PODCAST · society
IVF DADDIES
by Richard Westoby & Julio Gaggia
The fertility industry will take $200,000 from you before anyone explains what you're actually doing. We fix that. IVF. Surrogacy. Egg donation. Real costs. Real timelines. What clinics don't tell you. What lawyers bury in contracts. What no one warns you about until it's too late. Richard Westoby navigated this for 14 years. Julio Gaggia decoded it so you don't have to start from zero. Start with Episode 1. Hit follow. Then make better decisions. No clinic deals. No referral fees. No false hope. The independent reference system for IVF, surrogacy and egg donation.
Episodes
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103) GRINDR’S $300K FAMILY-BUILDING BENEFIT
Grindr is offering eligible employees up to $300,000 in family-building support for fertility treatment, IVF, surrogacy and adoption. Yes. Grindr. In this first IVFDADDIES SHOUTOUT, Julio Gaggia looks at what started with a video from Grindr’s Brian Lucksinger talking about wanting to become a...
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102) FINANCING IVF OR YOUR MONEY BACK WITH SUNFISH CEO ANGELA RASTEGAR
How much does IVF really cost, and what happens when treatment fails but the money is already gone? Before founding Sunfish, Angela Rastegar watched intended parents sell their 401(k)s and struggle to finance fertility treatment without knowing the final cost. Then she experienced it herself....
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101) CAN SCIENTISTS MAKE A 42-YEAR-OLD EGG WORK LIKE IT’S 22?
What if scientists could target one of the main reasons IVF becomes less successful with age? As eggs get older, the biological “glue” holding their chromosomes together begins to deteriorate. Chromosomes can separate incorrectly, leaving an egg with the wrong number. This can prevent an embryo...
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100) What If Your Surrogate Changes Her Mind?
It is the question every gay intended parent is afraid to ask: What happens if your surrogate changes her mind? At 20 weeks, one surrogacy journey became the nightmare nobody believed would happen. The contracts were signed. The difficult decisions had been discussed. Everyone appeared to...
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99) FRESH VS FROZEN EMBRYOS: WHAT CLINICS NEVER ASK - IVFDADDIES
Fresh or frozen? It sounds like a logistics question. It's not. Richard gets asked this constantly, and the answer almost always depends on something the clinic never asked first: what do you actually want your family to look like? In this episode Richard and Julio work through one of the most...
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98) THE EMBRYO TEST RICHARD WISHES SOMEONE HAD EXPLAINED TO HIM FIRST - IVFDADDIES
Before you sit down with your doctor and they start talking about genetic testing, there is a conversation that should happen first. Richard has it with hundreds of patients every year. This is that conversation. Richard Westoby works with intended parents every day before they see their doctor....
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97)WHAT YOUR IVF CLINIC ACTUALLY NEEDS FROM YOU FIRST. FROM OVERSEAS TO DAD - IVFDADDIES
SPOTIFY DESCRIPTION You've done the research. You've read the blogs. But there's a specific moment in the IVF journey that almost every gay man gets blindsided by and it's not the one you think. Dr. Michael Gornaccia of New England Fertility Institute has spent over 30 years helping LGBTQ…
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96) "I WOULD NEVER BE A DAD IF IT WEREN'T FOR HIM" | CANDY CRASH - IVFDADDIES
Candy Crash spent 25 years believing she was not allowed to want a family. Ten weeks ago, she became a dad. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Parenthood Journey 01:16 The Emotional Growth of Becoming a Parent 03:21 Experiences as an Au Pair and Changing Perspectives 05:02 Support Systems in Same-Sex...
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95) EGG DONATION & SURROGACY: WHAT NOBODY TELLS YOU BEFORE YOU SPEND $200,000 - IVFDADDIES
Most people start this journey knowing the cost. Nobody warns them about everything else. Katy Encalade has been a surrogate herself. Now she runs one of the most respected egg donation and surrogacy agencies in the US. This conversation is the one most intended parents wish they had before they...
