https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-37irr-e2a7e6
I am honored to share another episode with a thoughtful person, Alex. She shares how she discovered her parent’s secret of using a sperm donor and how it has impacted her for the last two years.
Author: Jana M. Rupnow, LPC
About the Author
Jana M. Rupnow, MA, LPC, is a licensed professional counselor and consultant specializing in fertility and family building. Jana has helped hundreds of people facing the challenges of infertility as well as those preparing for third-party family building and adoption.
Jana works independently in private practice in Dallas, Texas. She has built relationships with fertility doctors across the country to help their patients with the psychological challenges of donation conception prior to medical intervention. She works with couples, parents, donors, agencies, and endocrinologists across the nation in her Dallas offices and via Skype or FaceTime. Jana also helps parents learn to communicate with their children about donor conception and serves as a liaison for communication between donor-conceived or adoptive families and genetic or birth parents.
She is a speaker and a member of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine’s Mental Health Group and a professional member of the National Infertility Association, Resolve. Jana has a clinical background in physiology and has published articles through Baylor University Medical Center.
Jana is also an adoptee and adoptive mom. She and her husband, Scott, live in Dallas with their son, Caden, and daughter, Jade, and two goldendoodles, Oliver and Chloe.
For consultation, counseling, training for professionals, or a speaking engagement, email Jana@JanaRupnow.com or learn more on JanaRupnow.com. Follow Jana Rupnow on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @janarupnowlpc.
Jen Wonders if Adoption is Right after a Traumatic Pregnancy
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-vvhjs-e24567
Jen wonders if adoption is right for her after a high risk, traumatic pregnancy with triplets.
🚨 Trigger alert: 🚨This episode explores miscarriage, trauma and grief and some extremely difficult decisions about pregnancy. Adoption trauma is also explored.
🚨Spoiler alert🚨:I followed up with Jen on Friday and they have decided not to pursue adoption. Jen would like to remain anonymous but I applaud her decision to not pursue a choice that she recognized she was not up for.
.
.
Becoming informed about adoption trauma and admitting it is NOT for you as a parent is 💯 OK.
.
It’s ok to change your mind.
It’s ok to say this type of parenting is not in your plan.
I’d prefer parents be informed and up for the complexities of adoption than buried their head in the sand about the child’s need.
Nikki Has Extra Challanges with Egg Donation as Person of Color
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-2as7h-e1b27c
Infertility affects people of all races but women of color have extra challenges in the US.
Nikki shares the added challenges she has experienced with infertility as a person of color. From the social silence to the limited selection of donors, third party reproduction is even more difficult as a woman of color in the US.
Tia & Her Husband Moved on from Trying to Be Parents & Are Living Boldy as a Family of Two
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-n8pi8-df4eac
Tia shares that, “After five incredibly taxing years, searching for the right combination of medication, lifestyle and luck, we are walking away from the path to become parents. It was always in our hearts to have a biological child, together, or not at all. We were never open to the idea of adoption or donor intervention, and while those alternatives are completely normal and logical next steps, we realized the bigger need is to create a live worth living together, as a family of two.”
Don’t miss this amazing new episode on life after fertility treatment and boldly living their plan B.
Dr. Julian Escobar Asks Me How His Patients Can Cope with Uncertainty
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-ntn2u-d6fd6f
Jana, & Dr. Escobar, (fertility therapist and fertility doctor) met on zoom to talk about how the coronavirus is changing fertility treatments.
I sat down with Dr-Julian Escobar to talk about the uncertainty of healthcare during this coronavirus outbreak and how patients can cope with delayed fertility treatments.
Amira Share Mindfulness Tips
Holiday Edition: 5 Ways to Deal with Questions from Family
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-efxwj-cbf3d1
Conversation at holiday family gatherings can trigger unexpected emotions, especially if you’ve been trying to conceive.
Aunt Alice asks you when you’re going to have a baby or your pregnant cousin, Amanda, joke-brags about how she gets pregnant by just looking at her husband.
Anyone who doesn’t go down a so-called “normal” path to parenthood has encountered many types of questions: the curious, the intrusive, the rude, and the uninformed.
Why can’t you have a child? Why did you decide to do that? Why don’t you just _____(relax/be happy/ adopt/ try acupuncture)?
How do you handle these questions? The first strategy I offer my clients is to consider the person’s intention. Was it an innocent question or not-so-innocent? Is the questioner being caring, curious, clueless or careless?
The exercise is also detailed in my book Three Makes Baby.
Ally, Host of Half of Me Podcast; Reflections & Growth Over the Past Year
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-eqzyf-cbb53a
Ally discovered she was donor conceived in January 2019. Since then, she has discovered over a dozen half-siblings and is still coming to terms with her new reality. Ally discusses the complexities of discovering and managing relationships with multiple half-siblings and “the process” of growth she has gone through. She shares things she would do differently now that almost a year has past since her discovery. Ironically, Ally also discovered this year that she and her husband would need treatment to have a baby, as her parents did 30 years ago. Ally, compassionately reflects on what her parents must have gone through, especially now that she is facing infertility herself.
Fran Regrets Keeping Her Daughter’s Donor Conception a Secret
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-bq5fg-cad4fe
Thirty years ago, Fran’s fertility doctor told to keep her donor conception a secret. She headed that advice against her intuition but when her daughter found out the truth as an adult, she regretted not being honest with her from the start. Grief and anger came up all over again. Fran describes the late discovery as disorienting to the entire family. She had to remember the good times by playing old cassette tapes again. Ultimately, Fran realized that her daughter needed her understanding. “It wasn’t about me, it was about her. I was still her mother, I was still the adult in this relationship.” Fran says that, “People like me that have older children, have to join forces to make things for the better.”
Angela Use Art to Help Heal Self and Others after Miscarriage
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-ap9qj-c78538
What happens when 100 people collaborate to express their experiences around miscarriage? Listen to this epi to find out.
Infertility grief isn’t widely recognized or understood by the public. Learn about the grieving process and why miscarriage after infertility is a more complicated type of grief.
