The Egg Whisperer Show

Stefanie Bonnell and Dr. Dana McQueen join me to talk about healing after miscarriage on today's show. Stephanie is a licensed clinical social worker, whose focus is on Fertility Challenges and Perinatal Mood Disorders. The path to growing a family can be really bumpy.  In this episode, we talk about when to see a therapist, how therapy can help, and what to expect from a first visit with a therapist. This is one of the most amazing interviews I have ever done. I hope you will learn as much from Stefanie as I did.   Read the full article and transcript on Dr. Aimee's website.   Do you have questions about IVF?Click here to join Dr. Aimee for The IVF Class. The next live class call is on Monday, December 5, 2022 at 4pm PST, where Dr. Aimee will explain IVF and there will be time to ask her your questions live on Zoom. Subscribe to my YouTube channel for more fertility tips! Join Egg Whisperer School Subscribe to the newsletter to get updates Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh is one of America’s most well known fertility doctors. Her success rate at baby-making is what gives future parents hope when all hope is lost. She pioneered the TUSHY Method and BALLS Method to decrease your time to pregnancy. Learn more about the TUSHY Method and find a wealth of fertility resources at www.draimee.org.

The most common questions I’m asked are about exercise, food and weight. I am so excited to have all your questions answered by THE expert, Dr. Meredith Provost of Indiana Fertility. She is going to review: the science behind how weight impacts fertility, which diets support fertility and exercises patients should do after IUI, egg retrieval, frozen transfers, and after a positive pregnancy test. What's safe? What should be avoided? Tune in to find out! Read the full show notes on Dr. Aimee's website Do you have questions about IVF?Click here to join Dr. Aimee for The IVF Class. The next live class call is on Monday, December 5, 2022 at 4pm PST, where Dr. Aimee will explain IVF and there will be time to ask her your questions live on Zoom.   Click to find The Egg Whisperer Show podcast on your favorite podcasting app.   Watch videos of Dr. Aimee answer Ask the Egg Whisperer Questions on YouTube.  Sign up for The Egg Whisperer newsletter to get updates   Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh is one of America’s most well known fertility doctors. Her success rate at baby-making is what gives future parents hope when all hope is lost. She pioneered the TUSHY Method and BALLS Method to decrease your time to pregnancy. Learn more about the TUSHY Method and find a wealth of fertility resources at www.draimee.org.

Last year in the United States a baby was born every 8 seconds. That‘s roughly 3.8 Million babies born last year alone! You don’t have to be a fertility doctor to know what that means. Millions of people just like you were trying to conceive. Research tells us that most couples conceive within six cycles of timed intercourse, but many others (roughly 10% of couples) are struggling with fertility. Here’s the funny thing about what I do. I want to teach you how NOT to be my patient. Of course, there are exceptions to that statement. But in general, I’d much prefer to share with you what I’ve learned about preparing for pregnancy in hopes that it makes your journey to parenthood easier. A journey that goes without needing to see me.  Read the full show notes on Dr. Aimee's website Do you have questions about IVF?Click here to join Dr. Aimee for The IVF Class. The next live class call is on Monday, December 5, 2022 at 4pm PST, where Dr. Aimee will explain IVF and there will be time to ask her your questions live on Zoom.   Click to find The Egg Whisperer Show podcast on your favorite podcasting app.   Watch videos of Dr. Aimee answer Ask the Egg Whisperer Questions on YouTube.  Sign up for The Egg Whisperer newsletter to get updates   Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh is one of America’s most well known fertility doctors. Her success rate at baby-making is what gives future parents hope when all hope is lost. She pioneered the TUSHY Method and BALLS Method to decrease your time to pregnancy. Learn more about the TUSHY Method and find a wealth of fertility resources at www.draimee.org.

