RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association is in the midst of launching a new public awareness campaign: “People with Infertility Are Being Ignored.”

This campaign focuses on an age old problem that has haunted people with infertility since the beginning of time – it is a disease of shame and shaming.  And what I know about shame is that it creates silence. When you are in a place of shame – what you are saying “Please do not notice me”.

And if people suffering with infertility are not noticed – then we will not get the health care that we need. That is what ACT UP was all about. It was getting people who have hid in the shadows to come out and be seen – and a cure.  It is way past raising awareness – it is about taking away the problem.

So how do we create a Shameless community that is willing to not only educate and raise awareness but demand health care coverage and a cure? That is  truly the question.  We all know that shame breeds silence – and silence allows for inaction.

Barbara Collura, Executive Director of RESOLVE wants everyone to take a pledge to raise infertility awareness. Okay – that sounds good. I have been doing that for 20 years – and yet when I recently allowed one of my blogs to be reprinted on a website that has varied content called Carnalnation – my blog was FLAMED.  Now this website has EVERYTHING on it  – and the readers decide to shame infertility? That should tell you something about how so many people view infertility! Do you want to see shaming and ignorance at it’s best? Go check out the comments.  Are these the kind of comments that keeps  many in the closet? I didn’t respond to even one of them to try to raise awareness. I thought about it several times – but I just didn’t have the strength to wrestle with ignorance.

Let’s face it – it is risky for anyone to go out there – and talk about infertility. There are people who still feel that people who  are struggling with infertility are selfish, narcissistic wanna be breeders and that the government should not do anything to help them – as there are more important issues at hand. You know – like world peace.

And world peace is important. But I can’t help but remember what a Rabbi said once to me – what he said was that when you help one family – you are saving a world. Because for that family – it is their world.

So – how brave are you? Are you ready to take the pledge? Are you ready to save the world? One world? Start a blog.  Make noise on Facebook – Twitter with a #Infertility in your message.  Respond to the comments on CarnalNation.com!!!

And by the way  – if you just don’t have the strength – I get it.

Posted under Advocacy, Fertility, Fertility Blogs, Fertility Support, Infertility, RESOLVE, change

I haven’t done a round up in a long time – but there is a lot of amazing blogs, cool services, conferences and products that have happened recently – and I want to make sure that you don’t miss them! And I have to be honest – I get so much information in my Facebook News Stream – that I would miss half of what is going on if I wasn’t a member of that community! If you want to jack into my community – I welcome you to add me as a friend or follow me on Twitter @PamelaMadsen.

So here is a taste of what I think is worth noting this week! There are  two great new products in the world of menstruation.  One for young girls who are beginning their menses called “The Dot Girl – First Period Kit”. I have to say that I love this product – and their tag line “Informed Girls – Empowered Women”.  Right on. It’s not that girls need any special kind of kit really for their first period – but the product opens the door for mothers or other significant adults in the young girls world to initiate a conversation with them about getting their first period. I totally support that! Let’s work on making girls comfortable with their bodies right from the start!

For us older women – it’s important to keep track of your cycles. There are so many reasons why women should do that – and it’s not just to be able to tell your gynecologist when the date of your last period is! Don’t you hate that question when you have no clue? Here are some of the reasons that you might want to keep track of your cycles:

1. Its a great way to make friends with your body. Get to know the normal ebb and flow of your hormones – what is normal and what is not.

2. Identify issues early on. If your cycles are irregular that could be a symptom of a larger problem. Keeping track lets you know that.

3.  If you are trying to conceive (TTC) – knowing your cycles will help you in planning your pregnancies – and if you don’t conceive when you expect to conceive – having a record is great information for your doctor!

There are many more reasons why you should know your cycle history – and there is a great new product called  My Cycle Diary that looks really easy and convenient to use. So check it out! And while we are on the subject of menstrual health – Please check out a wonderful organization devoted to this very subject called Rachel’s Well. You will be glad that you did.

In the world women’s reproductive rights – a new “morning after drug” has been approved by the FDA called “Ella”. You can read all about it here.