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94) SURROGACY LAW JUST CHANGED IN YOUR FAVOR: WHAT EVERY LGBTQ+ FAMILY NEEDS TO KNOW NOW
The legal ground under surrogacy is shifting. For once it is shifting in your favor. If you are LGBTQ+ and you have been quietly terrified about what this administration means for your family, this is the episode that answers it directly. No vague reassurances. No spin. Just a fertility attorney...
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93) YOUR EMBRYO GRADE IS LYING TO YOU: WHAT IVF CLINICS DON'T EXPLAIN ABOUT YOUR RESULTS
Your embryo grade is not what you think it is. Embryologist Emanuela Molinari has spent her career inside the lab watching families make critical decisions based on information they do not fully understand. This episode fixes that. What you will actually learn: Why two clinics can look at the…
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92) IVF DOES NOT GUARANTEE A BABY: THE CONVERSATION ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS NOBODY IS HAVING
Everyone talks about the embryos. Nobody talks about what happens to the relationship. IVF puts a number on your family. Success rates. Grades. Transfer windows. And somewhere inside all of that data, the relationship that started this entire journey is quietly breaking under the pressure nobody...
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91) HE REPORTED ON FAMILIES WORLDWIDE THEN BUILT ONE THROUGH SURROGACY: PEDRO ANDRADE'S TRUTH
He spent years reporting on how families are built around the world. Then he had to build his own. Pedro Andrade is a journalist and television host who has documented cultures across six continents. But nothing prepared him for the system of decisions, patience, and uncertainty that is IVF and...
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90) THE SURROGACY INDUSTRY HAS A TRANSPARENCY PROBLEM: HERE IS WHAT IS ACTUALLY CHANGING
Surrogacy is not just a medical process. It is infrastructure. And right now that infrastructure is being rebuilt whether the industry is ready or not. IVF Daddies investigates what has actually shifted in the surrogacy landscape over the past year, what it means for intended parents, and why the...
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88) THE MAN WHO CHANGED SURROGACY LAW: RON POOLE-DAYAN ON POWER, MONEY AND WHO CONTROLS YOUR FAMILY
One man helped move gay fatherhood from legal impossibility to corporate insurance policy. This is the conversation about what that actually cost and who controls the infrastructure now. Ron Poole-Dayan founded Men Having Babies. Over two decades he helped reshape how governments, corporations…
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87) THE FERTILITY LIE CELEBRITIES WON'T TELL YOU: A REPRODUCTIVE DOCTOR BREAKS THE SILENCE
Kim Kardashian froze her eggs on camera. Janet Jackson had a baby at 50. The message millions of women absorbed: you have time. The message reproductive doctors are exhausted from correcting: you do not. Dr. Brooke Freeman is a reproductive endocrinologist. She spends her days cleaning up the...
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85) THEY TRIED TO BUILD A FAMILY IN A COUNTRY WITH NO RULES FOR FAMILIES LIKE THEIRS: THE NETHERLANDS TRUTH
No rulebook. No legal framework. No guarantees. Just two people who refused to stop. This episode is not a success story with a tidy ending. It is what actually happens when the system was not built for your family and you have to find a way through it anyway. They tried to become parents in the...
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84) THE GOVERNMENT IS MAKING REPRODUCTIVE DECISIONS FOR YOUR FAMILY: A PUBLIC HEALTH DOCTOR SPEAKS OUT
When politicians control reproductive healthcare, families pay the price. A public health doctor who has spent his career on the frontlines is done staying quiet about it. Dr. Demetre Daskalakis has worked inside some of the most politically pressured healthcare systems in America. He has watched...
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83) KIM KARDASHIAN, RYAN MURPHY AND THE IVF CONVERSATION HOLLYWOOD ALMOST GOT RIGHT
Ryan Murphy made a TV show about divorce, power, and reproductive rights. And accidentally created the most important IVF conversation mainstream America has had in years. Kim Kardashian froze her eggs on camera. Now she is starring in a show where embryo custody becomes a weapon in a divorce.…
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82) BRAVOCON, BRAVO CELEBRITIES AND THE LGBTQ+ FAMILY REVOLUTION HAPPENING ON REALITY TV RIGHT NOW
Something shifted. And if you were paying attention at BravoCon, you felt it. The storylines dominating reality TV right now are not just entertainment. They are the most powerful visibility machine the LGBTQ+ community has ever had access to. And the people inside that machine are starting to...
