Episode 198: Season 7 Spotlight: How the Right Support Created Families and Advocates

Hanna Peters: You start getting in your head and you’re like, well, maybe I should, maybe I should just relax and, you know, maybe I should put the calendar away, and maybe I should take Mucinex or whatever it is. Then when you try those things that your friends who easily get pregnant tell you to do, and it doesn’t work, it’s just another little chipping away at the disappointment when you get the negative pregnancy test.

Danielle Faith: Something inside of me that was like, you’re gonna have to go through like real treatment in order to get pregnant. And you know, me and my husband had been together for 10 plus years at this point, and it was like, I haven’t gotten pregnant yet. And so I went back to my OB, and I was like, what can you do for me? And her response was that I had to prove that I was trying for over a year before she would give me any type of medication or help me do any testing. And I didn’t want to take that for an answer.

Lakia Homes: You have to change, in some ways, how you approach dating. And so, my approach after hearing the IVF news was that I have to date with intention and just kind of let them know – it’s a conversation that needs to happen, because not everyone is kind of prepared for that.

Supportive doctors:

• Hana Peters: I have nothing but wonderful things to say about them. Every time I went it was fast, which at a doctor’s office is not always the case, right? It was clean, they were kind, they were empathetic, my doctor is fabulous, even my communication with ACRM. I can reach out to my doctor if I ever want to, like I’m not blocked or gatekept from my doctor, either, which I think is really important, especially when going through something as emotionally taxing and confusing as infertility.

• Danielle Faith: She just had this way of doing things, which is incredible out of a doctor, she’s talking about all these tests that we could do. If this fails, I don’t know if I even have it in me to do another round of IVF, and my deductible is gonna start over. So, like, this has to happen now. So, she agreed with it, and we went through with that transfer, December 19, 2020, and that transfer resulted in my now two-year-old daughter.

Supportive partners:

• Jennifer Osmond: I give 99.9% of credit to my wife. She did all my scheduling, she organized all my shots, she did all my orders. I basically turned up to appointments. I was told when my shots were, and because she wanted to play such a big part of that, and she had spent so much time studying it, I let her lead on that.

Supportive employers:

• Jennifer Osmond: I’m lucky that AT&T does support that – it’s definitely made me even more ride or die for the company, and the fact that they support you through it, and they even offer emotional support, physical support for you during this time too, it just, it just makes you see a company in a different light.

• Lakia Holmes: If I had the opportunity to sit in front of whoever it is at Warner Brothers Discovery who said this is what we’re offering our employees. I would just say thank you. Thank you so much, because I don’t know if I’d be able to do it without Progyny benefits.

Hana Peters: I’ve been very vocal about it, and with that, have had the opportunity to have one-on-ones with women at my company that are going through the exact same thing, and I get to share with them how cool it is to have Progyny, what it means for them to have it and even just shed some color on what the IVF process looks like, “Oh, you’re gonna give yourself hundreds of shots.” “You’re gonna feel like a doctor when you’re done.” So, I’m just very open about it, because people need to understand that they’re not alone.

Danielle Faith: Making a Miracle is an organization that gives resources, emotional support, and we’re working on the financial support now, but it’s just an organization, unlike any other in the area that actually brings this community together. Makes you feel like there’s somebody there.