Chelsea’s Maven Story: Finding Infertility Care and Comfort

Chelsea is an Arizonan mother of one who accesses Maven through her spouse's job at a large, multinational institution. After being diagnosed with a rare condition that causes infertility, Chelsea’s husband referred her to Maven for additional support. She sought advice and second opinions, but above all else, accessed comprehensive care from providers who treated her journey holistically.

Getting started with Maven

While trying for their second child, Chelsea and her husband felt something wasn’t right. In October of 2019, she scheduled an appointment with her regular OB-GYN, who diagnosed her with a diminished ovarian reserve (DOR), a condition in which the ovary loses its normal reproductive potential, due to a lower count or quality of remaining eggs. 

Heartbroken and shocked, Chelsea returned home with more questions than she had answers. Her husband rifled through his benefits to see what could help, and remembered that he had access to Maven through his job. He immediately set her up with an appointment with a Maven care advocate, Talia, who was able to meet her within a day.

“I was unsure at the beginning, I asked myself ‘how can they really help me?’ But the moment I met with my Care Advocate I saw how this could be helpful to me right away.”

Chelsea told Talia about her condition, as well as the plan her OB-GYN had devised. Without hesitation, Talia scheduled her with a reproductive endocrinologist for a second opinion. Her Care Advocate recommended she seek treatment at a fertility clinic, and promptly shared a PDF with clinics in her area, ratings, and even a guide on how to interpret the rating. 

“[The provider] gave me guidance to help make the decision myself.”

Mental health support for the ups and downs of fertility treatment

The fertility journey can be grueling, both in terms of the time and the emotions invested. For many women, the diagnosis of infertility can be a major source of stress. Chelsea went onto Maven to find support for the emotional journey, searching for a mental health provider to speak with. “[My Care Advocate] actually recommended a mental health provider to me who she thought was perfect for my situation as she had the same diagnosis as me. She didn’t have availability for me that week, but she reached out to the provider personally and she made time to fit me in...I speak with her once a week now.”

When Chelsea began her fertility journey, she didn’t anticipate that the fertility clinic itself would be a major source of stress as well. In her experience, the clinic was cold, sterile, and unwelcoming. Additionally, she had a difficult time advocating for herself, her experiences, and her wishes: “You’re on the waitlist for months and months, and then you finally get in, and it’s a bad experience. You’re not going to go somewhere else and start the waiting process over again…You’re kind of at their mercy.”

Speaking with her mental health provider has been “a literal Godsend” to Chelsea. They’ve helped Chelsea navigate the arduous process of fertility treatments, as well as the unseen emotional journey that many women have to cope with — the hope, the grief, and even the frustration. “You’re trying to build your family... you have so much hope invested in this. A negative [test] is not just a negative. The baby you’ve been dreaming of for however many years isn’t there.” Many of these emotions were magnified by the stress Chelsea felt as a result of the clinic’s environment.

Chelsea’s mental health provider realized she had another patient — outside of Maven — who received treatment at the same fertility clinic, and experienced many of the same issues. The provider offered to connect them so they could share advice and listen to each other’s stories. “Meeting with my Maven mental health provider...she changed my life. I don’t know what I would have done without her. This process is devastating.”

A comprehensive, whole-person approach to fertility

Since starting with Maven, Chelsea’s been able to lean on Talia and her care team for guidance, comfort, and even second opinions for her fertility treatments. In fact, Chelsea admits, “I use Maven for everything except for the actual procedures. I can’t even contact my doctor without being put on a waiting list — I can meet with a Maven doctor and ask all of my questions within an hour.” 

Her nutritionist took the time to review all her labs and offered diet advice that was beneficial for her fertility treatments. Her reproductive endocrinologist offers second opinions on treatments as she’s going through them. Chelsea even consulted a pediatrician about a burn her daughter sustained in the early days of the pandemic, when many of us were too afraid of getting sick to go to urgent care.

“We didn’t want to go to urgent care since we didn’t even know if it was safe to breathe the air outside, so we went to Maven. It took ten minutes from the time my daughter burned her leg to the time we were able to speak to a pediatrician. She asked Maven for permission to send a prescription to our local Walgreens, and within an hour we had a treatment for my daughter’s leg.”

Even though she’s started using Maven to supplement her ongoing fertility treatments, Chelsea’s been able to find help, advice, and even some much needed comfort through her providers. In her own words, “I would have given up if it weren’t for Maven.”