We’re so excited to bring you this really intimate and emotional episode. Kayti is finally sharing her birth story after a long journey to pregnancy via IVF. This is part one of a two-part episode and includes discussions of a traumatic birth experience. 🩷

Episode Sponsor

This episode is sponsored by Tempdrop, a wearable fertility tracker that collects overnight temperature data to help identify ovulation and cycle patterns, even with irregular cycles.

Use code AFFRIEDEGGS for 10% off your own wearable BBT device and a two-month premium app trial at http://www.tempdrop.com/discount/AFFRIEDEGGSPOD

Connect With Us

If this episode resonated with you, leave a rating on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube. It helps more people navigating infertility find the support and community they deserve. 💛

The FriedEggs Podcast is hosted and produced by Kayti Christian and Amy Salke.

Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and entertainment purposes only and is not medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for personalized care.

🎥 Photography by 20Twenty Productions.

🎶 Show music by the magical Clayre.

This week, we’re joined by Lauren Makler, co-founder and CEO of Cofertility, to talk about the future of egg freezing, egg donation, and fertility access. Lauren shares the personal health journey that inspired her to build Cofertility and explains how the company is making fertility preservation more accessible through its innovative egg-sharing model (and also why she believes egg donation is fertility’s last taboo).

We dive into the emotional realities of donor conception, the stigma surrounding donor eggs, and what it means to navigate grief and hope at the same time while building a family.

Whether you’re considering egg freezing, exploring donor-egg IVF, or simply curious about modern family-building, we’re so excited to share this conversation about the many ways families are created today.

About Cofertility

Cofertility is a human-centered fertility platform helping women freeze their eggs while helping other families build theirs.

Through their innovative Split Program, eligible women can freeze their eggs at no cost by donating half of the retrieved eggs to intended parents. CoFertility also takes a modern approach to donor conception by prioritizing transparency, education, optional known donation, and limiting the number of families a donor can donate to.

About Lauren Makler

Lauren Makler is the co-founder and CEO of Cofertility. After being diagnosed with an extremely rare abdominal disease and facing uncertainty about her own fertility, Lauren experienced firsthand the gaps in fertility preservation and donor egg options. She later became a mother and launched Cofertility to create a more transparent, ethical, and accessible path to egg freezing and egg donation.

Lauren has been recognized on the Inc. Female Founders 500 and Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business lists and has become a leading voice in conversations around fertility access, donor conception, and reproductive healthcare.

Follow Lauren

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurenmakler/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenmakler/

More valuable nuggets in this episode

Fertility Tracking & Cycle Health with Tempdrop
Wearable fertility tracker that collects overnight temperature data to help identify ovulation and cycle patterns, even with irregular cycles.

Use code AFFRIEDEGGS for 10% off and a two-month premium app trial at http://www.tempdrop.com/discount/AFFRIEDEGGSPOD

Fertility Financing with Sunfish
Helping make fertility treatment, IVF, egg donation, surrogacy, and family building more financially accessible. joinsunfish.com

Fertility Mental Health with Mavida Health
Mental health support designed specifically for fertility patients. Our episode with Dr. Sarah Oreck on fertility & mental health. Check out mavidahealth.com to learn more.

Needle-Free IVF as a less invasive approach to IVF
A newer IVF approach discussed in previous FriedEggs episodes that may reduce the number of injections required during treatment. Talk with your fertility specialist about whether newer protocols may be appropriate for your situation. Learn more at needlefreeivf.com.

Related Fried Eggs Episodes

• Ep 32: Surrogacy 101 and how to find a surrogate with Carly Joseph

• Ep 49: How to care for your mental health while going through IVF with Dr. Sarah Oreck, founder of Mavida Health

Connect With Us

Have questions about donor eggs, egg freezing, infertility, or family building? Check out Cofertility on Instagram at @cofertility.

If this episode resonated with you, leave a rating on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube. It helps more people navigating infertility find the support and community they deserve. 💛

The FriedEggs Podcast is hosted and produced by Kayti Christian and Amy Salke.

Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and entertainment purposes only and is not medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for personalized care.

🎥 Photography by 20Twenty Productions.

🎶 Show music by the magical Clayre.

After we first started trying, I became obsessed with tracking my cycles and timing intercourse. When doctors gave us canned answers about “normal tests” and told us to just keep trying, I did what I do best (big firstborn energy) and dove headfirst into research. I didn’t have the vocabulary for reproductive endocrinologists yet, and our HMO required referrals for everything, so instead I spent my time arguing with nurses and OBs, begging them to run further tests to figure out why we couldn’t get pregnant.

Mostly when I look back, I feel tired. Absent. The days blur into one long stretch of time.

The same way I’ve blocked out much of my infertility experience, I’ve found myself blocking out the “before” of becoming a mother, starting with my daughter’s birth. There’s a split in my life. Not just because my identity shifted, but because the pain was too much to carry into the next chapter. So my brain decided to leave it all behind in the postpartum ward.

We’re recording the birth episode this week, and I’ve been trying to dig up memories that aren’t just doctors’ notes. The moment I was wheeled into the OR, staring up at the lights, feeling like I might not open my eyes again. Red toilet water after the nurse helped me to the bathroom. The first bite of the Chipotle burrito I’d been craving while everyone passed our baby around, wrapped like a tiny burrito herself. The way I cried for days because my uterus contracted so hard every time I tried to breastfeed and made my insides feel like jello.

