10 Apr Our Favorite Fertility Blogs of 2023
We consider fertility blogs a part of the infertility support network for those worried about or diagnosed with infertility. Knowing you’re not alone, reading words that feel like they’re spoken by a mind reader, and learning more about the various fertility treatment options in the vernacular can buoy you along the way.
Some of Our Favorite Fertility Blogs (Right Now)
Blogging has been an incredible way for people to share infertility journey stories – woes, ups, downs, successes, and surrenders – with those walking the same walk. However, we’ve learned that fertility blogs can be fleeting. Often, the authors pull their posts along the way or stop writing about their journeys for various reasons.
That’s why we’re clarifying: these are our favorite fertility blogs “right now.” They’re up and live, but there’s no guarantee they still will by the time you read this. In that case, we apologize but encourage you to search online for current or new fertility blogs. Or, even better, maybe you can start your own and share your story – to get the support you deserve.
6 fertility blogs to follow (along with a podcast or two)
In the meantime, here are six fertility blogs that we’ve selected. They’re spread across the board in the hopes you might find one or two that resonate with your journey.
1. Stirrup Queens
The Stirrup Queens blog has gained quite a bit of notoriety and originally started back in 2006. Its immediate popularity and longevity led to the author writing a book titled, Navigating the Land of If. At this stage of the game, the blog’s longevity is a testament to the blogger’s infertility and fertility treatment journey – and the fact that life continues to move forward.
NOTE: We also have a post dedicated to Books to Read On Your Fertility Treatment, another information and support source.
Currently, she and her husband have twins, eventually conceived via IUI with injectable fertility meds. They decided to try again for a third child and have been unsuccessful so far – casting them to take a break from fertility treatments for now. Because so much time has passed, we recommend scrolling back to the beginning for the most infertility and fertility treatment-specific blogs.
2. Our Misconception
There are several reasons we appreciate the Our Misconception blog. One is that both the husband and wife contribute to the blog (women write most infertility blogs). Also, after multiple years of failed treatment cycles, including multiple IVF rounds, the authors of Our Misconception decided to move forward with adoption. They were pretty far along that path when someone volunteered to be their gestational carrier (sometimes called a “surrogate.”
We’ll let you read their blog to learn the rest of that moving story.
3. The Two-Week Wait Blog
If you are new to fertility treatments, you’re beginning to realize there’s a whole world of vocabulary terms and acronyms to learn. One of those is TWW, or “the two-week wait.” This term refers to the 14 days you have to wait after the embryo transfer before you find out if you’re pregnant. The highly-acclaimed and award-winning Two Week Wait blog is raw, heartwarming, heart-wrenching, and sometimes it’s even downright funny. It chronicles the author, Jennifer “Jay” Palumbo’s fertility journey. It was successful, and she’s now the mother of two sons. Her experience also turned her into an outspoken and active infertility advocate.
As Jay writes, “Whether you’re trying to get pregnant, going through fertility treatment, currently pregnant or a new mom, this blog captures every stage of hormonal hell and invites you to laugh along (whether you have ovaries or not) and deal with the business of getting knocked up despite the universe’s efforts to knock us down!”
4. The Business of Baby
The blog The Business of Baby caught our attention because it shares the single parent’s journey to becoming a biological parent. In this blog, you’ll read about one single woman’s journey to becoming a mother – using IVF. Most of our work is supporting couples wanting to have a baby. However, a significant percentage of our other patients are single and/or members of the LGBTQ+ community, and their journeys often require a different – and lesser spoken about – path.
This blog speaks to that, including the trials of single parenthood, which is no easy feat. As with some of the other blogs, the “infertile to fertile” journey starts back at the beginning, whereas the recent posts focus more on where the author is now.
5. Eggsperience
Then there are women who opted to preserve their future fertility by freezing eggs. The Eggsperience delves into that journey. Original author Valerie Landis decided to freeze her eggs at age 33. She did two more rounds of egg freezing at age 35 and again at 37.
Landis has made it a personal mission to share her fertility preservation experience and create a platform where other women can learn about egg-freezing options and share their stories.
6. Life Without Baby
As stated at the start of this post, we wanted to find a well-rounded group of blogs that honor the range of experiences our patients go through. For some, that means using donor eggs/sperm or a gestational carrier. For others, it means forgoing ART altogether and starting the adoption process. We also have patients who decide to live life without a baby or child of their own.
The blog Life Without Baby falls into that final category. Author Lisa Manterfield writes, “When I finally realized that my future wouldn’t include children, I rewrote my story, and this time I told the truth. When I published, I’m Taking My Eggs and Going Home: How One Woman Dared to Say No to Motherhood, in 2010, I had no idea that it would shape my life the way it has.”
Among other things, it led to her creating the Life Without Baby blog. Her mission is to provide resources, community, compassion, and support to women facing a life without children.
No Time to Read? How About Listening to Infertility Podcasts?
Is listening easier than reading? We get it. Whether you find time in a plane, train, or automobile – or prefer to don earbuds while doing housework, we have a handful of infertility podcasts for you to try out:
- The Fertility Podcast (A general “all things infertility/fertility treatment” place to go)
- The Queer Family Podcast (rooted in the best-selling book If These Ovaries Could Talk about creating an LGBTQ+ family)
- Infertile AF (The creator of this podcast dealt with the little discussed and hardly known about secondary infertility)
Fertility of Dallas Provides Full-Spectrum Fertility Treatment Support
The Fertility Center of Dallas team has decades of experience supporting patients and their families through the fertility treatment journey. We also know you deserve “non-clinical” support wherever you can find it. We hope these blogs and podcasts provide that for you. Contact us for more fertility treatment support resources.