Off The Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe - Whitney Bischoff Angel | Your Most Googled Fertility Questions, Answered!

Episode Date: December 4, 2025

#899. Kaitlyn is joined in-studio by her longtime friend (and former fertility nurse!) Whitney Bischoff Angel, fresh off a girls’ weekend, to talk all things fertility and women’s health. From egg freezing and endometriosis to postpartum, loss, and the emotional side of every phase—nothing is off the table.Whitney shares insights from nearly 20 years in fertility nursing, why she chose not to pursue the influencer path, and she opens up about her not-so-great experience on The Bachelor and how it shaped the life she has now. They also dig into the questions so many women have but rarely get clear answers to: – What’s the first step if you’re curious about fertility support? – Do SSRIs or mental health meds impact pregnancy? – When should you consider freezing your eggs? – Should you freeze them even if you’re not sure you want kids? – What about PCOS, male factor infertility, endometriosis, or surrogacy?And of course, some surprise guest walk-ins lead to an unexpected Titanic conspiracy chat—because why not?It’s real, informative, and full of the conversations women wish they heard more often. Tune in!If you’re LOVING this podcast, please follow and leave a rating and review below! PLUS, FOLLOW OUR PODCAST INSTAGRAM HERE!Thank you to our Sponsors! Check out these deals!Booking.com: Head over to booking.com and start your listing today! Get Seen. Get Booked on Booking.com!Better Help: OTV listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com/VINE.Bombas: Head over to Bombas.com/vine and use code vine for 20% off your first purchase.The Real Real: Get $25 off your first purchase when you go to TheRealReal.com/vineProgressive: Visit Progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance!Wayfair: Head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Wayfair. Every style. Every home.EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: (18:10) – Why Whitney didn’t become an influencer and chose to focus on her career in fertility.(32:40) – When to consider freezing your eggs, the ideal age range, and why earlier is better.(38:38) – Eggs vs. embryos: How to maintain autonomy over your fertility choices.(43:20 ) – Tips for TTC (trying to conceive) with PCOS, male factor infertility, and tracking cycles effectively.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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please contact Connix Ontario at 1866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. This episode of Off The Vine is brought to you by booking.com. Since 2010, they have helped over one billion vacation rental guests find places to say. That's billion with a B. Head on over to booking.com and get started on your listing today. Get seen. Get booked on booking.com. BetterHelp. OTV listeners, you're going to get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com

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You're listening to Off the Vine with Caitlin Bristow. Hey, Vinos, real quick, if you are listening right now, which obviously you are, you wouldn't be hearing this, can you hit the subscribe or follow button on whatever platform you're on? Please, that one simple thing helps more than you even realize it allows me to keep growing on this podcast and making these episodes the best they can possibly be obviously for you. That's the only favorite I'm going to ever ask, okay? It truly means the world to me. Thank you. Now let's get into it. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Off the Vine. I'm your host, Caitlin Bristow. And today I'm so excited because Whitney and I have been planning. on talking about this. Everyone's always fascinated by freezing eggs, egg retrieval, postpartum, pregnancy, loss, everything that comes with Adam Whitney. I always want to call you Bischoff, but it's Angel now. Whitney is here to talk things. I mean, we cover it all when it comes to everybody's questions about this kind of stuff. So Whitney's in studio with me today because we just had a girl's weekend. And so we thought, why not mix in a podcast to talk all about

her new company, Lily Concierge. All right, well, then let's start out with the elephant. it in the room. Whitney thinks her pants look like Capriese. They're barrel jeans. They're barrel jeans. They're very. They're trendy barrel jeans. So don't come at me. Don't come at her for her clam diggers. So I've always called Capri fans. What are pedal pushers? Pedal pushers. Oh, is there a flood? Yeah. Apparently. I thought there was. I actually just bought a new pair of pants. They're so cute. They're like dressy pants, but like baggy, flowy. And they are capris, but they're baggy. And then you wear these tall boots underneath them. And

It's a whole look. Don't even get me started on what boots we're supposed to be wearing with the jeans these these days. You know what? All you got to do, this is what I do all the time for inspo. I go to Pinterest and I say, cool girl style. You've always told me this. Yeah.

It helps me every time. You always just look so put together. You're like, well, it's because I have Pinterest. And I said. Pinterest did not help me today. Pinterest could not help the bags under my eyes today because we had a weekend. Yes, we did. And it was so fun.

It was so much fun. It was me, you, Jade Tolbert. What's her maiden name? Roper. I have Roper. I don't. That's how I know her. That's how she is in my phone.

I always just think of her as Jade Toulbert now. Ashley I will always be Ashley I. And who else was with us? Becca. Oh, Becca Tilly. Doi, doi, doy, doy. It was, you had not seen Becca since my season of the best threat. And we were all together in Chicago.

That's so crazy. This reunion was like, like we cried happy tears so many times. We laughed harder than I've laughed in a minute. It was the perfect weekend. It was good for my soul. It was really good for my soul, too. Yeah, so many memories. This is your reminder that if you haven't seen somebody in a long time, right?

