Yesterday I wrote about my appearance on The Surrogacy Lawyer,  which is a radio show hosted by Theresa Erickson Esq.  The show centers around building families the “non-traditional” way – whether through IVF, egg donation, sperm donation, embryo donation, or surrogacy.

What I like about “The Surrogacy Lawyer” is that the show focus’s on all parties that may be involved – whether you are an egg donor, sperm donor, surrogate, embryo donor or a prospective parent.

It was really fun participating yesterday – when we took on the issue of the rights of egg donors, and explored the new documentary “Eggsploitation”.  I was really flattered that the segment was inspired by a series of blogs that I did on the subject that inspired a very vibrant Facebook debate!

If you missed the broadcast yesterday – you can listen now via the pod cast! Don’t you love technology?  Click Here To Listen To The Pod Cast “Who Is Looking Out For The Egg Donor”

Are you interested in the blogs that inspired the debate?

Gird Your Loins and Hold Onto Your Ovaries!

Egg Donation From a Different Perspective

What’s Your Egg Donation Agenda

Do you want to join in on the conversation? You can leave a comment here – but I encourage you to “friend me” on Facebook at PamelaMadsen – or just click the Facebook icon on the page to get connected to me! Inside Facebook – we are are having lots of ongoing conversations about this and so much more! Looking forward to talking with you on line!!!

Posted under "Eggsploitation", Egg Donation, Egg Donor Compensation, IVF, In Vitro Fertilization, Infertility, egg donors

The Surrogacy Lawyer Radio

Program- Thursdays at 11am PDT or

2pm EST

Amy Demma, Prospective Families; Andrea Bryman, LMFT; and Pamela Madsen, The Fertility Advocate: The Eggsploitation Controversy

The filmmakers promote it as “the fertility industry’s dirty little secret.” In the trailer, several former egg donors describe horrific experiences resulting in permanent health damages and how they were lured into making poor decisions with offers of hard to resist compensation. The music, ironically scored by the group Thieves and Liars, is dark and foreboding, reminiscent of a horror film. And the name of the documentary – Eggsploitation – implies its intentions, which is to let the world know about the “trade” in human eggs and “older women with money targeting younger women.”
So is this documentary a wake-up call for the infertility field or is it a narrow-minded attempt to push an agenda, with the truth lying somewhere between the hyperbole and the criticism? The Surrogacy Lawyer Theresa Erickson will explore these issues on Thursday, September 2.

Ms. Erickson will be interviewing three leading infertility and collaborative reproductive specialists, including Andrea Bryman, LMFT, a marriage and family therapist specializing in egg donation and surrogate assessment and support; Amy Demma, a New York attorney and founder of Prospective Families Egg Donation Agency; and Pamela Madsen, infertility blogger and patient advocate who wrote several posts about the movie on her blog The Fertility Advocate that steamrolled into a lively Facebook discussion.

“We are excited to have the opportunity to move the robust discussion that started on Facebook into the real-time, interactive realm of radio, “ says attorney Erickson. “As a former egg donor during college and now as a third party reproduction professional who has dedicated my career to this field, I want to insure that the absolute best practices are established for the welfare of both egg donors and parents via egg donation. So regardless of the public’s or field’s perceptions of the documentary, I am glad we have this chance to move the discussion forward.

CLICK HERE TO TUNE IN:

Posted under "Eggsploitation", Egg Donation

It has been an interesting few days in the world of social media and fertility.  Inside the pages of Facebook, we have continued our discussions about egg donation – focusing on the education of the egg donor and the documentary “Eggsploitation: The Fertility Industry Has a Dirty Little Secret”.

Everyone seems to agree that we have a huge void in egg donor education – with conversations running from what is truly informed consent, to the lack of support that is given to books that try to educate the consumer on egg donation. There seems to be lots of information for the couple who needs egg donation – so why not the egg donor?

And then the question becomes who is the best qualified and the most unbiased when it comes to  egg donor education and information? Does anybody not have a horse in this race? Let’s break down all of the stake holders and my list is not a ranking!

