Black Friday + Fertility Friendly = Yes, Please!

This year looks different but one thing is certain Black Friday is more accessible than ever with online shopping from some of our favorite brands including those with fertility friendly products you need (more of) in your life.

I have put together a cheat sheet including deals on fertility friendly essentials including and few exclusives you won’t find anywhere else...

Happy shopping!

All the Things.

Small Packages: Gift uniquely this holiday season that even he/she/they who has/have it all will appreciate. Check out Small Packages gift boxes curated by small businesses and made with exceptional quality.

Promo: 20% off with code Holiday21 through 11/30 on Holiday Hygge and Women in Food gift boxes

Photo credit: Emma Golden, Small Packages

Natalist: From supplements to self care and support for male fertility and everything in between - including pregnancy tests that are 99% accurate , Natalist has you covered. And with a net zero plastic footprint, there is also even more to feel good about!

Promo: Get 20% off plus free shipping with code MAKEABABY  

Photo credit: Natalist

Art. IVF but make it pretty.

Glitter Enthusiast: IVF Warrior Jamie Kushner Bicher creates stunning art and décor with the help of a tool that she knows well, sterile IVD needles. From wall art, accessories including headbands, masks, home décor and much more… IVF seriously never looked so good. 

Promo: Use code SMALLBIZSPARKLE through 11/28  for 20% off sitewide

Photo credit: Glitter Enthusiast

Bijoux to tell your story.

My Story Fine Jewelry: Founded by IVF warrior turned adoptive mama, Jackie Cohen creates jewelry that inspired her journey to motherhood. Now is the perfect time to drop those hints for Jackie’s pieces that are soulful, meaningful and just straight up gorgeous. 

Promo: HOLIDAY20 for 20% off

Photo credit: My Story Fine Jewelry

Clean beauty.

Inner Beauty Cosmetics: Beauty goes beyond skin deep with these beautifully hued, clean cosmetics designed by beauty industry veteran and MS warrior Julie Rice alongside of her naturopath. Products are created with everybody's safety in mind, even for the most sensitive bodies to use; from trying to conceive, pregnancy, those battling auto immune diseases, and/or cancer.

Promo: BLACKFRIDAY” for 25% off 11/27 thru 11/29

Photo courtesy of Inner Beauty cosmetics

Risewell: Inspired by Kori Estrada’s IVF journey to create a non-toxic solution for oral health care, Kori created effective, clean, science-backed oral care products that are made to work with your body by leaving out nasty endocrine disrupting chemicals.

Promo: 15% off sitewide  (https://risewell.com/) excluding subscriptions with code SAVE15 through 11/30 

Photo courtesy of Risewell

Healthy eats.

Daily Harvest: Stock your home with clean, delicious food that’s built on real fruits + vegetables and ready to enjoy in minutes. From November 25th through December 1st, new customers can buy one Daily Harvest box and get a box of equal value for free on your second delivery.

Promo Code: CYBERWEEK2020

Photo courtesy of Daily Harvest

Join the Club.

Fertility Rally:

Worst Club. Best Members. Lowest price to join ever at $119 for annual membership. Good now through 11/28.

Promo Code: RALLYBLACK 

Photo credit: Fertility Rally

Men’s Health Matters Too.

Beli Fertilust Exclusive Deal!

Sperm energy counts! The better the sperm, the better the chances for a better outcome and healthy baby.  Clinically proven ingredients that are non-GMO,vegan and clean. Your search for a better male supplement is over.

Promo: 30% off with code Believe through Monday

Photo credit: Beli

Support Warrior Women Businesses.

Jasmine Katatikarn, Fertility Warrior and artist is sharing her designer point of view and tools to show you how to find control in your own fertility journey. Because you deserve love too!

Offer: Free Fertility Training

Photo courtesy of Jasmine Katatikarn

Marilyn Gomez, Founder of Infertile Tees creates original and witty tees for your journey.

Offer:  A FREE eye mask with a $45 purchase throughout the weekend with code EYEMASK

Photo credit: Marilyn Gomez

Stephanie Booe, IVF warrior and mama is sharing a Black Friday special on her warrior earrings and newly released children’s book: You Were Worth the Wait, written from the perspective of a parent in waiting and dedicated to all that know the various hardships of building a family.

Offer: You Were Worth the Wait, $13.99 + s/h and Earrings from $15 - $25. Good Friday, 11/27 only

Photo credit: Stephanie Booe

Self Care.

