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S3 NIAW E3 Who?! From Misconceptions to Empowerment with Dr. Dara Havemann
8 Plays44 minutes ago
Summary
In this conversation, Whitney and Dr. Dara Havemann delve into the complex world of infertility. They address common misconceptions and explore the deep emotional impacts that infertility can have on individuals and families. Dr. Havemann emphasizes the importance of open communication, both among those experiencing infertility and within their support networks. She also discusses the various avenues available for family building—such as egg donation and surrogacy—and offers practical advice on navigating these paths. Highlighted during National Infertility Awareness Week, this episode provides listeners with a compassionate, informed perspective on overcoming infertility challenges and finding hope on the journey to building a family.
Takeaways
-Infertility affects 1 in 6 people today.
-Many believe they haven't tried long enough before seeking help.
-Stress is often blamed for infertility, but it's not the sole factor.
-Communication is crucial in surrogacy and egg donation.
-Infertility is becoming a more common topic of discussion.
-Support from friends and family can vary greatly in need.
-Exploring third-party reproduction can be a valid path to parenthood.
-Egg donation does not deplete a woman's fertility.
-National Infertility Awareness Week aims to shed light on these issues.
Links
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to National Infertility Awareness Week
00:00:00
Speaker
Hi everyone, welcome to Me, You, and Who. it is National Infertility Awareness Week and on today's special episode, I'm honored to welcome back Dr. Dara Hapman from Dallas IBF.
00:00:16
Speaker
Today, we'll explore the intricate landscape of infertility from debunking common misconceptions, clarity around some of the medical moments that take place in third-party reproduction, to understanding the emotional journey that so many face.
00:00:30
Speaker
Dr. Habman will share her insights on the critical role of awareness around infertility, support from loved ones, and the multiple paths available to build a family, including egg donation and surrogacy.
Infertility Awareness and Family Building Options
00:00:42
Speaker
Whether you're directly impacted by infertility or seeking to support someone who is, we are all in fertility. And this conversation offers hope, clarity, and valuable advice.
00:00:55
Speaker
Enjoy. Me, you, and who? Who knew it would take more than two people to have a baby in a world where infertility is no longer a taboo topic.
00:01:07
Speaker
This podcast will take you through all of the different aspects of surrogacy and egg donation through the lens of many who walk this journey in different ways. My name is Whitney Hall. and i am a two time surrogate now turned surrogacy coordinator for egg donor and surrogate solutions.
00:01:25
Speaker
the very agency I used when I chose to carry for two amazing families. With this podcast, it is our goal to help guide and support you as you learn about what it takes to grow a family in an alternative way, as well as hear inspiring and beautiful stories of how this path has changed lives
Common Misconceptions about Infertility
00:01:45
Speaker
forever. We can't wait for you to hear about just one more way happy families are created every day.
00:01:53
Speaker
Hi, Dr. Hammond. Hello. How are you? Oh, so good. I am just so excited to have you back again. This is so exciting. i love these conversations. It is. It's so good. It is good. It's so good. So we are lucky enough to i ah right now is National Infertility Awareness Week, which, um you know, it's the whole week. The purpose of it is to shed light on infertility struggles and, you know, just things like that. And so, know,
00:02:20
Speaker
Kind of just right off the bat, you know, just your perception as obviously a doctor in this field, but then, of course, your own experience. What would you say are maybe some of the biggest misconceptions when it comes to people struggling with infertility? Oh, misconceptions. You know, I have so many patients that I see in my office and they come in and they ask me, they think, they say, maybe we've just not tried long enough. Maybe we've just not tried this enough. And we have so many conversations of if you've been not preventing for six months, if you're over the age of 35, it's been over a year and
00:02:59
Speaker
over a year ever for anyone, that in and of itself is infertility. That means you need to come in at least have a conversation about, could something be going on? Let's look into it.
00:03:10
Speaker
And so I think there's a misconception of we've just not been thoughtful enough. We've not tried hard enough. And the fact of the matter is the human body, if given six months or a year, it knows what to do. And so that's the time to come in and have those conversations.