Just make it happen. Make it happen. We are like, okay, so if we did what we did this time, we'd be all seeing each other when we're 50. Let's not do that. That's so, that's wild to me. No, so we're already planning a trip for us, girlies. Yep, September, 2026. September.

Just such a good group of girls. I know. We're lucky. drama, giggles only, except sometimes tears, but those were ones where we're just like, oh, it was Carly's 40th birthday yesterday. So we did the circle of love. We all said something we love about her, which in turn makes us all just like be grateful for each other. And it's just, it's the best. Life man. Life man is so precious. It really is. Don't make me start crying already. I know. Whitney's become a cry or two. Oh, God. Actually, I have stopped crying and you've

and now I've just tears. It's the truth. I think partially it's because it's a change in my meds, So that's a, oh, wait, in a good way, though? Yeah, I mean, adjusting. The adjustment. I've been on the same, the same, my girl, Selexa. Yeah. I've been on her for eight years now. So that's how I was with my, my Zoloff, my searching.

And we were buddies until it was like, are we really, you know, are you really helping me? Are you really serving me? So I decided I'm going to make the adjustment. So now I'm coming off, off the searching, on to the Prozac, and the emotions have just spent the floodgates have opened. Wait, what is Prozac? do. I think it's just like it's another SSRI. Oh, it is? I didn't know if Prozac was an SSRI. Damn. I'm like, it works for me so well. That's great. And that's why you should stay on it. But I just started to think it just really was like plateauing. I wonder if that happened. Does that happen? Like,

yes. Oh, how long were you on Zoloft? 10 years ago? Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's around the same time. Oh, I hope my girl doesn't plummet. She's doing, she's doing, she's doing a good job. Yeah. She's doing her thing. And I'm into it. Um, speaking of doing your thing, I'm so proud of you. Thank you. Yeah. It's such a leap to start your own business. And it takes, like, a lot of confidence because you are, I always call you like a little ball of knowledge when it comes to women in general. Well, thanks.

Yeah. You just, you get it. I mean, you're so smart. You were a fertility nurse for how many years? Almost 20. Almost 20 years. You froze my eggs. Yes.

What did my vagina look like? I mean, pristine. Really? I don't know. I do you even remember what it looks like? No. I think a lot of people like. Isn't it funny that we hide our undies when we go to the doctor and they're about to just like get all up in our crevices?

But we're like, don't let them see the sunny side up. It's every time. Yeah, you're like, let's hide that. But I feel like that's, you've probably seen so many vaginas because you've retrieved so many eggs. Well, not me personally. I haven't. You're in the room, though, aren't you? Well, I have been, you know, throughout the years of, you know, I used to do IUIs, so inseminations and just assisting with,

other procedures or being in the room. I don't even think about it. It's just part of the job. Yeah. It's like me seeing a microphone. Exactly. Exactly. It's so good.

The whole process you made for me enjoyable, like I think some people, I obviously have a very different experience because I'm not doing IVF. I'm not trying to get pregnant. I'm not struggling. I'm not, I'm just thinking proactively of if I want to get pregnant one day, let's freeze my eggs. And you just made everything. You talked for like an hour with me through.

everything. And then I felt empowered. Yeah. I felt so empowered during the whole thing. And I was like, I am woman, hear me roar. My body can do amazing things. Yes. And I just feel like because you were so knowledgeable about every little detail, you make people feel really comfortable. So the fact that you started your own concierge service called Lily, which is Whitney's mom passed. What year was that? 2005. 2005. And her favorite flower was a Lily. You named your dog, Lily. You named your dog Lily after her, Lily passed, and now you start this business. Another rebirth of Lily. It's a rebirth. And that, I think a lot of women can rebirth themselves at any age. I mean, that's what this was. Uh-huh. I mean, it's definitely scary to start over. It's scary to start over at

nearly 40. I mean, I'm 40 now, but when this happened, it was almost 40. But I think it's never too late and just to follow your passion. And I, like you said, I think it was always really important to me to provide education support around what we were doing in the clinical setting. And, you know, even with egg freezing, I think it's so interesting to you. I wanted to go back on one thing you said. Like, yeah, but I'm not trying to have a baby. I'm not, but it's still emotional. It's just a different type of emotion.

Yeah, it is emotional. And that is how all aspects of women's health is. You know, even when you are pregnant and that's, you know, your ultimate goal, like there's still anxieties and there's so much unknown about what's happening with your body. And unfortunately, in our medical system here, there's, it's just broken. Yeah. It's so broken. And we're, you know, pumping people in and out of the system.

And it's not anyone's fault, so to speak, but there's not enough time to really offer the guidance and support around what we're doing, why we're doing it. What are your results? What do those mean? How do I advocate for myself? And so Lily is really about taking, you know, my expertise and then my business partner, Tiffany, is a nurse practitioner. And she has been for 25 years. So we bring, you know, four decades of experience. It's bringing that experience from the inside to the outside.