 The Honey Pot Company:

What you put in and on your body matters. Check out the first plant-based feminine care system on the market made by humans with vaginas for humans with vaginas. And to sweeten the pot for Black Friday, they are offering a special…

Promo: Buy two get one free site wide through Sunday. No code necessary

Photo courtesy of the Honey Pot Company

Skintastic.

CocoKind:

Got maskne or hormones to contend with? CocoKind has fertility friendly skincare to the rescue at 20% off plus credit on future purchases in December. My favorites are the organic rose water spray and sea moss exfoliator!

Promo Code: 20% off sitewide, free shipping + credit on future purchases

Photo courtesy of CocoKind

Nucifera: Fertilust Exclusive!

For the natural beauty minimalist!  Nucifera's products are hand crafted to be multipurpose, unisex, and easy to use for all. From moisturizer for your face and body to make up remover, hair and deodorant, Nucifera literally has you covered from head to toe with deliciously organic plant butters and oils from around the world. 

Promo Code: FERTILUST15

Photo courtesy of Nucifera

Smart Tracking.

Pearl:

Track and chart your FSH and LH during your cycle by not only pinpointing your ovulation date with precision – and in advance to catch all of your fertile days. Plus daily tracking strips work in tandem with the app to analyze your data, chart and store it in the mobile app so you’ll always know exactly what you need to know.

Promo: 20% off sitewide with code BLACK2020

Photo courtesy of Pearl

Testing 1, 2, 3…

PreConception (Test):

The PreConception test helps identify health risks that might lead to complications with fertility and/or pregnancy. The best part is you take the test at home and results are delivered directly to you! 

Promo: $50 off the Essential test package which includes 9 essential tests, personalized test results sent directly to you and a 30 minute phone call with a PreConception clinician to answer questions and guide on next steps

Plus, please also check out other friends who are having Black Friday sales including: Cozy Warrior and MyVitro.

I’d love to hear what you picked up and am always interested in hearing if there are other categories and brands you’d like to see more of in future holiday gifting round-ups and features!

xx Nathalie

Trying? Why ovulation isn't everything

Spoiler alert, I have been focused on ovulation for as long as I can remember and as a result have likely been missing my fertile window. I don’t know about you but despite fertility treatments, I always had a small glimmer of hope that in between them perhaps I could be a part of that tiny group of women who were surprised with a miraculous pregnancy. As a result, I have purchased more ovulation prediction kits than I could ever count over the years, either in hope or because of treatments.

I recently had the opportunity to try the Pearl Fertility ovulation prediction kit and it was unlike any other kit that I had ever tried. You might be thinking, but why, what makes it so special?

It’s unique because it provides laboratory-style testing at home and taught me that the time of ovulation and peak fertility aren’t necessarily one in of the same. Having access to my own personalized data through a scientific app and the ability to throw out the generalities of a typical 28-30 day cycle that I thought of as gospel, blew my mind.

My Pearl ovulation prediction kit arrived in a beautiful box with a barcode to set up my app on my phone, (15) LH sticks and (15) FSH kits, a urine catch cup, along with a cute little coaster to set it down on (love this attention to detail especially because I veer on the neat freak side of things). It also comes with two pregnancy tests, which I saw as an optimistic and sweet gesture for the “infertile” bunch of us that are going through treatments and may want to cheat during the 2WW. All I needed to provide was my mobile phone to take photos of the provided sticks through the Pearl app. The app analyzed my cycle through the images, provided a detailed description of my fertile window. What’s more is that it cheerily reminded me each morning that it was time to test.

The testing strips provided detect different hormone levels called lateral flow immunoassays (LFAIs) in urine. LFAIs bind the hormone to biomolecules which makes them easy to measure because they change color when they come in contact with urine. Most of these tests are usually interpreted in highly specialized labs but as you can imagine, these are quite expensive. This is where Pearl’s software steps in and is disrupting the space by providing more accurate results beyond the traditional ovulation kit. Pearl’s proprietary algorithm utilizes data from the test strips to detect hormone patterns to predict the cycle. (Note that after approximately two cycles, the software can predict a cycle well in advance so that you can “plan” accordingly). 

The software detects a patern of FSH (follicle-stimulationg hormone), LH (lutenizing hormone) and PdG (progesterone), which accurately predicts the fertile window when you are actually more likely to conceive. 