1. Infertile couples who need donor eggs to build their families (which by the way includes people of all races and ethnicity, plus every  social economic group.  Women who need egg donation are not simply rich women looking to exploit poor women as Eggsploitation’s expert on the trailer which  is show cased on their website  says with conviction (Yes – that really raised the feathers on the back of my neck!).

2. Egg donors

3. Reproductive Endocrinologists and other  fertility medical experts such nurses, therapists and embryologists  who supply the services that make donor egg a possibility.

4. Pharmaceutical companies who supply the medications that produce the abundance of eggs needed for egg donation.

5. Egg Donation Agencies who are often chosen by the infertile couples over IVF Centers as a source for donor eggs.

6. Reproductive Medicine Attorney’s who help with contracts, legal issues, and sometimes are in the egg donation business.

7. Patient Associations who represent not only the consumer – but are often supported by stake holders in the fertility field.

8. Professional Associations – Whose membership consist of many of the stakeholders.

9.  Right to Life Groups who don’t want embryos created and possibly discarded. These groups often view outlawing any form of IVF as an important bridge to outlawing abortion.

10. Angry former patients – this group includes former and current egg donors, and individuals who used donor egg -  who feel that they were not given informed consent or where things just went sour. Regret is a powerful emotion.

11. Politicians who want to appeal to certain voting demographics.

12. The Media – who love a good story to tell.

13. Centers or Committees on Ethics and Public Policy,  Certified Health educators, and Government offices – These groups are often filled with folks who think they need to keep the rest of us “safe”.

14. Parents, friends  and advocates of the children created through donor egg.

15. Parents, friends and advocates of egg donors.

16. Fertility Consultants: people who have made a career out of guiding people who are trying to conceive and work with all the stake holders.

17. Happy, and Satisfied Patients who have often have nothing but good things to say about their experiences. This group also includes egg donors and recipient individuals.

I don’t know about you – but to me it looks like there are a lot of horses in this race – and every one has an agenda. That is simply a reality.  Does that make the points of view that come through each lens invalid?  I don’t think so – but I think it is good to know where your information is coming from and to take the information in knowing each agenda.

What’s my agenda? I would like for this conversation around the education of egg donors to continue. I think it is past time. The fact sheet that I wanted to develop is ancient history (yeah, I am still angry).

Perhaps the answer is not to look for unbiased information – because perhaps that simply does not exist.  Right now – I just would vote for information to be created and for folks to know who is supplying it! If “Eggsploitation” does one thing for this community filled with passionate, caring people from every corner – it may be to get all of us to wake up, load our horses into the gate and go!

Posted under "Eggsploitation", "Google Baby", Donor Egg, Egg Donation, Egg Donor Compensation, Facebook, Fertility, Fertility Blogs, Fertility Coach, IVF, Infertility, Infertility Consultants, Infertility Funding, Long Awaited Children, egg donors, eggs

Yesterday, I blogged about “Eggsploitation: The Fertility Industry Has a Dirty Little Secret” And then I did what I do – and put it on Facebook and Twitter.  I have all kinds of “friends” – people that I know and don’t know which include many “insiders” in the fertility industry. And  what I saw was the beginning of what has been a gradual self examination practice when it comes to the business of egg donation – and the beginnings of a discussion about how the industry educates egg donors. I would love to help encourage that discussion to continue.

The education of egg donors has been important to me for a very long time.  I may have told this story before – but it is worth telling again.  It also speaks to how money controls public education.  In my day of running patient organizations I had to get funding for all of my educational fact sheets (because there is no federal funding of patient organizations as there exists in some countries like The Netherlands). Getting industry funding for fact sheets at patient organizations is a practice that continues today across the board at many non profits.  Just check the fact sheets – you will see sponsorship listings.  There is no big secret there.

So once upon a time, I wanted to do a fact sheet for potential egg donors – and I asked a big famous doctor at a big famous IVF Center to sponsor it.  I got a big fat yes – and I began the process of writing it. When the doctor got a hold of the fact sheet – he screamed that he was withdrawing the funding because the fact sheet was going to encourage the egg donor to ask too many questions – and answering these questions would take precious time away from the business of running his program.  Would I like to pay him for the time lost in answering egg donor questions that the fact sheet would provoke?