So taking, you know, what we know from inside the clinical setting and helping, you know, women, men outside of, you know, the doctor's office or the provider's office to really let them know that they're not alone and bringing back more of like the human connection. Connection that is why we went into medicine to begin with. We deserve for it because you're right. Right. You know what I've found myself doing? Like, what I love is, like, you could have made so much more money staying in a different, like, office or a different, you could have gone to a hospital. Like, you could have a consistent. But the people that start their own thing like this and really start from the ground up and they're like, you know, it's tough right now because we're building it. Those are the passionate people who really want to help others. Yes. And that's what I found with, I found an OBGYN. I'm like, I don't want to just go to a doctor's office. I want somebody who started their own practice who doesn't believe, who believes. Who believes. the system is broken and wants to give you the time and like care that everybody deserves for their health. Right. And it's just such this vicious cycle because when we're not getting that support inside

the clinical setting and we're not getting our questions answered because we're rushed in and out of these appointments, what's the first thing we're going to do? If we have a question with the internet just right at our fingertips, we go to Reddit. We go to chat GPT. We go to Dr. Google. And that then triggers anxiety. And it's just this vicious, vicious cycle to where the mental health is impacted. And it's kind of like we need to get off, like we need to reinvent the wheel.

Like it's like we're in this vicious cycle and somehow we have to break that cycle. And that's what Lily is here to do for reproductive health care. So when people, if say somebody's listening, they're like, this is everything I've ever wanted to talk about with somebody. How did they, what's the first step they take to meet with one of you? Yeah. So you can just go to our website, which is lilyconcierge.com. you can book a call we the first 15 minutes sort of meet and greet is just a it's complimentary it's just getting to know you what are you looking for to see are we going to be a good match because it might not

be for everybody and that's okay but we just want people to know like this is how we could support you and this is how it seems like this is what you're looking for and here's where there could be some synergy or maybe not from there we go through you know our options for working together which we start everybody off with an initial 60 minute consultation if they want to move forward and we can do that with reviewing your past records or not. I think one thing that we always want to be clear about, though, is even though we have the degrees and the license and the ability to kind of know the medicine of what's going on, we are by no means providing medical advice. And this is more of a supplement to the care that you're receiving by your provider. You know, we are able to,

with our experience, we're not just somebody that went through fertility treatment and saying, oh, well, we're going to counsel people on how to do it. I mean, we know the science, behind it, which I think is what makes us a little bit different. Now that there's anything wrong with fertility coaches or whatnot that don't, because it's needed, but it just is something that gives us a little bit more of an edge. And then there are ongoing packages and memberships that we provide for individuals. If they want like three months support, or if they want six or 12 months support, we have that.

You know, when we started Lily, we thought for sure it was going to be just helping individuals, you know, referrals from, you know, providers, obstetrics, gynaecology, R.I's. But we also found, you know, one of my girlfriends was like, I think this could be great for businesses to offer this as a supplemental benefit to their benefit plan. And so we started, you know, pitching to not only companies, but insurance brokers. And we've had people sign up to bring us on as a benefit for their employees. Great. So it's not just about offsetting the financial cost, which is huge because fertility treatment is so expensive. But it's also helping you were really, you know, doing a disservice when people are going into fertility treatment.

and just throwing them into like just a pack of wolves because it's so hard to know what you're doing, what questions to ask. So by providing offsetting the financial costs with the insurance piece of it, but also providing the support to really, you know, help those, guide them through it. Think of it kind of like a fertility, pregnancy, and postpartum doula that takes you through everything that in turn helps, you know, really good talent. Yeah. Come back to work.

That's what I was going to ask, like, what are the pillars? So it's like, you just said it's basically a du la. like, Ashley I is so loud out there. Yeah, open their, call her ass in here for a second. She knows, but she knows what. Ashley I, you know better than this. Are we being too loud? Yes!

Get in here and say hello. Yeah, tell us what you're talking about. If the Titanic really was sunk by an iceberg. Oh, my gosh, conspiracy theories over here. We're talking about conspiracy theories. She is a conspiracy theory. Lean down. I didn't brush my teeth yet.

Oh. What's the conspiracy theory that the iceberg was not a real iceberg? Well, there was a whole bunch of big businessmen on board. Like, some of the richest guys in the entire world were on that ship. Like, John Jacob Astor was when he died. And apparently there was, like, a lot of the Federal Reserve and stuff. And, like, they were in disagreement with what the U.S. government wanted the time? Well, they were against the Federal Reserve as a government bank.

And then they all died. And then the Federal Reserve was just created. Interesting. She goes full-on belief and I will entertain ideas and go and go, hmm, you have a point. I'm not so sure. I don't double down on anything, but I say, could be a possibility. That's idea. Anytime somebody presents a conspiracy theory to me, they always have way too many points

where I'm like, I know. And then I start, I'm like, oh, man. So I get that. I do too. this episode is sponsored by better help the holidays are magical but let's be honest they can also get pretty chaotic between family gatherings gift shopping and all the little traditions that we really hold on to or sometimes try to rewrite i've been thinking a lot about how important it is to actually take care of ourselves during this season and one of my favorite new traditions is making my family do therapy okay just kidding but it's making a little time for myself each week whether it's journaling baking cookies with friends or just pausing to reflect and honestly better help has been transformative because therapy doesn't have to be scary or complicated and it's just such a great way to create space to reflect reset and even rewrite your own holiday traditions i feel like when things feel scary or overwhelming that's like your sign to just go for it better help matches you

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Like the pillars of what you help with. So if you're to label them. Fertility. Yeah. But not just meaning fertility treatment. Like you're just maybe considering trying to conceive. You don't know where to start or you're in fertility treatment or maybe you're getting to the point that you think you may need to go down that path. And then end pregnancy and into postpartum. Okay. Because there are big gaps between each of those and we really want to help bridge that. Fertility treatment doesn't just stop when you get pregnant.

