IVF CAN FEEL LIKE A LIGHTHOUSE OF HOPE WHEN YOU’VE SPENT YEARS TRYING FOR A BABY. So how do you deal with it when you find out that the IVF cycle has failed? All hope is gone as a tsunami of emotions wash over. I know these feelings well. I have had my own personal experience and lots of other women have told me about these very same feelings. Here are some things to remember, at a time when you might forget. You didn’t do anything wrong. Do not blame yourself. Here are some examples of blaming yourself. “I should have stayed home and rested more.” “I should have waited until the supplements ..read more

Going through infertility challenges frequently takes a toll on one’s physical and mental well-being. I often make the comparison between infertility and ADD. Yes! Attention Deficit Disorder. ADD and infertility both take away our attention, leaving little to no room for one to just -be- in the present. Fertility struggles are a constant distraction. I know from personal experience. I refer to it as the “wild mind” with ongoing pervasive thoughts about infertility. These thoughts, combined with an increased desire to fix a problem, can make it difficult to concentrate at work and difficult to ..read more

“The mind and body are not separate units, but one integrated system.” Going through the fertility journey can be extremely stressful.   Studies have shown that individuals who have difficulty getting pregnant have similar levels of depression and anxiety to those suffering from life-threatening diseases like cancer or heart disease. Believe it or not, there is a walnut sized organ in the brain that is the instructor and master regulator of our stress response. Its called the Amygdala.  (It’s amazing how something so tiny can have so much power.) Stress & Worry Stress and persist ..read more

Infertility and IVF can be all-consuming. It often takes over one’s life and it ends up feeling like a part time job. It’s exhausting. I remember my own journey very well. With all that my husband and I went through and the doctors we saw, I sometimes think that I could have. become a fertility doctor. After our second failed in uterine insemination, I had a booklet of articles and questions for our reproductive endocrinologist. I was very deeply involved in our quest to conceive. I had a unrelenting desire to fix the problem. Except, what was the problem? The problem it termed out was a diagn ..read more

Hypnosis for Fertility “Life is ten percent what you experience and ninety percent how you respond to it.” Hypnosis has been a proven modality in scientific studies that can more than double your chances of conception, compared with IVF alone. Hypnosis allows one to go deeper into the subconscious mind. Through Hypnosis, you can alter the way you think and feel while also changing the way your body responds. Our subconscious minds hold onto past experiences and memories that may not be serving you any longer. It also holds on to recent events, like being diagnosed with infertility, fail ..read more

For most women facing Infertility, seeing another woman with a pregnant belly can be and often is an extremely difficult situation. That feeling of despair occurs as well when confronting a mom and baby; or young families in general. These occurrences, planned or not, are well known triggers that commonly weave in and out of the narratives of almost all of my clients. I hear about this problem a great deal, probably as much as daily. I also remember these were major triggers for me when I was going through my own journey with secondary infertility. I admire how some women who struggle with inf ..read more

There’s no sugar coating it; it has been a rough, in fact, a terrible year, and that just continues what started last March. There aren’t many of us out there that do not have a strong, visceral reaction to the words pandemic or COVID-19. Surviving and indeed enduring the past 12 months has created a universal experience of fear, isolation and uncertainty. It has come to this. Finally, the rest of the world and those of us dealing with infertility have some common ground, even if that ground is continually shifting. I remember 11 years ago; one glimpse of a pregnant belly threw me into a whirl ..read more

Yearning is human. From an evolutionary perspective, yearning is ingrained in us. It’s a catalyst for progress. We want something, we strive for it, we achieve and then our yearning moves on and finds a new target. But, what if that yearning is for something that cannot be easily achieved? What if it is completely out of our control, can it damage our spirit? Can it affect our life and the lives of those we hold dear? A few years ago my yearning to become pregnant with my second child almost consumed me. The desire to have a baby was so strong that all I could think ab ..read more

I am excited to announce that in the new year, I will be offering an online mind-body fertility support group. Fertility coach and author, Sarah Clark and I have teamed up together to create an online six week Mindfulness Fertility Series. If you are struggling with the strong emotions that come with the fertility journey, this may be something of interest to you. Also, if you are feeling isolated and alone, and the notion of an in-person support group feels too intimidating, this may be the perfect course for you. The Mindfulness Fertility Series will help you create virtual connections and s ..read more

Infertility is often referred to as a journey, and not one that you necessarily choose to be on. I know from first hand experience. My husband and I conceived our first child effortlessly, but the second time around led us down the most windie road you could ever imagine. At the time, I would have chosen any other way. Little did I know where I would arrive. Wrong way: After many months of doctor’s appointments, we were finally referred to a fertility clinic. That was when we were diagnosed with what is known as secondary infertility, the inability to become pregnant or to carry a baby to term ..read more