Interview:At-Home IUI and Fertility for LGBTQ+ and Solo Parents with Marea Goodman, LM, CPM.

Written By Anne Chiaramonte, MS, LAc, FABORM

Marea Goodman is a midwife and co-author of the book Baby Making for Everybody: Family Building and Fertility for LGBTQ+ and Solo Parents. Marea describes some of the joys and challenges of the fertility journey for queer and solo parents. They walk us through the process of at-home intrauterine insemination (IUI), discuss frozen vs. fresh sperm, and when multiple inseminations per cycle may be useful. Marea is a licensed midwife located in Santa Cruz, California. They specialize in offering comprehensive and excellent reproductive care for the LGBTQ+ community. In addition to offering homebirth midwifery care, Marea’s services include fertility care and consulting and at-home intrauterine insemination (IUI). Outside of their hands-on practice Marea is the founder of “Pregnant Together” an online community for LGBTQ+ and solo parents dedicated to radical inclusivity, protecting the right to accurate and relevant information, and combating isolation. Marea is an activist, and they are on fire. We are so lucky to have them in our community! Learn more about Marea at pregnanttogether.com and restoremidwifery.com.

Time Stamps:

00:40 Marea and intro to “Baby Making For Everybody”

Marea walks through their training history, fertility care offerings for LGBTQ+ community, and new book, “Baby Making for Everybody: Family Building and Fertility for LGBTQ+ and Solo Parents” co-authored by Ray Rachlin.

4:30 Solo parenting

A bit more about Marea’s intention in weaving solo parenting in with LGBTQ+ fertility and parenting.

7:19 What the fertility journey may look like for nontraditional family builders

Marea shares some of the benefits and challenges of solo and LGBTQ+ fertility and parenthood. They touch on things like the beauty of intentional conception, insemination challenges, navigating IVF options and more.

12:00 Marea describes the home intrauterine insemination (IUI) process

Marea walks through what an out-of-hospital, midwife-led fertility journey may look like literally and figuratively.

16:00 Sperm and the home IUI process

What happens with frozen and/or fresh sperm in a home IUI setting. Marea also discusses the process of washing sperm.

19:10 Multiple inseminations per cycle

Learn about why and when multiple inseminations may be helpful.

21:00 Sperm pricing, insurance, reproductive justice

Marea and Anne discuss increasing sperm price, insurance coverage, and medical tourism.

25:25 Marea’s personal journey

Marea shares their own journey with fertility, conception, and miscarriage.

28:14 The Pregnant Together community

Happy 1st birthday to Pregnant Together, Marea’s online community for LGBTQ+ and solo family building!

31:55 Marea’s Santa Cruz offerings and contact information

Learn about Marea’s home IUI, fertility coaching, and homebirth offerings in Santa Cruz, California.

Anne Chiaramonte, MS, LAc, FABORM

Anne is a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist (2004) and a board-certified fellow in acupuncture reproductive medicine (2009). Anne’s particular interest in women’s health led her to Australia to study with Jane Lyttleton, author of “Treatment of Infertility with Chinese Medicine” and to San Francisco to work with Lifang Liang, author of “Acupuncture and IVF.” In 2009, Anne became part of one of the country’s first on-site acupuncture programs at an IVF clinic, located at Pacific Fertility Center in San Francisco.

Anne founded Arrive Reproductive Medicine as a unique acupuncture practice dedicated to supporting women with cycle-related concerns, fertility challenges and burnout. When she’s not in the clinic seeing patients, you can find Anne listening to podcasts while doing water aerobics, juggling parenting responsibilities or snuggling with her two boys.

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