Navigating Your Fertility as a Woman in Medicine

Dr. Jenna Miller, the author, shares her personal story of navigating infertility as a woman in medicine over seven years. She mixes in realistic expectations, tips and data for a variety of approaches to building a family in nontraditional ways. After some introductory chapters on the history of women in medicine and common vocabulary, she touches on some of approaches including in vitro fertilization or IVF, gestational carriers, and adoption. Going through fertility treatment while working a high-intensity job in medicine brings unique additional challenges to the family-building journey. She shares her own advice for working nights shifts and inflexible hours, going through a variety of fertility treatments multiple times, and adjusting to the long road of infertility. It is even complete with several To Do lists for each stage of this long journey.

Jenna Miller, MD is a Pediatric Critical Care Physician with 15 years of experience in medicine. She began her infertility journey at the age of 35 and found that infertility felt like a dark secret that few women discussed openly. Over several years, she experienced "egg freezing" four times, IVF (in vitro fertilization) four times, IUI (intrauterine insemination) three times, and the use of sperm donors and gestational carriers. She also explored adoption. She experienced this journey as a single woman in medicine, so she believes she has a unique perspective on a variety of ways a person can build a family in nontraditional ways. In the end, her journey ended in her gestational carrier achieving a pregnancy with her son. She hopes her journey can help educate the generations of women who follow her in medicine and that these women can have the knowledge necessary to make informed decisions regarding their own fertility.