Birth was my breaking point. After years of being poked and exposed and bruised, my body finally said enough. My cervix tore, I hemorrhaged, and I became completely helpless. Like so many times before, I was at the mercy of my medical team to stitch me back together. And even then, my body kept protesting through recovery. Those first weeks home came with COVID, UTIs, and loose stitches. There was no real rest. Not until late summer, though I can’t really pinpoint when I started to feel like myself again.

I’m summarizing here, getting words on the page as I begin to process ahead of our recording this weekend. I can feel myself needing to take a beat and finally breathe.

A few weeks ago, Amy and I went to a breathwork class on a Saturday, and we both sobbed through the whole thing, for different reasons and the same ones. There is so much stored in all of our bodies, no matter where we’re at on this journey.

My hope is that by talking about it, I can let some of it out, make sense of it and maybe find some closure. Or maybe, like breath itself, I can finally exhale so I can inhale again.

Leave a comment

🎧 new on the pod:

This week’s episode covers a lot of ground, including a conversation about when to tell your family and friends about your IVF transfer.

As a reminder, we now have extended versions of the podcast for paid subscribers if you want more BTS banter (this week’s was about Justin Bieber at Coachella, buying a house in southern CA, and kitchen dance parties/cold plunges to reset our mood)

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube!

💜 a special discount for listeners

This summer, we’re partnering with Tempdrop, a basal body temperature sensor with an accompanying fertility app to help you identify your fertile window. If you’ve ever used an oral thermometer to track your BBT, this is a game-changer for getting more accurate data without setting your alarm in the morning. Use code AFFRIEDEGGS for 10% off your order.

community note

We’re so excited to share this opportunity for women navigating infertility: a therapy-based retreat called Therapeia, taking place this October in Orlando, Florida, designed to offer structured emotional and clinical support during the fertility journey. The retreat was inspired by the founder’s own IVF journey and what she wished had existed during her care, and it includes daily 1:1 sessions with licensed therapists, a physician-created healing program focused on the emotional weight of treatment, and ongoing virtual support and community after participants return home. Learn more here.

weekend mood

If you love the pod, help us grow by hitting follow and leaving a review on Spotify and Apple. And then join us on Instagram, where we post daily memes and reels that help us get through infertility. 🩷

Today’s episode is brought to you by Tempdrop, a basal body temperature sensor with an accompanying fertility app to help you identify your fertile window. Use code AFFRIEDEGGS for 10% off your order.

This is a free, shorter version of the episode for all subscribers. Paying subscribers (aka members of The Broody Club) can also listen to an extended, ad-free version of this episode (learn more here). This podcast exists because of our listeners, and paid subscriptions let us spend more time on episodes, bring in expert guests, and create content that makes a difference for the infertility community.

Share your story with us for our next listener voice notes episode! Send a 5-minute voice note to collabs@friedeggspod.com or submit here.

Subscribe now

The FriedEggs Podcast is hosted and produced by Kayti Christian and Amy Salke.

Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and entertainment purposes only and is not medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for personalized care.

Enjoy the episode here on Substack at www.friedeggspod.com. Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

🎥 Photography by 20Twenty Productions: https://20twentypro.com/

🎶 Show music by the magical Clayre:

This is an extended, ad-free version of today’s episode for paying subscribers (aka members of The Broody Club). This podcast exists because of our listeners, and paid subscriptions let us spend more time on episodes, bring in expert guests, and create content that makes a difference for the infertility community. Learn more here.

Subscribe now

Read more

This retrieval round was a sort of “last call” on these ovaries, one more try before my AMH fully bottoms out and it becomes even more impossible to squeeze out any more healthy eggs from my dwindling follicles. If you’ve been here awhile, you know my road to parenthood has been long and rocky, with pregnancy loss, over a dozen procedures, a uterus that won’t play nice, and now a gracious turn to gestational surrogacy. To give ourselves the best shot at the family we dream of, I know we need options, and I’m so grateful to have been able to make these embryos while I still can before my fertility fades further. I hope they are enough to get us to baby one day.

Like past retrievals, this one became my whole personality for those few weeks. It was full of ups and downs, moments of confidence followed cliff-edge drop-offs of anxiety and fear. No matter the AFC (antral follicle count) you’re starting from, the attrition drop-off through the cycle — eggs retrieved > eggs mature > fertilized > day 5-7 blast > PGT-A (or other) results — is real. Not even 4 previous rounds can prevent the ensuing anxiety spiral. So yes, I am relieved to be on the other side of injections, surgery, the accompanying bloat. But above all else, I’m relieved to be on the other side of test results.

For those of us still in the never-ending dread of waiting, we see you and we’re holding out hope for you. With all the love, no matter the results, you will be okay. You can get through this. 💛

🎧 new on the pod:

I share all the details from this retrieval and the results in this week’s episode. Kayti also reflects on her past retrieval experiences and puts me in the hot seat with a bunch of listener questions.

One topic that came up again and again was the post-retrieval debrief, or what our IVF community affectionately calls the “what the f* appointment.” Asking your doctor tough questions can feel intimidating, but someone’s gotta do it. And the best person to advocate for you and your care is…you.