And on an entirely different note – there are some fabulous blogs out there right now – I love today’s post at The Fertility Daily by Dr. Eli Rybak on Rabbinically Supervised A.R.T. The Orthodox Jewish community has special concerns when they enter the world of assisted reproduction. That is why A. T.I.M.E. was formed – a support group for orthodox couples doing through infertility.  If you are not familiar with A. TIME – check them out – and if you want to learn about “Kosher Fertility Treatment” jack into Dr. Rybak’s blog. I loved it.

Have you ever attended a reproductive health conference? My favorite conference for reproductive health professionals is coming up soon in Atlanta – and it is run by The Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP).  These folks do it all – fertility, sexuality and birth control.  You can check out the conference details here. I know that I am trying to make it this year!

I could keep going! There is so much going on in the world wide web of reproductive health – but I am going to stop here for now – except to invite you to visit my new website and blog – that focuses on healthy sexuality.  Being Shameless is the place to read my newest blog – learn about my upcoming memoir SHAMELESS. On my new site you can not only jack into the blog  – but you can read an exclusive excerpt from my book, learn about why I wrote it  – and become a part of my community there too! There is lots of Pamela to spread around.  So keep visiting here – every day – and book mark Being Shameless! I hope to see you over there too!

Posted under Advocacy, Body Image, Female Sexual Desire, Fertility, Fertility Advocate's Hot List, Fertility Blogs, Fertility Support, IVF, In Vitro Fertilization, Infertility, Jewish Infertility Support, Rachel's Well, Sex Education, Shameless, conception tips, menstruation, sexual health, sexuality

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

I was reminded just the other day of the concept of “The Wounded Healer” by a fertility blogger named Keiko Zoll. Keiko writes a truly fabulous blog call “Hannah Wept, Sarah Laughed” – and she has been doing this wonderful blog series on being an advocate.  I was truly touched and reminded about my own wounded healer in reading her words in A Belly Full of Fire: The Wounded Healer. Keiko like so many advocates – started her blog out of a desire to express her experience – to fill some unnameable void – to shout into the universe all that was in her heart and in her belly – and in doing so – by speaking with a courageous honesty – she found a community and became a healer. Her words touched hearts and erased the pain of feeling alone  for others. Keiko writes from her gut and  it is that kind of writing – that kind of honesty that touches people.

You don’t need a medical degree to be a healer. You can be a healer by raising money to support a cause  – my colleague and friend Andrea Bryman Lmft is walking to raise money for breast cancer (make a donation here) and recently another colleague and friend Amy Demma was so touched by friend’s struggle with cancer that she has decided to make her facebook status and all manner of communication on Monday’s dedicated to fertility and cancer.  She asked her friends to support her just by talking about the issues (Pam waving at Amy in support). And my husband loves telling this story about a nun who came to our summer house looking for clams to help cure cancer and I just found this piece about her in an old People’s Magazine.  Oh yes – Sister Arline also had fire in her belly.

You see – once you get a fire in your belly – anything is possible.  It is often that place of disbelief, that place at the edge of pain where the most incredible creation and healing can happen.  It was so good to be reminded of that this week. Even this old dog advocate sometimes needs encouragement to keep on keeping on.  You see – its not always fun and games – this place of “Fire in The Belly”.  Sometimes – writing, doing, and change making from the place of the wounded healer can be very vulnerable work.  I remember going on the Joan Lunden Show – my first media appearance with my baby in my arms – to talk about IVF.  I wanted to show that IVF babies were normal and beautiful. I remember how my knees shook – and how scared I was. I was coming out on national television as a woman who had infertility – and had an IVF baby.   My husband and I were so worried that other parents would in some way classify our kid as an IVF  experiment. We were really scared – IVF was so new 20 years ago. But we had a fire in our belly. We needed to talk to get the word out about infertility and the possible solutions.  We needed to show the world that IVF kids were normal. And so I went.  That day was perhaps my first day  as a wounded healer.

Once  you start your first blog,  write your first article, walk your first walk, or do whatever it is that you need to do for your own healing -  you may  find  that you too have taken your first steps on the road of the wounded healer.  It is through that delicious fire in the belly place – that all changes happens. And don’t worry if you sometimes you feel scared and alone.  When you hit that place – just take a breath and know that you are building a bridge for others to walk across.

Thanks Keiko for the reminder.

