0/ Ready for your weekly dose of #FridayFertilityNews? From surprising insights on why some Americans are opting out of parenthood to AI’s role in predicting male infertility and the heartwarming story of a pregnant Olympian. Read on for the latest… 1/​​ 🚨 Just in time for #NationalOrgasmDay (7/31): Some condom and lubricant brands are packing more than pleasure—research found alarming levels of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” in them. It may be time to rethink your stash! theguardian.com/environment/… 2/ 🧪 Hold up on that AMH test purchase, as it is not the crystal ball for fertility that many think it is! Before testing your AMH, get the facts straight. AMH only tests for egg quantity, not quality – and quantity doesn’t accurately predict your baby-making odds. So, tread lightly, folks! upi.com/Health_News/2024/07/… 3/ 🤖 AI is stepping up its game! A new AI system may be able to predict male infertility risk using a simple blood test, no semen sample needed. While screening may have just gotten even easier, we still stand by the fact that it’s cheap, easy, and pleasurable to get tested the old fashioned way--and it's an important marker of your health, so get tested! independent.co.uk/news/healt… 4/ 😔 "Any news?" - As many of us well know, this all-too-common question can seriously impact mental health. Recent studies show just how heavy the weight of society’s baby-making expectations can be, with ~43% of individuals reporting decreased self-esteem and about 41% facing anxiety or depression as a consequence. rollercoaster.ie/fertility/f… 5/ 🤺 In an impressive display of strength and perseverance, Fencer Nada Hafez made her way to the final 16 in the Paris Olympics *while being 7 months pregnant*. She humorously remarked that, "What appears to you as two players on the podium, they were actually three!" Talk about a power play! people.com/nada-hafez-reveal… 6/ 🍼 The @nytimes explores why more Americans are choosing not to have kids, and it’s not about selfishness... it’s the skyrocketing costs, the future looking bleak, and the weight of societal expectations. nytimes.com/2024/07/31/healt… 7/ 💤 Turns out, those sleepless nights aren’t just for after the baby arrives. A recent meta-analysis reveals that nearly 44% of pregnant women struggle with insomnia. So, if you’re counting sheep while waiting for your baby, you’re not alone! frontiersin.org/journals/psy… 8/ 🗞 Hot off the Alabama press: Two couples have dropped their wrongful death lawsuit against an IVF clinic after their embryos were accidentally destroyed. This comes after a bit of a controversial ruling (to say the least!) that gave embryos the legal status of children. abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/… 9/ 🧬 New study confirms that BRCA1 gene mutations, known for increasing breast and ovarian cancer risk, may also impair fertility. More insights are needed to draw conclusions, and we are keeping an eye on the research! medicalxpress.com/news/2024-… 10/ And your friendly reminder that every Friday, we send out a super informative (and free!) newsletter, The Eggdrop. It's jam-packed with all things fertility, the latest buzz in reproductive health, and handy tips that you'll love! You can sign up here ➡️ weconceive.com/#newsletter

In a testament to the incredible roots of our community at @Conceive, our pregnancy crew met tonight--and one of our members showed up from the hospital about to give birth. We are making so much magic, and relationships that last a lifetime. 🙏✨

