{"id":28017,"date":"2025-05-05T14:32:48","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T14:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/?post_type=podcast&#038;p=28017"},"modified":"2025-05-05T14:33:45","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T14:33:45","slug":"episode-207","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/education\/podcast\/episode-207\/","title":{"rendered":"Episode 207: From Struggle to Storybook: The Journey Behind Cupcakes Everywhere"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"template":"","categories":[451,230,229,240],"tags":[235,479,454],"class_list":["post-28017","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","hentry","category-family-building","category-education","category-ivf-facts","category-trying-to-conceive","tag-ivf","tag-male-factor-infertility","tag-member-story"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Episode 207: From Struggle to Storybook: The Journey Behind 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shares how infertility reshaped her view and inspired a metaphorical children's book that captures the bittersweet reality of struggling to grow a family.","episode_intro_guest":"Erin Sarris","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 207: From Struggle to Storybook: The Journey Behind <em>Cupcakes Everywhere<\/em>","episode_embed_code":"<iframe style=\"border: none;\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/36362885\/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\/landing207\/font-color\/000000\" width=\"100%\" height=\"128\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>","episode_details":"<span data-contrast=\"none\">When Erin Sarris and her husband first visited a fertility clinic, they were hit with unexpected news: severe male factor infertility and an immediate recommendation to pursue IVF. What followed was a long, winding, and often painful journey filled with setbacks, from failed cycles to loss and emotional isolation.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"none\">Now a mother of three and author of<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Cupcakes-Everywhere-Sweet-Overcoming-Infertility-ebook\/dp\/B0CZT28HL5\/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8\"><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">Cupcakes Everywhere: One Sweet Tale of Overcoming Infertility<\/span><\/i><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\">, Erin shares how infertility reshaped her view and inspired a metaphorical children's book that captures the bittersweet reality of struggling to grow a family. This conversation is raw, vulnerable, and ultimately a reminder that even when the path to parenthood is anything but straightforward.<\/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\"><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><a href=\"mailto:thisisinfertility@progyny.com.%E2%80%AF\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">thisisinfertility@progyny.com.<\/span><\/a>\r\n\r\n<b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Guest: <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Erin Sarris, Progyny Member<\/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\">Watch this episode on YouTube:<\/span>\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/VRuXbZ4g460\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"none\">Here are some highlights from this episode:\u202f<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>Reshaping Their View on Family Building\r\n<\/b><\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">02:02 \u2013 05:21<\/span>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"padding-left:40px;\"><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Erin Sarris: <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">We were like, we should probably actually see what's going on and go to an actual fertility clinic. My husband had very severe male factor infertility that would require us to go straight to IVF, and so that was a lot to process, because I'd always hope to avoid IVF.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">We got five embryos that were edge cases. We got the phone call that none of our embryos were viable and none of them were suitable for transfer, which honestly was a consideration that I hadn't even taken. I thought that everybody gets a transfer. I was like, I just want to go home. I want to go home for the whole month. And luckily, we both worked remotely at the time, and we could do that. So, we spent the money that we would have spent on the transfer, and we booked a month-long rental in Chicago, and came home to be with our families. And that was so nice and so healing to do.<\/span>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>Feeling Isolated\r\n<\/b><\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">06:02 \u2013 08:24<\/span>\r\n<div style=\"padding-left:40px;\">\r\n<b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Erin Sarris:<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> That spring we moved back to Chicago, and that was when I did another IVF cycle, which went a lot better. This time I got a lot more embryos. So, we did another cycle, and that was a freeze all cycle, and then we transferred, and our first transfer we ever got, you know, 18 months later, whatever it was from starting fertility treatments, we did that in the fall, and that was a blighted ovum, which is a type of miscarriage.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">I ended up having a DNC for that pregnancy and thus began my dark phase of just completely like every day felt so unbearable, like I just couldn't interact with anybody, and I felt very socially awkward. I have two brothers, I'm really close to them, and I called them and I said, I don't even know how to make small talk with people at Easter when people say, \u201cHey, Erin, how's it going? What's new?\u201d Like, I literally did not know how to answer that question in a casual way without just feeling this like complete shame and like grief over our infertility. I just felt like my brain was broken and my ability to be engaged with the world, and you'll see a lot of this in the book, like just feeling this sense of otherness and like things come so easily to other people.<\/span>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>Finally Getting Their Cupcakes\r\n<\/b><\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">08:53 \u2013 12:12<\/span>\r\n<div style=\"padding-left:40px;\">\r\n<b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Dan Bulger:<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> They were down to their last two embryos, and this felt like a last chance for the couple.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Erin Sarris:<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> One day, my husband and I were out in the car, and I'm like, you know what's funny, I haven't gotten my period in a really long time. And then he was like, Well, how long? And so I, like, went back and kind of like, was thinking about it, and I was like, I think I haven't gotten a period for like, six or seven weeks. And he was like, what? Oh my gosh, I think I'm pregnant.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">I wrote an Instagram post to announce my pregnancy with my son, and I used the metaphor of the special bakery, because I wanted to highlight the different processes that I took to having, you know, all three of the kids, and I just kind of talked about how, imagine if you had to go to this sad, sad bakery to even get a chance at having a cupcake. But everyone else can easily bake their cupcakes at home. That was kind of how the cupcakes metaphor was born. It's actually maybe more for grown-ups than I even realized when I was writing it. I think that infertility is just something that makes its mark on you.<\/span><\/div>","episode_host_image":22569,"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":28018,"episode_guest_1_title":"Erin Sarris, Progyny Member","episode_guest_1_bio":"Erin Sarris is a writer and digital marketer who lives in Chicago with her family, which includes her husband and their three kids, (two of which were conceived through many rounds of IVF). She is the author of the children's book, \"Cupcakes Everywhere: One Sweet Tale of Overcoming Infertility\" and spends a lot of her free time advocating for better access to infertility treatments and championing reproductive autonomy.","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\/28017","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=28017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}