Taboo Topics in Infertility Discussions
00:03:26
Speaker
And then lot times, Another aspect of that is, is I have patients going, well, it's been a really stressful last six months. That's probably why I've not gotten pregnant. It's been a really stressful last year. It's the stress of it. And my favorite thing to tell patients is we will always have stress.
00:03:42
Speaker
We will stress about stressing if we try to take away the stress. You're always going to stress. So it's not absolutely it's usually a little of this and a little of that and a little of things. And so for me, that's one of those misconceptions of, oh, it just it's maybe it's not been long enough because then all of a sudden you turn around and it's been a lot longer than six months or a year. And maybe maybe I should have been back there at that time.
00:04:07
Speaker
Sure. her No, for sure. Absolutely. i i mean, i think you're so right. There's kind of this whole, um like you said, creating like the perfect scenario of making all of these things happen.
00:04:20
Speaker
and And we as overachieving, overthinking humans often know it has to be perfect to count that month as a try. And what I like to tell patients is, is if you're not actively preventing, in my eyes, that's trying.
00:04:35
Speaker
I love that. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I kind of love that because I feel like it just takes this. I mean, again, like you said, stress is always going to be there, but it almost takes this level of extra stress that you're thinking about when trying off whenever you're just like, no, it's just this.
00:04:50
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, for sure. No, that's so that's so super helpful. I don't think people realize how common infertility is. i'm And i mean, but it it does seem like in the especially in the short amount of time that I've been, you know, more in the industry, it feels like it's becoming a much more common topic to speak about. hmm.
00:05:14
Speaker
And yet it's still something that people almost are kind of secretive about it. Why do you think it's still... There's that taboo aspect. Yeah. So you're right. When I started doing infertility, and I promise you I'm not that old.
00:05:28
Speaker
So when I started doing infertility, when I came out, it was one in ten chance of people having infertility. Right. And then when I was walking my fertility journey, it was one in eight. Right.
00:05:39
Speaker
Now, today, it's one in six. So we're not crazy to think that infertility is becoming more prevalent. And people ask me why all the time. And the answer is it's ah it's so many things. It's so many things. Yeah. It's the environment. It's the fact that we're, you know, wanting to build our families at the rate we want to and having our family and and having our careers before our family. It's a multitude of different things.
00:06:00
Speaker
But it's becoming more prevalent. I mean, we see that by the numbers over time. Infertility is is more and more frequent than what it was 10 years ago, 20 years ago. And then as it's become more prevalent, we talk about it more. There podcasts. It's open. It's easy to talk about. I'm struggling.
00:06:18
Speaker
It's easy to talk about and then it's not. Yeah. And so what I find is, is it's you find conversations around infertility to some extent more common.
Dr. Hapman's Personal Infertility Journey
00:06:28
Speaker
That's taboo. You find women finding support groups online. Yay, the Internet is bringing people together. And that's amazing. Sure. But there are still certain aspects of infertility that haven't breached that open conversation point.
00:06:42
Speaker
Male factor infertility. Man, guys don't like to talk about infertility. That's a hard And so I find that group is still a little bit more taboo. um Using an egg donor, using a surrogate, using some of these. You'll see celebrities...
00:06:58
Speaker
having more openness about it. So it's kind of helping breach the conversations. <unk> But those are subsets of my world where it's still not as much talked about outside of the infertility clinic with their friends, with their neighbors, because it's not as prevalent and people still don't have those conversations as frequently. Yeah. Well, I mean, right. Like a celebrity is a you know person removed. It's, you know, oh, well, of course, that's something that They can do or you know, is more available to them or, you know, just that kind of thing. And it's not my neighbor or. Well, you may not know. Exactly. You may not. You may not know
00:07:38
Speaker
Yes. Yes. Exactly. Exactly. What are you having your your own journey? How did you I mean, and of course, I know you mean you talk about it every day, but how did you start feeling comfortable? It's one thing to be a doctor and having those conversations.
