To make up for those Fridays when you checked only to find Freebie Friday was on a little vacation, I have not 1 but 2 Freebie Fridays today!
FertilityLifeLines.com is offering a FREE 48-page booklet entitled, In the Know: What No One Tells You About Fertility
The 48-page girlfriend-to-girlfriend booklet was created to address this gap in the current resources available to couples seeking information about infertility. The booklet covers the broad range of issues that couples face when struggling with infertility, including a description of infertility in males and females, how to cope with the emotional stresses of infertility, an …read more

May is Mental Health Month, but don’t worry. I’m not going to tell you to “just relax.” This year’s theme is “Get Connected.” Let’s talk about that.
In celebration of the event, I want to remind my readers that in addition to their online resources and forums, the National Infertility Association RESOLVE actually offers two different types of “real life” support groups – one led by mental health professionals and a more informal peer-support group often known as “coffee and conversation.”
RESOLVE understands that,
Making the decision to join a RESOLVE group can be difficult for some people. It may be …read more

Fertile Dream’s 4th Annual Paths to Parenthood Conference will be taking place at the Orlando Marriott on Sunday, May 4th.
Why am I telling you this? Besides the fact that there seems to be a great lineup of speakers, it is FREE!
Yes, completely free. The conference runs from 8 am to 4:30 pm and your free admission includes breakfast and dinner.
The following information is from www.fertiledreams.org:
If you are trying to start a family, but have questions, reproductive health and adoption experts will be available to answer questions on the latest advances in as well as adoption.
Fertility and adoption experts include:
Alice Domar, …read more

I have to admit, I have been sweating about this article in the most recent New Atlantis ever since I was interviewed for it several months ago. It felt like I rambled. Did I ramble? Some questions felt loaded. Am I being baited? Did I take the bait? What’s the bait? What’s the desired answer? I’m talking a lot. Am I being too confessional?
The journalist Cheryl Miller contacted me after reading this post about another article in the media which I felt treated us “baby-desperate” folks far too unkindly. But halfway through our hour-long conversation, I was wondering …read more

I didn’t get to see Thomas Beatie on Oprah last week (even though reader Melis gave me a heads up as soon as she saw my post.) But the “world’s first pregnant man”’s appearance on daytime TV has come up in conversations with multiple friends this week. Luckily, I knew the plot, but I thought I would take a peek at Oprah’s site to see what I missed.
More interesting than the show’s recap is the discussion taking place on Oprah’s message board right now. There were your customary comments voicing outrage, disgust or both. Some faithful viewers were a little …read more

I have come across some great websites lately that I’d like to share with you.
The first is one called Daily Strength. If you’re feeling like you need an outlet, someone to talk to, basically, a free therapy session, this is the place for you. Sign up (free) and join a community, send a hug, read some of their message boards – I’ve signed up for two myself – infertility and the Hodgkin’s Disease support groups. You can be as anonymous or as obvious as you prefer. It’s a nice site with easy navigation and news tickers with RSS …read more

You already know that there is a legion of blogs that discuss fertility, infertility, and various (sometimes unconventional) paths towards creating a family. While we share a common theme, each blogger brings to the table his or her (sometimes his and her) unique circumstances and perspectives.
If you are looking to learn more about personal experiences with assisted reproduction techniques, adoption, surrogacy, in vitro fertilization, third party reproduction, pregnancy or living with infertility, I can’t think of a better cheat sheet than Stirrup Queens and Sperm Palace Jesters’ Creme de la Creme of 2007.
Each year, Melissa invites bloggers to nominate their …read more

Today is World Diabetes Day and I know Kendra at Diabetes Notes will have some good info for you. Grace at Kids Health Notes also has a great post dedicated to this topic.
Here in the world of fertility, diabetes most directly affects things on the men’s side. According to a May 2007 report published in Human Reproduction:

Men with type 1 diabetes may have more DNA damage in their sperm, possibly hampering fertility, a preliminary study shows.

Male factor infertility sometimes still feels like a taboo subject. Something few men, or their partners, for that matter want to discuss, even in the …read more

This website is aimed at selling stuff, so take it at face value, but it does list a series of high risk occupations that I found interesting.
One of the high-risk occupations not mentioned is Soldier. Yet, being activated for duty carries enough risk to the future of one’s family (I feel this could win an “understatement of the year” award), that in 2003, this sperm bank offered a significant discount to members of the military being deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. According to this AFP article:

Many have done so not because they fear they will be killed but because …read more