My story
My work lives where emotional support, practical navigation, and lived IVF experience meet.
I live in Colorado with my husband Roberto, two floofy cats, and a dog. I’ve been consistently doing IVF since 2024.
When we first married in 2018, we were so confident that we didn’t want children, on our way skipping down the path to a forever child-free life. Fast forward to May 2024, to a personal retreat in the mountains alone when, truly, all of a sudden, the openness to welcoming a child into our lives came over me. It was strong and undeniable at that moment. I got home from the retreat on Mother’s Day and nervously shared this with Roberto. A new era began from that moment when he also confessed that his 180-degree turn had begun, and he too was growing excited about what’s behind the door we had closed years ago.
Since we had made some very permanent decisions back when we were sure we didn’t want children, our path to trying looked different from the start. IVF became our doorway in.
Our first adventure took us abroad, due to U.S. costs, which I highly recommend.
The care in Mexico was extraordinary. Personalized, skilled, high touch care is irreplaceable. Eventually though, I did need to return home and deal with a new endometriosis diagnosis through surgery, as well as maintain employment and be with my family and continue IVF in Colorado.
I made a lot of observations throughout this IVF path: How lost I felt trying to navigate my clinic portal, figure out how to mix injectable medications, speak the language that my insurance needed to hear to get the right coverage, coordinate local monitoring for travel IVF and understand my options for IVF protocols. I cried in my car, lost sleep, and felt like I was going in circles sometimes. I saw an unhinged side of myself more often than I’d like to admit, struggling to find my voice to even ask the right questions and get time with a doctor in the U.S. I learned that I would have to build my own team of fertility experts, women I am eternally grateful for. Thanks to them I found my way to the root cause of my infertility and learned ways to regulate, manage symptoms from medications and improve recovery post-procedure. I could not have done any of this alone.
Over time, I decided I wanted to be part of that team for other women. So began my journey towards becoming a certified fertility doula.
IVF loneliness is real.
This is something I can see and feel, even with a supportive partner. We need understanding, relatability, and no one attempting to fix the emotional lows on the roller coaster. Every person who broke the clinic waiting room silence to say hello, every private message on TikTok, and every person I met who knew someone struggling with IVF proved to me that the need is everywhere.
Looking back, I started speaking to the camera as catharsis, in part to solve the loneliness. I posted videos to YouTube, not sharing any of it with friends or family, but hoping to be heard and recognized by other people on the IVF path purely by algorithm.
After a year I realized I needed to move beyond myself and my own story. As my network grew, I wanted to share what I was learning. This is why I interview guests — so we can not only learn from one another, but experience a Q&A with acupuncturists, coaches, reproductive endocrinologists, therapists, and more. IVF Companion was born.
Following my training as a fertility doula, I started a weekly supportive meetup group and shaped IVF Companion into something more structured: a place where the story-sharing, interviews, and community could also lead into practical one-on-one support.
