Building Families Through Science and Love
Allie and Sam, widely recognized as "Mommy and Other Mommy," share their emotional and transformative journey to parenthood in How to Make a Baby: Everything LGBTQ+ Families Need to Know About IVF. This inspiring guide is a must-read for LGBTQ+ families navigating artificial insemination, IVF, and other fertility options.
#1 New Release in Pregnancy & Childbirth
Growing a family as a same-sex couple comes with unique challenges. For Allie and Sam, the path to parenthood was anything but easy. Their story reveals the highs and lows of a three-year journey, involving IUIs, a home insemination, IVF cycles, frozen embryo transfers, and significant financial and emotional investments.
From heartbreak to hope, their journey offers a beacon of guidance. Navigating heteronormative fertility clinics, answering questions about their family dynamic, and overcoming countless obstacles, Allie and Sam show that with determination and love, it’s possible to create the family you’ve dreamed of.
Inside, you’ll find:
A comprehensive guide to fertility treatments like artificial insemination, IVF, and frozen embryo transfers, specifically for LGBTQ+ families.
Valuable insights into the emotional, societal, and financial challenges of the fertility journey, including IVF costs and clinic experiences.
Hopeful, practical advice to support your unique path to parenthood and create a more inclusive understanding of lesbian couples and their families.
If you liked It Starts with the Egg, You Got This - IVF Planner and Journal, or Oh Sis, You’re Pregnant!, you’ll love How to Make a Baby.
Arvustused
How to Make a Baby is a warm, honest, and empowering guide for LGBTQ+ families navigating the fertility journey. Allie and Sam share their personal experience with humor, heart, and clarity, making space for anyone who has ever felt like they didnt quite belong in the fertility world. This book is the supportive friend and trusted resource we all need.
Dr. Aimee D. Eyvazzadeh, MPH, reproductive endocrinologist and host of The Egg Whisperer Show
Allie and Sam not only share their beautiful path to becoming parents, but do so in a way that is equal parts informative and moving. A must-read for families trying to conceive and for those that want to see parts of their own story represented and reflected.
Rachael Lippincott, New York Times bestselling author of She Gets the Girl
Open, frank, touching, and informative Allie and Sam Conway are the perfect couple to write this groundbreaking book. Their journey is remarkable. I wish Id had it when we went through IVF.
J.T. Ellison, New York Times bestselling author of Its One of Us
Introduction Trying to Conceive as a Same-Sex Couple
Chapter One Paths to Parenthood: Adoption vs. Fertility Treatments
Chapter Two Finding the Right Fit: Choosing a Fertility Clinic
Chapter Three Whos the Dad?: Picking a Sperm Donor
Chapter Four Two Ladies Make a Baby: TTC Methods for Same-Sex Couples
Chapter Five Whose Bun in Whose Oven?: Choosing Our Roles
Chapter Six A Date with Wanda: Pre-Pregnancy Testing
Chapter Seven Its Baby Making Time: Our First IUI
Chapter Eight If at First You Dont Succeed, Try, Try Again: Our Second and
Third IUIs
Chapter Nine Time to Pivot: Transitioning to IVF
Chapter Ten Shots, Shots, Baby: IVF
Chapter Eleven Ovaries the Size of Grapefruit: The Egg Retrieval Process
Chapter Twelve OHSS and Egg Retrieval Results
Chapter Thirteen Transferring a Dream: Our First Embryo Transfer
Chapter Fourteen Continuing to Dream: Our Second Embryo Transfer
Chapter Fifteen DIY Conception: Trying At-Home Insemination
Chapter Sixteen Try, Try Again: Our Third Embryo Transfer
Chapter Seventeen Rainbow Baby: Were Pregnant!
Chapter Eighteen Im Sorry, Theres No Heartbeat: Experiencing a Missed
Miscarriage
Chapter Nineteen A New Direction: Allies First Embryo Transfer
Chapter Twenty Hope After Heartbreak: Were Finally Expecting
Chapter Twenty-One A Double Rainbow: Pregnantwith Twins
Chapter Twenty-Two Pump It Up: Inducing Lactation
Chapter Twenty-Three The Cost of It All: Financing Fertility Treatments
Closing
Commonly Asked Questions: Two-Mom Edition
Glossary of Fertility Terms
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Were Allie and Sam, a same-sex couple who has been together for nearly a decade and our story starts on a dating app, like any modern love story.
We started sharing our life online as a way to keep our families updated on our adventures around the globe together, but it quickly became a way to share much-needed queer representation; to showcase that a happy, full life is possible as an out and proud LGBTQ+ person.
We have been blessed with an amazing, engaged online community over our more than six years of sharing our lives on the internet. We have also done public speaking engagements about various LGBTQ+ issues in schools, for non-profits, and for major brands. We live in Nova Scotia.
