Dr. Rachel Welbel is a PM&R physician, a Love & Science community member, and today she's four weeks postpartum with a daughter she wasn't sure she'd ever have. Her journey spans three years, multiple retrievals, canceled cycles, a heartbreaking loss at 16 weeks, failed transfers, a chemical pregnancy, and diagnoses that came in layers — each one another thing to absorb and move through.

What brought her through wasn't one breakthrough moment. It was slow, quiet, hard-earned surrender.

In this episode:

• The loss that started it all — and the decision no one prepares you for
• Why IVF felt like the logical answer, and why the journey turned out to be far more complicated than expected
• The diagnoses that kept coming: adhesions, a possible stage IV endometriosis diagnosis, Lupron suppression, canceled cycles, a chemical pregnancy
• What the shift toward surrender actually looked like — and why it took months, not a moment
• Becoming genuinely okay with other outcomes: gestational carrier, child-free living, one child instead of two
• The mantra that carried her: the more control I relinquish, the more control I actually feel — because the control was never mine
• Standing in Auschwitz with the hope that her ancestors were blessing her new pregnancy
• The Love & Science tools that helped most: common humanity, authentic hope, and the physician-only community
• Honest postpartum reflections: grief alongside gratitude, and why she never wants to forget what it felt like to still be waiting

Support the show

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

Follow us on social media:

IG: www.instagram.com/loveandsciencefertility

FB: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61553692167183

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

When IVF hasn't worked — and especially when it "should have" by now — it can feel like the ground is shifting beneath you. Dr. Erica breaks down exactly how she thinks through unsuccessful IVF, what questions haven't been asked yet, and why the answer is almost never "just keep doing more of the same."

This episode is for anyone who has had high-quality embryos not take, who has been told everything looks fine on paper, or who is wondering if there's something being missed.

In this episode:

• Why "unsuccessful IVF" means something different depending on how many transfers, what embryo quality, and what protocol — and why context is everything
• The question Dr. Erica always asks first: what were the odds IVF should have worked by now?
• Chronic endometritis: how common it actually is in this population, why so many people haven't been screened, and what happens to outcomes when it's treated
• Occult endometriosis and adenomyosis as drivers of implantation failure — even without classic symptoms
• Hydrosalpinx: the diagnosis that cuts success rates in half and is frequently missed on standard imaging
• Inflammation, PMOS, and why GLP-1 medications are showing up in the fertility conversation
• Uterine factor: IUD history, hypothalamic amenorrhea, Asherman's syndrome, and the compounding effect of multiple insults over time
• When stepping back from IVF — and trying Letrozole, Clomiphere or gonadotropin IUI cycles — is actually the smarter clinical move
• Two powerful client stories: one who conceived spontaneously after surrendering the outcome; one who got pregnant on her first letrozole cycle after multiple failed IVF retrievals
• Third-party reproduction and gestational carriers: how Dr. Erica helps people move toward those decisions thoughtfully, not reactively
• Why "just keep trying" is not a strategy — and what thoughtful, empowered decision-making actually looks like

Support the show

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

Follow us on social media:

IG: www.instagram.com/loveandsciencefertility

FB: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61553692167183

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

This week Dr. Erica is joined by Dr. Annahieta Kalantari ("Dr. AK"), a double board-certified emergency medicine and lifestyle medicine physician and founder of Whole Human Health and Well-Being. After years of climbing the academic ladder — vice chair of education, a near-offer as DIO — Dr. AK had a wake-up call that led her to walk away from the path she'd spent her career building and reinvent her practice entirely.

This conversation is about identity beyond the white coat, the courage it takes to let go of a role you've outgrown, and why small, sustainable changes (not overhauls) move the needle on health and fertility alike.

In this episode:

• Dr. AK's path from ER residency to vice chair of education to founding her own practice
• The family Google Calendar moment that became her wake-up call
• Mourning the loss of a professional identity you spent years building
• Finding the common thread (educator) that carried her from academic medicine to lifestyle medicine
• Why "I am resourceful" is a mindset that applies far beyond career pivots — including the fertility journey
• The six pillars of lifestyle medicine and how they intersect with fertility and stress
• The Kaizen effect: why small, cumulative tweaks beat all-or-nothing overhauls
• Reframing infertility as a question of aligning many small vectors, not one giant fix
• Why physicians especially struggle to prioritize themselves — and what it takes to change that

Where to find Dr. AK:

• Website: thewholehumanhealthandwellbeing.com
• Blog: From Dr. AK's Desk
• Podcast: No Filter Doctor (available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon)

Support the show

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

Follow us on social media:

IG: www.instagram.com/loveandsciencefertility

FB: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61553692167183

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