Posted under Advocacy, Facebook, Fertility, Fertility Blogs, Fertility Support, IVF, In Vitro Fertilization, Infertility, Keiko Zoll, inspirational thoughts

Gina Bartasi, the CEO of FertilityAuthority.com is the new rock star in the world of fertility on-line communications, education and networking.  I bow in her presence. And I like her -  a lot. When I  first met Gina a little over a year ago – I told her again and again that I really didn’t want to like her. She was smart, pretty, energetic, well educated – and she was positive that she knew what she was doing in building a premier fertility community that would not only thrive in the competitive world of infertility – but would become the go to source. She is also skinny and disarmingly charming.  Who would want to like her?

And I had seen it all before – another passionate survivor from the world of infertility who was going to take up the banner and change the world one click at a time. These folks have come and gone – and some have stayed around not doing much with less and less voice all the time. So – I wasn’t convinced.  Until I was – about 9 months ago. When I saw what she was creating at FertilityAuthority.com and I liked it as much as I liked Gina. If Gina was a facebook page – I would have become a fan and “Liked Her”.

When Gina called me last night to tell me her big news – I was so proud of her. She was really doing it — creating something that truly has not existed before in the world of infertility education and community – at this level – ever.  And that is saying something. After I left The American Fertility Association – I felt that there was a void in leadership, energy and forward momentum in the fertility support and education arena. I could see good people doing good work for the consumer – but there was no rock star.  Until now.

It’s about forward thinking, team playing and carrying through on your vision.  This morning  – everyone will read the next step in Gina’s vision.  FertilityAuthoirty.com has acquired FertileThoughts.com – and in that moment of acquisition an incredible, authoritative source for premium fertility content from trying to conceive to resolution became the leading networking site in the field of fertility.  This move by FertilityAuthority has now made it the largest fertility stop on the world wide web with close to a quarter of a million monthly visitors.  No one has that. Wake up fertility community – a new giant has been born.

Now patients will be able to go to fertilethoughts.com and find community – and click right over to FertilityAuthority for important premium content. I predict that within a year it will become a thriving fertility hub where once people arrive to they won’t need to leave because it will all be there for them in one place.

The recently acquired FertileThoughts.com is a 14-year old community site and the overwhelming leader in social networking for those trying to conceive with more than 185,000 monthly users. In addition to its U.S. penetration, the site boasts a significant global population, with heavy participation in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and India.

For now – FertileThoughts will remain a standalone site, and co-Founder Dave Ferrell will continue as head of community engagement. “I’m excited to see the growth of FertileThoughts in new ownership of a site run by people who are passionate about the fertility industry”. FertilityAuthority.com’s CEO, Gina Bartasi added, “We’ve been actively looking for ways to scale our business and FertileThoughts offers us just that. They have by far the largest, extremely engaged community. Most of the patients we’ve talked to don’t “fan” their fertility doctor, so it’s a way to provide value to our clients and still protect the identity of our user base since most patients prefer to keep their fertility struggles private”.

And in case you thought that FertilityAuthority has only brought their know how to the infertility patient community – think again.  FertilityAuthority recently launched its premium business services division offering reproductive health service professionals website development, design and search engine marketing. And I have personally been a client – and they are damn skippy good.

So – Brava FertilityAuthority.  You are the fertility buzz this week.  And I just know there will be even more buzz to come.

Posted under Fertile Thoughts, Fertility Advocate's Hot List, Fertility Authority, Fertility Blogs, Fertility Education

This is just an observation – but I can’t help but notice in the world of fertility at least -  there is not nearly as much attention paid to Father’s Day as there is to Mother’s Day.  Personally – as a Fertility and Sex Educator – I feel the pressure building around “The Mother’s Day Blog” weeks before the actual day.  What will I say this year? How can I be inspiring and help my community navigate the possible pit falls of family outings and “Mother”s Day Sermons” at their local place of worship. And it is not only me – the entire fertility community rallies with blogs, articles, special support circles.  It is like the coming of Armageddon.

But barely a peep for dear old wanna be Dad. What is that about? I trolled the web and I did find that Fertility Authority has a lovely piece by Ellen Glazer, MSW entitled The Hallmark Holidays.