00:07:56
Speaker
And it's a totally different thing being somebody who is going through it yourself. Absolutely. And in all fairness, when I was walking my journey, I did not have those conversations with many people outside society.
00:08:07
Speaker
My husband and I. yeah um And for me, I put myself in a position. I probably could have opened up about it more. This is something I did to myself. But I was in this world. I was looking for a job. I didn't really want to have a lot of conversations because I thought, what if because I'm walking this journey, I may not be as sought after as a doctor to be brought into your clinic. Oh, sure. And so I kept my journey and I kept my.
00:08:30
Speaker
What was going on at the time, I just shared mainly with my immediate family. And it took over time and knowing what I went through and what I did wrong, because I did a lot of things wrong, um to try to help others to say, maybe you should look at it this way. This is what I did. Maybe think about doing it. You know, do as I say, not as I do over time. Yeah, no, for sure. For sure. And again, you know, things like.
00:08:54
Speaker
NIAW, and i w and it's that's such a great just catalyst for opening up that type of conversation, for sure. It is. And you know having National Infertility Awareness Week, having it being ah um championed by so many wonderful, wonderful organizations like Resolve, like ASRM, and having everyone come back behind this and go, this is a conversation.
00:09:19
Speaker
It's here. We need to be talking about it. Let's have these conversations. Yeah. You know, having this week dedicated to saying this is something that one in six of us are dealing with. Let's have these conversations. I'm so glad that it's finally out there and being recognized. A hundred percent. Well, I mean, I almost compare it to you. Right. Like, you know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Everybody knows what a pink ribbon means. And pink. You're exactly right. And now we have our own color. It's National Infertility and Awareness Week. Wear your orange.
00:09:45
Speaker
And it's, you know, orange is not a color that prefer. personally choose every single day. It's not a personal color. It's not my color wheel. But when you wear it and you know this is me showing my support, this is this is me wearing my color, it does. It represents. It shows. It brings it out into something that to take notice of, which is wonderful. No, absolutely. Absolutely.
00:10:07
Speaker
How... How do you think families and friends can best support someone who is struggling with infertility, whether they've let you into a small group or whether you're one of many in their big community?
00:10:21
Speaker
What do you think is some of the best support that anyone can give to someone on that journey? That's good. um Everyone is different in what they need on this journey. yeah Some patients, some people, you want to talk about it. You want to share the hurt.
00:10:34
Speaker
Some people, we want to hold it in. It's just not at a place where we can talk about it yet. And so what I would say for those who want to support is reach out and just say, I'm here and I know you're on this journey and I want to support you. But tell me what that means to you. Because everyone shows support in different ways.
00:10:52
Speaker
Sometimes it's I want to talk about it. And sometimes it's a, I just need to hang out and do anything but talk about it. Sure. And so it's having those conversations. Yeah. um And then if you yourself have someone who's going through infertility, and this is something I ran into, and my friends were getting pregnant, my family was getting pregnant, and they just, it almost felt like walking on eggshells. And then I didn't know how to say it happy for them when that happened, right? And I know every infertility patient out there is, you're happy.
00:11:20
Speaker
And so I think just having open conversations about it and just saying, Hey, I want you to know on a personal level, we got pregnant, but I know you're struggling with this.
00:11:30
Speaker
How can I help you with this? How can we make this something good together to talk about? i think as opposed to assuming what others want you to do, ask them. That's the best thing I could say is just how does this work for you? How can i support you? What can we do?
00:11:45
Speaker
Yes. Well, I think you're right. Acknowledging, you know, there' there's just acknowledging it and exactly having that conversation because there's one thing to you know, invite somebody to your baby shower and then be like, OK, I'm just going to pretend that like we're just going to pretend that this.
00:12:01
Speaker
Right. doesn't Or even worse, not inviting them because you don't want to hurt their feelings. And then they get the feelings hurt because they get left out. So just having those conversations to the side. I would like to invite you. i want you to know i would love to have you there, but I know that might be hard for you and it's OK for me. So.
