15: First Kindbody Appointment

Hey everybody, welcome back to the backup plan. My name is Meredith Kate and I’m so glad that you’re here to hear the latest step in my journey to becoming a solo mom with my gay best friends assistance slash sperm. I’m so excited to share that I had my first appointment with kind body and I want to start off by saying that this is not sponsored at all. I am presently using my health insurance and money out of my own pocket slash on my own credit card to pay for this. I should have started here, guys. I should have. When I decided I’m gonna have a baby on my own, I should have googled fertility services, found the link for kind body, clicked and made an appointment because wow, I mean, look, I’m glad I did all the research on my own. I’m so grateful for all the work that I’ve done and everything I’ve learned, but, holy moly, kind body had all the answers I was looking for and I’m just so glad that I had this call. So for those not in the know, who haven’t heard of kind body before, I’m just gonna read a little bit off their websites so that you know who they are and what they’re doing. According to the website, kind body provides fertility and wellness services in modern tech enabled clinics, best in class care, accessible pricing and a seamless patient experience. And if I read just a little bit further, it says that we believe everyone should have access to convenient, affordable fertility and family building care. This belief is what unifies all of us at kind body. We know how daunting navigating a healthcare system and your own personal health journey can be. That is why we’re on a mission to change the way we look at healthcare. Our goal is to make the process of going to the doctor more intuitive and empowering. Our services range from fertility treatments, including IVF and egg freezing, to wellness and dun dun, dun, dun dun, lgbtq plus care. And that’s I mean. I’m the bee and Mike’s the G, so we’re both in that umbrella. Kind body has locations around the United States. I’m excited because they are opening a clinic in Newport Beach, which is much easier for me to get to versus the clinics that they have up in Los Angeles, although they have one, a century city, which is my holy grail. I love that mall so much. We really do have it all figured out in century city. Don’t let Ken singing about it deter you. They also have a clinic in Santa Monica, because the Newport Beach clinic isn’t fully open yet. I may have to go up to century city to get some testing done there. But you know, twist my arm, I’ll just go to Eataly and make a whole day of it. First things first. I made an appointment for an introduction call on their website and it was pretty easy. I love offices that give you the ability to book something online to like. Let you into the booking system and just choose the time and date that you need, rather than going back and forth with a receptionist Like it just makes my life so much easier. And I was able to get an appointment pretty quickly. I mean, I think you guys heard last week that I had just made an appointment, so it was within a week. And it was a virtual appointment, because for these introductory meetings, why should you have to drive to a clinic to just sit and talk to a doctor? And you know, the only reason I need to go in is if something is actually being done. And it was a call with a lovely woman. We’re going to refer to her as Dr L for the moment. She was Great, a personable. Immediately I felt like I was talking to a friend and I had already filled out a bunch of paperwork online about my experience and where I was at, and I was able to really flesh in everything that I’m up to, and it seemed like she had read it all prior to joining, which was also great. I don’t feel like every doctor does that and she said, wow, thank you so much for all this information. And what I was most thrilled about was that she just didn’t balk at my experience or the journey that I’m on. I think I just braced myself and assume that people are going to think what I’m doing is wacky and wild which it is but she was so accepting of it and she was so understanding and immediately was just like that is what’s called a known donor situation and this is the procedure and how we have to go forward with that. And I was like, yeah, I know I’ve done the research, but you know it. I guess I just kind of expect that anything outside of the norms people aren’t going to be prepared for, but she truly was, and that was such a refreshing and exciting moment. Anytime I’m in this and people are just smiling and nodding about it and not in a way that’s placating I’m thrilled by. And so she knew about the FDA quarantine as well, which I would hope a doctor would know about that right off the bat and, for those who aren’t aware, I think I talked about it in the sperm procurement episode back in I think it’s episode five the FDA has suggested that when sperm is coming from a non-sexual partner, that there has to be a quarantine period where the sperm is studied and watched to make sure that there aren’t any infectious diseases In the system there. And she said you know, there are some ways around that. We can talk about it when we get to that point. And then she also respected my boundaries, which I really appreciated. She asked me how I felt about using unknown sperm donors, and you know what. She didn’t even phrase it that way. She said is this the way you want to do