And pregnancy, we can't, oh my gosh, going into after you have a baby and then you're just sent home with a new child and expected to just know what to do, how to do it, and that you're emotionally supposed to be just okay. For hundreds and hundreds of years, this has been happening where people are like, so you're there to step in. Yes. Finally. Finally.

It's about damn time. Okay, well, so many people have questions on Instagram about all different things, whether it's egg retrieval, freezing your eggs, fertility. So let's jump into that. Actually, before I jump into the questions, I want to also just give to your horn for a little second about how you chose to go back to your career after coming off. One of like, I'm not saying it because I was on it, like just the biggest, the show was so big get the time. And our season did very well numbers wise and we all kind of started our own careers

from it. Like, look at Ashley, Jade, Carly, like everyone has really done the brand deal thing, like doing other shows, all these kinds of things. And you really chose to go back to your passion and your job and you didn't really go for the social media thing. Why was that? You know what? I just don't feel like I was maybe cut out for the influencer life. And I, I do, though, in hindsight, look back and think, I look at all of you guys and how successful you've been. And there is, you know, part of me that's like, oh, man, like I had that opportunity and I didn't take it. And there is, don't get me wrong. Like, there have been a lot of times where I'm like, I should have. Why didn't I? Yeah. But I just feel like I knew fertility. I knew

women's health and it was something that I was passionate about and I felt that I would regret if I didn't go back to it. And I do fully believe that, you know, I'm glad that I did. And I don't know, I'm not the type of person that I felt like I could do both because I'm 100% in on like one thing. So I was either going to. And I knew I had, there was this moment when I came back from the show and thought, I have a choice to make. Yeah. Which path do I go down? And I look at you guys and I think good for you because that was the riskier path to take it that time. Definitely. And I was just... But I also had nothing to lean back on.

I was like, no education for your girl over here. Well, but you could. You have... I'm smart. I'd have figured something out. Yeah, but I mean, for me, I just was, I was just too scared. Yeah. So I look at you guys and I think, wow, that was scary stuff to take.

And you guys went and did it full force and look at how successful you've been. And also, if I may say, and you might want me to take this out, and we can if you want me to, but like I don't think you necessarily had a positive experience. I did not. Coming out of the show and didn't, you were, you were, how do I say it? It feels like you were being kicked while you were down. Yes. And you were having a really hard time and you were not being made to feel worthy of going out

and doing that stuff on your own. You were made to feel your second fiddle, let me do my thing. So that's also not a positive way to go into that when you are like, or I could go back to what I know and love. Right. So it was like such a. combination of so many things. Yeah, I think that you're 100% right. Like the show was not, I mean, don't get me wrong. There were definitely positive parts of it. And,

but I would say it was not a positive experience for me and that there was a little bit of trauma. For sure. And I was trying so hard to escape that. I think it's really hard on the person that they pick, that the lead picks. Yes. Yes. There's a common denominator with every couple you can ask anyone, even the successful ones that have made it, Sean and Catherine, they'll even talk about how hard that time is, like for everyone, but like especially for certain people when people aren't very nice. And, you know, I can attest to that too. It's just like, it is a shit foundation. I always say it. It is people get a big head when they come out of it. I tried so hard because I learned from you and your experience. I was like, I am going to involve

Sean and everything. I am going to really try and like make this an us thing. not a me thing. And it is weird, though, because brands are like, okay, well, we want that. And then you're getting, the league gets more money because they have more Instagram follows. And like, it just, it doesn't feel good. No, it doesn't. And I think part of it is to, I mean, I get it. Like I don't, there's some aspects of it where I'm like, yeah, I probably would have done the same thing if the shoe was on the other foot. But I don't know. I, and there are still times there I have a little trauma, like resentment into all of that. But.

But at the same time, I look at where I am. Yeah. And even though, you know, there's been times where I'm like, oh, financially I could be in a different place or whatnot, I wouldn't have the family that I have now. Yeah. And I'm obsessed with your husband. I know. I mean, now here I am going to cry.

Here is this Prozac? Prozac? Is that you? Or is it just your emotions coming out? I mean, oh, yeah. You just have such a beautiful family. I do. The fact that his last name is angel and that he is an angel.

the fact that your son is a sweet little angel who is born on the day, the rebirth of your mom's passing, which is also the derby that's so close to your heart. Like everything is just like cosmic and meant to be in. That wouldn't have happened if you went, didn't go on the show. No, it wouldn't. And I will say you were the only person there that was there for him. I was. I was like, I wanted a farmer.