After years of navigating infertility and meeting with more doctors than I can count, I’m no longer shy about asking for clarity. The more you understand about your treatment, the better equipped you are to make informed decisions about what comes next.

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube!

💜 small “j” joys:

• (ok this is a BIG “J” joy) Kayti bought a house!!!!!!!! (pending escrow and if she can survive the stress). It has the cutest garden and office for podcasting.

• It’s watermelon season! 🍉

• We got together for a friends dinner and road bikes through the neighborhood like a kid gang, so nostalgic!

• The high school next to Nima’s grandmother’s house has an agricultural program and recently welcomed baby goats! They are the cutest!

👯‍♀️ weekend mood:

If you love the pod, help us grow by hitting follow and leaving a review on Spotify and Apple. And then join us on Instagram, where we post daily memes and reels that help us get through infertility. 🩷

This is an extended, ad-free version of today’s episode for paying subscribers (aka members of The Broody Club). This podcast exists because of our listeners, and paid subscriptions let us spend more time on episodes, bring in expert guests, and create content that makes a difference for the infertility community. Learn more here.

Subscribe now

Read more

In today’s episode, Amy shares her PGT-A results from her 5th egg retrieval! She also answers listener questions and shares notes from her conversation with her doctor after her egg retrieval.

Today’s episode is brought to you by Tempdrop, a basal body temperature sensor with an accompanying fertility app to help you identify your fertile window. Use code AFFRIEDEGGS for 10% off your order.

This is a free, shorter version of the episode for all subscribers. Paying subscribers (aka members of The Broody Club) can also listen to an extended, ad-free version of this episode (learn more here). This podcast exists because of our listeners, and paid subscriptions let us spend more time on episodes, bring in expert guests, and create content that makes a difference for the infertility community.

Leave a comment

The FriedEggs Podcast is hosted and produced by Kayti Christian and Amy Salke.

Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and entertainment purposes only and is not medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for personalized care.

Enjoy the episode here on Substack at www.friedeggspod.com. Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

🎥 Photography by 20Twenty Productions: https://20twentypro.com/

🎶 Show music by the magical Clayre:

It’s been two years and eight months since our first egg retrieval failed, one year and eight months since our frozen embryo transfer worked. It’s been eleven months since I gave birth to our daughter.

Time means nothing and everything when you’re going through infertility. It doesn’t slow yet the days feel impossibly long. More than anything, time can erase you. I don’t recognize who I am anymore—not since postpartum and motherhood but neither since infertility and IVF.

In the early days of infertility, I listened to music all of the time which I rarely do anymore because it feels too stimulating or too familiar of a life and person I once knew. I used to drive to Northern California from Los Angeles every two months to see my family, escaping because I could, because my husband was in a fire academy and always gone, because I worked remotely and had no one but our dog to care for.

During these trips, I’d pack the car, stop for a coffee, and drive the long stretch of I-5 while listening to playlists. I’d cry and bargain with God. I’d look for signs, like the one time a rainbow split the sky after a summer storm and I hoped that meant everything would turn out okay.

I haven’t been able to fully articulate this on the podcast yet, but I’ve been sharing with Amy how I haven’t processed or grieved IVF and infertility since becoming a mother. As soon as the transfer worked, I held my breath for ten months and blacked out most of my pregnancy because every day it felt like our daughter could slip through my fingers and be gone. When she was born, the birth left me on an emergency operating table and then in a postpartum ward, learning how to breastfeed while holding an iced coffee. It was whiplash. I didn’t even care about what had happened, about where I’d been, because she was in my arms and so why dwell on the fact that my insides had bled out on the floor?

I’d process that all later, I rationalized. But then she was here and the hormones dipped and I went back to work and all of a sudden I was a mother and there was immense joy and also I skipped the whole part where I took a beat and processed what it took to get there. Later, later, later, I kept telling myself. And now she is turning one, and it’s been five years and twenty-nine days.

When I drive in my car, I listen to silence. My emotions are on autopilot after feeling so much for too long. It’s easier to coast and pretend like the happy ending erased the pain. I tell myself I am doing this for my daughter because she needs me to be strong but I know that I’m lying to myself. I don’t recognize myself anymore, though I desperately want to. I’m just scared to reopen that box.

I don’t have an answer for where to go from here, but I guess it starts with listening to music again. At least, that’s what I told myself last night when I put on a playlist for my daughter. I picked the first one on my Spotify feed, and it happened to be a mix of old songs I used to listen to before she was born and during the depths of infertility. The memories rushed in. My body felt heavy and grounded in a way it hasn’t for so long, the fight-or-flight response fading away. I welcomed the tears. The complicated emotions. The relief and joy and rage and brokenness, all in one.

Leave a comment

❤️‍🩹 A few songs that have helped me process my feelings while going through different seasons of infertility, IVF, and postpartum

• Collapse by Chance Peña

• Overflow by Marianne Beaulieu

• Doppelgänger by Lissom

• Faith’s Hymn by Beautiful Chorus

• breathe again by Joy Oladokun

• Seasons by Benjamin William Hastings

• Joy In The Morning by Tauren Wells

• End Of Youth by Ed Sheeran

• Worthy by India Arie

• Someone To Stay by Vancouver Sleep Clinic

🎧 This week’s episode: Amy recaps her 5th egg retrieval (pt 1)

In this week’s episode, Amy shares the results of her 5th IVF egg retrieval. She reflects on her new STIMs protocol, insurance battles to get medications covered, and how this round compared to previous cycles. This is part one of a two-part episode as she waits for PGT-A results.

