Family Building Stories
Get real-life perspectives from our community, highlighting the many different paths a fertility and family building journey can take.
Twenty-one years ago, I was conceived through IVF…
Guest post by a member of the AllPaths community Twenty-one years ago, I was conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF). Today, I am a sophomore in college studying biology and neuroscience, with hopes of someday becoming a doctor. During my time in...
Joe’s Journey: “There’s nothing elective about infertility.”
Advocate, founder of Grain Fertility, and father through IVF, Joe Cody shares his family's journey which spanned four years and included multiple failed cycles and significant financial burdens. We explore the emotional and practical challenges faced by...
LaMone’s Journey: I became what I needed.
LaMone Downey Leonard, Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker and Founder and CEO of Rising Hope Counseling and Wellness joins us to discuss her family building journey. Her mission is to create safe and supportive healing spaces for those experiencing...
Alison’s Journey: “My heart was missing a piece and it was you.”
A Connecticut native who now calls Massachusetts home, Alison is a second-grade teacher and solo parent of one. Alison walks us along her path to becoming a single mother by choice, recurrent pregnancy losses, the grief of not being able to give her son a...
Kate’s Journey: Celebrating 10 years as Executive Director of AllPaths Family Building
Kate Weldon LeBlanc, Executive Director of AllPaths Family Building, shares her journey of an unexplained infertility diagnosis, loss, and her path to parenthood. With fertility treatment, Kate and her husband Joe became successfully pregnant with their now...
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...