{"podcast":{"title":"AllPaths Podcast","slug":"allpaths-podcast-7028681","podcast_index_feed_id":7028681,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/allpaths/","website_url":"https://allpathsfb.org","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/deec4420-b495-4e23-a8bf-63722a5915c2/APFB-Podcast-Cover-8-2025-SM.png","author":"AllPaths Family Building","episode_count":90,"summary":"Building a family can be a complicated, messy, lonely, and sometimes heartbreaking process, but you don't have to navigate this challenging journey alone. Join the AllPaths Family Building community as we talk with people who are currently trying to grow their family, those whose family building journey has come to an end, and experts in the fertility and family building space. Together we'll: *Hear family stories, providing real-life perspectives that highlight the many different paths a family building journey can take. *Explore different fertility treatments and family building options with experts in this space. *Get connected to a variety of supportive resources so you feel better equipped to tackle any challenges that may arise in your family building journey. *Learn about ongoing advocacy work that promotes access to fertility care and family building options - and you can get involved. No matter what you encounter on your journey - struggles while TTC, IUI, IVF, donor conception, surrogacy, adoption, pregnancy loss, pregnancy and parenting after, or remaining childless not by choice - the real-life insights from people who have traveled those paths can provide connection,…","last_synced_at":"2026-07-01T02:20:59.914112+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/allpaths-podcast-7028681"},"episode":{"title":"“I can do hard things.”","slug":"i-can-do-hard-things","published_at":"2026-04-21T12:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/allpaths-podcast-7028681/i-can-do-hard-things","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/allpaths-podcast-7028681","url":"https://allpathsfb.org","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/ae6ef3ae-0de9-490e-bb04-fcfdda39fa52.mp3","summary":"In this episode, Jessica Attime, a life-long New Englander, shares her transition from waiting for the \"perfect time\" to start a family to navigating the unpredictable reality of infertility. From the all-consuming effort to conceive to experiencing a heartbreaking miscarriage, Jessica and her husband were eventually given a diagnosis of unexplained infertility. The conversation explores the emotional weight of moving to a process that suddenly becomes highly medicalized as Jessica describes her foray into IVF and her frustrations over communication gaps she’s experienced, specifically the overwhelming logistics of fertility pharmacies, the confusing \"second language\" of medical acronyms, and the physical toll of self-administering complex medication protocols. She also provides a candid look at the drop off numbers of her two retrieval cycles, detailing the \"rude awakening\" of her first cycle, which yielded only one viable embryo from eight blastocysts and the despair that can come when your results don’t match the expected statistics. Despite the lack of clear medical answers, Jessica has navigated various physical and emotional hurdles, including a recent hysteroscopy to remove a polyp, by relying on her powerful personal mantra: \"I can do hard things.\" As her journey continues, Jessica emphasizes the necessity of throwing out rigid \"life planners\" and finding a personal source of strength. She concludes with a sobering reminder that IVF is not an \"easy button\" or a guarantee, but a process that requires intense self-advocacy and a supportive community to survive the solitude and unknowns. Trying to grow your family is hard, but you are not alone. Here are some resources we recommend for anyone navigating fertility challenges: 🔸 Peer Support Groups Find community an…","meta_description":"In this episode, Jessica Attime, a life-long New Englander, shares her transition from waiting for the \"perfect time\" to start a family to navigating the…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2799,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/allpaths-podcast-7028681/episodes/i-can-do-hard-things/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/allpaths-podcast-7028681/i-can-do-hard-things.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}