That fact sheet was never created because no one wanted to fund it. It was bad for business.

No matter how conflicted I feel about “Eggsploitation” (you can read their press release here) – especially their portrayal of the egg donor recipient as shown in the trailer on their website, I am glad that The Center For BioEthics and Culture Network produced it. Because while it may be extreme in it’s point of view – it is telling a point of view that needs to be told – and is not being told anywhere else. We need to make room for this perspective on egg donation – because it is real. These young women who are telling their stories are real – even if they don’t represent the majority of the egg donor experiences – it doesn’t make their experience any less valid or important. We need to hear them.

Everyone in the baby making world wants to feel like they are doing the right thing by egg donors, egg donor recipients, and most of all – the children that are created from that match. But money influences the waters. And without egg donor compensation there would be no egg donors. We all know that.

And money influencing the fertility field is not unique to the fertility field – it is a constant factor in every field – that is why big Pharma can’t buy dinner, or even give out pens anymore. We have all begun to acknowledge that fact.  It doesn’t matter how big or how small the donation is – money has this awful habit of controlling things.  And I have no answers – because every one needs money – and money pays the bills to keep the doors open for everyone. Even The Center for Bio Ethics and Culture Network has funders with a point of view.

But I do get disturbed with I see patient organizations with more professional/industry invested board members than patient board members.  And I do get even more disturbed – when I look deeper at who is running the ships – and there is an over abundance of board members in one part of the industry that we as a fertility community depend on for our unbiased information.  It is not that folks who serve in the industry or on non profit boards are evil doers – it is just that we need balance.  And without that balance of professions and areas of interest – there is an  influence in very quiet ways in regard to  the information that the consumer receives.

Yes – it is time for us to go deeper and really look at what information is shared with the consumer – how the information is being positioned – and who in the end – the creation of the educational materials are truly serving.  We must always keep in the front of our brains that consumer education is not marketing.

Posted under Advocacy, Egg Donation, Egg Donor Compensation, Facebook, Fertility, Fertility Blogs, Fertility Education, Fertility Marketing, IVF, In Vitro Fertilization, Infertility, Infertility Funding, egg donors, eggs, patient advocacy

A colleague of mine sent me a link to “Eggsploitation: The Fertility Industry Has a Dirty Little Secret” late last night – her email simply had the link – and word “WOW”.

I sat watching with my mouth looking like a bass fish  – open and gaping – as several young women told their horrifying story of being an egg donor in the United States. They spoke of feeling enticed by the money into donating their eggs – the poor explanations of what they could experience – and the tragedy of the complications that they unexpectedly faced as egg donors. The trailers on the website are riveting – and appalling.

It is certainly not a view – that recipient couples, egg donor coordinators, fertility specialists, and egg donor agencies will likely be comfortable seeing. But does that make it any less valid an exploration?

That is the struggle that those of us who live inside the fertility “industry” really have to grapple with.  So often – when these types of images of the fertility field are presented – we shout “foul play”! We pound our chests – and blog our hearts out about how unfair the media is to our field. You can hear us shout that
the entire story is never told – that the world of infertility is highly sensationalized  and distorted in order to sell magazines – or this evening news story.

Quite frankly – there is a great deal of truth in that opinion and outrage.  Frankly – even in the title of the documentary – calling the experience of egg donors a “dirty little secret’ is beyond over of the top. But the producers of the film  are marketing a documentary! If there is no dirty little secret – why buy a ticket?

And there will be people who will watch the clips – and perhaps even go see the documentary – who will come out drawing an analogy of these young women to aviation safety records – “You know – airplanes land safely every day across the country – thousands of them – and you never hear about that! But if ONE plane goes down – boy does that make the news!”  That’s because there is tragedy when even one airplane goes down – and we need to hear about it.

That is how I feel about “Eggsploitation” even where it fails in it’s own sensationalism. I am still wanting to hear the stories of these young women. It’s that important.  Look -  I didn’t like the trailer featuring the “experts” who said that egg donation is about rich older women taking advantage of younger women with good eggs. That is really horse shit – and shows a complete lack of understanding about the women who need donor egg.  I have never met a woman who needs donor eggs who is anything but grateful to donors. And the majority of the women who need donor egg are not rich.  That characterization was frankly wrong and horrifying – and in my mind brings down the messages that perhaps “Eggsploitation” is trying to get out.