On today’s podcast episode, I’m talking about preparing for embryo transfer. I find that it’s helpful to think about embryo transfer the same way you might think about having a very special guest over for dinner. What are you going to do if you have a very special person over? You’re going to make sure everything is absolutely perfect. When it comes to preparing for an embryo transfer, you want to take the same approach. Your metaphorical home in the house analogy is your uterus. The devastation of doing more tests and finding out that something might be wrong that you have to fix is kind of a pain, but the devastation of going through a transfer that doesn’t work is also pretty darn awful. Because I work so hard to help families, if I can do anything to prevent someone from not experiencing the devastation of a negative embryo transfer, I’m going to do everything possible to clean up that house and make sure it’s perfect. What I recommend is that people do 3 tests before embryo transfer to make sure your uterus is absolutely perfect prior to your embryo transfer.They are: Hysteroscopy Saline Infusion, Sonogram, and Hysterosalpingogram. Read the full show notes on Dr. Aimee's website Do you have questions about IVF?Click here to join Dr. Aimee for The IVF Class. The next live class call is on Monday, December 5th, 2022 at 4pm PST, where Dr. Aimee will explain IVF and there will be time to ask her your questions live on Zoom.   Click to find The Egg Whisperer Show podcast on your favorite podcasting app.   Watch videos of Dr. Aimee answer Ask the Egg Whisperer Questions on YouTube.  Sign up for The Egg Whisperer newsletter to get updates   Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh is one of America’s most well known fertility doctors. Her success rate at baby-making is what gives future parents hope when all hope is lost. She pioneered the TUSHY Method and BALLS Method to decrease your time to pregnancy. Learn more about the TUSHY Method and find a wealth of fertility resources at www.draimee.org.

Dr. Geoffrey Sher is joining me again, and this time we are going to talk about implantation failure during IVF. Dr. Sher is co-founder of Sher Fertility Solutions (SFS) and an internationally renowned expert in the field of assisted reproductive technology, and influential in the births of more than 17,000 IVF babies. One day I hope that I’ll be able to say the same thing about myself. Over the last 30 years, he has helped fashion the entire field of ART after training under the fathers of IVF, Dr. Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards. He established the first private IVF program in the United States in 1982, then later expanded his practice to include several centers throughout California before founding the first Sher Fertility Solutions in Las Vegas. He’s also the author of several books, In Vitro Fertilization: The ART of Making Babies, which is now in its third edition. In this episode, we're talking about implantation failure during IVF. Many times I wonder why embryos do not stick and grow. Dr. Sher is discussing the role of the endometrium, the difference between implantation and miscarriage, and the three factors he considers when advising on treatment for implantation failure.   Thank you for joining me, Dr. Sher! You can find his site here: https://sherfertilitysolutions.com/   Read the full show notes and transcript on my website. Do you have questions about IVF?Click here to join Dr. Aimee for The IVF Class. The next live class call is on December 5th, 2022 at 4pm PST, where Dr. Aimee will explain IVF and there will be time to ask her your questions live on Zoom.   Click to find The Egg Whisperer Show podcast on your favorite podcasting app.   Watch videos of Dr. Aimee answer Ask the Egg Whisperer Questions on YouTube.  Sign up for The Egg Whisperer newsletter to get updates   Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh is one of America’s most well known fertility doctors. Her success rate at baby-making is what gives future parents hope when all hope is lost. She pioneered the TUSHY Method and BALLS Method to decrease your time to pregnancy. Learn more about the TUSHY Method and find a wealth of fertility resources at www.draimee.org.

