Family Match Consulting was honored to organize and co-sponsor our 3rd annual Fit 4 Fertility Fundraiser, this year raising money for Path2Parenthood.  Every year, in honor of National Infertility Awareness week, we plan a fitness fundraiser where we come together and talk about infertility to help remind those that need it, that they are not alone.  It's a day of hope, fun, and fitness and this year we were honored and excited to have Brenda Strong from Desperate Housewives lead a yoga class!  Brenda is Path2Parenthood's National Spokesperson and is also a specialist in yoga for fertility.  There were bubbles and chalk art, and an awesome raffle thanks to some generous donations we received. A HUGE thank you to everyone who came out to support this event that is near and dear to us.  Looking forward to doing it again in 2018!  

Once you have decided to embark on the egg donation process you are faced with a number of questions, some of which you may have never thought you’d be posed with.  For example, most people don’t grow up wondering “what are the most important characteristics I would hope to find in my egg donor?”  Being faced with this question can be challenging for a lot of our clients, but here are 5 tips that can help you navigate the egg donor selection process. 

1. Make a list.  Put it all out there.  Ideal hair color, eye color, height, ethnicity, educational background, talents, ideal health history, interests, location, blood type, and anything else you can think of.  We provide all our clients with an extensive questionnaire that goes over all these things and more. 
2. Decide after reviewing your list, which characteristics would be nice to find and which characteristics are absolute deal breakers.  Think hard about each item and remember the narrower your search criteria, the less options you will ultimately have. 
3. Have an open mind.  So many clients I’ve worked with over the years have come to me with a list of requirements but oddly enough end up selecting an egg donor that is quite different than what they initially thought they were looking for.  For example, a client may begin their search hoping to find a 5’7” or taller blonde hair, blue eyed egg donor who has a Master’s Degree and ends up selecting a donor who is 5’5” with light brown hair and green eyes with a Bachelor’s Degree.  Each and every person is unique and each and every egg donor is unique.  While she might be an inch shorter than “ideal” or her GPA might be slightly less than what you had hoped to find, she may have other positive distinguishing characteristics like a talent for music or sports that could make her an ideal egg donor for you.
4. Once you have a group of egg donors that you like and that fit most of the characteristics you hope to find, it can be challenging to make the final decision.  Instead of comparing each trait to one another; for example, ranking each egg donor in order of SAT scores, height, athletic ability etc, it is best to ask yourself one simple question.  Would this donor sit around a family gathering of mine and look and seem as though she fits in?  I think that this is a really beautiful way of selecting an egg donor because ultimately that’s what this process is all about - - family. 
5. Last and most importantly, it is important to remember that there is no such thing as a perfect person, so there is certainly no such thing as a perfect egg donor.  But the good news is there IS a perfect egg donor for you!  That’s a young lady that you feel comfortable with, who most importantly is available and willing to go through the egg donation process to help you achieve your dream of a family.  

Family Match Consulting's founder Stephanie Levich is proud to be the co-founder of the annual fundraiser "Fit 4 Fertility."  She and colleague Wendie Wilson-Miller (founder of Gifted Journeys)  come together every year to raise money for a non-profit organization in the infertility field, in honor of National Infertility Awareness Week.  Last year they were proud to raise money for RESOLVE and this year they were very happy to raise money for Parents Via Egg Donation.  Founded by Marna Gatlin, PVED's mission is to support and educate those considering building their family through egg donation.  

The day was a huge success, and everyone had a blast!  Some highlights included: 

Great work out with trainers Kellie Blackburn from Kelliefit, Theresa Sauter-Hesler, and Jack Witt.  A fabulous performance by the kid's music group the Beat Buds, as well as free chair massages from professional athlete masseuse Michelle Rozzen.  Finally, our special guest GloZell Green was there to motivate everyone through the work out, and of course make us laugh hysterically!   There was an awesome silent auction, and most importantly we got to raise money and bring awareness to such an important cause.  

We want to thank our amazing sponsors for making Fit 4 Fertility possible including Feit 4 Kidz Fertility Fund, Dr. Kolb at Huntington Reproductive Center, Andrea Bryman LMFT, Suja Juice, Raw Revolution Sun-Staches, and all our volunteers.  

Family Match Consulting can't wait to begin planning for Fit 4 Fertility 2017!!!  