We have to be very, very careful – with the young women who step up to donate their eggs.  We need to be careful about donor compensation being so high that young women feel enticed. We have to do a better job educating donors about the risks of egg donation – no matter how good everyone in the fertility field feels they are already doing it – we will have to do it better. These young women are making what I call “life time decisions” when they decide to donate their eggs. Even when their cycles go perfectly well (and most of them do) – these young women are giving up their genetic material forever – and exposing their bodies to a lot of unknowns in the process at a very young age.  That is simply real.

And we all have to cop to the fact – that no matter how careful we are – no matter how much time is spent – and how carefully these young women are consented and educated in the best of circumstances – people make all kinds of informed  decisions – for all kinds of reasons.

And sometimes – things just don’t go as planned.  And all we are left with is regret, pain and anger.

Posted under Egg Donation, Egg Donor Compensation, Fertility, egg donors, eggs, infertiity

Last Thursday I dropped in on a seminar on egg donation in Argentina.  You see “Cross Border” reproduction,  “Fertility Tourism” or whatever you want to call it works both ways. People come to the United States for fertility treatment because they cannot access certain reproductive technologies  in their countries (such as egg donation and surrogacy) and people leave the United States because they cannot afford to pay for treatment.  It’s kind of wacky – isn’t it? And in all of the coming and going of patients – from one country to the next – has opened a kind of free market among fertility centers to work at attracting them to their centers. I know this. I have done this.

As I sat in the room that Dr. Demian Glujovsky from “Fertility Argentina”  rented in Manhattan – I watched the couples and single women roll in. I introduced myself – I got the feeling that Dr. Glujovsky was not thrilled that I was there. I was not a potential patient. He didn’t offer me any bottled water the way he offered the other maybe 20 people who sat with me and listened to a bit of tourism rolled into low cost baby making.

Did you know that Argentina is famous for tango dancing? We were shown pictures of a beautiful town outside of Buenos Aires where one could go skiing in the winter….or swimming in the summer. Very nice. I was reminded of how the American programs spoke about visiting NYC or Washington DC  to the lovely potential patients in the United Kingdom.

My stomach clenched in the memory. Yep – I think that I even did that at the Fertility Fair in London. Somehow – I was liking it less now. Interesting huh? Mirror, mirror on the wall?

We learned about the time line – how long it would take to make a baby via egg donation the South American way – about three months….The time one would spend in the airplane – about ten hours each way – Dr. Glujovsky assured us that “You can do it!” – and that egg donors were paid modestly and shared 2.6 ways to help reduce the cost.  2.6? I never understand numbers like that. I mean – who gets the .6?  I found myself mentally counting potential off spring from each donor – so if the donor donates 6 times – that is a lot of half sibs in the world….

Potential patients were told that they could count on getting four eggs and two embryos.  Fertility Argentina was not into cryo preservation.  If you didn’t get pregnant – come back. So was it really cheaper after all? I found myself playing with the numbers – I guess it depended on your luck. But what if you were not so lucky – was the price really cheaper then? I wasn’t sure.

I left before the seminar was over. I had heard enough. Dr. Glujovsky seemed like a nice enough man – and reputable enough as well.  His center in Argentina did a tremendous amount of cycles. There was nothing shady going on. No big expose to write.

Certainly flying 20 hours round trip to Argentina – seeing tango dancers – eating good beef and making a baby for less money – was an option.  Just as flying to NYC, seeing a Broadway show, the statue of Liberty of Liberty – and getting access to egg donation with American protocols was also an option for the patients that fly into the US every day to build their families.

So what was bothering me? I have to be honest – I am not really sure.

Perhaps it is that this is necessary at all.  That no matter which way the patients are flying – to the United States or out of the United States – that they are forced to leave their homes to get access to care to build their families. Perhaps it is the commercialization of infertility – the heavy marketing  – the hard sells.  I mean – it used to be that people went to IVF Clinics because they wanted a baby desperately – should we even be talking about museums?  Do other fields of medicine do this? What do you think?

