Dr. Dina Wilson is a hospitalist physician in Oregon, a fierce advocate for fertility awareness, and a mother who waited eighteen years to hold her son. Her journey spans misdiagnoses, six IVF cycles across multiple clinics, complete embryo arrest — cycle after cycle — a pandemic pregnancy, and a six-figure bill paid entirely out of pocket. She is now in the middle of trying for a second child.

This episode is for anyone who has ever felt like the system is not designed for them, but they're not quite ready to give up on their dream of parenthood.

In this episode:

• How Dina was sent away by three OBGYNs in her 20's without an infertility evaluation
• Why she and her husband shelved fertility treatment through medical school, residency, and debt repayment — and what that cost them
• Walking into her first IVF cycle completely naive — and planning a party around the retrieval date
• The phone call on day three that changed everything: complete embryo arrest, then cycle after cycle, across multiple clinics
• What it felt like to be told by one of the most prominent REIs in the country that he wasn’t sure he had anything else to offer
• How in vitro maturation (IVM) — a low-stimulation protocol with early retrieval — finally produced embryos that implanted
• Getting pregnant on her sixth IVF cycle with day three embryos, against all odds, right before the pandemic shut everything down
• The guilt and shame that comes with being a physician who didn’t know what she didn’t know — and why that guilt is so expensive
• Secondary infertility: what it’s like to want another child, and how the grief shifts but doesn’t disappear
• How Dina finally learned to set boundaries at work so she could show up for her fertility treatment — including switching jobs to get the flexibility she needed
• Why shame cannot survive in community — and what it means to share your story when you’re still in the middle of it

Find Dr. Dina Wilson:

• Instagram: @doctordina

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As always, please keep in mind that this is my perspective and nothing in this podcast is medical advice.

If you found this conversation valuable, book a consult call with me using this link:

https://www.loveandsciencefertility.com/private-fertility-consult

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Please don’t let infertility have the final word. We are here to take the burden from you so that you can achieve your goal of building your family with confidence and compassion. I’m rooting for you always.

In Gratitude,

Dr. Erica Bove