I was like hot, farmers hot. Like I grew up, all my friends were farmers and I was always like, I could live on a farm. But you were real, but I was also there for it because I was like, well. want to build a brand. I didn't even know that was a possibility. I was like, how did you something? How did you even know that that was the term, build a brand? But I knew it could be a step in a different direction for my career because I really had nothing else going for me that it was like. That is not true. Okay, that sounded bad. Career wise, I didn't know what I wanted. I thought I wanted to be a dancer, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But it was just cool to me that you really were there

for him. He really took it seriously. It was a very difficult time for you. Obviously, it didn't work out. But again, the little nose are always turning into the big yeses and it's like exactly, you're exactly where you're supposed to be. Well, and I think when kind of bringing it to this full circle moment, you know, I think that when I thought about the opportunity to start something of my own, it was a ginormous risk. And I typically like to play it safe, just kind of what we were talking about. But that was a time 10, a decade later, where I again was back to asking myself that question. Like, do I continue down the path that's comfortable or do I take the risk? And this time I chose something different. And it was to take the risk. And that's Lily.

And it's something that I know. I know women's health. I know the journey professionally and personally. And you're so compassionate with it. I love it. Yeah. And it's, I think it's just so needed. It is needed. Where can everybody follow Instagram? It's at Lily Concier. Everybody, it's one L, not two. Lily with one L-L concierge on Instagram. And then it's just lilyconcierge.com, your website? Yeah. Amazing.

Okay, let's get to the questions. Oh, my gosh. Some girl named Kelly said, ever need someone who has wild egg donation stories? I'm your girl. Okay. Tell us. Tell us. Any advice for someone who has gone through breast cancer treatments twice that has previously

frozen eggs but probably cannot carry a baby with IVF? Great question. Wow. Sorry. First of all. Yes. Okay. So she froze her eggs and now considering using them but may not be able to carry.

So that's where you're going down, you know, the surrogacy path. And thank God for surrogates. Bless them. Yes. So what will happen is we have those eggs and those will be thawed and fertilized with sperm, whether it's a partner or donor. And then from there, once the eggs are fertilized, they'll grow into embryos, which we call blastocysts.

The surrogate will then be prepped. for the transfer of the blastocyst. And that timing is all done, you know, with the reproductive endocrinologist, kind of setting it all up. But I think the nice thing is, is because you froze your eggs. Yes. If you're not caring, there's no hormones that need to be put. You've done the hard work. Oh.

Right? So it would be one thing if you're like, hey, I've had a history of breast cancer. I really would like to have a baby, but I didn't freeze my eggs. Yep. Thank goodness that you were proactive and either froze your eggs when you were younger or, you know, prior to going through chemotherapy or anything so that you have that you've done the hard part and now it would be you've done a lot of the hard parts yeah yeah for real failed five rounds of egg freezing to then have healthy natural pregnancy why oh god because nothing's black and white in this world right

I mean and I think that that's another thing that we have to always remember you know when we look at data and we look at the stats and we say you know IVF is going to give you this percentage of success and you only have about, depending on your age, you may have like a 15 to 20% chance of getting pregnant each month naturally. And you look at something like IVF and you say, oh, you could have like a 65% chance with that. So we put all of our, you know, no pun intended, but we put all of our eggs in that basket being like, oh my gosh, well that's going to be so much more successful. But it's not all or nothing, right? We see this all the time where it doesn't make sense, but then someone goes through all of these rounds and then they get pregnant naturally.

You know, I just, I think it's not a guarantee just because you go through IVF that it's going to be a success. Okay, yay, the holidays are here. I love it. Which means it's time to find the perfect gift. And let's be honest, because nobody wants to give something that's totally forgettable. Am I right? Maybe it's just me? No, I think it's everyone.

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testing, the genetic testing, and she had an embryo that came back as uploid, which is normal. So it was a healthy embryo. Okay. And unfortunately, you know, it didn't, it took, but she had the miscarriage. And that, you know, by doing the PGG testing, hopefully that reduces the risk of miscarriage. So now what they're doing is recurrent pregnancy loss panel, the RPL panel to see, is there something autoimmune or is there something in the blood that's causing it to thicken to where clots could form that are prohibiting the baby from growing in utero?

what else could you do well i would say i mean at this point was it just one miscarriage um just had my second miscarriage okay so i think that doing the rPL testing is wonderful i mean after that if that testing all comes back as normal you can think about doing some sort of endometrial biopsy to make sure that there's nothing going on the uterus specifically that's causing the baby not to grow but if the embryo is implanting again sometimes it just takes consistency which is not you know, we always want to find a reason why something's not working and sometimes there's not always a reason. And I know that that is so hard. I've been there and I see it happen a lot. Yeah. I actually love this question because I'm curious too. Does being on an SSRI or mental health

medication impact your baby in the womb? Certain medications can. So you always want to be sure that you're talking with your OBGYN about what you're on to make sure that it is compatible with pregnancy. but something like a search reline that we've been talking about, that is completely safe. There's so many stereotypes and we put so much guilt on ourselves that we shouldn't be taking that. But, I mean, for your baby to be healthy, you need to be healthy. And I think that it's absolutely with the okay of your provider, okay, to take it. Yeah, they told me that mine is, but I still wondered. Yeah, and you always want to check, but for sure.