Bottled water anyone?

Posted under "Cross Border Fertility Treatment", Donor Egg, Egg Donation, Egg Donor Compensation, Fertility, In Vitro Fertilization, Infertility, egg donors, eggs

You know – when I was a kid – you didn’t hear about gay men wanting to become fathers.  There was so much to being a gay man in America – much of it was around basic survival in a society that  was only beginning to offer acceptance.  But now when I talk to young gay men – in their teens and twenties – becoming a father is as important to many of them as finding a good man to marry.  Some in the LGBT world would call this the assimilation of  gay men into “breeder culture”.  I say hog wash.  It’s simply evolution. When more opportunities are possible – people expand their desires.

To me it is about wanting the very natural and simple human connections of a life partner, children and family. Who says that gay men and women for that matter are not entitled to that if they want that? But there are people in the straight world – that don’t want to support gay marriage – or gay family building – and there are people in the gay world who view gay men who are creating families as “assimilators” or “Breeders”. My, we are a tough room to play – us humans. Don’t you think?

The world of gay male reproduction is a bit more complicated than most straight couples – infertile or fertile – or lesbian couples.  Yes – of course they come with plenty of sperm (in most cases), but it is the need for eggs and a surrogate that ups the ante for them.  It’s not just the emotional ante – it’s the legal and financial toll as well. Gay men who enter this world need a lot of support in so many ways.

They need to be able to afford to go through an extensive process of screening, finding a surrogate and an egg donor – as well as doing their family building in a state that will support their rights to the child once the baby is born.  California has been the most popular place for gay men who use surrogacy to build their families – and in the east coast – New Jersey and Connecticut.  But many still feel that California has the most protective laws for gay men building their families through surrogacy.

There are many surrogate and egg donation agencies that work with reproductive endocrinologists – the choices that gay men have now in who they work with are extensive. Often – straight doctors who are very happy to provide the services that gay men need to build their families.

But what I love – is when a well known gay man – who is known in the “straight” community as an exemplary reproductive endocrinologist for all people -  comes out to help other gay men build their families. To me – that is something really special.  Dr. Guy E. Ringler of California Fertility Partners recently profiled in The Fertility Race helping “Two Men and a Baby” is one of those men.  They even have “Gay Family Building” on their tool bar on their website.

To me – that is evolution.  Side by side with straight and lesbian couples – gay men are now building their families – and the slang “Gay Daddy” has come to have an entirely different meaning. Now it means  “Father”.

Posted under Egg Donation, Gay Marriage, Gay and Lesbian Family Building, change, egg donors

This week I wrote about a new documentary called “Google Baby” - which is all about surrogacy on a global scale. But what about the support for surrogacy here in the Untied States. Last year in the  Sunday NY Time’s Magazine Section – there is an excellent piece on one woman’s experience having her son through gestational surrogacy entitled  Her Body, My Baby. The author, Alex Kuczynski painted an accurate and unflinching account of her experience as a fertility patient.  I loved her descriptions from the “Emerald City” to the culture of secrecy. My heart broke for Alex, at the unthinking words that sometimes come out of our care givers mouths. What were they thinking?  Oh…they are not. How could they be? How could someone simply turn to a woman and say – that dark spot used to be your babies heart? As if they were pointing out an aerial view of the George Washington Bridge? How could someone say – in case your care – your baby was a girl? I have no doubt that Alex’s reporting is accurate. So many of us have been there. And we have been in places, centers, offices, where you would think that they would know better. But often they do not.  I felt this feeling of embarrassment and shame for the entire field as I read Alex’s accounting. As if by simply being a part of the community – I held some responsibility for her pain.

I appreciated the candor of the piece – the stark honesty on everything from costs, to what motivates the surrogates – and the loss of not being able to carry her own child. And the honest expressions of fear about being her babies true mother.  And I just couldn’t stop flinching – the Pastor who told Alex “That the Church frowned on Science Babies.”  If that doesn’t suck the air of your lungs – I don’t know what will.