0/It’s a research special for this #fridayfertilitynews round-up! From promising sperm trials to advances in IVF and menstrual cycle insights. We give you the TL;DR for the week! 1/In the wake of The Right to IVF Act, the Hope with Fertility Services Act was introduced into the House of Reps this week to help more people get fertility coverage. It’s endorsed by @ASRM_org and @resolveorg and we need our reps to back this! 👏 asrm.org/news-and-events/asr… 2/Women are ~10X more likely to be asked by their manager about plans to have children than men in the UK. Not helpful and f off! corporate-adviser.com/women-… 2/A meta-analysis of ~400K women found a change in menstrual cycle length was correlated with a risk of miscarriage, while getting your first period at 14+ & a short duration were linked to diminished fertility. But don’t stress: It’s not causation and everyone is different. fertstert.org/article/S0015-… 3/Study suggests adding a GnRH agonist shot to a vaginal progesterone treatment improves chances of pregnancy/live birth in IVF/ICSI. Whether patients can tolerate side effects still needs to be considered. nature.com/articles/s41598-0… 4/The presence of immune cells in uterine fluid helped with embryo transfer success in a new study. Immunity and fertility is fascinating. news.med.miami.edu/uterine-f… 5/A regenerative stem cell in early embryos may help improve success rates in fertility treatments, according to a mouse study. 🐁 news-medical.net/news/202406… 6/Research from @NIEHS found even trace elements of lead and mercury in ovarian follicular fluid were associated with differences in ovarian response to IVF! They used to think it was just large amounts. Oh jeez. publichealth.gmu.edu/news/20… 7/Now it's in 🍆s! 4 out of 5 penile tissue samples contained 7 different types of microplastics. 😱 medicalnewstoday.com/article… 8/Men who produce little to no sex hormones with no sperm in their ejaculate benefit from stims and varicocele repair ahead of extraction in IVF, per new research. fertstert.org/article/S0015-… 9/@Ferring is doing a study in Texas in a bid to roll out a new medication to improve sperm count. 👀 communityimpact.com/sponsore… 10/@MiraFertility tracked cycles and found couples were more likely to conceive on the weekend. (Not much to do with that but interesting!) uk.style.yahoo.com/days-most… 11/Black patients are less likely to be given fertility treatment for PCOS. Not OK. fertstert.org/article/S0015-… 12/Report warns of serious economic and social challenges for future generations with global population declines. Oof. oecd.org/social/declining-fe… 13/Leaving you with this powerful spoken word poem about the ups and downs of a fertility journey. All the feels. 😢instagram.com/p/C8mDGZaolOZ/ 14/If you like this round-up, our free Friday newsletter The Eggdrop has ~16k subscribers, you can sign up here! ➡️ weconceive.com/?utm_source=t…

Thrilled to have @conceive join #EqualResearchDay with an incredible group of companies changing the future of clinical research in women's health. LFG!

0/June is #WorldInfertilityAwarenessMonth—and we’ll take all the awareness we can get around plummeting population rates. You can try to stave them off by incentivizing with things like better parental leave (Japan 👀), but we still need to address the issue that 1 in 6 people globally struggle with infertility. Lots of #fertilitynews this week… 1/Woot! The Right to IVF Act was intro-ed by Sen. Dems @SenDuckworth, @PattyMurray, and @CoryBooker, including 4 bills to preserve access to IVF and make it more affordable. Much needed when more than a dozen states are considering personhood bills. 💪 nbcnews.com/politics/congres… 2/Women’s federal right to access birth control was put into jeopardy after senate Republicans rejected a bill protecting it. Reminder that birth control is health care. nbcnews.com/politics/congres… 3/Is it men’s turn for birth control? Preliminary research suggests a gel applied daily to the shoulders can effectively suppress men’s fertility within a matter of weeks. Quicker than they thought. When it takes two to tango, we say LFG! gizmodo.com/male-birth-contr… 4/Japan is expanding child allowances and parental leave in a bid to curb plummeting birth rates. 🇯🇵 azernews.az/region/227045.ht… 5/Researchers think they've figured out how mosaic embryos can self-correct to develop normally, which means more potential embryos to transfer. Yes! miragenews.com/self-correcti… 6/While weight loss interventions like Ozempic may up the chances of pregnancy, they are also associated with an increase in miscarriage risk, which lowers the live birth rate, a paper finds. fertstert.org/article/S0015-… 7/IVF was associated with a 99% higher risk of hospitalization from cardiovascular conditions in an observational study of 31m+ births. Authors think it could have to do with conditions like PCOS affecting heart health. Drives home a need for adequate postpartum care. progress.org.uk/conceiving-v… 8/Women with pelvic endo are no more likely to have a preterm delivery, but could be at higher risk of hemorrhaging from a C-section and NICU admissions. It’s a UK study of only 1,323 women, though. fertstert.org/article/S0015-… 9/Promising news for IVM (i.e. maturing eggs outside the body): Researchers found it worked for the high ovarian reserve and hyper-responding IVF patients they observed. fertstert.org/article/S0015-… 10/Experts are working on a model that could predict the minimum number of mature eggs needed by age to get one normal embryo in IVF. Yes, please! fertstert.org/article/S0015-… 11/Covid may remain in the sperm of patients for up to 90 days after hospital discharge, reducing semen quality, according to new research. Sperm regenerates every 2-3 months anyway. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3846… 12/A mouse study found that dad’s diet affects his sperm and the health of male offspring. The male side is important in this fertility biz! nature.com/articles/d41586-0… 13/If you read that "Boy Meets World" star Trina McGee is pregnant at 54 thanks to an elixir made of yams, despite being in menopause and having her tubes tied, know we’re happy for her 😅but please watch this Reel from @DrLuckySekhon at @RMAofNY to hear just how 🍌🍌🍌 it really is. instagram.com/reel/C71gA_zRR… 14/If you like this round-up, our free Friday newsletter—The Eggdrop—has tips, tricks, news, and things not to miss in fertility. Now over 15k subscribers, you can sign up here! ➡️ weconceive.com/?utm_source=t…

