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.
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Levels of Openness in Donation

Jana M. Rupnow, LPC

Are you open to connect via:

Level 1
DSR registry
Unidentifiable email account
Zoom call (audio only), use alias account
Share baby photos, interests and hobbies

Level 2
Identifiable email account
Zoom call (face to face with identification
Share adult photos, and/or extended family, share ancestral information/family tree

Level 3
Includes above levels plus in-person visits
Conversations including child as age appropriate
Social media connection (if yes, which platform)
Ongoing connection

Questions to ask your donor during any level of contact

Are you willing to provide medical updates? If so, how often?

Yearly
Upon change of health status
When initiated by recipient parents

Does your extended family know about your donation?
Would you like a flexible arrangement or a more formal arrangement?
Would you like an attorney to outline roles and responsibilities?
Would you prefer a third-party facilitator be the go between for first contact?

Three Makes Baby Podcast

Inconceivedable, Part 2

Jana M. Rupnow, LPC

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-wiiyv-1025aa1

Bee of @inconceivedable tells the rest of her story. In 2020, Bee opened her 23and me account again to discovery 12 half-siblings. In this episode, Bee shares her raw emotions as she unravels a secret that re-defined her and her relationships. Follow @inconceivedable.

Follow @janarupnowlpc

Receive updates for parent education workshops.

Buy Three Makes Baby Audio Book on sale until May 6.

Hosted by Jana Rupnow, LPC, Music by Kevin McCloud

Three Makes Baby Podcast

Inconceivedable, Part 1

Jana M. Rupnow, LPC

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-wf7wz-1023d73

“Science is how I get pregnant.” “Bee” of @Inconceivedable, recounts how her experiences with infertility lead  her to  an unexpected discovery about her family. A curious call makes her wonder if her dad was a sperm donor.

 

Three Makes Baby is  hosted by Jana Rupnow,  music by Kevin McCloud

Follow Jana on social media @janarupnowlpc

 

 

Three Makes Baby Podcast

Announcing International Donation Conception Awareness Day- April 27

Jana M. Rupnow, LPC

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-9ymwp-1016269

April 27, 2021 is the first International Donor Conception Awareness Day. Twenty-five partners around the world collaborated to bring you this day and the intentions behind it. Go to donorconceptionawarenessday.com for more and participate on the day by posting on your social media accounts on April 27, 2021.  Listen to an interview with Jana Rupnow and Michelle of Donor Concierge to learn more about this new awareness day.

See the partners below

 

Jana Rupnow &

Three Makes Baby Podcast

Cassandra Adams

Fertility Circle

Camille Guaty

Happy Together Children’s Book

Donor Conception Canada

Egg Donation Australia

Life_DI_Dad

The LGBT Mummies Tribe

Tulip Fertility 

Donor Conception and Beyond

Donor Conception Network

Half of Me Podcast

Fertility Help Hub

Healing Infertility

Donor Concierge

Fertility Coach- Meta Getman

Inconceivedable 

Sacred and Free

Conceive Fertility Center

Defining Mum

Your IVF Abroad 

Roads to Family

You Look Like Me

 
Intentions of #IDCAD
  • The day is intended to shed a light on families made in different ways due  to medical infertility, chromosomal impairments, childhood or young  adult cancer, and various other reasons and lifting shame and secrecy  around the topic.
  • The day is about raising  awareness about donor conceived individual’s experiences across the  lifespan, including the topic of access to genetic information and lifting shame and secrecy around the topic.
  • The day is intended to raise awareness about LGBTQ family building
  • The day is about raising awareness about donor’s rights to receive accurate  medical information and education on the impact of donor conceived  triad across the lifespan. 

 

 

Three Makes Baby Podcast

Did Nikita Find Her Donor?

Jana M. Rupnow, LPC

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-camj6-fd7345

Nikita was my very first guest on the podcast. She came on to spread the word about her search to find her sperm donor in 30 days. Nikita was raised by a single mom who chose sperm donation to have her. The donation was out of the ordinary: a 50-year-old anonymous man donated sperm in the UK before 1997. 

Nikita shares what she has discovered in the last 16 months. Her search led to an unexpected surprise!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Listen to see if you can help her find the man that helped conceive her. If you have any information to share, email nikitatrue1997@gmail.com.

 

Music: Half Mystery by Kevin Macleod

Three Makes Baby Podcast

Dr. Diane Tober Conducts the First Long-term Research on Egg Donors

Jana M. Rupnow, LPC

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-qurb9-f77e0c

Dr. Tober is an assistant professor at the University of California San Francisco Institute for Health and Aging. She’s also faculty at Bixby Center for Reproductive Health in the Department of Anthropology, History and Social Medicine.

Dr. Tober is conducting the largest mixed method study on egg donors, with over 500 egg donors from all over the world. It began eight years ago with a call from an egg donor with a group called, We Are Egg Donors. Many of the members of her group had complications and they felt it was important wanted to collaborate to follow up with donors.

 
Three Makes Baby Podcast

Hannah’s Resilency After Learning She Was Donor Conceived in a Hurtful Way

Jana M. Rupnow, LPC

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-6kbg7-f54c55

Hannah’s resiliency after learning she was donor conceived in a hurtful way

Her parents waited too long to tell her the truth. Hannah’s parents intended to tell her about her donor conception but never found the right moment. Then it was too late. Someone else who knew the secret, revealed the secret to Hannah in a hurtful way. By this time, Hannah’s dad had developed Alzheimer’s and she could no longer talk to him about it.

Hannah speaks about how she used to be fundamentally opposed to donor conception but her viewpoint is shifting. She shows resiliency and depth in this new episode of Three Makes Baby podcast.

Three Makes Baby Podcast

Eric Shares His Experience Raising His Donor Conceived Children into Teen Years

Jana M. Rupnow, LPC

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-9i89i-f45140

Eric is a father to two teenagers who were donor conceived and started a blog 15 years ago called “Life as Dad to Donor Insemination (DI) Kids.”  His experience is invaluable to younger parents just starting their journey.

Eric has a child-centered focus and shares his experience with dc feelings, including anger and ambivalence. He saddresses the challenges that dc adults have faced with banks and consequences of dishonesty. Eric shares with host, Jana Rupnow, how parents can cope with feelings of guilt and how to have an ongoing conversation with your kids as they grow.