You can also listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

If you love the pod, help us grow by hitting follow and leaving a review on Spotify and Apple. And then join us on Instagram, where we post daily memes and reels that help us get through infertility. 🩷

In today’s episode, Amy shares the results of her 5th IVF egg retrieval. She reflects on her new STIMs protocol, insurance battles to get medications covered, and how this round compared to previous cycles.

This is part one of a two-part episode as she waits for PGT-A results. She’ll be answering listener questions about this retrieval in the next episode, so drop any qs you have in the comments!

Leave a comment

The FriedEggs Podcast is hosted and produced by Kayti Christian and Amy Salke.

Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and entertainment purposes only and is not medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for personalized care.

Enjoy the episode here on Substack at www.friedeggspod.com. Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

🎥 Photography by 20Twenty Productions: https://20twentypro.com/

🎶 Show music by the magical Clayre:

No one knows a waiting game like someone going through fertility treatments. The waiting to get started. The waiting for lab results. The waiting rooms. The waiting for a transvaginal ultrasound while sitting on a cold clinic bed, no pants on with only a paper sheet to cover you. The waiting for retrieval day. The waiting to hear how many eggs were retrieved, how many are mature. The fertilization report, the blast report, the genetic testing results. So much waiting to hopefully, one day, get to the waiting for beta-HCG results. Don’t even get me started on the waiting that happens after that.

As I write this, I’m in the thick of waiting for genetic testing results from my fifth IVF cycle, in our fifth year of trying to make our dream of a family a reality. I thought I’d be more prepared for the anxiety that comes with waiting to hear if the two blasts we made this round are viable. But even in my fifth round, I’m still as anxious as ever, maybe even more so.

As I shared that I was undergoing another egg retrieval with family and friends, and the internet, I received the sweetest notes of encouragement, gracious reminders that I’m strong and resilient, and many cheerful “Congratulations!” And I’m so grateful for all of them. But as I’ve worked through the weeks in waiting since, I realize that unless I’m sharing each step of this arduous process loudly, most no one knows that retrieval day isn’t a destination. It’s really only the beginning.

IVF can feel like living inside suspended time. You move from one milestone to the next, but the waiting never actually resolves; it just shape-shifts. A fertilization report doesn’t guarantee blasts. Blasts don’t guarantee PGT-A results. PGT-A results don’t guarantee a transfer. And we all know transfers don’t guarantee a healthy baby. Every step forward feels like momentum but still carries the risk of starting over.

Don’t get me wrong. Retrieval day is a day to be proud of! The countless injections (at least 48 this round), the hormone rollercoaster, to be honest, the bloating and discomfort alone takes real physical and mental endurance. We should be proud.

But if you’re anything like me, you’re hedging. You’re afraid to celebrate this milestone because you know in just a week or so’s time you may have nothing to show for it. That you might very well have to start all over again, from square one but this time even less hopeful. It feels a bit like being afraid of jinxing it, but worse because you know the stats for your age, you know the brutality of the IVF attrition rate at every stage (i.e. this round: 8 eggs retrieved > 4 mature > 4 fertilized > 2 blasts > TBD PGT-A).

While I love the positivity on retrieval day, I find myself craving more realistic caution that makes me feel a little less insane for still holding my breath. For not yet feeling relieved. For waiting to celebrate.

So in case you’re in it too, I see you — It is just the beginning, and there’s still a long road to come. But you did a huge thing, we did a huge thing, and we should be proud of ourselves for getting to this point.

I don’t know what the next few weeks will bring, but I know I will get through it. And so will you.

Leave a comment

❤️‍🩹 A few things that helped make the last three weeks a bit more bearable

• A girls trip before the meds started. Truly nothing better to make you believe you can take on the world, and the IVF shots, like time with your best friends.

  

• Walks, and I mean lots of walks. Every day, multiple times a day. Don’t have the energy? Walk. Bloated? Walk. Sad? Walk. 10 minutes or an hour, doesn’t matter. Walk.

• Outside time. Pruning the garden, picking flowers, making arrangements. I found myself bringing so much beauty into my house during these past few weeks.

  

  

• Obvious self-care: Red-light therapy, face masks, early bedtimes, raspberry leaf herbal tea, feel-good shows (ahem: Ted Lasso), naps on naps on naps.

• Less obvious self-care: Asking for help — like asking my husband to micromanage our nutrition because when I’m stressed, I can forget to eat. Saying, “sorry I can’t make it”, because I am actually too tired and shouldn’t go, but I am also really sorry about it. Sharing the gory details with my close-nit people so they could show up for me when I really needed it.

• And treats, duh. After appointments, blood work, meds pick-up, frustrating phone calls with insurance, good news, bad news… Any way to Pavlov myself into “keeping on keeping on.”

