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| | 🤔 Brainteaser of the day: I'm not alive, but I grow. I don't have lungs, but I need air. I don't have a mouth, but water kills me. What am I?
Click here to see the answer.
✅ Today's Checklist: Inside Joanna's IVF experience The post-breakup anthem we're all feeling Pet of the week: Meet Bella
📣 In a recent survey, you told us exactly what you needed…so we're building it! We're dropping the full reveal on Thanksgiving, but only to the waitlist. Join the waitlist here with one click.
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| | | | | FERTILITY & FAMILY PLANNING |
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| | No One Prepared Me for This Part of Fertility — So I'm Sharing It |
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| I didn't expect IVF to be part of my journey, mostly because I always thought I'd start trying for kids earlier. As I approached 36, I began thinking seriously about future family planning.
The nudge came from a longevity blood panel. My clinician told me my biological age was 25 (wooo!) — but quickly clarified that biological age has nothing to do with ovarian age (womp, womp).
Then she asked: "Do you want more than one child?"
When I said yes, she suggested looking into egg or embryo freezing. That one question sent me down the IVF path.
A former mentor who'd recently done IVF connected me with her doctor and shared everything she wished she'd known. Having another woman open up about her journey made the whole process feel less overwhelming.
At my consult, my doctor recommended an AFC ultrasound. For women in their mid-30s, a typical total AFC is 6–12 follicles across both ovaries. Mine showed 13 per ovary, encouraging (but also flagged my doc to ask about PCOS), but still only one piece of the puzzle.
Once we decided to move forward, everything sped up. You call the clinic when your period starts; Day 2 is an ultrasound; Day 3, stim meds begin.
Each night, I took Follistim and Menopur. I'm not afraid of needles, but doing them to yourself hits differently; there's a small mental standoff before every poke. Menopur burns going in, and I experienced bloating and occasional nausea that typically faded within an hour. Overall, I didn't feel too out of wack under the meds.
But I didn't account for the workout restrictions. Because of the risk of ovarian torsion, I had to avoid cardio, weights, twisting movements, and even sex. Losing my usual workout routine (stress outlet) made everything feel heavier.
Monitoring happens every few days — ultrasounds and bloodwork to track follicle growth and hormone response. They estimated 10–12 days of stims, but my follicles grew fast. By Day 6, things were progressing so quickly that I had to return on Day 7. To avoid OHSS, they shortened my stim timeline to 7 days total.
Around this point, they added a third shot, Ganirelix, which prevents premature ovulation once follicles reach a certain size. By my final night of meds, I had five injections: Follistim, Menopur, Ganirelix, and my two trigger shots.
Trigger timing is exact. My retrieval was booked for 8:15 AM on Friday, so I had to take the trigger at 8:15 PM on Wednesday, a perfect 36-hour window, which is standard to ensure the eggs mature without ovulating.
The night before retrieval, my anesthesiologist walked me through prep: easy-to-digest foods only, and absolutely no eating or drinking after midnight, not even water, to reduce the risk of aspiration under anesthesia.
Retrieval day went smoothly.
They collected 32 eggs.
21 were mature.
And after ICSI, we learned the next morning that 19 fertilized normally.
From there, it's a waiting game. Embryos grow to blastocyst stage (Day 5–6), forming the Inner Cell Mass (baby) and Trophectoderm (placenta). One week after retrieval, we had: 10 blastocysts.
These were graded (e.g., 4AA, 4BA, 4BB), but grading doesn't predict genetics. So all 10 were sent for PGT-A, which identifies:
Results came back in two weeks: 6 euploids, 4 aneuploid or NR.
We also opted in to learn the sexes: 3 females and 3 males 🥹.
Clinics generally recommend two euploid embryos per hoped-for child, because even with perfect genetics:
Originally, our plan was to freeze embryos for now for future kids, and try naturally for our first. But because we want 2 (max 3) kids, having 6 euploids changed our game plan. Using embryos that already offer the highest odds of implantation and a healthy pregnancy made the most sense, so when we're ready, we'll go straight to a frozen embryo transfer (FET).
And because I want to be as transparent about this process as possible, here's what one full IVF cycle cost us (no insurance used, based in Los Angeles): Clinic fees (retrieval, ICSI, Zymot, culture, freezing, PGT-A): $21,327.50 Meds (Follistim, Menopur, Ganirelix, supplies): $2,131.92 Trigger shots: ~$250
Total: ~$23,709.42 (not including the ~$5K per transfer/implant)
I know cost can be a painful and sensitive part of this journey. I'm sharing it not to shock or compare, but because so few women ever see the full breakdown and it matters. Access, timing, support, and affordability all shape fertility decisions long before treatment begins.
My doctor shared how well this round went for us, and I'm very aware that not everyone gets this outcome in a single cycle. Every path looks different: medically, emotionally, and financially. I'm deeply grateful for where we landed, and I hold so much compassion for the women and couples navigating a harder road.
If you're in the middle of this, considering it, or supporting someone who is, I hope this makes the process feel a little less intimidating and a little more human. |
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| | P.S. If you ever have questions about IVF, freezing, or anything I mentioned here, feel free to email me directly. I'm happy to share more of my own experience with you. |
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| | | | 📚 Read: Blindness by José Saramago
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A windows-down anthem with breakup energy. Russ's verses hit hard and Jessy Blakemore's vocals add the ache. It's emotional, poetic, and a little too real in all the best ways. |
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| | | | | | | | Bella has appointed herself as house man-a-purr. She ensures everyone is at their desks working and looks on with displeasure at any breaks seeing meals as unnecessary for her employees. Bella enjoys surprise meetings with agendas only she knows as well as long nap breaks and her meals served on time.
🐾 Got a cute fur baby? Submit them to be our pet of the week in an upcoming issue. |
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