00:12:15
Speaker
open conversations. Yeah, for sure. For sure. so you mentioned, you know, previous as people are going through their infertility journey, um you know, sometimes ultimately we get to a point where we need to have a conversation about third party reproduction.
00:12:29
Speaker
h What are kind of the steps for when we've gotten there where this becomes something that needs to be brought into the conversation? What does that look like? Absolutely. So I like to describe it as you're walking on paths and usually when people come to see me, they never wanted to come see me. Right. They didn't want to see me in the first place. I love to tell people I'm the principal's office. You never wanted to go to the principal's office.
00:12:53
Speaker
And the thing that I love to tell people, too, is when you're when you're standing up there and you're picking your person to be with in life and whether you said vows or you're just saying you're my person, we're going to be together, you never really thought about me when it came to building your family.
00:13:07
Speaker
Right. I'm pretty sure I was not part of that. So it's hard enough just to come down and sit with me. And usually when you come into my office, there's this plan of what your family looked like. And the fact that you're in my office meant your plan is already not going to plan. And so when we have to explore routes using your own egg or your own sperm, that's one path. But when we have to start thinking about another path of what would my family look like if I used a different egg or a sperm or a uterus and we brought in these different aspects, you really have to find a place in your heart to walk that path.
00:13:43
Speaker
So part of walking that path, right? There's the science behind it and the numbers behind it. But you have to really wrap your brain and heart around it to walk that path. yeah And so introducing the thought of to really get your goals, we're going to have to think about this path.
00:13:59
Speaker
You know, I find often it just takes introducing the concept and having these conversations a few times to really know, you know, you don't want to put your body through something if it's not going to get you your end goal of having a kiddo.
00:14:12
Speaker
And our goal is always just building a family. And if the path that you were on isn't getting you where you need to be, that's when we need to
Third-Party Reproduction: Emotional and Monitoring Aspects
00:14:20
Speaker
explore other paths. And they're great paths, you know.
00:14:23
Speaker
There are so many ways to build a family. So many ways to build a family. You know, is it what you originally thought? It may not be, but there's still great ways to have a family. You just have to reform what your heart and your brain originally thought. Sure.
00:14:39
Speaker
To start thinking outside of the box to have that family you want. Yeah. Well, I mean, at that point, you've already exercised that muscle a little bit. So, yeah. That's right. No, for sure. For sure.
00:14:49
Speaker
So when, um'm you know, you've gone through the third party reproduction route, what does that for specifically for a gestational carrier? How do fertility clinics monitor a gestational carrier kind of at those beginning stages of pregnancy, maybe compared to ah traditional pregnancy?
00:15:11
Speaker
Absolutely. So monitoring our gestational carriers, we just like to be cautious. This is such, it is not necessarily high risk pregnancy.
00:15:22
Speaker
I like to call it a highly desired pregnancy. Oh, that's beautiful. And so it changes the monitoring and the fact that we're just a little bit more attuned to watching closer. So it means checking HCG levels, following them more frequently. I feel like people come in thinking I'm a vampire or a pin coach. because we just love to get the blood work to see those numbers. I like numbers. I'm the scientist. So we love to see them going up, getting the ultrasounds, repeating the ultrasounds, you know, probably more frequently. And sometimes some of my patients, whether it's the gestational carrier or the intended parents, they want us doing even more and sooner. And sometimes I have to let people know I can't do an ultrasound yet. If we do it at this stage, we're not going to see anything. At this stage, we still have to be doing blood work.
00:16:05
Speaker
And so it's yeah monitoring closely, watching closely, but knowing at what age of the pregnancy we can see where we need to be looking with blood work and where we need to be looking with ultrasound and making sure we're including everyone involved in this journey, gestational carrier, intended parents, making sure that we're all on the same page for expectations, when we're seeing things, what we should be seeing, and just watching and monitoring more closely. Yeah. Yeah. How do you balance that, you know, almost inevitable fear that comes with, did it work to you know, the Hey, like you said, at this point in time, there's, there's nothing that I'm going to be able to to tell you or show you.