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74) THE PHONE CALL THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING: THE EMOTIONAL TRUTH OF SURROGACY NOBODY PREPARES YOU FOR
Every intended parent knows the feeling. Your phone rings. Your heart stops. And in the seconds before you answer, you are already a different person than you were before. This episode is about that moment. And every moment before and after it that the brochures, the consultations, and the…
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84) THE METHOD PARIS HILTON AND LINDSAY LOHAN USE TO STOP SELF-SABOTAGE: JORGE PEREZ ON ATTENTION AND REINVENTION
Your attention is not free. Every complaint, every spiral, every moment you spend feeding the wrong thought is costing you something you cannot get back. Jorge Perez figured this out the hard way. Then he wrote a book about it. Then the celebrities started calling. This is the conversation about...
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81) GAY DADS ARE REWRITING WHAT FATHERHOOD LOOKS LIKE AND THE WORLD IS FINALLY PAYING ATTENTION
Nobody handed gay dads a parenting manual. So they wrote their own. And what they built in the process is something the traditional parenting world did not see coming: a community, a movement, and a new definition of fatherhood that is more intentional, more visible, and more honest than anything...
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73) THE FERTILITY DOCTOR WHO ACTUALLY TREATS LGBTQ+ FAMILIES AS THE PRIORITY NOT THE AFTERTHOUGHT
Most fertility clinics were built for straight couples. The protocols, the language, the assumptions baked into every consultation. LGBTQ+ families have been navigating a system that was not designed for them and paying full price to do it. Dr. Said Daneshmand is done with that model. This…
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80) A DRAG RACE STAR ADOPTED A CHILD WHILE THE WORLD TOLD HIM HE SHOULDN'T: MOCCA BONE'S TRUTH
He performs in full drag to sold-out audiences across Belgium. He is also a parent. And the world has had a lot of opinions about whether those two things are allowed to coexist. Mocca Bone from Drag Race Belgique sits down with Richard Westoby for one of the most unexpectedly moving…
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71) EGG FREEZING: THE STATISTICS THE FERTILITY INDUSTRY HOPES YOU NEVER ASK FOR
The fertility industry spent a decade selling egg freezing as an insurance policy. Dr. Sarah Mikowski is here to tell you what the fine print actually says. This is not an attack on egg freezing. It is the honest version of the conversation you deserved to have before you walked into a clinic…
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72) THEY SURVIVED CANCER THEN THE SYSTEM TOOK AWAY THEIR CHANCE TO BECOME PARENTS
You beat cancer. You did the hardest thing a human body can do. You survived. And then you found out that the treatment that saved your life may have taken something else. The chance to have a child. The future you were fighting to get back to. Dr. Paul Brezina works at the intersection of…
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70) EUROPE IS FORCING LGBTQ+ FAMILIES TO LEAVE THEIR OWN COUNTRIES TO HAVE CHILDREN: HERE IS WHY
In 2025, LGBTQ+ families across Europe are boarding planes to have children because their own governments have made it legally impossible to do it at home. This is not a hypothetical. It is the daily reality for intended parents navigating a continent where surrogacy law changes at every border,...
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69) YOUR FERTILITY TEST RESULTS ARE NOT TELLING YOU WHAT YOUR DOCTOR IMPLIED THEY WERE TELLING YOU
You got your results. You Googled at 2am. You are still not sure what any of it actually means for your chances of having a child. You are not alone. And it is not your fault. Dr. Linnea Goodman joins IVF Daddies to do the thing most fertility consultations do not have time for: explain what your...
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68) THEY GOT MARRIED IN IBIZA THEN SPENT YEARS FIGHTING BELGIUM'S SURROGACY SYSTEM TO BECOME FATHERS
The wedding was perfect. The journey to parenthood was not. Guy and Milan got married in Ibiza and came home to a country with no clear legal pathway for gay men who want to become fathers through surrogacy. What followed was years of navigating egg donation, genetic testing, surrogacy logistics,...
