My Hopeful Journey – In the Baltimore Business Journal
My Hopeful Journey just competed in the LifeBridge Health Entrepreneur Challenge on Wednesday, April 25th. I am happy to announce, that we made it all the way through to the final presentations and although it was a tough competition, we received 2nd place. What an amazing honor and really meant a lot considering it is National Infertility Awareness this week. I was able to talk about infertility in front of a group of leaders in the healthcare industry and I know on that day… I made a difference!
The Baltimore Business Journal wrote, “Lifebridge Health takes a Role in business mentoring” about the competition. The whole article can be read in their paper edition or scanned copy here. Lifebridge BBJ 4-27-12
If you are interested in My Hopeful Journey and how your organization may be able to use it in their mobile marketing strategy, contact lisa@myhopefuljourney.com
Posted in Advocacy, Announcements, General, Media, My Hopeful Journey News
FERTILITY is WITHIN your REACH
I recently had the honor to speak to one of the founders of Fertility Within Reach, Davina Fankhauser. Politics has never been my strong suit so the idea of advocating for myself in a political way seemed very intimidating. After my conversation with Davina I know that advocating for myself and others is “within reach”. She was very articulate but didn’t speak over my head. I understood exactly what she was saying and it made sense. We need to use our voice and our personal experiences with infertility to change laws and impact insurance coverage state by state AND we are not alone. Fertility within Reach is here to help 365 days a year. I asked Davina to share her mission with My Hopeful Journey.
Fertility Within Reach was created because we know how awful living with infertility can be, and we have experienced the success of advocating for our health care as well as infertility treatment benefits.
The founders of Fertility Within Reach worked to cultivate an organization based on the needs identified from personal and professional experiences with infertility. We recognize an injustice exists when individuals living with the disease of Infertility have access to health care benefits based on circumstance: where they live, who they work for or how much money they have. Fertility Within Reach has learned what it takes to become your own best advocate. We understand this skill does not come easily to everyone and want to make this process as simple as possible. We teach you how to effectively communicate with employers, legislators, and write an insurance appeal as you attempt to gain access to infertility health benefits. The more empowered you are in your healthcare, the more positive and hopeful your journey to fertility will be.
We encourage you to save yourself some time and heartache and utilize the resources available to you. The intention of Fertility Within Reach is to provide you with information and support that will aid your efforts to secure benefits you need to build your family and preserve your reproductive health. We encourage you to actively participate and communicate within our community. The more you know, the more empowered you are to become your own best advocate.
Posted in Advocacy, Education and Awareness, Guest Blog Posts, Infertility Treatment, Insurance
Infertility Treatment Savings with a Flexible Spending Account
Now is a great time to strongly consider participating in a healthcare flexible spending account (FSA). With the impending Family Act and many people not having insurance coverage for infertility related expenses, how can we get a break and save on infertility related expenses? HEALTHCARE FLEXIBLE SPENDING ACCOUNTS!
I know you have heard the term but thought they aren’t worth the hassle or just really don’t understand how it works. It is worth your time and money to consider this option. No, it will not pay for treatment but every bit of savings counts and the tax savings really add up. It really is an easy way to set aside money on a pretax basis and maximize savings for allowable health expenses including deductibles, co-pays and other qualified expenses. Pretax savings means that your contribution is reduced from your paycheck BEFORE Federal, State and Social Security taxes are calculated reducing your taxable income…. CHA CHING! Your employer should have a list of allowable expenses or a website that you can get more details. Often times, insurance does not cover any or at least some of our infertility related expenses BUT the FSA most likely does. Before you sign-up and commit yourself to the deduction contact your Benefits Administrator to get the plan’s rules and exclusions.
Some things that you might not know about the Medical Flexible Spending Account:
- You can contribute up to $2,500 annually
- The deduction occurs each paycheck reducing the impact
- You have access to the full amount once you enroll (see example below)
- Many vendors now offer debit cards which allow you to access the money without paying out of pocket
- Many vendors offer direct deposit for approved claims
Not only do you get a tax savings, you can also spread out the impact of a large medical expense. The FSA allows you to withdraw the money even if your contributions to date are less than the claim as long as the annual election is met. Please note, if you don’t have a debit card for FSA expenses, you will have to pay the medical expense out of pocket and then submit the claim for reimbursement. From my experience, the claim takes less than 1 week for reimbursement but that will depend on your administrator/vendor.