As you know, I encourage all fertility patients to support themselves throughout their fertility journey from a mind and body perspective. I’m beyond delighted to have Alice D. Domar, Ph.D back on the podcast to talk about how to support fertility with mind/body strategies and techniques. She is the Executive Director of the Domar Centers for Mind/Body Health and the Director of Integrative Care at Boston IVF. She is an Associate Professor Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology, at Harvard Medical School.   Dr. Domar established the first ever Mind/Body Center for Women’s Health ~ as well as the very first Mind/Body Program for Fertility. She now teaches people strategies to reduce anxiety, depression, and distress through relaxation, mindfulness, cognitive restructuring, and yoga. Research continues to show that mind/body infertility programs not only improves psychological symptoms, but also increases pregnancy rates. We will be talking about all of this, along with her redesigned mobile app FertiCalmPro (which contains more than 500 solutions to the events and situations most likely to cause distress for anyone experiencing infertility), and her new program with Best Shot.    This discussion about the mind/body connection is so very important, because the mental and emotional strain on fertility patients is something that doesn’t get enough attention. Be sure and check out Dr. Domar's books and resources for more information. Read the full show notes on Dr. Aimee's website Do you have questions about IVF?Click here to join Dr. Aimee for The IVF Class. The next live class call is on Monday, December 5, 2022 at 4pm PST, where Dr. Aimee will explain IVF and there will be time to ask her your questions live on Zoom.   Subscribe to my YouTube channel for more fertility tips!  Subscribe to the newsletter to get updates Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh is one of America’s most well known fertility doctors. Her success rate at baby-making is what gives future parents hope when all hope is lost. She pioneered the TUSHY Method and BALLS Method to decrease your time to pregnancy. Learn more about the TUSHY Method and find a wealth of fertility resources at www.draimee.org.

Does sperm really matter? If you tuned into the conversation with Dr. Paul Turek and I earlier this week, you'll know that of course it matters!   It truly does take both sperm and an egg to make a baby. Today I'll review the sperm question a bit, and explain why it matters. AND, I'll give you a lot more info about how to improve sperm quality.   Here's the thing: I know that guys want to hear what they want to hear. They have selective listening. I'm not kidding when I tell you that I had someone email me recently and say "My husband's sperm tested out GREAT, and when we went over the results with the doctor we heard two different things. He thinks he heard our doctor say that it means he can just keep drinking, smoking, and enjoying marijuana and doesn't need to make any lifestyle changes. I heard something very different, which was that he should still cut back until we are pregnant. Can you help settle this for us?"   And while it's an unpopular answer (at least with the guys), my response is: Men should cut back or abstain from drinking, and smoking (marijuana too) if you're TTC.   Here are a few of the things I suggest to anyone bringing the sperm side of the equation to the baby making situation: - consider freezing your own sperm for future use when you are young. - get in the best shape of your life if you're trying to conceive. Sperm matters, and men's health is directly related to their sperm quality. - take some prenatal vitamins. Yes, really. Many of the same supplements that I recommend for egg quality also are great for sperm quality. - cut back on smoking, drinking, and drug use. Marijuana negatively impacts sperm. - don't cook your balls: avoid hot tubs, using your laptop on your lap, and other situations that may create high temps for the area. - find ways to cut back on stress, if you live a stressful life. Mindfulness and meditation are great for everyone. Read the full transcript and article about this at my website. Do you have questions about IVF?Click here to join Dr. Aimee for The IVF Class. The next live class call is on Monday, December 5, 2022 at 4pm PST, where Dr. Aimee will explain IVF and there will be time to ask her your questions live on Zoom. Click to find The Egg Whisperer Show podcast on your favorite podcasting app.   Watch videos of Dr. Aimee answer Ask the Egg Whisperer Questions on YouTube.  Sign up for The Egg Whisperer newsletter to get updates  Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh is one of America’s most well known fertility doctors. Her success rate at baby-making is what gives future parents hope when all hope is lost. She pioneered the TUSHY Method and BALLS Method to decrease your time to pregnancy. Learn more about the TUSHY Method and find a wealth of fertility resources at www.draimee.org.

