Good News: Treat infertility at home with #TheStork

This post about at-home infertility treatments is brought to you by The Stork and my partnership with The Motherhood. I received compensation for sharing my thoughts on a webinar I attended, and all opinions are 100% my own. 

So some of my friends and family know this and some don’t. Because being a blogger means my life is a virtual open book, I might as well tell you: we deal with infertility issues.

Tests and doctors’ visits have been inconclusive. Some hormones are up when they need to be down. Vice versa. The fertility doctor and natural doctor give opposing advice. Confusing!

I’m one of 7.3 million couples (1 in 6!) in the United States with difficulty conceiving. Increasing rates of infertility can be from:

• High estrogen levels in males
• Imbalanced pH in females
• Women conceiving later in life (by age 35-40, there’s just 10% chance per month of conceiving)
• Limited options (doctors often wait 6-12 months before referring to fertility clinics)

Both of our boys were conceived with a little help from Clomid and IUI (intra-uterine insemination) procedures. (IUI success rates are only around 10-20%, so natural or not, I believe God gave us our children).

Here’s our first-born waving at you:

While I’m thankful for modern medicine, it’s with a bit of Eeyore-like woe-is-us when we consider trying for a third baby. You see, when you start down the path of fertility treatment, your life (and your spouse’s) becomes heavily scheduled. You’re hyper-aware of every bodily function (some that are just figments of your imagination: “Is that a twinge? What does that mean?”).

You’re “on call” for your procedure. So don’t plan vacations or out of town events (or an epic snowstorm-of-the-century that powers out the entire eastern seaboard for 8-10 days and drives you to live an hour away at your in-law’s the week you’re ovulating. Yes. True story!).

And then there’s the drawbacks of fertility treatments:

• Cost (IUI $1,000-5,000 per treatment, IVF $12,000-20,000)
• Hormone medications
• Increased rates of breast and ovarian cancers
• Stress of treatment (which, relax, right? Because you’re only spending thousands of dollars and putting all social life on hold for something that MIGHT. NOT. WORK!).

But what if the doctor visits and running about could be eliminated?

Baby-making is NOT supposed to be stressful, but when you’re dealing with infertility it IS. And well-meaning “Just relax and it will happen” comments DO. NOT. HELP! Sorry.

Removing the stress factor of doctor visits could prove beneficial for couples. Removing the stress of cost and you may have a baby on your hands in nine months!

Last week, I got to chat with Steven Bollinger, the CEO and Founder of The Stork. He’s personally experienced infertility issues with his wife and was empathetic the endless stress and high cost of fertility treatment.

The Stork is a reproductive aid that provides a similar process to an IUI treatment. At home. 

Did you hear that? At home?! No doctors asking personal questions, no interns “observing” you. No awkward waiting rooms or “life on hold” feeling.

And. No “breeding in captivity” as I like to call the frighteningly-sterile-feeling IUI procedure. My husband wasn’t even in the room for the procedure with our second baby because someone (he!) had to watch our first baby!

The Stork, an ICI (intra-cervical insemination) device has a current success rate at 10-20%, which is about the same as IUI (but a fraction of the cost and stress!).

What I learned about The Stork made me think it’s a product I’ll try before considering another IUI procedure.

• A prescription device with possible approval from FDA to become over-the-counter by next year!
• Cost-effective at about $80 per application (recommended three applications per cycle).
• Safe and natural with no drugs, no injections, no surgery, and no latex.

And. Because I am totally a grown up but completely awkward-like-you-wouldn’t-want-to-be-seen-with-me when it comes to discussing reproductive things… Suffice it to say, you follow the natural process of conception, but with a little extra help afterwards. I’ll let The Stork tell you in their own words how it works – you can even watch a video!

Follow The Stork on Facebook, Twitter, and Vimeo!

I hope my sharing my story and thoughts on The Stork proves valuable for some of my readers… I would’ve definitely tried this out if I’d know about it four years ago!

What’s your reaction to at-home infertility treatment options like The Stork?