🎧 Last week’s episode: A better way to pay for IVF with Sunfish founder & CEO

Listen to last week’s episode with Sunfish founder and CEO, Angela Rastegar. Sunfish is a fertility fintech company focused on making family building more financially accessible and a lot less overwhelming.

You can also listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

If you love the pod, help us grow by hitting follow and leaving a review on Spotify and Apple. And then join us on Instagram, where we post daily memes and reels that help us get through infertility. 🩷

We talk about the surprising and hidden costs of IVF, and how the financial side of fertility care can feel just as overwhelming as the treatments themselves. Angela shares how Sunfish is helping patients navigate their options more clearly, including those using donor eggs or sperm, surrogacy, reciprocal IVF, and increasingly, people looking to freeze their eggs.

We also get into what shifts when you don’t have to carry all of that financial stress alone, and how better tools and guidance can make the entire experience feel more manageable.

We know you’ll appreciate this conversation with Angela as much as we did. If you’re comfortable sharing, we’d love to hear how the financial side of IVF or fertility care has impacted your own journey — drop your thoughts in the comments below. x

About Angela Rastegar:

Angela Rastegar is the Co-Founder and CEO of Sunfish, a fertility fintech company focused on making family building financially accessible and predictable. Angela brings a rare combination of venture capital fluency, healthcare operating experience, and deeply personal “lived experience” to the fertility space. She previously founded and exited two companies and served as a venture capital investor at Village Capital, focusing on early stage health tech and fintech businesses.

Angela holds a BA in Human Biology and an MBA from Stanford University. Her commitment is deeply personal: she has navigated her own fertility journey, which solidified her belief that everyone deserves a “Family Planning Advisor”. She is now a leading voice on how data autonomy and financial innovation can democratize reproductive rights. She resides in Los Angeles with her family, continuing her own journey while helping thousands of others start theirs.

*

About Sunfish:

Sunfish is a trusted guide for anyone navigating IVF, surrogacy, egg/sperm donation, or fertility preservation. They help self-pay IVF patients with transparent pricing, bundled discounts, and a partial money-back guarantee.

Sunfish provides personalized financial plans using proprietary software to estimate costs for each Program. If actual costs exceed projections, eligible patients may receive a partial refund under program terms. Sunfish is not a medical provider. Terms and conditions apply.

*

Resources:

💰 Sunfish financial planning calculator: https://www.joinsunfish.com/ivf-financial-planning

💰 Database of grants and discounts for fertility care: https://www.joinsunfish.com/grants

🥚 **Newly launched egg freezing packages: https://www.joinsunfish.com/success-program/egg-freezing

Instagram (@joinsunfish)
https://www.instagram.com/joinsunfish/

The FriedEggs Podcast is hosted and produced by Kayti Christian and Amy Salke.

Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and entertainment purposes only and is not medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for personalized care.

Enjoy the episode here on Substack at www.friedeggspod.com. Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

🎥 Photography by 20Twenty Productions: https://20twentypro.com/

🎶 Show music by the magical Clayre:

On our end, Amy is waiting on results from her most recent egg retrieval and continuing forward with surrogacy (stay tuned for a big episode on these updates very soon). I’ve just returned from a much-needed vacation with my family and our first trip with our IVF daughter. As summer approaches, we’re also thinking about the future of our family and if we should do more retrievals this year before I turn 36 (we have one remaining embryo).

If this month feels like a lot, you’re not imagining it. Hang tight and keep going in whatever way makes sense for you right now. Resilience doesn’t always look like pushing through. Sometimes it looks like opting out or doing the bare minimum to get through the day.

And if you need it, here is your permission to uninvite yourself from every Mother’s Day plan on your calendar and spend the day in bed with takeout and a show. I was so proud of a friend who recently told me she did this. She and her husband were invited to a big potluck with a bunch of family, and, after having two miscarriages and struggling to conceive, she decided to set a boundary for herself and opt out of going to the potluck. Do this if you need to.

Sending love xx

Kayti & Amy

🎧 new on the pod:

We’re excited to share our latest episode with one of the most prominent voices in fertility care right now. Dr. Lucky Sekhon is a double-board-certified OB-GYN and reproductive endocrinologist, fertility expert, educator, and author of The Lucky Egg. She is also the cohost of the Call Your Doctor podcast and is doing incredible work to combat online misinformation about fertility care and women’s health.

We talked about her new book, how she manages to do it all, and even had a brief discussion about New York vs. LA fashion (a reminder to swap our sweatpants for a pantsuit every now and then).

💜 small “j” joys:

• Egg freezing parties? We’re all ears.

• This weighted sleep mask is on sale for less than $20.

• A recipe we’re going to try out this weekend b/c we forgot to eat the bananas and now they’re brown.

• A beautiful illustration about the healing process.

• My husband gifted me this candle recently and it’s soooo good (and on sale) - Kayti

• This book for tracking our cycles (the writers will be coming on the pod this summer!)

new week, new mood:

We’re so thrilled to welcome Dr. Lucky Sekhon — double-board certified OBGYN and reproductive endocrinologist, fertility expert, educator, and author of The Lucky Egg — on the podcast this week for a conversation that feels like a reset button on everything you’ve heard about fertility.

Because let’s be honest: the internet is loud. And not all of it is helping.

