[Disclaimer: I partnered with Growing Generations to write this post. As always, all options are 100% my own. Thanks for your support!]
Long-time readers know that fertility treatment education and infertility support are very important to me. My husband Jake and I started trying to grow our family in late 2010. Our fertility journey has included testing for both of us, surgery for Jake to correct bilateral varicocele, ten rounds of Clomid for me, and three IUIs with Letrozole, the last of which was in late 2015. After failing the final IUI, we decided to start pursuing adoption. I share my latest update about adoption and links to my other adoption posts here.
If you’re reading this post and facing infertility, I am so sorry. Infertility is not something anyone deserves to face. It’s often a long, expensive, lonely, and emotionally (and depending on the treatments, sometimes physically) draining journey with a lot of highs and lows and absolutely no guarantees.
Most fertility treatments are very expensive and not covered by insurance. Unfortunately, it’s not always as easy as it should be to stay informed about the varying treatments and learn exactly how much you’ll be paying before you receive a huge bill. Many couples commit to fertility treatments without understanding exactly what they’re agreeing to, including timeframe, medications, and expense.
Growing Generations is a Los Angeles-based organization committed to supporting couples and helping them grow their families through egg donation, gestational surrogacy, and parental education. They strive to offer ethical, safe, successful, and cost-effective assisted reproductive services to their patients, regardless of sexual orientation, marital status, or HIV status.
Among other resources, Growing Generations provides an interactive infographic to give couples a basic overview about their range of fertility treatment options. The infographic covers artificial insemination, fertility drugs, egg donation, surrogacy, surgery, and intrafallopian transfers.
It’s one of the most concise, informative graphics I’ve ever seen on this topic. Each category has a brief definition, timeline, success rate, cost, and what you should know before embarking on the treatment. All of their figures are accurate (which, I know, should be a given, but it definitely isn’t), and the infographic isn’t weighed down with technical jargon. While couples will want to do additional research before committing to a treatment, the infographic offers a great overview for narrowing down treatment options.
When considering fertility treatments, above all else, I urge you to stay informed and do what’s best for you and your significant other. Take the initiative to learn about all of your options. If you have questions, make sure to get them answered. Don’t suffer alone. Putting your story out there is tough but often critical for finding support.
In addition to their interactive infographic, Growing Generations recommends the following resources to educate yourself about fertility treatments.
Five things to know before starting fertility treatment | Lifehack
Creating your own family. Fertility treatment and other options to assist pregnancy for couples. | Medium
I also recommend checking out Lisa’s Amateur Nester blog. I’ve read quite a few infertility blogs over the past few years and consistently come back to Lisa’s blog. She shares lots of people’s infertility stories and numerous infertility resources. I love her honest, easygoing, candid approach. I’ve also been following Courtney of A + Life since she faced secondary infertility a few years back. While Courtney doesn’t post about infertility much these days, she has a wealth of fantastic infertility posts. [Please note Courtney is currently pregnant with her third child. If you don’t feel up to reading about pregnancy right now, I encourage you to stick to the infertility category.]
To learn more about Growing Generations, visit their website and follow them on Facebook and Twitter. Growing Generations offers fertility treatments in Los Angeles as well as New York and West Virginia. If you’d like to make an appointment with one of their specialists, call (323) 965-7500. You can also request more information via their contact us page.
What a great resource for those going through infertility. I didn’t have this when I went through it. Helpful post.
This is such a great resource! I am lucky enough to have one son whom we conceived after 2 years of trying and one round of clomid. The first time, the NP just assumed I didn’t naturally get my period due to years of birth control. This time around we’ve been trying basically since my son was born (1.5 years ago) and still no luck. We just found out I am not able to conceive naturally and just like you said, the road to find this out and now to get pregnant is long, draining, and expensive! Thanks for sharing this great post!
I, too, struggled with infertility and I think it is so important to know all of your options. My fertility doctor told me that there was less than 1% chance of getting pregnant, but we still tried for over a decade. I love that this information is providing couples with all the facts. Then, you can make the best decision possible. There are many, many roads to parenthood and it is so important to know all of your options.
This is a really helpful resource. I have a few friends who have struggled with infertility and I know they were seeking out resources. I wish I knew about this organization to direct them to. I’m sure there are many who would benefit from Growing Generations and their work.
You made a good site it’s very interesting one and giving us such a good information on this topic. Thanks for sharing the best posts they amazing.
Nice detailing about fertility treatment.