00:16:46
Speaker
That is a great question. um as a fertility patient, I can tell you the anxiety around being pregnant. It's, it's a thing. It is a real thing. Um, and I didn't know that until I was an infertility patient. um you know, I kept setting these goals for myself.
00:17:02
Speaker
Okay, if i if I see the number double, I'm going to let myself for relax. And then it would double. And then I would go, gosh, when I see the first heartbeat, I'll know we're okay. ahhuh And then also the OB-GYN REI in me thought, okay, well, now I have to get to this far along. And now I need to get this far along. And I never let myself enjoy the moment because I kept moving the goal forward yeah and telling myself, when we get here, then we'll relax. And so...
00:17:26
Speaker
Again, this is a moment I'm going to tell my patients, do what I do, what I say, not what I do. Sure. Right. That's not the right way to do it. um You have to find a way to say, I'm going to know that we're watching as closely as we can. We're doing everything in our power to get to where we need to be. We're watching as closely as we can. And we just have to put faith in the fact that.
00:17:46
Speaker
Sometimes when we go a different route, if we're using a gestational carrier, it's not going to be the same experience I've had. We're bringing in a new variable. We've got a different uterus and we just have to watch and trust those numbers going up because what you don't want to let happen is you don't want the anxiety to take away the joy of the whole experience. Mm hmm. And I can tell you, I did that the first time. And that's, you know, it's a growing process. We as humans grow and learn.
00:18:12
Speaker
But I think trying to determine how to manage the anxiety and the fears around what your previous experience was prior and then how this new experience is different. And you have to allow it to be different.
00:18:25
Speaker
Yeah. No, for sure. For sure. And also that joy of being able to say, you know, OK, bye, Dr. Hadman. We've graduated. Like, wow. We won't be seeing you. Thank you.
00:18:36
Speaker
yeah So a lot of patients get anxious when they leave our office. Sure. Because we are their safe place. They know everyone by name. By this time, we are we family. Absolutely. And the thing I tell people is it's a good day when you get to leave my office yeah because you just get to be a normal family growing your family.
00:18:55
Speaker
You get to graduate to an OB-GYN's office and just be normal pregnant. Your gestational carrier just gets to be normal pregnant. And that, as scary as it can be, that's the ultimate goal is to get out of my clinic and just be in that next step of growing a normal, healthy
Egg Donation Misconceptions and Surrogacy Communication
00:19:12
Speaker
pregnancy. For sure. For sure. And how I mean, and that's such a drop off to like you said there you you've been their safe place for so long.
00:19:20
Speaker
Now all of a sudden we're in an OB situation where you're not having like all of these ultrasounds all the time and you're not having all of this blood work all the time. And appointments can range from five minutes to 50 minutes, depending on, you know, how long you're waiting or what questions you have. i mean, that's kind of a hard thing.
00:19:41
Speaker
pass off too It is. it is. And, you know, that portion of it, I usually tell my patients, having a conversation with your OB b that you're going to be going to before you get there. So you can both be on the same page for what's going to happen when we come into my office.
00:19:57
Speaker
Who can be at those appointments? How frequently do we get to be at those appointments? Having those conversations ahead of time will be so much better for you, for your OB who's providing the care. You know, if you're involving gestational carrier, it'll be great for them. So everyone's on the same page. OBs are busy. Oh, my gosh, they're so busy. yeah It's hard to get those appointments. But if you can have that appointment ahead of time before you even get pregnant to go, what is this going to look like when I get to your office? Again, just knowing what it'll be helps bring the anxiety down and know what to expect. Yeah. No, that is super that is super helpful advice.
00:20:34
Speaker
What would you say, you know again, kind of going back to those you know just myths or misconceptions, what do you say are maybe some of the biggest misconceptions when it comes to working with a surrogate? Oh, that's a good one. um Some of the misconceptions when working with a surrogate, I think some of my patients are so very, very worried that they'll be left out of the process, that they don't get to be included in the process of the pregnancy. Sure. And that's what they want. They want that bonding experience during pregnancy. Yeah.
