On this episode of Talking Away The Taboo, Michelle (Malka) Grunstein, LMFT CATC-IV, joins Aimee Baron, MD to talk about...

-how she has always known that she wants to be a mother

-how she decided that by the time she was 30, if she didn't meet someone, she would take steps to do this by herself

-her multiple failed relationships including a broken engagement

-insensitive comments like, "you better start trying now because you're running out of time" from her fertility doctors

-multiple fertility treatments and 3 miscarriages

-her continued journey on this path

She shares the unvarnished story about how steadfast one sometimes needs to be in order to fulfill their dreams.

More about Michelle (Malka) Grunstein:

Michelle is a licensed therapist who is multifaceted. Some of her specialties include child and adolescent development, addiction, trauma (EMDR), grief, depression, and anxiety. She is currently the Clinical Director and Executive Director of multiple dual diagnosis treatment centers, catering to those struggling with mental health and addiction. Michelle's difficult childhood lead her to become a therapist as a young adult and she has built her career with the focus of helping others. Despite attempts at dating and building a family throughout adulthood, she has been unable to do so due to a combination of infertility and not finding "the one". Michelle has chosen to fulfill her dream of becoming a mom through the use of a donor and has been on the journey of becoming a solo mom by choice for the last few years.

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On this episode of Talking Away The Taboo, Rachel Shanken joins Aimee Baron, MD to talk about...

-her journey to becoming an adoptive parent, something she never envisioned herself doing

-the heartbreaking conversation as a single woman in her 30s when her doctors said that she may never have biological children

-getting married, but then struggled through the ups and downs of umpteen failed cycles to try to get pregnant, first with her eggs and then with donor eggs (and a devastating miscarriage)

-her three adopted children and her journey to bring them into her life

This is a story of persistence, hope and resilience that you are not going to want to miss.

More about Rachel:

Rachel Shanken, a devoted mother, embraced adoption after a challenging journey through IVF with her husband. Their unwavering desire for a family led them to choose adoption as their path to parenthood. With 15+ years of experience as a NYC-based somatic therapist (www.MindBodyWise.com), Rachel blends her deep understanding of infertility and assisted reproduction with her therapeutic knowledge to assist people with the complex emotional terrain of fertility, offering compassionate and non-judgmental support along their unique paths to parenthood.

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-Follow her on Instagram

-Check out her website

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On this episode of Talking Away The Taboo, Ellie Levi, joins Aimee Baron, MD to talk about...

-her story of becoming a SIM: Single Intentional Mom to her 3 year old daughter, Ayelet HaShachar

-her thought process and emotions about each stage of the process

-the experience of being one of the first to her freeze eggs in her community

-how she tried to stay true to halacha (jewish law) throughout

-the many ups (some very funny moments!) and downs (lack of support from some people in her life, insensitive comments, etc.)

The thing about Ellie is that she's so articulate, meticulous and intelligent - it's clear that she has investigated every area of this journey, and just like Rachel said to Yaakov/Jacob, "I am dead without children," Ellie felt that being a mother was her calling. This is her remarkable journey.

More about Ellie:

Elisheva [Ellie] Levi is a licensed architect in the state of New York and has designed schools, hospitals , high rise residential, transportation and infrastructure facilities. She is a self-described life-long student of Tanach and to that end she has given Torah lectures in Jewish communities across the US and in several countries around the world. You can listen to recordings of her shiurim on yutorah.org and OU Women’s Initiative. She has been published in the YU Torah to Go, the Times of Israel blog, the New York Times Metropolitan Diary and Architectural Record Magazine. Ellie also serves as the past President of the American Friends of Bat Melech, a domestic violence shelter serving the religious community in Israel, an organization for which she continues to volunteer. She is also the lucky SMBC (Single Mom by Choice) of her daughter Ayelet HaShachar and they reside in Northern New Jersey.

Connect with Ellie:

-Follow her on Instagram

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-Watch our TikToks

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-Connect with us on LinkedIn