it? Are you fully committed to working with your friend or are you considering unknown sperm donors? And I told her I haven’t. I don’t really want it to go that way. I do have friends in mind that maybe are backups to the backup plan, but I really think I want it to be with Michael and, in terms of unknown sperm donors, I don’t think that’s my jam. We’ll see. And she said, okay, great, we don’t have to talk about that now. She also asked me about IVF, if that was something I was considering, and I told her you know I haven’t wanted to use the IVF process in the past, but I don’t know how my mind is going to change as we go further down this road. And she told me you know what? You don’t have to have everything figured out right now. The fact that you’re here, that you got to this point and you’re having the conversations about it, that’s huge and that’s fantastic. And we’ll just start where we’re at. I just loved that. I hate when you go to a doctor and they’re like, well, this is the thing you really should be doing. Dr L was incredible. I wanted to talk to her about the medication process that’s not, you know, fully screwing with my hormones, but maybe kind of an in between and we talked about the trigger shot, clomid, which just makes sure that you are ovulating at a specific time, and she said that’s an option. And she said we’ll talk about that a little bit more the closer we get to it, but I love that she answered the questions that I did have. So yay, dr L, thank you. What I’m liking about kind body and I’ve already kind of talked about it a little bit was, first of all, the vibe. Like it’s just a good vibe. Check out their website. It’s just, it’s feminine, without being aggressively feminine, it’s calm, it’s cool, it’s collected. I want to go into a doctor’s office that doesn’t look like a doctor’s office. First of all and again I talked about it earlier but the fact that the website is easy to use and once you’re into it and you have a dashboard, you have it laid out of like what is the next step? And I have 17 next steps right now, but it’s not overwhelming because it’s just like here’s the next thing, check this off. Okay, great, now here’s the next thing, check that off. And it’s just helpful to see where I’m at in the process and that’s really exciting. And the other thing I’m stoked about is that they have a family building team which, to the best of my knowledge right now, it’s kind of like a concierge that is going to help you figure out how to get to the next step, especially for Michael and I, because it’s a different. It’s a totally different scenario than like a heterosexual couple would have, or even a loving and happy homosexual couple. So I’m looking forward to having somebody that will have answers again, that I don’t have to Google everything, that I just have to email somebody and they may have better resources than you know the Googling I would do anyway. So I’m just excited, I just like it and I’m just happy. So, in terms of next steps, I have decided to do a full diagnostic everything that they offer. At the beginning of this process, I didn’t want to have my experience colored by or tainted with ideas of like, oh, my follicles are too small, or oh, no, I only have so many eggs left, or, you know, my tubes might not work, or I don’t know if I’m ovulating, like I just wanted to go into it and see what would happen and hopefully that it would happen just totally naturally first time, on its own. It’s a pipe dream, but that was what I was hoping for. But as I’m getting further down this route, like, all I can think about is the fact that there’s such a distance between Michael and I. We have these conflicting and busy schedules because there’s no romance and it’s not just something that, can you know beautifully happen between a loving woman and man, it’s. I got to be more targeted and that’s what. That’s the decision I’ve come to at this point in time and I’ve never been against checking out to see where I’m at. I just, like I said, wanted to be more organic, I guess. So these are what the diagnostics are going to include for me. So there are some baseline tests, there’s a blood test and an ultrasound. The blood test is going to test my anti-mullerian hormone I hope I’m saying that correct. It’s the acronym is AMH and then an ultrasound for astropholical count, which is known as the AFC. Additionally, I’m getting a saline ultrasound for a bubble study. How fun does that sound? Probably not as fun as it’s going to be to get. It’s performed in the first 10 days of the menstrual cycle and it’s going to allow kind body to see the lining of my uterus in more detail. So it’s going to look for abnormal growths inside the uterus, such as fibroids or polyps Information about the size and depth of my uterus. Who wouldn’t want to know that? It’ll look for scar tissue in their abnormal uterine shape, problems with the linings. And then the most exciting part I think this is the bubble study is whether or not the fallopian tubes are blocked. So I guess somehow they blow a bubble up there and they see if it comes out. I don’t know, I’m not performing it, I just have to lay back and let them do it. For Michael it’s going to involve another semen analysis. And here’s a little juicy tidbit Michael did have a semen analysis already. It wasn’t great, the results weren’t awesome, but it was also performed in the middle of him moving, with no furniture and trying to get electricity turd