{"id":27528,"date":"2025-02-10T15:51:50","date_gmt":"2025-02-10T15:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/?post_type=podcast&p=27528"},"modified":"2025-02-10T15:52:56","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T15:52:56","slug":"episode-201","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/education\/podcast\/episode-201\/","title":{"rendered":"Episode 201: Single Parent by Choice: Choosing Solo Motherhood and Overcoming Loss"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"template":"","categories":[451,230,229],"tags":[559,529,358,243],"class_list":["post-27528","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","hentry","category-family-building","category-education","category-ivf-facts","tag-donor-conception","tag-donor-egg","tag-progyny-member","tag-single-parents-by-choice"],"yoast_head":"\nEpisode 201: Single Parent by Choice: Choosing Solo Motherhood and Overcoming Loss | Progyny<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tune in to hear how support from Progyny\u2019s 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in to hear how support from Progyny\u2019s fertility benefits and donor eggs led to her happy ending of becoming a mom. ","episode_intro_guest":"Erica Ward","episode_intro_company":"Progyny member","episode_banner_section_intro_text":"This is Infertility is a bi-weekly podcast where we fuse narrative storytelling with experience and science to give you a new perspective on what it\u2019s really like to go through a family building journey. Each episode dives into the emotional, physical, and financial burdens carried by those who experience infertility on their path to parenthood. Be it IVF, IUI, egg freezing, surrogacy, adoption, etc., the path is never the same and it can be long, painful, and lonely. It\u2019s our mission to give those struggling a platform to be heard, a community connection, and an opportunity to raise awareness of the 1 in 6 who, for many reasons, struggle with infertility.","episode_page_title":"Episode 201: Single Parent by Choice: Choosing Solo Motherhood and Overcoming Loss ","episode_embed_code":"<iframe style=\"border: none;\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/34899030\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/ffffff\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/stats-code\/landing201\/font-color\/000000\" width=\"100%\" height=\"128\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>","episode_details":"<span data-contrast=\"auto\">For today\u2019s guest, becoming a mother wasn\u2019t just a dream\u2014it was a promise she made to herself. In her mid-30s, Erica Ward knew she wanted to be a parent more than she wanted to be a wife. By 40, she made the decision to pursue <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/progyny.com\/blog\/fertility-family-building\/single-parents-by-choice\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">single motherhood<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, despite the challenges ahead.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">Her path wasn\u2019t easy, from <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/progyny.com\/education\/what-can-i-learn-about-sperm-donors-to-help-me-find-the-right-donor-for-me\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">choosing a sperm donor<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, failed IUIs to IVF, and devastating loss. While Erica grieved for her pregnancies and felt the financial toll, she never gave up. Tune in to hear how support from Progyny\u2019s fertility benefits and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/progyny.com\/education\/ivf-facts\/donor-eggs-top-5-most-common-questions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">donor eggs<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> led to her happy ending of becoming a mom.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Guest: <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Erica Ward, Progyny Member at Sleep Number<\/span>\r\n<b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Host: <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Dan Bulger, Progyny<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"none\">For more information, visit Progyny\u2019s Podcast page and <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.progyny.com\/education\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Progyny\u2019s Education page<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\"> for more resources. Be sure to follow us on Instagram, @ThisisInfertilityPodcast and use the #ThisisInfertility. Have a question, comment, or want to share your story? Email us at <\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">thisisinfertility@progyny.com.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"none\">Watch this episode on YouTube:<\/span>\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/Y6Ln16ecXGM\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"none\">Here are some highlights from this episode:<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>Solo Parenthood and Sperm Donor Selection\r\n<\/b><\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">01:20 \u2013 04:22<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Erica Ward: <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I knew in my mid-30s, that I wanted to be a parent much more than I wanted to be a wife, and that didn't mean that I didn't seek out that partner to build a family with. It just didn't work in my favor. When I got to be about 40, I kind of started to think, you know what? I'm just going to have to do this journey. And I was with somebody at the time, and I said to him, I'm going to be a mom. I'm going for it. Either you're on board or you're off. Like, it doesn't matter to me, but this is, like, really important. This is one of my values. He was not on board.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">A sperm donor can really get you in a rabbit hole like, there are literally 1000s. So, I think you really have to start with saying, like, what is the most important thing to me? I really wanted them to embody what my parents had in ethnicity. My dad is Irish, my mom is German. And then I wanted to have a good health background.