My contrarian take has always been that while there are thousands of reddit forums and facebook groups that are FREE, people are craving a curated safe space for certain inflection points in their lives, such as fertility and pregnancy--and are willing to pay for it. A 22 year old in Alabama has a very different experience and set of needs than me as a 41 year old in New York. We've proved this out at @conceive. Curated community groups is just one of the benefits of joining our Premium membership. You also get 24/7 texting with a nurse and a coach team--and 1:1s to boot. This includes facetime calls with nurses while you're doing your IVF shots. We're your new support system. Your expert best friend(s) in your pocket giving you the tools, resources, and community to navigate YOUR unique journey. 🤍 weconceive.com/?utm_source=L…

There was a meme on Twitter not too long ago asking doctors to break down their job in percentages. A very well respected REI* said the following: 50% schedule coordinator for life/IVF 25% psychologist 25% counseling on why twins are bad [LOL] So much of a fertility journey is the mental/ emotional toll, and the best doctors and clinicians know this. Yet they're not always equipped--nor do they have the time in the day--to help with this piece. This is where @conceive excels. Our coaches have all been in the shoes of the patient, and have the right level of empathy and compassion. Plus, we have a unique approach to community. We pair you in small groups based on where you're at in the journey--so it's truly a safe space. Our members often become the best of friends. Magic is happening in those rooms. Lastly, the fertility industry has long been ignored by technology--hence the note about about 50% schedule coordination! We help clinics with this part by taking on a whole set of questions that should never need to go to them about what to expect. We are that expert best friend in your pocket who can really explain why something is indicated for you, and how to prepare. Instead of unknown unknowns, we get you ready for what's next--removing a lot of trial and error. (*for those who do not know an REI is a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist--an OB/GYN with an additional three years of training in fertility!) More on how we partner with clinics here: weconceive.com/clinics

0/This week’s #fertilitynews round-up comes with some eye-opening research—like a study from our partner @RMAofNY that shows that sometimes embryo quality actually gets *better* after freezing. Mind blown. It’s also #BlackMaternalHealthWeek, which is a good reminder that there’s still so much to be done to support Black women in fertility and beyond. We’re on it. ✊ Read on…

0/As we head into World Infertility Awareness Month this April, we’re going in eyes wide open. We’re digging into the topics that need awareness (i.e. more research) and spreading awareness over issues that are standing in the way of the 1 in 5 of us building the families we deserve. (Come walk with us!) More below… ✊

Loved attending #PCRS in SoCal last week. Here are some highlights from the research presented:

When your article was written one year ahead of the trend, it’s the investment worth waiting for @conceive You ask: Is it safe to use Ozempic while trying to conceive? We answer: weconceive.com/library/news/…

I couldn’t agree more. Our platform connects you with nurses and coaches within minutes via text. We support you from fertility through postpartum. @conceive ✨🤍

PSA! We’re expanding our nursing team to support our growing member base. Get at me if you want to join our dream @conceive team. docs.google.com/document/d/1…

👀🤍 we’ve got you covered @conceive

the suspension of IVF in Alabama rn should be highly concerning to anyone who plans to have a baby in the future in America. we are really in dangerous territory. 1 in 5 need fertility treatment like IVF...without it...

Thrilled to announce our partnership with Talkspace, one of the leading providers of online therapy. The number one reason people drop out of fertility treatments is the emotional burden. That's where @conceive soars, and for deeper needs, we've got you covered with the Talkspace team! let's goooooo!

When your DMs look like this. So fucking grateful. 🤸‍♀️🥰🤍 @conceive

Today we @conceive were written up in the most touching and beautiful way, in a baby announcement. An entire paragraph about our team. It brought me to tears. Words cannot describe how grateful and proud I am to do what I do. ✨

We’ve shipped 70 newsletters since starting @conceive 🤸‍♀️🕺🏽 We reach over 12k people per week. Sign up here: weconceive.com/?utm_source=t…