So many times articles on infertility are politically correct and skirt so many of the issues that this community truly faces. This piece is brave.  Take a read. And if you are exploring surrogacy – here are some helpful names and links:

Shirley Zager, director of the Organization of Parents Through Surrogacy

Melissa Brisman, Esq – Surrogacy Lawyer

Surrogacy 101 – which has a great piece today on Surrogacy whether to stay in the relationship after the child is born or not…..

Posted under Egg Donation, Fertility, Infertility, Sharon LaMothe, Shirley Zager, Surrogacy, Surrogacy 101

So Facebook is buzzing about “Google Baby” which I keep wanting to call “Global Baby”.  It is in my news feed over and over again as various members of the infertility/fertility community watch it on HBO. In case you didn’t know “Google Baby” is a new documentary on HBO exploring this new age of reproductive medicine – where people from around the world are connecting over the internet – and traveling the globe to build their families.  “Google Baby” primary focuses on the newly coined term “reproductive outsourcing” of surrogacy and egg donation. Outsourcing? I guess Reproductive Tourism or even “Cross Border Fertility Treatment”  is so yesterday.

“Outsourcing to India is very trendy right now,” observes Israeli entrepreneur Doron Mamet – who has is featured in the documentary.  He talks in the film about how in Israel, it isn’t allowed for women to sell their eggs and makes it difficult for gay men to adopt. Mamet, a gay man and his  partner traveled to the United States to do surrogacy – and found that most of his friends simply could not afford the price tag which hovered around$100,000 for the egg donor and the surrogate.

As a result of his life experience – Doron went into business and created a company that  provides the service of combining embryos created in the U.S with surrogates from the clinic of fertility specialist Nayna Patel in Anand, India. And so we get to watch as Dr. Patel talks on the phone to a perspective client – while delivering a baby (I have seen a reproductive endocrinologist in the US talk on his phone while doing an egg retrieval),  and counsel a perspective surrogate and her husband about the meat and potatoes of being a surrogate in India – mostly through  Caesarian deliveries.

As opposed to US Surrogacy – the surrogates live in a home that Patel provides for the women – and they must leave their families and accept a sort of group confinement until they give birth and land over the babies. I was struck by how brave these soft spoken women who were the surrogates were and how determined.  They were portrayed as mostly low-caste, and they were doing all of this – making this incredible sacrifice so that they could earn the money to buy a home or educate their children.

I wasn’t sure how to feel.  But my stomach was in knots as my eyes couldn’t peel away from the television screen.

Yes – these women were paid a much lower wage then their US surrogate sisters – but their money seemed to go a lot farther. These women were changing their lives by giving life – and it was rough. They cried as they gave up the babies – it was wrenching. And then later – we get to see them happy in their new homes as their husbands plotted for them to go back to get the money for their child’s education. What to think? Were these women in power of their bodies – doing what they wanted to do to get what they wanted in life – or were they just being used again by forces bigger than themselves?

Can we say that about American egg donors and Surrogates? Is it so different – or does it just look different because in the US – the pay check is bigger – and the women get to live at home? Who is to judge?  Film Director Zippi Brand Frank tries to give us a little cultural perspective by letting us see the overwhelmingly  different life circumstances of an American egg donor “Kat,” who was using the money to fix up her  large suburban home and buy guns. We get to watch her give herself injections of fertility drugs with her young daughter “assisting”.  It was not exactly heart warming.

“Google Baby” makes sure to drive home the fact that this is a business – with lots of hands in the pot.  And we are left with the question – Is there  something inherently wrong or evil with the treatment of these women and the practice of international surrogacy and egg donation? Or dare I say it – how it is the same and different to what is happening in the US?

“Google Baby” also does the gay couple or the infertile couple – for whom this entire dance is not about  business  but something more primal a huge disservice.  It is hard to remember watching this film that all of this is going on because people want to have families – and often cannot. And that many people are  trying to build a family with limited means and no health insurance.  It is the coarseness of the  opening statement of “Google Baby” that totally set me off:

“Today’s  New Technologies have taken the sex out of the act of making babies Now all you need is a credit card and the instructions can be found on You Tube”.