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Dan Bulger: <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">When you're choosing a donor, you're not choosing a person, you're choosing a gene pool. So, it's best to focus on the important genetic things, like is the donor a carrier for something that you might be a carrier for as well?<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>A Difficult Road to Motherhood\r\n<\/b><\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">04:46 \u2013 11:08<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Erica Ward: <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Started off with IUIs. That was the easiest process. I had three IUIs that did not work out for me. I learned about IVF, realized that IVF was probably my best option. Talked with a doctor, who informed me that after the age of 42, 90% of female's eggs are not considered good anymore. So, he advised me to move towards donor egg. And I wasn't willing to do that off the bat. I was going to buy a few donor eggs, just to make sure that my journey could kind of be consistent.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Dan Bulger: <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">So, Erica did her first retrieval cycle, and it went well. She had some embryos on ice, and in June, she had her first embryo transferred. This resulted in a positive blood pregnancy test, but unfortunately, about a month later, she got<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> the<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> bad news.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Erica Ward: <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">My body had started the miscarriage process the day before the appointment. So, I elected to do natural miscarriage. That didn't work. I spent three weeks miscarrying before I called them and was like, we need to do the surgery. So went in for the surgery on August 1st, I believe. And yeah, I mean, the rest is kind of history. I went on to miscarry<\/span> <span data-contrast=\"auto\">-<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">or be pregnant, three more times and had chemicals with those.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>Meant to be Hers\r\n<\/b><\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">13:38 \u2013 14:58<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Dan Bulger: <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Erica had a new approach, using donor eggs, and she had coverage from Progyny backing her up, so she was able to change clinics to one with a great track record, far closer to home, and she got pregnant - only this time, her pregnancy resulted in the birth of her perfect baby boy.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Erica Ward: <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I think there is, especially for me, there was grief. There was grief with a lot of things. There was grief with not having my own eggs. There was grief with losing the babies and the chemicals. There was grief. There's this financial grief, right? So much grief can be in the journey, and there can be joy too. But it was not an easy go for me.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">He is here because he's meant to be mine. And I don't want to say everything happens for a reason, or it was all meant to be. I don't know if that's the case. This timing of him coming into the world, for me and with me, for us to pursue our, you know, family at the same time is that is perfect. It's perfect in every way, so.<\/span>","episode_host_image":22658,"episode_host_title":"Dan Bulger, Producer at Progyny","episode_host_bio":"Dan has been in the healthcare industry for the past ten plus years as a multimedia content producer. Better known as \u2018Video Dan\u2019 he has interviewed numerous doctors, patients and other experts in the world of fertility. He\u2019s also the producer for this podcast, This is Infertility and the producer behind the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/progyny\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-uw-rm-brl=\"exc\" aria-label=\"Progyny YouTube Channel - opens in new tab\" data-uw-rm-ext-link=\"na\">\u00a0Progyny YouTube Channel<\/a>\u00a0which features interviews with dozens of the nation\u2019s leading fertility specialists. On a personal note Dan\u2019s parents started fostering kids when he was four years old, and he considers himself a proud older brother to over 100 foster children.","episode_guest_1_image":27529,"episode_guest_1_title":"Erica Ward, Progyny Member","episode_guest_1_bio":"<span class=\"TextRun SCXW222621585 BCX8\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW222621585 BCX8\">Erica Ward is a Single Mother by Choice. In her 30\u2019s, Erica discovered her passion for being a mom outweighed her passion for being a wife. She began the journey of motherhood at the advanced maternal age of 40. After several failed IUI\u2019s, Erica decided to go the IVF route. After several miscarriages and failed attempts, Erica decided to <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW222621585 BCX8\">purchase<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW222621585 BCX8\"> a lot of frozen eggs. She brought her beautiful son into this world through donor egg and donor sperm at the age of 46. Erica is a Leadership Development Partner for Sleep Number based in Minneapolis. She recently created a group for people at her place of work who are facing infertility, miscarriage, and infant loss.<\/span><\/span>","episode_guest_2_image":"","episode_guest_2_title":"","episode_guest_2_bio":"","episode_guest_3_image":"","episode_guest_3_title":"","episode_guest_3_bio":"","episode_guest_4_image":"","episode_guest_4_title":"","episode_guest_4_bio":"","episode_guest_5_image":"","episode_guest_5_title":"","episode_guest_5_bio":"","episode_music_section_links":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast\/27528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/podcast"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}