Example: If you get paid 2 times per month and have elected to contribute the maximum amount of $2,500, you pay cycle deduction would be roughly $104. If you incurred $3,000 in out of pocket charges after you have just had one pay check (and one deduction of $104), you would be receiving the full $2,500 from your FSA and the remaining deductions will be spread out over the plan year to make up the difference. Remember, the savings are in your taxes. The remaining $500 will be not be subject to the tax savings from the FSA.
There are some limitations to Flexible Spending Accounts. You can only enroll during your company’s open enrollment period or with a qualifying life event. You aren’t reimbursed for unused expenses so you need to carefully select the amount you want to contribute. Be conservative in your calculations unless you are 100% sure that you will be incurring at least the amount of your annual contribution in qualified medical expenses. With infertility treatment expenses, this should NOT be difficult but remember cycles can be canceled so choose the number conservatively!
If you have been using My Hopeful Journey to track your expenses, it is very easy to run the summary report to get a total for how much you have spent out of pocket on prior cycles. If you haven’t been tracking yet with My Hopeful Journey, give it a try. My Hopeful Journey is a free organizer designed specifically for infertility treatment and is very easy to use. We even have a mobile friendly app.. so use it on the go!
* I am not a tax expert, please consult your benefits administrator or tax professional for more details.
Posted in Education and Awareness, Financial, General, Insurance, Organize/Planning
Hot New Fertility App: My Fertile Food for iPhone & iPad
My Fertile Food is an iPhone and iPad app to help women who are trying to improve their odds of conceiving a baby by eating healthy. It has been found that eating certain foods will improve the quality of sleep, overall health and most importantly, vastly improve conditions for implantation.
With My Fertile Food you can:
- Track daily intake of foods for fertility
- Track water intake and vitamin supplements
- Customizable group servings allows you to set personal goals based on your personal needs
- Contains detailed information on each fertile food category
- Ability to go back in time and view previous day(s) progress
- Mobile access to the BridgeToBaby online community & My Hopeful Journey’s fertility organizing tool and much more.
More information available at My Fertile Food.
Secondary Infertility: My Crazy But Hopeful Journey
Marni Hotchkiss of Bridge to Baby would like to share her personal story of secondary infertility with the My Hopeful Journey community and how My Hopeful Journey helped her manage the chaos of infertility treatment using a surrogate.
Marni says… I never expected my late twenties and early thirties to be consumed with “getting pregnant”. My mother never had a problem conceiving so why did I have such a hard time? The stress of not conceiving, miscarrying and dealing with secondary infertility have negatively impacted my professional and social life. Thankfully, with the support of friends and family, I was able to get through it…one cycle at a time.
I feel like I know most aspects of the TTC journey. I’ve dealt with loss but also the joy of conceiving and having a child. I know first hand that a woman cannot do this alone. In my struggles to conceive a second time and dealing with Asherman’s Syndrome, scarring in the uterus which create an “unimplantable” environment, I came across My Hopeful Journey while browsing the Internet looking for support. I made the decision to stop trying to repair my broken uterus and instead find a gestational carrier to grow a baby for my family.
I had never done IVF before. I found it intimidating and scary to think of all the drugs and procedure to aspirate the eggs. I already had a child. I was constantly second guessing myself about really how far could I take my journey but I followed my gut and kept on going.
I started using My Hopeful Journey after my first IVF cycle that resulted in a failed pregnancy attempt with our gestational carrier. I was shocked to be honest, that we didn’t get pregnant the first time. After years of trying to deal with my uterine condition so I could carry a pregnancy, I was now faced with the possibility that my eggs weren’t up to par as well. Another curve ball.
I made some radical changes in the months leading up to our second, and final, attempt to get pregnant via a surrogate. I changed my diet, was on birth control pills for three straight months, and I started using MyHopefulJourney.com to track my appointments, bills, and medications not only for me, but also for my surrogate.
Just when everything seemed so out of my control, I was able to feel like I had some control over this strenuous and stressful process. Utilizing My Hopeful Journey helped me change my frame of mind. I was no longer at the mercy of the what-ifs. I was in charge of me and how I was going to deal with my current situation. It was empowering!
With my first IVF cycle, I was always a ball of nerves when it came to my injections. I was so nervous I would mess up my dosage. While using the organizer with my second cycle, I was able to set reminders of when to inject my medications and also the dosage which sometimes changed per my doctors protocol. I was also able to input my surrogate’s medication schedule so I could feel more apart of her process and the process of making a baby together.