I get a lot of questions about supplements, and I could not be more excited to have the founders of Tend Prenatal joining me today to share a ton of great information with all of you about supplements and prenatal vitamins. Dr. Behzad and Hannah Varamini are a married couple who started Tend Prenatal, which offer prenatal supplements with a twist. Hannah is an artist and start up consultant with a lifelong aversion to pills. Behzad has a PhD in Human Nutrition with an emphasis on prenatal nutrition and infant brain development. After their own fertility journey that included two pregnancy losses, they have created a business that nurtures women in all stages of fertility, pregnancy, and postpartum. In this discussion, Dr. Behzad and Hannah share: - what nutrients women who are trying to conceive need, and the best way to get them - the difference between synthetic and natural ingredients - how supplements can improve egg quality (and which ones to take) - 3 things you need to know about omega 3 Thank you for joining me, Dr. Behzad and Hannah! You can find Tend Prental here: https://tendprenatal.com/ To get 20% off, you can use the code TheEggWhisperer on your order. Read the full transcript / article on my website. Do you have questions about IVF?Click here to join Dr. Aimee for The IVF Class. The next live class call is on Monday, December 5, 2022 at 4pm PST, where Dr. Aimee will explain IVF and there will be time to ask her your questions live on Zoom. Click to find The Egg Whisperer Show podcast on your favorite podcasting app.   Watch videos of Dr. Aimee answer Ask the Egg Whisperer Questions on YouTube.  Sign up for The Egg Whisperer newsletter to get updates  Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh is one of America’s most well known fertility doctors. Her success rate at baby-making is what gives future parents hope when all hope is lost. She pioneered the TUSHY Method and BALLS Method to decrease your time to pregnancy. Learn more about the TUSHY Method and find a wealth of fertility resources at www.draimee.org.

Do Men Have a Biological Clock?  ⁠The short answer is, yes! Absolutely.⁠ I don’t claim to be an expert on men’s reproductive health, but given it is 50% of the equation when it comes to getting pregnant, I care a great deal about it.⁠ ⁠ I get questions all of the time from patients about their partner’s sperm. My trusted go-to person for the latest information on those little swimmers is Dr. Paul Turek, who I like to call, “The Sperm Whisperer.”⁠ Today on The Egg Whisperer Show podcast, Dr. Turek joins me to talk about the definition of male infertility, preventative fertility healthcare for men, when couples should seek treatment, how age impacts male fertility, and how to improve sperm quality.⁠ Thank you for joining me, Dr. Turek! Do you have questions about IVF?Click here to join Dr. Aimee for The IVF Class. The next live class call is on Monday, December 5, 2022 at 4pm PST, where Dr. Aimee will explain IVF and there will be time to ask her your questions live on Zoom. Click to find The Egg Whisperer Show podcast on your favorite podcasting app.   Watch videos of Dr. Aimee answer Ask the Egg Whisperer Questions on YouTube.  Sign up for The Egg Whisperer newsletter to get updates  Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh is one of America’s most well known fertility doctors. Her success rate at baby-making is what gives future parents hope when all hope is lost. She pioneered the TUSHY Method and BALLS Method to decrease your time to pregnancy. Learn more about the TUSHY Method and find a wealth of fertility resources at www.draimee.org.

Do you know what I think of PCOS? I think the name should really be “Please Confirm this Ovary Syndrome.” Today on The Egg Whisperer Show podcast, I'm talking about PCOS, or Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. I think another name for it should be: Poly TINY cystic ovary syndrome.   A few PCOS facts: PCOS does not equal infertility.  You may have a harder time getting pregnant if you have PCOS, because you may not be ovulating frequently or regularly. It's difficult only because it's hard to know when you're ovulating. Some symptoms may include: hair loss of the scalp, hirsutism (or hair on your body in areas like the chin, upper abdomen, lower abdomen or back), high testosterone levels, high insulin levels, higher estrogen levels, and higher BMI.    You can help manage PCOS by a paleo-like or mediterranean diet, taking birth control pills which can lower testosterone, or other testosterone-lowering drugs, and supplements.  Check out the episode on my website. Do you have questions about IVF? Join Dr. Aimee for The IVF Class at The Egg Whisperer School. The next live class call is on Monday, December 5, 2022 at 4pm PST, where Dr. Aimee will explain IVF and there will be time to ask her your questions live on Zoom. Subscribe to my YouTube channel for more fertility tips!Subscribe to the newsletter to get updates Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh is one of America’s most well known fertility doctors. Her success rate at baby-making is what gives future parents hope when all hope is lost. She pioneered the TUSHY Method and BALLS Method to decrease your time to pregnancy. Learn more about the TUSHY Method and find a wealth of fertility resources at www.draimee.org.