🥚 What this episode will help you do:

• Spot misinformation fast: why anecdotes aren’t evidence and how to tell what’s actually legit

• Focus on what matters: what AMH, IVF, and egg freezing really mean (no fluff, no fear)

• Navigate your care better: what your doctor should be explaining and how to advocate for yourself

• Stay grounded in the process: how to make smart next moves without chasing every “solution”

The takeaway? Fertility isn’t just about biology — it’s about information. And most people are navigating this without the full picture.

Resources:

📘 The Lucky Egg: your fertility roadmap https://static.macmillan.com/static/smp/lucky-egg-9781250408716/

🌐 theluckyegg.com: expert guides + calculators
https://theluckyegg.com/

Instagram (@lucky.sekhon)
https://www.instagram.com/lucky.sekhon

🎧 Call Your Doctor: podcast on women’s health, hormones & fertility, no fluff

The FriedEggs Podcast is hosted and produced by Kayti Christian and Amy Salke.

Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and entertainment purposes only and is not medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for personalized care.

Enjoy the episode here on Substack at friedeggspod.com. Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

🎶 Show music by the magical Clayre:

🎥 Photography by 20Twenty Productions https://20twentypro.com/

Listen on Spotify

Listen on Apple Podcasts

After a 2 month-ish “break” (read: planning, recording, and recording some more), we’re finally back at the mic for a long overdue catch-up!

In episode 50 of the pod, we’re sharing about all the things that have been happening for us this spring, e.g., Amy’s egg retrieval and ongoing insurance saga, Kayti’s plans for an IVF cycle later this summer, and Amy’s progress toward finding a gestational carrier match.

Since this episode is dropping during National Infertility Awareness Week (NIAW), we also want to share a few organizations we love that are doing incredible work in this space. This community is the reason we’re here — your stories, your honesty, your resilience, your willingness to keep showing up for yourselves and for each other.

If you’re listening, you’re likely living this, or loving someone who is. And we want to say this clearly: the more stories we share, the louder we become. The louder we become, the more we normalize these conversations. And the more we normalize them, the closer we get to better access, better care, and better systems for all of us. We all deserve comprehensive, proactive, and compassionate fertility and women’s healthcare. Be sure to check out these organizations—and give them a follow for more education and to show your support.

• RESOLVE: The National Infertility and Family Building Association empowers people navigating their fertility journey through trusted information, community support, and grassroots advocacy that make family-building options accessible to everyone.

• Sunfish: an LA-based organization helping self-pay IVF patients with transparent pricing, bundled discounts, and a partial money-back guarantee.

• Cofertility: an LA-based company reimagining a more ethical and transparent egg-freezing process, and providing a ton of education around the process.

• Babyquest Foundation, BabyList IVF Grants: Providing financial assistance through fertility grants to support the high costs of IVF (in vitro fertilization), gestational surrogacy, egg and sperm donation, egg freezing, and embryo donation. ✨BONUS✨ research astronaut and IVF warrior extraordinaire, Kellie Gerardi, has generously funded a grant to help more families welcome their own space baby.

• Paid Research Opportunity: If you’re about to start an IVF cycle, you may be eligible for a research study led by Auburn University and Purdue University on how treatment affects work and daily life—and how organizations can better support women during this process. The study involves completing short surveys at key points in your IVF cycle, with compensation up to $70. Participation is fully online and confidential. Learn more and see if you’re eligible: tinyurl.com/workandIVF

Got an organization supporting and advocating for fertility and women’s health care? We’d love to share it! 🧡

And finally (but certainly not least!!) we have to shout out our wildly talented, magical, all-around iconic friend Clayre for our new show music. Check her out on Spotify. We’re obsessed. 💫

Surprise! Ahead of our Season 3 premiere next week (April 24, mark your calendars and hit follow), we’re dropping a very special bonus episode today. We’re talking about the Costco fertility news everyone’s been buzzing about and how this offering actually works for IVF patients.

We first sat down with David Goldhill, the Co-Founder and CEO at Sesame, and then spoke to Lynn Mason, the CEO of IVI RMA North America. Both of them helped us to unpack the three-way partnership between Costco, Sesame, and IVI RMA North America, and how it’s working to bring more transparency and lower costs to fertility care and IVF treatment this year.

And because yes, this involves Costco: no, you don’t need to buy IVF meds in bulk. No, there aren’t free samples (unfortunately). And yes—you can still grab your rotisserie chicken, paper towels, and snacks while picking up your prescriptions.

We get into why Costco is entering the fertility space, how this model is designed to reduce one of the biggest barriers in IVF (cost) and what it looks like to simplify a system that’s traditionally been expensive, gatekept by insurance, and nearly impossible to navigate.

We also talk about how this partnership actually works, who it’s for (currently and how they hope to expand it in the future), and what it means for the future of reproductive healthcare. It’s IVF, Costco-style. 🤪

Have you used Sesame, IVI RMA, or Costco yet for fertility benefits? Let us know in the comments x

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Today’s guests:

David Goldhill (Co-Founder & CEO, Sesame) is a nationally recognized healthcare reform advocate and the co-founder and CEO of Sesame, the leading cash-pay healthcare platform connecting patients directly with top-rated doctors at transparent, up-front prices.