This question always, I'm going to, everyone's going to be shocked at what you say, but what age should women consider egg freezing? Oh, gosh. Okay. I would say 25 to 35. Oh, I thought it was going to be younger. I mean, the younger, the better. Yeah. As we get older, we know that our fertility is always going down after 30, especially. So, of course, we want you to do it younger, so you can have a better response. But anytime is better than no time. So if you are in your mid-30s, don't cut yourself short. Thoughts on the chip, Nexplanon? What's that? Oh, the Nexplanon implant. So they put in your arm. It's like a birth control that they can put it. in your arm. So it's interesting. I mean, birth control in general is not going to impact your overall fertility. But I will say with the next splint on implant, you want to get it out about a month or so prior to starting any sort of treatment because it has shown to be a little bit more

oversuppressing than something like the oral pill. Interesting. True benefits to ingesting your placenta for postpartum. I don't have any. I don't know. I don't know. Okay. Perfect. Is IUI worth it to keep trying after miscarriage after an IUI treatment? I think that IUI give it. What is IUI? Intruterine insemination. So that's less invasive. It's typically like your first form of treatment.

You know, if you're coming into the fertility clinic and there's not some glaring diagnosis jumping out of you. So if there's like a male factor in fertility, typically IUI is not going to be recommended. Okay. But it's the less invasive way to where you can take oral medication or injectable medications and then time ovulation, and then it's where the sperm is then taken, and we take the sperm and put it past the cervix into the top of the uterus to where we can time it and kind of bypass, you know, the sperm happens.

It's kind of like what you were saying the other day about the turkey baster, but a little bit more scientific. Why was I shamed that? I was like, oh, I was like, God, sex becomes such a chore when you're trying to get pregnant that it's like an interaction, it's not romantic. I was like, why can't the guy just jerk off into a turkey baser? And you just go, I wish you guys could have seen my face. I was like, is that, is that a no?

It's like, isn't that same, same? Okay, somebody said, please ask her if she recommends surgery for endometriosis. Oh, gosh, endometriosis. I have a whole post on this on my Lilly page, so I feel like she, and there's also another post on PGT testing, so if anyone's interested on that. So endometriosis. woman follow that page. For real, please do. And always send any sort of questions. I'm happy to answer them to you on there. Okay, so back to the question at hand. So it depends on how severe,

what grade of the endometriosis you have. There's really, the only way to diagnose endometriosis is through a laparoscopy, which is an invasive procedure. So, you know, sometimes when we're doing like an ultrasound, we can say, oh, we think we see a little endometriuma on the ovary. That doesn't necessarily mean that you have endometriosis. So if you're talking about getting the laparoscopy for diagnosis, I think that if you're having the symptoms and you're having pain, definitely that's something to look into it. But if they is on the organs or we're having sort of adhesions or scar tissue that's binding some of the organs together, it's very, very painful in ametriosis. And it's something that so many women fight in silence. Yeah, I have the worst periods of my life.

like so it's bad i got my fibroid removed thinking that would help and well they said this period will be very telling that's coming up it should be any second now oh just kidding um but it's this one because they said two to three periods after like the two to three will be pretty painful and it was awful yeah um so this one will be very telling but that's interesting yeah i think there is you know one caveat though with having endometriosis removed especially if it's on the ovaries it can grow back well it can you have to be careful because we don't want to damage the ovaries. So if you're getting the surgery for removing endometriosis, I do always recommend freezing your eggs before you do it. Yeah, that's a good, good call. What can be done for more proactive fertility knowledge

about your body? Oh my gosh, I love this question. Okay, good. First of all, asking the questions because when you go in just for your normal OBGYN appointment, many times it's not going to just be offered up unless you're asking for it. Yeah. So I think by saying, hey, I'm interested in learning more about my fertility? Is there any sort of testing that I can have done? And if it, you know, if you do get the testing, remember, though, you need to have the education around what your test results mean. Right. Because, for example, there's a hormone called AMH or anti-malarian hormone. And there's a lot of misconceptions around this hormone that if you get the testing done and your results come back lower than what you would like, that you're never going to get pregnant. And that could not be farther

from the truth. It may let us know that you have a little bit of a decreased reserve, but it doesn't mean that you're never, it doesn't have any correlation to getting pregnant naturally. So it's more about, if you get the test results done, be sure that you also are booking an appointment to get the education around what they are and what those results mean. Everything you say, I'm like, you're smart. Should women in their 30s freeze their eggs or go straight to freezing embryos? Like, oh gosh. That's a good question. These are all great questions. Yeah. I, personally, if you do not have a partner, even if you do have a partner, I think freezing eggs is a probably the better way to go. And here's the reason being. It used to be that we always said you should freeze