So what about “Wanna be Dad”?  Is the masculine of our TTC couple just not as impacted by Hallmark as the feminine? Does he not get triggered by all the Sear’s advertisements for a new barbecue or power tools? Is the human male really just more linear and just doesn’t care as much about these things?  Well – that is really quite possible.  But just in case – you might want to check in with your beautiful, loving – and having to give it up in a cup – TTC  Wanna Be Dad.

Father’s Day may not be a walk in the park for him.  So why not take him for a walk  to Sears and buy him that power tool anyway? I think that he has earned it.

PS. If you have written a Father’s Day Blog – or know of one – please post in the comments section. I would love to share it. Or do you have thoughts on this? Come on – type away!

Posted under Father's Day, Fertility, Fertility Authority, Fertility Blogs, Fertility Rites and Symbols, infertiity

My life has taken was pretty interesting twists. I never thought that I would become a well known fertility and sex advocate – and I never particularly wanted to be a school teacher (my first career).  In fact, I wanted to be a nurse! I even attended nursing school, but they overbooked their clinical and continuing on that course would have delayed my graduation from college by two years.  I still regret not having my RN. But, I have lived a life with few regrets.  It is not that I have not had huge disappointments – and life shattering pain.  I don’t know many people who have not.  It is just that I have learned that tremendous life openings can be initiated by those dark painful moments.  We just have to tune in – and listen to our next life purpose. I truly believe that we have more than one.  I believe that they simply build on each other….

If I hadn’t experienced infertility – I would not be living the life that I am living now  – and doing the work that gives me joy every day.  Infertility was my “dark night of the soul”. When I thought that I would never have a child – I briefly crumbled. Through the pain, shame, fear, and disappointment – a new woman was born – and then eventually two sons.  In the end – infertility was a gift to me.

Through my need to give myself a voice as a patient – I became a voice for thousands. Through my outrage and determination – I was able to lead and work with others to create a new organization – The American Fertility Association - that still stands today. And through my decision to leave that organization which was a difficult, complicated and painful decision for me – I can now speak freely to you without the fetters of being a spokesperson for a national non profit organization.

Instead, I have the freedom of working for an innovative thinker Dr.David Kreiner - and -an incredible team of doctors, nurses, and staff at East Coast Fertility that supports me in being nothing less than authentic - and say what I believe is real. It has been an extraordinary change for me – not having to worry about sponsors and egos – and only think about the patient.

And it is a part of this new life – of being able to take my twenty some odd years (I started very young!) of experience as a fertility advocate that has brought me to this place of being a “Fertility and Sexuality  Blogger”.  Five days a week I get to wake up – sip my coffee – and think about our incredibly complicated world of reproductive health – and share those thoughts with you.  Every day I get to think about the stories and the science that create the world that I swim in. Every day I get to weigh in – and speak from my heart. How cool is that?

I have met some incredible people by blogging. There is this incredible network of reproductive health bloggers – and we are all different. Some of us are writing in “real time” about their current journey – and some of us are writing from a different perspective – the perspective born out of past experience.

We stimulate each others writing by reading sharing each others  thoughts. Sometimes we agree with other – and sometimes we don’t. If I didn’t have this blog, Facebook or twitter account -  I would have missed knowing them – and that would have been a loss.  And then there are “the readers” who jack into this blog. Those of you that are going through fertility treatment, struggling with your sexuality – industry – the media – doctors and others – who tune in to see what I am talking about each day. I love the opportunity to continue to share my thoughts on this ever changing topic of fertility and other issues that are central to being human.  It has been great hearing from you. I love comments. Please leave comments. I am not talking about compliments – I am asking you to share your own thoughts.

Oprah is did this great series on “Living our Best Life“.  You can find it all on line. Being a Fertility Blogger – and continuing my work as a voice for the fertility patient – and my emerging voice for women struggling with sexuality and self image. It has truly been a part of me living my best life.  I am truly grateful for the opportunity.

Thank you for reading.