I’m excited to say that the second IVF cycle resulted in a positive pregnancy with our gestational carrier. I’m grateful for MyHopefulJourney and how it helped me stay organized, in control, and overall less stressed about our hopes of getting pregnant.
To read more about Marni’s journey go to Bridge to Baby.
Posted in Guest Blog Posts, Infertility Treatment, Organize/Planning, Success Stories
Fertility Road Online is Available Now!
FERTILITY ROAD MAGAZINE IS NOW AVAILABLE ON-LINE FOR FREE!
Since our aim is helping people on the path to parenthood, we are now excited to announce that everyone can enjoy an informative reading experience from the comfort of their own home for free.
We provide valuable information on the best chances of getting pregnant and even getaways to help you and your partner relax, chill out, de-stress. It includes articles from healthy eating habits to lifestyle choices and answers many of your questions.
Bestselling Author of “You & Your Bump” & “Baby Making Bible” Emma Cannon is our “Expert Witness” answering your fertility questions and she even provides some delicious “cooking to conceive” recipes from time to time.
We have had awesome interviews with some of the World’s top celebrities about their own infertility struggles. We present the lowdown on not only the latest treatments and drugs to help people conceive, but we also offer natural conception options as well.
Fertility Road is written by Top Doctors and Fertility Experts. Other features include News, Reviews, Finance, Fitness, Alternative Options, “Celebrity’s In The Fertility Spotlight”, as well as a cutting edge Science Section. Our “Letter From The Heart” section is always good for a tear or two and often big smiles as people share their personal and emotional stories.
We hope you enjoy it!
Read it for free here.. www.FertilityRoad.com
Blog Feature: Bridge to Baby Weekly Round-up
IVF Round Two: Back in the Stir Ups Again
BridgeToBaby.com creator writes about her second IVF attempt for transfer to her gestational carrier.
Staying organized while trying to conceive
In honor of National Organization month, BridgeToBaby reposted an oldie but goody about staying organized while trying to conceive.
Do you struggle with sugar and carb cravings?
Bridger, PCOS Diva, will host a free teleseminar on January 19th about how to over come the sugar addiction and help with PCOS symptoms.
Bridge to Baby is a new and fast growing community focused on connecting people struggling with expanding their family and those that want to help.
Infertile Vacation Resolutions
Vacation is a time that you can take a pause from the craziness of life, clear your thoughts and R-E-L-A-X! For me it is almost like a middle of the year New Year’s Resolution. One that actually does mean something. It isn’t just a date on the calendar that people half halfheartedly pick the thing or things that they want to change, do better or do different. For me, it is a time that I recharge and refocus on the things that are important to me. This vacation has been especially enlightening for me. It is truly amazing to me how the hot sun, sand in your toes and the crash of the waves on the shore can literally melt away all of the stress and worries of everyday life and allows me to refocus my energy where it belongs.
For many of those in the midst of infertility treatment, there is a question of can I or should I take a vacation this year? What if this cycle is meant to be, the one good egg that I have that if I take a vacation and a pause from treatment.. will I lose that opportunity to harvest that 1 good egg? Trust me, when I was in the midst of treatment, I committed to it with EVERYTHING within me, like it was part of my daily life, like a more important 2nd job. I look back now and wonder if that was the right approach. I am not going to say that I didn’t go on vacation in 5 years, because I did. BUT I did everything in my power to continue a regular treatment schedule before, after and even during vacation, if possible! I am not going to tell you, you should do this or you should do that. What I will say is think about what it is you need at this time and make a deliberate decision to do what is best for you at this moment in time. Maybe, at this time, the best thing for you would be an opportunity to take a mental and physical break from treatment. But then again maybe you feel strongly that NOW is the right time to continue treatment and you will take a vacation later in the year when the timing is better. Whatever is right for you, take the time to DECIDE. You don’t want to continue following the steps of treatment without taking the time to reflect on where you have been so far and where you are going. There is no one size fits all approach to this infertility stuff, it is custom fit for you by you and your significant and your doctor, but you lay the foundation and you decide how and when to move forward. Just take a few moments, be present, and do it!
Coming Soon: The My Hopeful Journey organizer is going MOBILE! Stay connected to the latest by signing up for our blog, “like” My Hopeful Journey on facebook and follow along @hopeful_journey on twitter!
