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In yesterday’s I Am More Than My Infertility blog, I told you about the outstanding fertility coverage and new baby benefits that Avon provides its employees.
Here is an informative You Tube video where Conceive Magazine founder, Kim Hahn tells you more about how to assess the fertility treatment benefits your company may provide.
Maybe you think Avon is a great source for cosmetics and skin care products–but according to Conceive Magazine, Avon is also an excellent company to work for if you are planning a family.
For starters, women make up more than 50 percent of the company’s management, and 70 percent of the company’s total workforce. But here’s what is really amazing: Avon employees are eligible for unlimited coverage for infertility treatments and up to $10,000 of reimbursable adoption assistance (lifetime maximum per family).
Both birth mothers and adoptive moms receive eight weeks of paid leave time after the birth or adoption of a child, and secondary caregivers get two weeks paid time off.
Over the upcoming weeks, I will be letting you know about other great places to work when you are building a family
Birth control pills, once hailed as a miracle breakthrough in contraception, have been plagued with controversy for years. Now, Fox News 35 in Orlando, reported last week that a new study out of Belgium, links the pill to a 20 to 30 percent rise in artery clogging plaque.
But no cause for alarm, says Jeffery Koren of Total Woman’s Health Care in Ocoee,
FL. “The study was done with higher age women on high dose pills for many, many years….the older you are the higher risk you have for heart disease and strokes.” Most of the birth control pills on the market today are low dose, which Dr. Koren says are safer.
(Note: the birth control pills shown in the picture are not necessarily the brand or dosage mentioned in the above study.)
When dreams come true, it’s wonderful!
One of my clients discovered this week that after what has seemed like an eternity of fertility treatment she is finally pregnant! This lovely woman has had so many difficult losses in her life, but this only fueled her determination to have a child. She will tell you that there may have been times when she was down, but she was never out. And never did she lose sight of her dream.
In her quest to have a child, she has traveled far and wide, but the breakthrough happened right in her own back yard, at Fertility C.A.R.E., Winter Park, FL Her doctor, Mark P. Trolice MD, founder and director of Fertility C.A.R.E., called her personally to give her the good news. “I was speechless…it still doesn’t seem quite real,” she shared with tears in her eyes. “I couldn’t be more thrilled.”
The basic premise of my book, I Am More Than My Infertility is that life crises, such as infertility, offer the opportunity to address and heal underlying issues that arise. You can move forward and see the crisis of infertility as a chance to grow, or you can ignore the invitation, and wait for the issue to surface at another time.
This was so evident to me not long ago when a lovely young woman came to my office. She had just discovered that because of a medical condition, she would not be able to conceive a biological child. Although she was grieving this loss, another life long pattern and potential crisis was also rearing its head. “Men always leave me,” she shared. “First my father, then my first husband.” She took a deep breath and looked away. “Now, because I can’t have a baby, I’m afraid that my husband will leave.”
Unfortunately, even the arrival of a child will not make these wounds go away. But the crisis of infertility allows one to see where healing needs to happen. In the case of this young woman, perhaps the invitation is to realize her wholeness and value, despite the choices others have made, despite whether she can have a child. Perhaps the invitation is to improve the communication she and her husband share so that they can more deeply understand one another, and decide together what would be best.
The invitation is different for everyone. The choice to accept is yours.
The first copies of my new book, I Am More Than My Infertility, have started to ship. This is very exciting. If you have already ordered it, and have been waiting to receive
your copy, thank you for your patience.
So many people have helped me in bringing this book to print, and I am very appreciative. I also deeply appreciate all my clients, friends, blog readers, and readers of my column, “Emotionally Speaking” which appears in each issue of Conceive Magazine.
Thanks, everyone! My co-author, Linda J. Parker, and I could not have done it without you!
It’s no secret that infertility deeply impacts the marital relationship. Despite this, it is women who typically seek counseling when dealing with the emotional strain of infertility. However, recent evidence has shown that men, too, can benefit from fertility counseling.
In a journal article featured in, Sexuality, Reproduction and Menopause, a publication of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, Dr. Elizabeth O’Donnell discusses research that suggests that men can benefit as much from counseling as women do. In addition, she discovered that a counseling format that involves both partners can alleviate relationship strain and improve the couple’s communication.
Typically, men favor a more structured approach to counseling than women do. According to Dr. O’Donnell, a typical process would include education about the emotional and physical impact of infertility; as well as strategies to reduce stress and cope more effectively.
Dr. O’Donnell reports that it’s not unusal for men to simply “feel better” once they realize they are not alone, and once they understand the impact that ART (assisted reproductive technology) has on each of them.
I want to let you know about the new book, I have just authored with Linda J. Parker. It is available to order now, and will ship within the next few weeks.
In the days and months ahead, I will be talking more about I Am More Than My Infertility, and also posting some excerpts from the book.
Publishing my first book–very exciting!
