This is an I-Heart podcast.

Guaranteed Human.

There's a kind of fairy tale that I remember from growing up.

You've probably heard a version of it.

In the story, a woman longs for a child.

She's a woodsman's wife or a queen desperate for an heir.

No matter what she does, she can't conceive.

And so she turns to the witch next door,

the toad in the pond,

the nymph with the silver tongue,

any mystical figure willing to make a deal,

the woman's sacrifice in return for a child.

The bargain is made. The woman follows sacrifice in return for a child. The bargain is made.

The woman follows their orders, eats herbs from a secret garden,

plants magic seeds deep in the earth.

She offers pieces of her life, her soul, in exchange for a dream.

The thing is, for anyone who's ever struggled with fertility, these ancient tales might sound eerily familiar. I have been this woman. Maybe you have

too. The difference is today, the bargain isn't made with a witch or a toad.

It's with a doctor at a fertility clinic, one that you've chosen to trust with your future.

IVF in vitro fertilization is a deal made out of necessity and the price is steep.

You swallow pills and inject drugs that change your body and your mind in unpredictable ways.

You spend your life savings on tests and procedures and appointments.

...