His journey into healthcare transformation began in 2009 with his groundbreaking Atlantic cover story, “How American Healthcare Killed My Father.” The piece sparked a national conversation and led to his bestselling book, Catastrophic Care: Why Everything We Think We Know About Health Care Is Wrong, establishing David as a leading voice in rethinking how healthcare is financed and delivered in America.

Today, those ideas power Sesame’s mission to expand access to affordable care for millions of Americans shut out of the traditional system — from primary care to specialty services.

David previously served as Chair of The Leapfrog Group, the nation’s leading advocate for healthcare transparency and patient safety, a role closely aligned with Sesame’s mission. He termed off the board two years ago. He currently serves as a Senior Fellow in Health Care Policy at the Manhattan Institute, where he remains deeply engaged in efforts to reform how care is delivered in the United States.

Prior to his work in healthcare, David built a distinguished media career as President and CEO of Game Show Network and President of Television at Universal Studios.

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About Sesame: Sesame is the only cash-pay healthcare platform connecting patients directly with top-rated doctors at transparent, up-front prices. By removing insurance, Sesame unlocks lower cost, more convenient access to high-quality clinicians for everyday care. Sesame has served over 1 million patients to date, offering more than 380 services across all 50 states. Learn more at sesamecare.com.

Lynn Mason (Chief Executive Officer, IVI RMA North America) is leading a revolution in reproductive medicine—one built on science, scale, and deep compassion. As CEO of IVI RMA North America, Lynn oversees one of the largest reproductive health networks in North America with 27 labs and 73 locations across the U.S. and Canada. This vast network has helped deliver more than 220,000 babies over the last 20 years to loving families using groundbreaking IVF techniques and compassionate, patient-centered care. But her mission is far from complete.

Under her leadership, IVI RMA North America has expanded access to world-class fertility care for millions of Americans pursuing their fertility preservation and family-building goals, adding 13 labs and 37 new locations and setting new standards in outcomes, innovation and equity. Lynn is a trailblazer redefining what fertility care looks like at scale: more inclusive, more accessible, more research-driven, and more personalized.

A seasoned healthcare executive, Lynn has spent her career driving systemic change in complex care environments. At Broadstep Behavioral Health, Lynn doubled the company’s size and expanded care delivery across seven states. Her leadership at DaVita Kidney Care, DaVita RX, ChenMed, and United Allergy Services also reflects a consistent theme of her strength at building bold, patient-first models that scale nationally, grow rapidly and close critical gaps in care.

Lynn is President-Elect of Fertility Providers Alliance and contributes to the boards of ConvenientMD, Stella Behavioral Health, Shoes That Fit and the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women initiative. She is also an active member of Stanford Women on Boards and the Stanford Black Alumni Association and holds degrees from Washington University in St. Louis, Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a Doctorate in Healthcare Administration (DHA) from Virginia University of Lynchburg.

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About IVI RMA North America: IVI RMA North America, comprises Reproductive Medicine Associates, Boston IVF, and Toronto-based TRIO. It spans 27 IVF laboratories and has helped women and couples achieve pregnancies which have led to the birth of over 220,000 babies to date. Pioneers in innovative care, including PGT-A, single embryo transfer, fertility preservation, LGBTQ+ care, and more, the network has published over 1,000 papers which have pushed the fertility industry forward. IVI RMA North America is part of IVI RMA Global, the world’s leading reproductive medicine group committed to providing evidence-based fertility solutions to patients seeking treatment anywhere in the world. IVI RMA Global employs more than 6,000 people across 200+ locations in 15 countries. Learn more at rmanetwork.com and https://www.bostonivf.com/

All this to say: we can’t wait for Season 3 (Episode 50!!!) to drop on April 24. Make sure you’re following us on Spotify & Apple so that you get notified as soon as it’s live.

As we are gearing up for some big and exciting pod things (merch!? new intro song!? the most inspiring doctors and experts!?), we are keeping this week’s newsletter short and sweet and fun. And what’s more fun than a little emotional support shopping (from bed, no less) while preparing for your next round of IVF? We’re calling it retail therapy, but make it fertility-core.

Here’s everything we bought this week for our upcoming retrievals this summer.

xo Amy & Kayti

🪩 We love this simple caboodle because it feels more minimal and elevated than the bright pink ones we used in past IVF cycles. Plus, how cute is the little flower detail, & it has so much storage space for needles, Band-Aids, etc. Stay organized, friends!

🪩 We both restocked our supplements this week, which felt equal parts triggering and satisfying (iykyk). We love WeNatal for their science-backed ingredients and thoughtful formulas, but also because we’re lucky to call the founders friends & they’re doing so much for the fertility community, especially in Los Angeles. The gorgeous glass jars and easy subscription refills justify the investment, especially with how stressful and depressing IVF can be.

🪩 I (Kayti) splurged on these pants to feel a bit more put together during retrievals in spring/summer. It’s also hot in Los Angeles, so it’s hard to get away with sweatpants when it’s 100 degrees out, and you feel super bloated. I have another pair of LOF pants that I’ve worn into the ground, so I know I will get my money’s worth out of these. Alternatively, these are my favorite $30 drawstring jeans that I wore through IVF & pregnancy in 2024 (and will be adding to the rotation again).