And guess what? I found out that the peak fertility window is actually approximately 3 - 4 days PRIOR to ovulation…

After ovulation, an egg is only “fertile” for 12 – 24 more hours. Sperm can survive in the body for 2 – 6 days post intercourse so maximizing a peak fertile window is important. This is especially important for those of us that are trying to conceive after 35. Every opportunity counts. Am I right?

I was so intrigued by this new FemTech which is redefining what we should expect from an ovulation prediction kit that I asked to connect with Dr. Leo Martinez, Founder of Pearl Fertility. I was interested in learning more about his new FemTech business and what inspired him to create it. Read on to find out more about Pearl Fertility.

What inspired you to start Pearl Fertility?

Women are busier than ever, take more (executive and) management positions, and spend far more time outside home than what used to be decades ago. This has created a more equitable society, but has become a challenge for fertility.

Natural fertility starts decreasing with age because of ovarian reserve. Thus, for women above 35 years of age it can take on average up to 10 months to conceive. That does not mean they are infertile, it just means that the chances are lessened. We found a gap when we found many sources of misinformation during our research that weren’t serving women who are desperate in finding actual solutions.

As a result, we leveraged our scientific backgrounds to build a product that can not only help women understand their fertility better (whether they are trying to conceive, or just tracking their hormones for treatments). This was (made) possible because of our core award-winning* technology, Google launchpad, and the European Commission which has allowed us to read all kinds of colorimetric diagnostic tests (specifically three individual hormones) by way of the camera on a mobile phone.

*The Pearl Fertility ovulation prediction kit was awarded as a Top Innovation by MIT Tech Review.

How is Pearl different than other ovulation prediction kits?

Pearl helps you chart your hormone levels: No more happy faces or ranges or thresholds. Instead, you get real hormone levels tracked over time. We have developed intelligent algorithms that run over the daily hormone data to give better predictions of the upcoming ovulation and based on that of a true clinically proven fertile window (the days with the highest chance to conceive). Now there is no more guesswork. Our test strips also measure hormones independently so you know exactly what hormone you are measuring. Other apps have appeared on the market that take pictures of the strips, but they lack the scientific intelligence levels to make (accurate) predictions. Additionally, our prediction algorithms which measure more than one hormone (and how they work together) are patented. The app can read FSH, LH and Progesterone. 

Is there a misconception about ovulation prediction kits that you would like to debunk?

Totally. Women are led to believe two things that are wrong about traditional ovulation prediction kits. The first misconception is that a positive test means the day of highest fertility. This is incorrect because the fertile window starts 6 days before ovulation and the top fertile time frame is 2 - 4 days before ovulation.

Although a (traditional ovulation) strip when positive can indicate fertility, it does not mean those are your most fertile days.

The second misconception is that a positive test means ovulation. This is incorrect because a positive test (in the case of LH) means that hormone levels are high or at their peak.

Many studies confirm that ovulation in fact happens approximately 24 hours after hormones peak. Another important factor to consider here is that not all peaks lead to ovulation as there are anovulatory cycles. 

To highlight the science behind this, please see the two figures built from a collection of clinical studies which represents the fertile window (FW) and the hormone peaks.

Pearl Fertility is innovating to allow women to better understand their cycles. What are you most excited about when you think about the future of fertility?

I think Pearl Fertility is showing the world what is possible in terms of home diagnostics in the era of digitalization. Pearl Fertility is one of the first apps to be a medical device by itself listed in the FDA, and soon will be CE certified.

We have big plans for other tests. With regulations and investment which are tough for medical devices, it requires some time and a lot of money to develop. Pearl is a pioneer in the future of medicine. Right now we only show hormones, (all tested and interpreted) at home. Imagine if you could interpret patterns to prevent disease, treat disease, or predict disease.

I think that the future is that the clinic will come to you.

About Pearl Fertility’s Founder, Dr. Leo Martinez: Dr. Martinez is a Biotech Engineer and Entrepreneur. He holds a PhD in biosensors by the University of Cambridge, has published dozens of academic papers in the fields of biosensors, photonics, mobile apps and fertility. He was listed as one of the Top Innovators under 35 in 2015 by the MIT Technology Review for the developing of the ‘smartphone-diagnostics’ technology behind Pearl. For more information about Pearl Fertility please visit pearl-fertility.com or follow them @pearlfertility

*Please note that I was not paid to review the Pearl Fertility ovulation prediction kit. I am an affiliate however which means that if you purchase a kit at 10% off with my discount code: FERTILUST10, a small percentage of the sale will go to me.