirdness (and the free food!) of IVF and adoption seminars, why it's so hard going to other people's baby showers, and how adoption is so much more complicated than anyone ever explains.

In this debut episode, host Ali Prato—a Brooklyn-based journalist and mom-of-two—talks about the four years of infertility hell she went through to have her second child, Sonny. Ali’s goal with this podcast is to create a community and a safe space for women to tell their stories, and here, she gets more personal than ever about her own journey. With trademark honesty and humor, Ali talks about her four miscarriages, her struggle with infertility depression, and how it all took a toll on her marriage