embryos because embryos are more stable than eggs. Eggs are mostly water-based. They're easily damaged. They're harder to work with. But now with what we call vitrification, which is how eggs are frozen, it's like a flash freeze, so they're much more stable. And that's common practice. So depending on where you're going and the success of the laboratory and their experience with freezing eggs, because it is a very fine-tuned technology, you know, you could have still the same success with egg freezing as you can with embryos. Here's the deal. If you freeze, an embryo. Embryos are always going to be more stable, right? But it cannot be undone. So if you're going through all of this work and putting your body through this and doing the hormones and having

a surgical procedure, even though it's low risk, it's still a surgical procedure, you want to have full autonomy and control over those. As soon as you fertilize them, you can't just remove the sperm and have your egg back, right? So once they're fertilized, they're fertilized. If you're using, you know, a donor sperm, you think about, you know, you're young. Like, you could meet someone next week, you can meet someone in 10 years that you want to be able to use those eggs with. And if it's with donor sperm, you can't undo it. And also, even if you are married, I always counsel, you know, my clients on you may have the best relationship ever, but just no, once those are fertilized, they're just as much your partners as they are yours. So you could never use those again

without the sperm source giving me okay. I would have never thought about that. Yeah. Okay, I may or may not have been looking around my house the other day and had a little holiday panic moment because my sister, my niece, and my nephew are all coming to my house for Christmas and I was like, gifts, not done, guest rooms? Kind of a mess. And I don't even know about my living room. I just feel like I need something to spice it up. I barely have any holiday vibes going on and usually I start that by now. So, does anyone else relate? Or is it just me? Totally losing my noodle this year? Thank goodness for Wayfair because it is my holiday lifesaver. They have everything from bedding and linen. to decor for every single room in your house.

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holidays for way less. Head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com. Wayfair, every style, every home. This episode of Off the Vine is brought to you by Booking.com. Now, I've got to say, if you are looking to grow your vacation rental business, this is the place to be. Booking.com is one of the most downloaded travel apps in the world and for good reason.

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Get seen, get booked on booking.com. best ovulation tracker there's all of these things out on the market and i i'm not saying that they're bad but i think a lot of them are just you can you can track ovulation just with something like on your phone like a flow app yeah um i don't know that you can those those are great but you can you don't need to be spending a ton of money on a device that you pumping out these hormones and telling you this is what this result is this or this result is you can go on your flow app, track your cycle, it will tell you when your peak ovulation days are, you can go and just get the P sticks with the LH predictor kits that are super cheap.

I think Pregmate on Amazon, like you can get a pack of so many of these for like dirt cheap, like under $15, I think. So just, yes, I'm not saying that the other ones aren't worth it, but you don't need to be spending a ton of money on getting these electric testing strips or whatever. Yeah. Okay, last question is tips for TTC with PCOS and mail factor information. infertility. Okay. So she's saying tips for trying to conceive with polycystic ovarian syndrome and

male factors. So there's likely something going on with this. I have PCOS. I would say tracking cycles is really important. Just because you have PCOS doesn't mean that you're not, that you're going to have to go straight to IVF. But sometimes when you have PCOS, you're not ovulating regularly. So it may take a little bit more persistence. But as long as you're ovulating and timing intercourse appropriately, you're good there. Now with the male factor, it really depends on how severe it is. We're talking about that, you know, we might have a little bit of a lower morphology, but the count is great. The motility is great.

You know, I think that IUI or you just naturally trying, you know, with monitoring ovulation may be okay. But if we have like a significant low count here and a significant low motility, I would recommend seeing a urologist just to be sure that we're not missing something. And depending on how severe it is, it may be recommended to go to IVF. Because with IVF, they use something called ICSI, which is introsidoplasmic sperm injection, where they can take the sperm from the sample. You know, there's millions of sperm. We only need enough for however many eggs we're trying to fertilize.

So let's say it's 10 eggs. They can go in specifically pick out that one sperm or those 10 sperm and put it straight into the egg. So it's less work for the sperm. I heard on, I think Sean Booth was talking about how you still have his frozen sperm. Oh, yes. Well, I don't, but yes. It's still there. Because when somebody, I mean, you can't, it's not like you could do anything with it.

It's just if he wants to use it. He could, but he could also just discard it. It's really, I mean, yeah. Okay, got it. I lied one more question. Okay. Do you think health insurance comps will ever cover egg freezing? So I think she's saying would health insurance companies ever pay for egg freezing?

Because a lot of insurance companies look at egg freezing as being elective, so not medically necessary. I would say just talking with your employer to see if you have some sort of coverage. Because a lot of times certain things, like, for example, there's this company called progeny. And they, if your company has progeny, a lot of times they will put into their plan that they want to cover so many cycles of egg freezing. So ask about that. I'm hoping that it does become more just common practice that when a woman becomes a certain age, that just like she's getting a pap smear and at a certain age you get a mammogram, like at a certain age you just freeze your eggs. Like it should just be common preventative sort of medicine, right?

or, you know, to help prevent the chance of, you know, having to do IVF in the future. I hope so. But there's also, you know, ways that you can offset the cost. So I would recommend asking, again, ask your employer if they have something in place that could cover it or offset the cost. And additionally, even though your insurance company may not pay for the actual procedure, they may pay for the medications. So that can be just as expensive as the procedure itself.

