At-home hormone testing kits are trending, and it’s easy to see why. These convenient kits ship right to your doorstep so you can check your hormone levels without even leaving the couch. Plus, they’re way more affordable than a trip to a fertility clinic.   While at-home testing can give you some insight into what’s going on with your hormones, knowing your levels is only one piece of the puzzle. It's about nourishing your body inside and out, taking care of your mental health, staying informed with reliable information, and building a support team that’s got your...

Using donor eggs is a wonderful way to make the dream of growing your family a reality, but the process can be overwhelming. From finding the perfect donor match to navigating medical appointments and procedures, it can be tough emotionally, financially, and logistically.  So what should you expect? Because the donor egg timeline varies, be ready for a journey that requires patience, planning, and a whole lot of love — but we know you can handle it. The donor egg process, step-by-step Finding an agency and matching with an egg donor If you’re thinking about using...

There are a lot of cool things about getting older. Our life experiences have provided us with wisdom, and we don’t sweat the small stuff as much. Well, technically, we’re not sweating the small stuff because we’re likely too busy dealing with hot flashes and night sweats as part of perimenopause. Perimenopause is one of the not-so-cool things about getting older: As the run-up to menopause (the time when menstrual periods stop for good), perimenopause is when the ovaries begin slowing down the production of estrogen. This generally starts when people are in their 40s, around...

After all of the endless blood draws, ultrasounds, trigger shots, egg retrievals, embryo transfers, and two-week waits, you’re finally pregnant! For some women, however, it’s hard to feel optimistic after living with infertility. Especially when pregnancy loss is part of the infertility experience for so many people. It’s natural if anxiety is eclipsing any desire you may have to celebrate your good news because pregnancy carries a new set of risks even for those who didn’t go through infertility. Risks like preeclampsia.  According to a recent large U.S. study, preeclampsia affects 1 in 12 pregnancies. It...

Egg freezing, also known as oocyte cryopreservation, has become an increasingly popular option for people with ovaries looking to preserve their fertility. Whether you're focusing on your career, haven't found the right partner, or are facing medical challenges, egg freezing offers a way to potentially extend your reproductive lifecycle. But like any medical procedure, it's important to be well-informed before making this life-altering decision. Now let's explore the key questions you should ask before embarking on your egg freezing journey.  What's your fertility status? Before diving into the egg freezing process, it's crucial to understand your...

Finding out your pregnancy is nonviable can be one of the most devastating experiences for an intended parent. Adding to this pain are the multiple — and sometimes confusing — ways pregnancy loss can manifest in the first place. Words like “miscarriage,” “spontaneous abortion,” and “early pregnancy loss” tend to be used interchangeably to describe a nonviable pregnancy within the first 12 weeks. But there’s another term that’s also synonymous with pregnancy loss called a chemical pregnancy that denotes a specific type of early miscarriage. So, what is a chemical pregnancy? “A chemical or biochemical pregnancy is a...

So you’ve decided to do pre-implantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) on your embryos during IVF, and now that you’ve gotten the results back, you find out some of your embryos are mosaic. You’ve heard of “normal” and “abnormal” embryos before, but what is a mosaic embryo? Can mosaics be transferred and still result in a live birth? We spoke with Dr. Michael Guarnaccia of Pinnacle Fertility in New York City to learn more.  What is a mosaic embryo? A euploid embryo is normal, meaning all of the cells in the embryo have the right number...

Is reversing your tubal ligation the right path to another baby? We’ve got the answers you need to make an informed decision, including your chances of getting pregnant, factors affecting success rates, and a realistic timeline for seeing those two pink lines. Plus, we’ll cover the risks and how to prepare physically and emotionally for the process. First of all, what is a tubal reversal? A tubal reanastomosis, or tubal reversal, is a minimally invasive, same-day surgical procedure to reconnect your fallopian tubes and remove any obstruction. This procedure can be done if you decide to...

“Geriatric pregnancy.” “Advanced maternal age.” The terms may not be flattering, but women who have babies later in life hardly carry the stigma they did only a couple of decades ago. Generally speaking, “advanced maternal age” refers to anyone who becomes pregnant at the age of 35 or older. It’s also during this time that many women begin to experience symptoms of perimenopause, the transitional period leading up to menopause. Although perimenopause tends to start in a woman’s 40s, it can occur as early as their mid-30s. Unfortunately, perimenopause can be tricky to nail down, because...

When it comes to pregnancy tests, timing is everything. Whether you're hoping for a positive result or anxiously awaiting confirmation that you're not pregnant, the reliability of the test is crucial. But what happens when you find an old test tucked away in your bathroom cabinet? Can you trust an expired pregnancy test? Let's dive into this topic and uncover the truth about using outdated pregnancy tests. The science behind pregnancy tests Before we delve into the reliability of expired tests, it's essential to understand how pregnancy tests work. Pregnancy tests are designed to detect the...