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67) THE GENETIC TEST RESULT THAT ALMOST ENDED OUR SURROGACY JOURNEY BEFORE IT STARTED
There is a moment in almost every surrogacy journey where something arrives that nobody warned you about. A result. A number. A conversation with a doctor that reframes everything you thought you understood about what comes next. For Julio and Richard, that moment came from genetic testing. Dr....
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66) THE FERTILITY INDUSTRY IS SELLING YOU TREATMENTS YOU MAY NOT NEED: A DOUBLE BOARD CERTIFIED SPECIALIST SPEAKS
The fertility industry generates billions of dollars annually. Some of what it sells you is medicine. Some of it is marketing. A double board-certified specialist who has practiced internationally is here to help you tell the difference. Dr. Nurit Winkler has seen what happens when patients…
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65) HE GOT MS AT 15 THEN BUILT THE SCIENCE THAT LINKS WHAT YOU EAT TO WHETHER YOUR IVF WORKS
At 15 years old he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The medical system gave him a protocol. He went looking for something the protocol was missing. What Dr. Connor Curley found in the intersection of nutrition science and chronic disease eventually led him to one of the most underdiscussed...
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64) THE FERTILITY CLINIC SUCCESS RATE ON THEIR WEBSITE IS NOT THE NUMBER THAT ACTUALLY MATTERS
Every fertility clinic publishes success rates. Almost none of them are comparing the same thing. And the number that actually predicts whether you will go home with a baby is rarely the one they put on the homepage. Dr. Deirdre Conway from Utah Fertility Center has spent her career inside the…
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63) THE DAY YOUR EMBRYO IS TRANSFERRED: WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS IN THAT ROOM THAT NOBODY DESCRIBES
You have spent months getting to this moment. The retrieval. The fertilization. The grading. The waiting. And now there is a day coming where everything that has been happening in a lab is going to happen inside a human body. Most people arrive at embryo transfer day not fully understanding what…
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62) THE WEIGHT LOSS PEPTIDE EVERYONE IS TAKING IS QUIETLY CHANGING WHAT IS POSSIBLE IN IVF AND FERTILITY
Millions of people are taking GLP-1 receptor agonists to lose weight. What almost nobody is talking about is what these peptides are doing to hormones, egg quality, and fertility outcomes at the same time. Dr. Carrie Melissa Wambach is a leading fertility specialist at one of the most respected...
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61) THE FERTILITY DOCTOR WHO HAS HELPED THOUSANDS OF LGBTQ+ FAMILIES AND IS STILL NOT DONE BREAKING BARRIERS
Most fertility doctors treat LGBTQ+ families as a subset of their practice. Dr. Said Daneshmand built his practice around them. This is the inside conversation from one of the most respected fertility centers in the United States, recorded with full access to the questions you have been sending…
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60) THE OZEMPIC EFFECT, OF BABIES IN THE RISING AND NUTRITION
In this episode of the IVF Daddy's Podcast, the hosts delve into various topics surrounding fertility, nutrition, and lifestyle choices. They discuss the controversial effects of Ozempic on pregnancy, the importance of nutrition in fertility, and the strict requirements of IVF and surrogacy. The...
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59) BREAKING THE SILENCE ON WOMEN'S HEALTH
In this episode of the IVF Daddies podcast, hosts Julio and Richard delve into the complexities of endometriosis, an often invisible disease that affects many women. They discuss the societal perceptions surrounding women's health, the disbelief women face regarding their pain, and the lack of...
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58) AFTER FAMILY-BUILDING CONVERSATIONS: WHY STEPPARENTING STILL FEELS INVISIBLE IN LGBTQIA+ FAMILIES
If you’ve listened to conversations about surrogacy, IVF, or modern family building and still feel unseen in your role, this episode is for you. We unpack what stepparenting actually looks like in LGBTQIA+ families, what’s rarely acknowledged, and what helps stabilize relationships after the big...
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57) HOW HIV POSITIVE DADS NAVIGATE FAMILY BUILDING
In this conversation, Brian Rosenberg from Gays with Kids shares his journey as an HIV positive dad and the founding of Gays with Kids, an organization dedicated to helping LGBTQ+ individuals navigate parenthood. He discusses the importance of education in family building, the various paths to...
