I'm Michaela. I'm a single mom, a marketer, a builder, and an IVF survivor — though that last one still feels strange to say out loud.

In 2023, I decided to become a mother on my own. I was 30-something, living in the LA valley with two cats and a mini Australian Shepherd, working my dream job in the gaming industry. I had everything I wanted except the one thing I wanted most. So I did the terrifying, expensive, needle-filled thing: I started IVF.

What followed was the most chaotic, heartbreaking, expensive, beautiful, absurd year of my life.

The Short Version

My insurance denied me because I'm single. (Apparently my dream of motherhood "wasn't as valid as a married person's." Let's be real — that's effed up.) I paid out of pocket. I advocated. I reached out to the National Women's Law Center. I started stims.

My body surprised everyone — 20 follicles responded when I'd never had more than 5. I got 7 embryos, 5 of them perfect 4AA grades. Then I developed ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome and ended up in the hospital. Fun times.

My first frozen embryo transfer didn't take. BFN. Heartbreaking.

My second transfer — my beta came back at 1.78. One-point-seven-eight. If you know, you know. It rose, slowly, to 125 by 6 weeks. I was pregnant. And then I wasn't. Chemical pregnancy. Loss at 6 weeks.

My third transfer, I was more scared than excited. I'd also been diagnosed with Antiphospholipid Syndrome — a blood clotting disorder that makes pregnancy dangerous — on top of the autoimmune illness I already had. I was on blood thinners, prednisone, intralipid infusions, the works. They threw everything at it.

It worked. HCG hit 6,512 by 16 days post transfer. My baby was thriving.

On July 9, 2024, my daughter Sadie Rose made her grand entrance at Los Robles Hospital. She went from 3cm to crowning in 30 minutes while my entire family was in the cafeteria eating lunch. Four pushes. She has been dramatic and unpredictable from day one, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Why Babiedust Exists

During my entire IVF experience — the stims, the retrievals, the transfers, the losses, the TWW spirals, the 2AM pregnancy test photography sessions — I kept looking for an app that actually served me. Not a period tracker with an "IVF mode" bolted on as an afterthought. Not a generic AI that tells me my test is "positive or negative" without understanding what a faint line at 9 DPO means to someone who's been through what I've been through.

I wanted something that understood my medications, tracked my protocols across cycles, let my mom see my appointments, adjusted when I was researching clinics in Spain, and — most of all — didn't make me feel like I was navigating this massive, confusing, emotional experience alone.

That thing didn't exist. So I'm building it.

Babiedust is a fertility media brand and (soon) an AI-powered fertility companion app. The blog you're reading right now is the media side — real talk about IVF, IUI, egg freezing, donor conception, surrogacy, fertility tourism, supplements, medications, HCG numbers, and everything else that keeps you up at 2 AM. Written by someone who's been there, not someone who's observed it from a distance.

The app — coming soon — will include AI pregnancy test scanning that estimates HCG levels (not just positive/negative), medication management, cycle comparison, cost tracking, partner accounts, and community features with content filtering so you never see a pregnancy announcement on a day you can't handle one.

Why "Babiedust"?

In the trying-to-conceive community, "baby dust" is what you wish someone — it's the good luck, the positive vibes, the crossed fingers and toes. When my mom and aunt came to my embryo transfer, I told them to cross their fingers and toes for me. They did. And it worked (eventually).

Babiedust is that energy. A little magic for your fertility journey. Not a guarantee — I'd never promise that — but the warmth and support and real information that makes the process a little less lonely.

A Little More About Me

By day (well, by all hours — toddler life), I'm a marketer. I was CMO at Neopets, where I led a rebrand that generated a billion impressions and coverage in Vanity Fair and The Washington Post. I've built multiple tech businesses using AI tools in 48-hour sprints. I'm a builder. I ship things. And now I'm building this.

Sadie has been diagnosed with autism, and she is the funniest, most determined little human I've ever met. My life is full and complicated and chaotic and I wouldn't trade a second of it.

If you're in the middle of your fertility experience right now — whether you're just starting, mid-cycle, post-loss, or cautiously pregnant — I see you. I've been you. And I built this place for us.

Welcome. I'm glad you're here.

— Michaela