The complete lack of understanding of the infertile couple’s experience was shown in that opening statement of “Google Baby”.  In fact it showed the same deep disregard for the infertile trying desperately to have a baby – as Dr. Patel showed for her patient when she chose to take a call from a potential client as her hands were in the belly of a surrogate while stitching her up from her Cesarean section. The surrogate was crying with the loss of the baby – her hands gently reaching for one touch of that babies head as he was taken from her. Dr. Patel seemed to hardly skip a beat.

In the end  – we are left with women making incredible sacrifices for each other – and their families – while the business  of reproductive medicine marches on.

Posted under "Cross Border Fertility Treatment", "Google Baby", Egg Donation, Egg Donor Compensation, Facebook, Fertility, Infertility, Queer Families, Recession and Fertility, Recession and Fertility Treatment, Surrogacy, birth, egg donors, embryos

I love doing these round ups! Letting you in  on what is exciting, new and thought provoking in the world of fertility.   Yesterday I was contacted by Kaite McGrew – a Spiritual Coach, Author, Speaker and creator of “Six Sacred Shifts to Embrace Your Fertility” which is a free audio coaching program that is available to women seeking to become pregnant – this program works with the mind-body connection and goes beautifully with any other fertility treatment/program – the goal of the six-week coaching program is to support women in re-framing their experience of trying to become pregnant, and to relieve them from stress, and to allow them to contextualize the goal of becoming pregnant within the larger framework of their lives. It is a non-denominational spiritual program that works with women of any faith, or women who are not particularly spiritual, but would like to bring a spiritual context into their quest for pregnancy.

The program is delivered via weekly emails that contain links to audio segments, written exercises, etc. and it is completely without charge of any kind. The program available on a donation only basis, but there is no donation required, and anyone who wants to enjoy the program is welcome to do so.

I am also learning about Circle+Bloom – which is a mind/body program to help support people who are going through infertility. The Circle+Bloom program is getting a lot of buzz  – and has already been put into place in various centers around the United States.  The basics of the program is listening for 15 minutes a day – to audio tapes that will relax and support you during any stage of your fertility journey.  It’s all about stress reduction and putting your health back into your hands. So jack into the Circle+Bloom Website and learn more on your own. It is rich, and full of information as well as giving you the opportunity sample the program.

While I am at it – I am going to circle around – and give two more shout out to products that I have already mentioned on The Fertility Advocate - The IVF Companion – which is also a way of taking your health back into your own hands – and being an empowered patient.  So if you haven’t heard about the The IVF Companion (you can read my review here)- take a minute and check out the website.  I also want to give another shout out to YES Baby - (which I reviewed here). Since that review – just like the IVF Companion -  I am hearing lovely things about this conception friendly product  from my readers.  Yes Baby – says Yes to great sex -organically -  while helping you to conceive.  And you know how much I love great sex and conception!

I just have to give a shout out to Elizabeth Cohen at CNN – who just did a great piece on getting pregnant later in life called “Pregnant at 47: Can I Do That?” in her fabulous column “The Empowered Patient” on CNN/Health. Several prominent members of our community gave fabulous quotes including Dr. David Kreiner at East Coast Fertility and Dr. Jamie Grifo at NYU.   And Kudos to  RESOLVE:The National Infertility Association for their great new website – if you don’t know RESOLVE yet – and you are TTC – jack in!

There is so much going on in the world of fertility and sexuality – if you want to know more – please “Friend” me on Facebook – or follow me on Twitter @PamelaMadsen. I would love keeping in touch with you there too.

Have a great hot Memorial Day Weekend everyone! And I will see you all back here on Tuesday!

All best -

Pamela

Posted under "IVF Companion", "YES BABY", Advocacy, Circle, Circle + Bloom, Dave Kreiner, Donor Egg, Dr. Dave Kreiner, East Coast Fertility, Egg Donation, Elizabeth Cohen, Fertility, Fertility Advocate's Hot List, Fertility Coach, Fertility Consultants, Fertility Support, IVF, Infertility, Infertility Consultants, MD, PCOS, conception tips, holistic fertility program