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56) THE EMBRYO EDUCATION THEY DONT WANT YOU TO KNOW
In this episode of IVFDADDIES, Richard Westoby, speaks with Emma Whitney, an experienced embryologist, about the importance of reproductive health education, the complexities of infertility, and the role of embryologists in fertility treatments. They discuss the often-misleading success rates of...
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55) WELLNESS & FERTILITY THROUGH CROHN'S DESEASE
In this episode of the IVF Daddies podcast, hosts and guests BOLKO ALEKSIEV and NAOMI TEAL from MABO WELLNESS delve into personal journeys of health and wellness, focusing on Crohn's disease, nutrition, and fertility challenges. They discuss the emotional toll of fertility testing, the importance...
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54) FREEZING MY EGGS SAVED MY LIFE FROM CANCER
In this conversation, Richard Westoby and his friend Kat discuss the journey of fertility, cancer diagnosis, and the emotional and physical challenges that come with it. They explore the importance of family, the impact of cancer on personal aspirations, and the options available for building a...
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53) IS TRUMP CHANGING SURROGACY BIRTHRIGHTS AND CITIZENSHIP WITH NEW ELECTION?
In this episode of IVF Daddies, Rich Vaughn from the International Fertility Law Group discusses the implications of recent executive orders regarding birthright citizenship and surrogacy. The conversation explores the constitutional basis of birthright citizenship, the nuances of the executive...
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52) NAVIGATING PCOS, UNLOCKING YOUR INNER POWER.
Dicover more about Louisa's website Takeaways The power is already within us, and sometimes we just need a push. Discipline is key to achieving results in life. Health choices can significantly impact fertility and overall well-being. PCOS can be managed and even reversed through lifestyle…
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51) IS IVF SAFE DURING THE CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES?
Takeaways The fertility community acts as first responders during crises. Safety protocols for frozen tissue are robust and reliable. Real-time monitoring of storage conditions is critical. Collaboration among fertility centers enhances patient care. Emergency communication systems are in place…
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50) A Gay Dad's Perspective From Surrogacy to Parenthood: Michael and George's Story
In this episode of the IVF Daddy's podcast, hosts Michael Snaric and George share their journey of becoming parents through IVF and surrogacy. They discuss the challenges they faced, including finding the right surrogate, navigating the NICU experience, and the importance of building a supportive...
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49) THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF IVF AND SURROGACY
In this episode of the IVF Daddies podcast, hosts Julio and Richard explore the intersection of reality TV and important topics surrounding women's health, fertility, and parenting. They discuss how reality shows have opened up conversations about painful periods, endometriosis, egg freezing…
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48) OZEMPIC A GAME CHANGER FOR FERTILITY
In this conversation, Richard Westby from IVF Daddies interviews Dr. Carrie Wambach about Ozempic, a medication primarily used for diabetes management that has shown additional benefits, particularly in weight loss and fertility. Dr. Wambach explains how Ozempic works by decreasing insulin...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The fertility industry will take $200,000 from you before anyone explains what you're actually doing. We fix that. IVF. Surrogacy. Egg donation. Real costs. Real timelines. What clinics don't tell you. What lawyers bury in contracts. What no one warns you about until it's too late. Richard Westoby navigated this for 14 years. Julio Gaggia decoded it so you don't have to start from zero. Start with Episode 1. Hit follow. Then make better decisions. No clinic deals. No referral fees. No false hope. The independent reference system for IVF, surrogacy and egg donation.
HOSTED BY
Richard Westoby & Julio Gaggia
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does IVF DADDIES have?
IVF DADDIES currently has 98 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is IVF DADDIES about?
The fertility industry will take $200,000 from you before anyone explains what you're actually doing. We fix that. IVF. Surrogacy. Egg donation. Real costs. Real timelines. What clinics don't tell you. What lawyers bury in contracts. What no one warns you about until it's too late. Richard Westoby...
How often does IVF DADDIES release new episodes?
IVF DADDIES has 98 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to IVF DADDIES?
You can listen to IVF DADDIES on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts IVF DADDIES?
IVF DADDIES is created and hosted by Richard Westoby & Julio Gaggia.
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