🪩 (Amy) Not a purchase but a download! This album feels like it was written for someone going through infertility. It’s giving hope, badassery, women banding together and resilience. I’ll have it on repeat while driving to monitoring appointments.

🪩 Boring but necessary: the best bone broth and electrolyte powders for pre and post retrieval.

🪩 These Allbird slides are 50% off and perfect for feeling a bit more chic yet still comfortable on monitoring, retrieval, and transfer day.

🪩 Do not - we repeat, do not - forget stool softeners (obvs chat with your doc about anything you’re taking though)

🪩 Likewise, make sure you have a heating pad! Our favorite one is this cute floral print (it has 12 heat levels and is machine washable). It’s currently on sale.

🪩 (Kayti) This may sound silly, but it’s a life hack I love: I bought myself a gift card to my favorite coffee shop in Los Angeles (shoutout, Stereoscope). This way, I can get a treat after IVF appointments or on hard days, and it feels like a “gift” because I already paid for it 😂

🪩 (Amy) My treat to myself was booking a facial! 🧖‍♀️ If I’m going to be poking myself with needles and riding estrogen waves all summer, I deserve a little spa day.

🪩 We just added these to our Amazon carts because, as you all know, we lovvveee our cooling undereye patches for early morning monitor drives.

🪩 (Kayti) I’m trying to be more intentional about my scrolling habits and stay off my phone in waiting rooms. I even got a Brick to help with setting social media boundaries, especially because I like to doomscroll and get on Reddit once I start getting results in. All this to say, I’m keeping books in my bag for appointments. Amy Gallo Ryan’s memoir about infertility and IVF is keeping me present and helping me to process big emotions during this journey (she may or may not be on the pod for season 3 👀), and, when I want fiction, it’s The Dream Hotel.

weekend mood:

Alternatively, I held out until the afternoon and waited to test until after we returned from Easter brunch, spending the whole day instead, wondering if I could finally be pregnant. I skipped the mimosa because what if, and cradled my three-month-old niece, the third baby for my sister-in-law. I stared out the window during our drive home, hoping, praying, and also knowing deep down the test would be negative. Still, I ran from the car to the bathroom after having purposefully held my pee for hours to get the strongest sample. You know how the rest of the story goes.

It never gets easier to revisit these memories or watch the videos of myself from that time. I recorded them because I told myself I’d want to remember. And yet I keep them in a hidden folder on my phone so they don’t catch me off guard when scrolling through my albums.

This year, Easter will look very different from 2023. I’ll be dressing our nine-month-old IVF daughter in a pastel jumper, and no one will remember how much it cost me to get here. I won’t even remember myself, not really. It’s only in quiet moments like these, when I sit down to write and force myself to open that box, that the sharpness of infertility resurfaces. Because we don’t ever truly forget, not really. Not even when we “beat it.” Not even when it’s “over.” How could we?

Wherever you are in your journey this spring — whether you’re staring at a negative test or anxiously awaiting retrieval results, whether you’re exploring new pathways to parenthood or changing the diaper of the miracle baby that cost you everything — we see your pain, and we carry it, too. It’s one of the things Amy and I love so dearly about this community and the relationships we’ve found through infertility and IVF. No one truly gets it like the person who is also carrying around a negative pregnancy test in their purse at Easter brunch, hoping and praying that maybe there is a faint line and “just test again in a few hours, and you’ll see it.” You’re not alone.

xo Kayti (and Amy)

🪩 Big changes for the pod

We’re so excited to announce what we’re calling the “pod hub,” a permanent home for the podcast via Substack and for community offerings like this newsletter. As a Substack subscriber, you can expect to get emails with:

• new pod episodes (season 3 dropping on April 24)

• the Friday newsletter (what you’re reading now)

• listener stories & access to the full archive of Everyone’s Getting Pregnant Without Me

• The option to upgrade to “The Broody Club” for bonus episodes, first dibs on merch drops + special promo codes from our favorite fertility support brands, and first access to community support groups (coming soon)

  Show me The Broody Club 👀

Alternatively, you can still listen to the pod on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube when new episodes drop if you’d prefer to opt out of the newsletter and offerings + just listen at your leisure - no hard feelings!

💜 small “j” joys:

• We love caboodles for organizing our IVF meds & these ones are under $15.

• A great read on prenatal vitamins (what you need and what you don’t).

• Because it feels like we’re all getting sick right now: high protein chicken noodle soup.

• Our favorite Good Hangs episode thus far.

• The most underrated and actually affordable water bottle that isn’t “trending”.

• This gentle guide to IVF from

weekend mood:

We Should Cut This is a bonus segment of the podcast for our paid subscribers and our way of saying “thank you” for supporting the show and helping us grow. We want to bring these conversations about infertility and IVF to more people, and this is a chance to sit with us in a more personal, behind-the-scenes way. Expect bonus content to drop sporadically (but frequently) so you can tune in whenever you wish. 🩷

Subscribe now

Read more

We Should Cut This is a bonus segment of the podcast for our paid subscribers and our way of saying “thank you” for supporting the show and helping us grow. We want to bring these conversations about infertility and IVF to more people, and this is a chance to sit with us in a more personal, behind-the-scenes way. Expect bonus content to drop sporadically (but frequently) so you can tune in whenever you wish. 🩷

Subscribe now

Read more