Our founder Stephanie Levich had the distinct pleasure of joining several colleagues at an event with Hillary Clinton this month.  It was an event held at the Jim Henson Studio in Los Angeles where children were invited and encouraged to ask Hillary questions.  One little girl about 8 years old asked Clinton how she stays "OK" while on the campaign trail which she graciously answered by describing her sleep routine, attempts at eating healthy, and making it a point to spend time with her grandchild whenever possible.  It was quite the evening, made even more memorable by getting to experience it with such a great team of colleagues.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with and getting to know Jake Anderson, the founder of a new website Fertility IQ.  He and his wife Debra began Fertility IQ after having some not-so-great experiences with fertility doctors and not knowing where to turn for trusted referrals and information.  Fertility IQ is a place for anyone who is going through any stage of the infertility process and undergoing any type of treatment to leave an anonymous and thorough review of their doctor, the doctor's staff, the billing department, and the practice as a whole.  Soon they will be making all the data they compile available to anyone in search of a great fertility doctor. 

As a former infertility patient myself, I went through the review process for my doctor and was impressed with how detailed the questions were.  Jake and Debra clearly thought of everything.  It's apparent that they hope to gather as much data as possible to help others make the most informed decision when finding the right fertility specialist.  Upon completing my review I was asked to send them any proof that I was in fact a patient of my doctor.  A bill, email correspondence with a nurse, etc...anything to legitimatize my review.  Where else can infertility patients turn for honest feedback that has actually been verified?   As a professional in the field, I'm excited that my clients will soon have access to this information and from a personal standpoint, I was happy to have a place to share my own experience in hopes of helping others.  I hope everyone will take the time to share information about their own experiences.  Their tagline is "we're smarter together" and I couldn't agree more.  Infertility is hard enough.  Together we can help guide each other to make the best decisions about our care.

Visit Fertility IQ here:  http://fertilityiq.com/

Love and baby dust to all!!!

There are new egg donor and surrogate agencies opening constantly.  How do you go about selecting the right agency to work with?  How do you know who you can trust? Read our founder's blog post explaining the top 10 questions to ask and things to consider when choosing an egg donation or a surrogacy agency:

https://www.fertilityauthority.com/blog/stephanie-levich/2015/11/20/ten-tips-choosing-right-egg-donor-or-surrogate-agency

Family Match Consulting was proud to attend the Feit 4 Kidz 3rd Annual SOLD OUT Gala at the W Hotel in Hollywood on Saturday night.  The Feit 4 Kidz Fertility Fund provides interest free loans of up to $15,000 to Jewish couples undergoing fertility treatments. The fund was made possible by the Jewish Free Loan Association (JFLA) and a generous donation from Emily and Alan Feit.  Emily and Alan continues to generously donate their time, efforts, and money to make Feit 4 Kidz a possibility. 

The night opened with a beautiful and touching speech made by Emily Dubin Field and her husband Gregg Field about their long journey going through infertility which ended with the birth of their daughter earlier this year, thanks to the help of their gestational surrogate.  Emily and Gregg are just one of the many couples that the Feit 4 Kidz Fertility Fund has been able to help. In fact, since its inception, Fiet 4 Kidz has loaned out $874,000 to 52 different families and so far, 7 babies have been born with their assistance.

They hoped to raise $50,000 at the event but quickly raised the goal to $60,000 due to all the generous contributions that came pouring in.  Emily and Alan announced that they would personally match whatever was raised and Alan's parents generously agreed to do the same. There was an impressive silent auction and comedian Jodi Miller from America's Got Talent performed a hilarious stand up routine about fertility.  Attendees were loan recipients, those who fought and won the infertility battle, those still struggling, reproductive endocrinologists, surrogacy agencies, egg donor agencies, and many who have seen family members or friends struggle with infertility.  So many people came together for different reasons to help raise money for this amazing cause.

Feit 4 Kidz made a very exciting announcement just days before the fundraiser.  Starting January 2016, they will be offering loans for fertility treatments to ALL faiths!  As they said in their announcement, "Infertility does not discriminate; neither do we." 

Learn more about Feit 4 Kidz and the JFLA here: www.jfla.org

New blog written by our Founder, Stephanie Levich explaining the significance of an egg donor's location.

https://www.fertilityauthority.com/blog/stephanie-levich/2015/7/24/egg-donor-location-does-it-matter