00:21:09
Speaker
And so what I would tell them in that respect is, again, if you can't tell, I think every answer comes back to communication. Yeah. You know, finding and chatting with your surrogate when you match of what do you feel comfortable with?
00:21:21
Speaker
Do you feel comfortable with me being here at these appointments? Do you feel comfortable with me doing this? Having those conversations to match to the right surrogate for you. Yeah. That's going to be really important, too.
00:21:32
Speaker
And making sure that you're there every step of the way. For sure. For sure. i think ultimately, I mean, you're so right, because at the at the end of the day, I think you have some people who are just they just want that baby so bad. And then whenever they hear somebody say, oh, yeah, sure, I'll do it They're just so excited about that part that they're not thinking about the next.
00:21:50
Speaker
The journey. Yes. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. No, you're so you're so right. I i i couldn't agree more. Switching hats a little bit when you look at kind of the egg donation side of it.
00:22:02
Speaker
I would say one of the most common um you know questions or you know just things that we you know have to navigate on you know our side of things as an agency is you have somebody saying, well, if I choose to donate my eggs, is this going to mess up my fertility or am I going to you know am i going to run out of eggs or you know like things like that? What's the best way to explain yeahp just all of that?
00:22:24
Speaker
Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay, so we as women, we're born with our eggs. We don't get any more. You just come with what you have. Right. Okay. And every month your body puts out a team of eggs and your body goes, this is my team. This is what we have.
00:22:38
Speaker
And your brain goes down and you go, that's my all-star player. There go. And it picks its favorite egg out of your team and it grows the egg and you ovulate the egg. Okay. But if we at puberty, okay, when you start your period, if you have 300,000 eggs and we only lost one of those a month, we would never deal with this menopause thing. We would have enough.
00:22:56
Speaker
For a lifetime. Love it. you would never have to deal with running out. But what's really happening is you're losing all your players on your team every month. Okay? So it's like a sports team. Every month we have six to ten eggs that are our bench players. You grow your one all-star, but you lose your whole bench.
00:23:12
Speaker
Every month we are losing anywhere between 10 to 15 eggs. There you go. And that's how we run through so many to run out, run out, by the time we get to menopause. Okay? The concept of harvesting and doing IVF to gather up the eggs is instead of only ovulating one egg and losing 15, I'm going to try to take advantage of every player on your team right by giving you medications, okay, the same hormones your body makes to grow your one all-star, but I'm giving them to you in higher amounts so we can grow every player on your team. Mm-hmm. Then we go in and we harvest and take out the same eggs you would have lost that month anyway.
00:23:48
Speaker
But we've then better utilize the eggs for the month. We as humans, we don't we aren't good at utilizing our eggs, right? Oh, my gosh, we're not efficient. One egg out of 15. Like, come on, we have to have a better system. So we're not decreasing your egg count any quicker than those eggs you would have lost anyway. Sure. Just trying to take advantage of all the players on the team.
00:24:09
Speaker
I always love to say it's like when you we were real little and I'm old enough that. They believed everyone got a participation medal, right? like You showed up and played. Here's your medal. congratulation That's like that what we're doing for your eggs. Everyone gets a participation medal and gets to play as opposed just to the one all star.
00:24:25
Speaker
I love that. It doesn't decrease that egg number over time. You still have those same eggs. Your rate of going through menopause, exactly the same. Your ability to get pregnant later on, exactly the same.
00:24:36
Speaker
There you go. There you go. That's the one participation trophy I'll be excited about. i'm And to your point, the the medications that you're doing are exactly like you said. They're the hormones that your body would have gotten.
00:24:47
Speaker
Just add a little higher dose so that instead of selecting one, you can grow more. Same hormones, different doses. I love that. I love that. What... If you could share any message just with people who are struggling with infertility, who maybe are hesitant about that third party factor, whether it's a surrogate or an egg donor, what advice or just words of wisdom that you would give to anyone who's kind of on that path?
00:25:14
Speaker
Yeah. um The words of wisdom I would give you is open your heart to the possibilities that your family may have to grow in a different way than you originally thought. yeah But families can be loved in a million different ways. Right.