Until Tomorrow,

Pamela

Posted under Advocacy, Dave Kreiner, Dr. Dave Kreiner, East Coast Fertility, Facebook, Fertility, Fertility Blogs, Infertility

I was a little less than hot this Mother’s Day weekend. I got a just “okay” massage, napped, read, watched pay per view movies – and spend as much time as possible in my pink fuzzy robe just surfing the net.  I got caught up on blogs – and clogged up everybody’s feed on Facebook with my minute by minute musings – don’t you hate when people to do that?  I was a great big mess of  over share – just when I read a piece in the Sunday New York Times about the  “Younger Generation” becoming more careful about what they let  the world see of them on the web! Well, this train has long left that station for me.  I have to be honest – I don’t have separate lives anymore. I don’t have a professional Facebook and a private one…..I don’t have one Pamela Madsen in one place and another one in another place.  I tried that – and it didn’t work for me.  And yes – I get that there is a difference between privacy and secrecy.  But perhaps it is that I let you see who I am – that brings you back to this blog again and again.

So – in my rebellion against this new conservative under thirty generation of kids who are cautious about what they are sharing on line – let me tell you where I went on line this weekend – and what I think you might like to check out as well! You see – I had a great time becoming my own Stumble Upon….first of all – I get a lot of newsletters – and I hardly ever got the time to actually read them.  And so I did! I am continuing to love this series by Anne Lamott on Oprah about getting to know your shadow.  And this week she wrote about Finding The Person You Were Meant To Be: Where to Start. And somehow – from there – I found a rather controversial blog by Annie entitled “Why I Hate Mother’s Day”. I really got things going on Facebook with that one!

From there – I went to Susan Crain Bakos Blog called Sexy Prime.  Susan, among other things -  is an author of sexy “how to” books – and I often like her blog geared towards women in their sexy prime.  She also had a Mother’s Day theme going – and this blog is worth a mention “Sexy Mom’s: New Sites Just For You”.

One of my new pet projects is a blog over at The East Coast Fertility.  Look – I had more than my big thumb in the creation of the new site – and the birth of their  brand new fertility blog -  The Fertility Daily. And frankly – I just love going over there and admiring it!  Plus -  the submissions from the guest bloggers have truly rocked! Check out the fabulous Alisa Vitti’s blog on “Empowering Your Fertility Journey: What Every Woman Needs to Know Before She Conceives”.

If you are a Fertility Chatter – and like to dish – you can follow me to Face of Fertility a new site that I have been spending a little time in – when I am not cruising around to see what the world of fertility is up to at Fertility Authority and Fertility Ties.

I have also been getting to know another fertility blog by Sharon LaMothe. Her blog Surrogacy 101 – is not just about surrogacy even though there is a lot to say about that.  She often does books reviews – and commentary on the issues of the day in the world of fertility.  If you haven’t checked out Sharon – take a minute and visit her blog.

Yep – so that was a slice of life of my transparent Mother’s Day Weekend! Take that – under 30 Generation! Don’t share with us – your private thoughts on line! Instead – come on over to my blog – where I will introduce you to what a forty something does on line – personal growth, social commentary, sexuality, and baby making! All in  a pink  robe!

Want more transparency? More Pamela Madsen fun? Friend me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter at @PamelaMadsen. I would love to see you there!

Posted under Annie Lamott, East Coast Fertility, Face of Fertility, Facebook, Female Sexual Desire, Fertility, Fertility Authority, Fertility Blogs, Fertility Education, Fertility Support, Fertility Ties, Infertility, Pamela Madsen, Sharon LaMothe, Surrogacy 101, Susan Craine Bakos, sexual health, sexuality

I have been around National Infertility Awareness Week for a very long time – and frankly I don’t ever remember the community working together quite this like to raise awareness.  Perhaps it is the rise of bloggers, Facebook and twitter that have enabled people to become advocates in their own way and add their voices to the cause.  I am not really sure what it is….but I am loving the feeling of a community that is joining hands.

The folks who Twitter are working to get infertility as a trending topic on Twitter by #infertility repeatedly.  The Facebookers are sharing writings and activities – helping to encourage each other to do more.   So here is a taste from around the web:

At Fertility Ties they are having have daily tips,  and contests with prizes!Their main theme is hearing from their users, experts and Doctors what this week means to them and what would they want to be achieved. They also created an Infertility Awareness ribbon that users can easily put in their blogs, or any social networks.

Posted under East Coast Fertility, Face of Fertility, Fertility, Fertility Authority, Fertility Blogs, Fertility Education, Fertility Support, Fertility Ties, Infertility Funding, RESOLVE, infertiity, inspirational thoughts