on, and I kind of consider that to be a wash. Again, the results weren’t awesome, but they weren’t bad. So we’ll just get another one now that he’s relaxed and isn’t sleeping on an air mattress. And then for the both of us it’s going to involve a genetic carrier screening and a screening for CMV. Cmv is also known as a cytomeglovirus, which sounds like a dinosaur. It’s very similar to like, apparently, the flu or a cold, but it could be detrimental to a pregnancy. So I think we both get tested for that, although I think if he had it I would have gotten it this. Last time I went up but you know I said screw it, just throw it in, just let’s get the full package. So we’ll get those diagnostics done, see what we’re working with and then decide how to proceed further. Dr L recommended that when we try the IEY, that we just go for we don’t. We don’t worry about medicating it at first if everything’s okay, of course. But I think what’s very settling for me is that I don’t have to know exactly what I’m doing right now. I just have to upload some paperwork and stuff to them at the moment, like that’s the big thing I got to do and that feels attainable and I’m I’m just stoked. And Dr L said that I should be able to get some of that stuff done before I leave on my trip, but it’s Tuesday, I leave on Saturday, I don’t. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to fit that in, but we’ll see. I mean, if not, whatever, I get back in December and mom will be here and she can come with me and sit in the pretty waiting room while they shoot bubbles up into my uterus, like how cool. Dr L also suggested, in addition to the prenatal vitamins that I’m taking which, for the record, I’m taking rituals. Prenatal vitamins are rituals vitamins. A little bit pricey, yes, but it’s founded and the company is run by a woman, so we love to support that. And and all of the ingredients are traceable and coming from great sources. So screw it, I don’t want to look anywhere else. I’m just taking the ritual vitamins. I like them. Dr L also suggested coenzyme Q10. So I think I’m going to purchase that today and start getting on that. It’s an antioxidant that’s going to make my body a more hospitable baby environment. So let’s get on that. Let’s do that. We love that ordering that today. So I said it already, but you know, this call has me pumped. I’m just I’m so. It’s just so nice to talk to people that have answers, rather than scrounging around on the internet or, you know, fast forwarding through a YouTube clip or searching through the description of an Instagram reel to get this little bit of information that I’ll Google like screw it, I’m just talking to people now. I don’t, I don’t have time. I’m a busy, busy lady, so kind body is it for me? And I love that. They take my insurance, so it’s not some kind of a wild out of pocket expense. And even then they lay out the pricing for everything on their website, so there are no questions or surprises that you’re going to get to later Now. As mentioned previously, I am still going to take December off to take some time for the holidays to get some of this testing done. Of course I’ll record my experience for that and you’ll hear that coming up in the new year. I also may have a little side hustle to this side hustle coming up. Stay tuned for that, you’ll see. And before I sign off I of course have to thank everybody for their reviews. This one’s coming from somebody named Michael and I wonder who that could be. The title is Meredith is my shero and it says I started listening to this podcast because of the great review left by Brittany Spears. From AFRs to reusable diaper inserts, meredith Bruce tackles all of the hot, ediferous topics at the top of every current and future parents mind. She is the Kevin Costner of podcast hosts. I wonder who could have left that comment. Meredith Bruce, by the way, is an inside joke when I went to see my friend Ariana dance last week on Dancing with Stars, the folks who are guests of the dancers. All of our seats are picked out beforehand so that the cameras know where to go to get the reaction shots of, like you know, so and so friends and family. So everything’s plotted out before you go in, but the names that they put on the chairs are always wrong, always all the time. So my actual last name it’s not Kate, it’s Brace Loss is my full last name and on my chair this last week it said Meredith Bruce Loss. So I may have fully welcomed the nickname Bruce and that’s the story behind there. Anyway, keep voting for Ariana. By the way, it’s a wild world out there and even though you know she’s getting 10s and dancing fantastically, the way that the thing is structured she could get sent home at any moment. Last week it was Lele Pons and she was amazing. So sorry for my extra little dancing with the stars insert, but there you have it. She’s doing wonderfully. Just anyway, that’s it. That’s it for this week. Continue to send me happy uterus vibes. Please rate and review, subscribe, leave comments, follow along on Instagram. It’s BackupPlanPod and thank you guys so much for your support. I really appreciate it. Have a great week. The BackupPlan is created, produced and hosted by me, meredith Kate. Julian Hagens is my co-producer. You can find us on social media at BackupPlanPod. The best place to get updates is to sign up for our newsletter at backupplanpodcom, where we also post all episodes, show notes and transcripts. Thank you for listening.