Family Building Stories
Get real-life perspectives from our community, highlighting the many different paths a fertility and family building journey can take.
Danielle’s Journey: “I’m not interested in miracle stories anymore.”
Danielle shares her story of trying to conceive over 40, navigating fertility treatment, donor egg IVF, and the anxiety of becoming pregnant after years of failed cycles. Over the course of the conversation we chat about navigating boundaries while family...
The AllPaths Podcast: Stories and Support for Every Family Building Journey
Featured in the AllPaths Magazine, 2024 Volume 3 AllPaths has always been committed to using storytelling as a tool for support and advocacy, and our podcast is a natural extension of that work. From the hallmark parent panels at in-person conferences, to...
Medical Need Deserving of Coverage
Featured in the AllPaths Magazine, 2024 Volume 3 By Maggie Husbands 89/70. I stare at this extremely low blood pressure, see my heart rate climb and feel clots the size of baseballs pour out of my body. As an ER nurse with over six years of experience, I...
Stephanie’s Journey: I needed someone to say, “You had a baby, he passed away. Do you miss him?”
Propa City Community Outreach founder Stephanie Crawford shares her family story, from the heartbreaking loss of her first son at 39 weeks to finding purpose in her pain by supporting others impacted by pregnancy and infant loss. Through her work as an...
Reuniting a Military Family with their Embryos
Guest post from Cryoport Systems, originally published on their website. Infertility affects about 17.5% of adults worldwide, but for military families, the path to parenthood can be even more daunting. Studies show that 37% of active-duty female service...
Jen’s Journey: “Families are built on love.”
A born and raised New Yorker, social worker Jen Rachman shares her family’s story from an ovarian cancer diagnosis that sadly left her infertile in her 20s, to the decision that surrogacy was the best route for her and her husband to grow their family. With...
Liane’s Journey: “I think we’ve just been fired by our IVF doctor!”
Liane Moccia’s story encompasses an infertility diagnosis, becoming a parent via IVF, as well as how her personal journey sparked a passion for holistic fertility support and a new career. Now a Registered Clinical Herbalist specializing in fertility and...
Julie’s Journey: It began several states ago…
Founder of Building Military Families Network, Julie Eshelman shares about her ongoing family building journey, one that spans many years and states, highlighting the unique challenges that military families often face. We also hear about Julie’s rise as a...
Kelly’s Journey: Hurry up and wait
Kelly Soule shares about her ongoing journey and the difficulty of not knowing what’s next for her family. From processing IVF not working and a changing relationship with her own body, to attempting to adjust to having no sense of control and situations...
Staci’s Journey: Zigzag to the finish line
CEO and Founder of Family Source Consultants (FSC), Staci Swiderski shares her personal journey as an intended parent, welcoming a son via gestational surrogacy in 2005 and her experience as a known egg donor. Her own fertility challenges led her to found...
Andy’s Journey: Mourning the loss of what you thought your family was going to be.
Andy Lamb shares his story of male infertility, mental health struggles, and the reinvention of who he was and what really mattered in life and family on his journey to become a father. Now a parent to three girls adopted through foster care, Andy supports...
Jennifer’s Journey: “Still a Family, Just a Family of Two.”
Jennifer Redmond shares her story of infertility, loss, and embracing life as a family of two, how her own fertility journey has influenced her personal and professional life, and reflects on the evolution she’s seen in the fertility and family building...