00:25:30
Speaker
Using an egg donor. just bringing that in you still carry your baby your blood flows through your baby you're having that experience even for my my patients that need to use a gestational carrier that is your egg that is the same sperm there's just a different venue in carrying it there are so many ways to grow a family open your heart and open your mind to different options will expand your ability to have the family you've always dreamed of it Because what your body gives us, it's not really fair. if We aren't always born and given the things that we need in order to have those families.
00:26:03
Speaker
So to open your mind and your heart to some of those other options will expand your chances and your ability to grow your family.
Hopes for National Infertility Awareness Week
00:26:11
Speaker
Yeah. Well, like you said, at the end of the day, it's, you know, the goal is to to build family, how we get there.
00:26:17
Speaker
It's just one path over the other. Exactly. Yeah. I love that. I love that. What do you hope National Infertility Awareness Week accomplishes in this world? Oh, but I don't think we could do that in a week.
00:26:31
Speaker
i i wish I wish we had better access to care. I wish that you didn't have to live in a major metroplex to find an ah REI. There's not that many of us, you know. So some of my patients are traveling hours to get to my clinic. Gosh, that's not convenient. You see me so much.
00:26:48
Speaker
um I wish there was better access to care. I wish... If ah this is my wish list, how about that? My national infertility awareness. Yes. get I wish that my patients didn't have to worry about how they're going to afford it. I wish that there was, you know.
00:27:03
Speaker
I wish that there was a recognition of infertility being a medical diagnosis, which then allows all insurance payers to cover and be able to help grow your family. Yes. You know, if I was making my magical wish list, I wish that everyone understood that infertility, it didn't go the way perhaps somebody who didn't go on an infertility journey had to go and they didn't maybe understand your pathway. I wish there was this open understanding that what works for one,
00:27:32
Speaker
isn't going to work for everyone. It's not. And there's so many ways to get there. So, you know, I don't think we're going to be able to achieve that in a week. But in my lifetime, in my career, gosh, I hope we can. Sure. That's the goal. Absolutely. No, that's a good wish list.
00:27:45
Speaker
That's a really, really, really good wish list. So, um you know, you've been a frequent flyer. So you you probably know my my last question that I always love to ask. But for anyone who knows me, they know I have a very codependent relationship on coffee. In fact, I'm struggling right now with this bottle of water versus my coffee. um But I always like to to ask the question, what filled your cup today? Literally or figuratively, what's been the thing that has filled your cup?
00:28:11
Speaker
I love that. What filled my cup today? Okay, logistically sleep. I feel like there's not enough hours in the day to get enough rest and do all the things I want. yeah Sleep would be my coffee cup of going. But what fills my heart and what keeps me going is my family. I love my family. I love the joy they bring to my heart and to my life. They ground me And it helps me always remember why I do what I do because that is why I go to work every day.
Conclusion and Resources
00:28:40
Speaker
And so sometimes I struggle with overcommitting.
00:28:43
Speaker
I don't know if anybody else is an overcommitter. I kind of overcommit. And so I sometimes struggle with going, gosh, if I worked more hours, I could see more patients. I could help more people. right i They wouldn't have to wait so long to get in to see me.
00:28:56
Speaker
And what I've realized is is when I do that and I don't balance with my family time, then I – it's not helping me be the balanced human that I need to remember why I'm doing this and bring that love and compassion to when I talk to my patients at work. So sleep and my family.
00:29:13
Speaker
That's what fills my cup. I love it. That's beautiful. Well, thank you again for just coming back on and um especially during this week and getting to highlight all of those things. And um definitely, hey, all the people out there, listen to her wish list. It's a good one.
00:29:26
Speaker
Thank you. Always a joy. Always a joy. Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of Me, You, and Who. We appreciate your time and hope you enjoyed our discussion today.
00:29:39
Speaker
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00:29:53
Speaker
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00:30:09
Speaker
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00:30:23
Speaker
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00:30:40
Speaker
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