Episode Transcript
Eloise Drane: [00:00:00] The conversation around fertility is changing. It's not just about IVF anymore. It's about hormones, mental health access. It's about all the people in pieces that make up fertility care, intended parents, surrogates and donors. I'm Eloise Drain, founder of Fertility 360 and Family Inceptions and the host of Fertility Cafe.
After more than 20 years in this field, I've seen how complex and how deeply human fertility really is. And it's often misunderstood.
Arvis Carmichael-Smith: The journey that we've been on is still very much surreal [00:00:35] even now, and she's 14 months. I still cannot believe that I have a baby. I have a baby, and I look at her and I'm just like, you are so special.
A lot of stuff really don't even make sense. It's not even medically possible. It just doesn't make sense in the natural realm. But it, it happened. Yeah, it happened. If I just had to share. With someone that is still on this journey, it can happen.
Eloise Drane: Fertility touches every part of a person's life. It's emotional, it's physical.
It affects your career, your finances, your faith, and [00:01:10] your relationships. And it's not one conversation, it's all of them.
Dr. Renita White: Medicine's a team sport. You are the key player of this team. Medicine used to be very patriarchal, where it's like you come in, I tell you what to do, you do it. If you don't, it's your fault 'cause you didn't do it.
We need to be more collaborative and we each have things to bring to the table. I have a lot of medical expertise. The patient has expertise 'cause they know their body, so how can we work together there?
Eloise Drane: This season we're taking the conversation further than ever before. We'll sit down with people whose stories inspire, challenge, and redefine what we [00:01:45] think we know about fertility from intended parents and surrogates who've experienced it themselves.
To the experts and innovators transforming fertility care from the inside out, we'll unpack the myths, the money, and the medicine because understanding fertility isn't just about making babies. It's about making informed choices about your body, your health. Your future.
Dr. Natalie Crawford: The reality is your fertility is not just a life stage, like you said, it is a sign of hormonal health of how your body is functioning.
It's some marker of longevity. We've gotta start empowering people to say, at the end of the day, though, this journey [00:02:20] is nobody's but your own. Nobody will look out for your own health like you will, and you owe it to yourself to understand these basics. How does your body work? Are your hormones normal?
Eloise Drane: At Fertility Cafe, we bring together the science, the stories, and the soul behind modern fertility. The conversation is evolving, so pull up a chair.
