Type A personalities have a well-deserved reputation for a penchant to control. Whether in their personal or professional lives, they can be picked out pretty easily. They’re the ones asking specific and detailed questions, tapping their smart watches, picking up any slack, and providing information that wasn’t even apparent to others that it was needed.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we've had to adapt to "new normals" like wearing masks in public, forgoing large family gatherings and not blowing out birthday candles. It often feels like many memories from the past few years just aren't the same as they once were. When you add infertility struggles to that already overwhelming mental load, well - it's a lot to manage.

One woman with PCOS is about to receive a FREE IVF cycle from RMA of Connecticut. Dr. Ilana Ressler explains the grant, how you can apply, and when it will be announced in the video below. What is The PCOS Challenge Family Building Grant? RMA of Connecticut has teamed up with The PCOS Challenge Family Building Grant to help patients with infertility caused by polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) build their families and includes a free IVF cycle. RMA of Connecticut is one of only four fertility clinics across the country participating in The PCOS Challenge Family Building Grant. The deadline to apply is November 16th and the grant recipient will be announced December 15th. Grants are awarded once per year. RMA of Connecticut continues to bring awareness to PCOS sufferers. Last year, during PCOS month in September, RMA of Connecticut created special programming via social media, geared toward college-aged students, and they teamed up with PCOS influencers to spread the word about how to manage symptoms associated with PCOS. Dr. Ilana Ressler, a reproductive endocrinologist with RMA of Connecticut, conducted an Instagram Live to help spread the word about The PCOS Challenge Family Building Grant.

Infertility can be a stressful and challenging experience even in “normal” times, let alone during a global pandemic. As a reproductive endocrinologist, I spend my days working with individuals and couples to help them achieve their dream of building a family. During this challenging year, I have watched many of my patients grapple with questions about how to reconcile their concerns about COVID-19 with their desire to have a baby.

You’re done. Fertility treatments, over. Finished. Adoption is not a choice for you. It just isn’t. Fostering a child, nope. No judgement on anyone who continues, it’s just that you know that you are done. Having a child was a lifelong dream and you’ve accepted, begrudgingly or not, that it’s not happening and that you know that it’s time for you to accept it. But come on, childfree by choice? It wasn’t a choice; it was inflicted on you. You didn’t weigh the options, balancing having a child with not having a child and choose the latter. You didn’t flip a coin and let that make your decision.

Hannah Bronfman, DJ and founder of HBFIT, and husband, Brendan Fallis, have been open and honest about their pregnancy journey. After a miscarriage, multiple IUIs, and IVF, they give us an update on their family building story.

Let’s preface this by saying, we are not COVID-19 experts. If you’re looking for expertise, regarding safety guidelines, quarantine procedures, or mask selection, please go to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Coronavirus page.

People faced with infertility currently in treatment have had the hardest decisions to make over the last several months, hinging on factors out of their control. Many fertility practices reduced scheduling to only Telehealth consults, others were closed entirely, and almost all had to delay and postpone fertility treatment cycles due to COVID-19. Those decisions posed limitations that were hard for many patients to accept, and sparked conversations on many levels about whether fertility treatment is considered an “essential service.”