So it's very important to see, hey, maybe I'm. I have med coverage, and that will really help offset the cost as well. So as you can see, if you need a question answered about anything like this, who else would you call? You. Me. I would call you for everything. And you know every answer to every question.

It is so cool. I love listening to you talk about it. I could listen to you, talk about it for hours. It's so cool. And I think, too. I mean, it's just, it's important that you're seeing and heard. Yeah. It doesn't matter where you are on the journey.

Like I said, you could be just thinking about trying to conceive. You could be doing preservation for your fertility. You could be pregnant. You could be getting ready to have a baby. You could be postpartum. You need to be seen and heard. And unfortunately, in America, our health care system because of just, it's broken. And there's gaps that need to be filled.

And this is a big one is helping women and men navigate this. Because how is anyone supposed to know what questions to ask when they're thrown into this crazy, I mean, it's crazy. It's unknown territory for most people. It is. And so by having someone that's saying, hey, I'm on your team, I got your back. Here's how I would recommend navigating this. Again, not giving medical advice, but this is where I would start.

Here's a list of questions. This is what this test results mean. This is how, you know, when your baby comes home from the hospital, here's things that you can have in place or things that you can think about. And I think what's great, too, is my business partner, Tiffany, all of her experience is in, you know, obstetrics, gynecology, and women's health. I have more of the fertility background. So we really cover it all. And we also both have gone through fertility treatment. So Tiffany's a single mom by choice. She talks about that very openly. She has a

beautiful nine-year-old daughter. I froze my eggs and then struggled with secondary infertility. So I've done all of that as well. So we get it from both sides. And that is where chat GPT cannot get it. No, they can't. And Chatbeat GPT is only as good as what you put into it. Yes. There's nothing like the human connection of people who have been through it. They see you, they hear you, and they know what it's like. And I think what's also great about Lily is that we're with you through it all. It's not a contractor. You know, so there are companies, big box companies that are have kind of the same premise as Lily, but they could never be Lily because they're scaling so quickly. And that there are these big companies that are hiring out these contractors to answer calls so you're put into

this system where you're you know there's a contact center a customer service center and you're telling your story over and over again you don't know who you're going to be talking with and I think with us you know we were with you through it all it felt like that even with freezing my eggs with you I was like you were there every step of the way yes and that's what we it was very comforting you to be for people I'm so proud of you literally like you're the coolest friend Thanks. It's really cool. Even though I'm wearing, even with your clam diggers on, you are still cool.

Thank you. Okay, so everybody, go follow Lily Concierger. Go to the website. If you have any more questions, Whitney's obviously happy to answer anything. Follow DM, all of the things. And I just think it's brilliant. And so it's, there's, I can't think of a word to describe. Like, it's so, I'm hungover.

What's the word I'm thinking? It's so. fulfilling. Yeah, like fulfilling and empowering and just like beautiful work that you're doing. And also, I'm going to ask your followers and stuff if they have suggestion. Again, I'm behind on the times with the social. In the pants. In the pants. Just kidding. Go on. These actually are cool pants.

They are cool pants. I would love like feedback on what people want to hear on Lily's page because we are, you know, starting everything out. We've got our platform on our website and trying to do social and marketing and getting our name out there. it's a lot if you don't think that you want to have children should you still freeze your eggs I would say yes because you could always change your mind and at least you could go back and say you know what I no longer want my eggs I'm going to discard my eggs but if you go down the line and say I wish that I would have frozen my eggs because now I want children you can't turn back the clock right so and I have a question yeah if I wanted to donate them I could also donate them so once your eggs are

frozen, you have so many options of what you want to do with them if you decide you no longer need them or you live no longer want them. So you can just discard them. You can donate them to research or you can donate them to another couple. I want to donate mine to a sweet little gay couple who wants a baby. Yeah, and you can. Yeah. If I don't use them, that's what I'm doing. Yeah. Okay. Well, I love you. I love you. This was the best. I'm like, I don't want to say bye. I know. I hate it here, but Ashley, I just ruined our party and said the Uber's here. Joy to the world, Cludo TV is free with all the best movies. The Llamadies are brutal.

So we're feeling full. String Pluto TV, stream Pluto TV, streaming Pluto TV for free. Stream blockbuster hits like 21 Jump Street, Ted, the expendables, and so much more on Pluto TV. Rock, Pluto TV, stream now, pay never. Hi, I'm Lauren. And I'm Chandler. And we're the host of Pop Apologist podcast, a weekly podcast devoted to celebrity gossip, Hollywood deep dives, real housewives, drama, and anything and everything, Taylor Swift. We're two sisters who make no apologies for our love of pop culture and the fact that A-listers might be more to us than each other.

Join us on your favorite podcast app every Wednesday for Pop Apologists. Pop Apologists, your new favorite sister and celeb podcast.