154. Becoming A Single Mother By Choice Part 2 with Michelle (Malka) Grunstein
Talking Away the Taboo with Dr. Aimee Baron
Release Date: 01/15/2025
191. Nothing About This Was Simple: Amanda Bryk on Miscarriage, Pregnancy After Loss Anxiety, and Finding Community
Talking Away the Taboo with Dr. Aimee Baron
In this episode, Aimee sits down with Amanda Bryk, a new IWSTHAB board member, to talk honestly about miscarriage, anxiety, and the complicated reality of building a family after loss. Amanda shares her first miscarriage and the shock of learning there was no heartbeat at an early ultrasound, navigating that moment without her husband Darren present due to residency, and the emotional weight of making decisions no one prepares you for. As her losses continued, Amanda opens up about how anxiety followed her into subsequent pregnancies and how grief doesn’t disappear just because you go on to...
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190. When the Waiting Becomes the Story
Talking Away the Taboo with Dr. Aimee Baron
In this episode, Tamar and Giddy share their story - how they met, fell in love, and built a marriage shaped by multiple losses, 11 rounds of IVF, and the constant waiting that comes with not knowing what’s next. They talk openly about how infertility impacts a marriage, how they learned to support each other while grieving differently, and the role therapy, creativity, faith, and community played in helping them survive the most challenging moments. Tamar also shares how their Instagram page, Tales of Tamar, became a creative outlet and source of connection during COVID — and how telling...
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189. BRCA: Understanding Risk and Reclaiming Control (in partnership with JScreen)
Talking Away the Taboo with Dr. Aimee Baron
This episode brings together the science, the medicine, and the lived experience behind BRCA mutations. Emily Goldberg, JScreen’s Director of Genetic Counseling Services, breaks down what these mutations are, how they’re inherited, and what the actual cancer risks look like. Dr. Melissa Frey, a GYN oncologist at Cornell who works closely with high-risk families, walks us through what happens after someone tests positive — from screening to risk-reducing surgeries to the big conversations around fertility and timing. We also hear from Heather Boussi, who shares her powerful story of...
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188. The Many Ways to Become a Mother: Pamela’s Story of Infertility, Postpartum Depression, and Adoption
Talking Away the Taboo with Dr. Aimee Baron
Like so many, Pam Krooth, LCSW, spent years trying not to get pregnant, only to find herself aching for the thing she once assumed would come easily. What followed was a long, emotional road marked by pain, heartbreak, and the slow, painful shift between expectation and reality. Throughout Pam’s story, we see how the path to the family she hoped for looked nothing like what she once imagined, and how hard it was when the timing was out of her control. After infertility, postpartum depression, and a miraculous adoption, she found her way to a different kind of motherhood, which reminds...
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187. Two Voices. Three Miscarriages. One Miraculous Ending
Talking Away the Taboo with Dr. Aimee Baron
and More about Tamara Stein (J.D.): Tamara is originally from Sacramento, CA, but has been living on the East Coast and in the Midwest for well over a decade. She moved to the Upper West Side of New York City in 2023 to create Base UWS, a pluralistic, diverse, vibrant Jewish community for 20s and 30s out of her and her husband Danny's home. Tamara is a lawyer who received her J.D. from Suffolk University in Boston, MA. On top of helping to run Base UWS, Tamara currently works full-time as the Deputy Director at Mayday Health, a non-profit that educates folks on medication abortion and how...
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186. Grief Without a Funeral: Emergency Hysterectomy and Reproductive Trauma with Danielle Mizrahi
Talking Away the Taboo with Dr. Aimee Baron
What happens when you have a profound loss, but no grave to visit? In this episode, Danielle shares her unique fertility journey — one that challenges our assumptions about what “fertility struggles” look like. From the joy of welcoming her third child to the unexpected trauma that followed, Danielle opens up about grief that doesn’t come with a funeral, the profound loss of her ability to have more children, and the moments when her pain felt invisible. We explore how her body carries memory and trauma, how medical care and community influenced her recovery, and the ways...
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185. It’s Not Just Her: Male Factor Fertility and Genetics Uncovered
Talking Away the Taboo with Dr. Aimee Baron
Infertility isn’t only a women’s issue, though too often, it’s talked about like it is. In this episode, we’re digging into male factor infertility: what it means, how it’s diagnosed, and how it impacts couples emotionally, physically, and relationally. We’re joined by Paul Kassebaum, a quantum physicist, and his wife Julia Cohen, an economist, who live in Westchester, NY. In 2021, their family-building journey took an unexpected turn with a diagnosis of male factor infertility. They open up about the medical and emotional twists and turns of their path, and why they hope sharing...
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184. Racing Time, Holding Hope: The Ups and Downs of a BRCA+ Fertility Journey
Talking Away the Taboo with Dr. Aimee Baron
Briana Felsen’s path to motherhood was anything but straightforward. When she learned she was a BRCA carrier, everything changed—her sense of time, her plans for the future, and her relationship with her own body. Facing a 72% lifetime risk of breast cancer, she found herself racing against the clock to build her family before needing preventative surgery. What followed was a fertility journey deeply intertwined with Jewish time—the holidays marking both medical milestones and heartbreaks. From an ectopic pregnancy on the High Holidays to finally learning she was pregnant on...
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183. When the Rabbi Is Also the Mourner: A Conversation with Rabbi Elon Soniker About His Son, Uriel
Talking Away the Taboo with Dr. Aimee Baron
In his first-ever podcast conversation, Aimee sits down with Rabbi Elon Soniker, author of Uriel’s Light, to talk about faith, family, and finding meaning after unimaginable loss. Rabbi Soniker shares the story of his son, Uriel, his brief but powerful life, and the light that continues to shine through his memory. Together, they explore what it means to grieve as a parent, as a rabbi, and as part of a community that often doesn’t know what to say or do in the face of perinatal loss. This powerful conversation moves through so many of the questions we all wrestle with: How can faith and...
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182. Thirty Years Later: Grieving, Remembering, and Living After SIDS with Jami Nelson
Talking Away the Taboo with Dr. Aimee Baron
"I've never done something like this before." In this episode, I sit down with Jami Nelson, a mother, grandmother, and lifelong nurturer who has spent more than three decades living with the loss of her son, Dov Ber, who died of SIDS as an infant. Speaking publicly for the first time, Jami opens up about what she remembers most about that time, how she survived the early days of grief when support was scarce, and how her relationship with loss has evolved over the years. She shares what it was like to raise four children while carrying the memory of one who wasn’t there, and how that...
info_outlineOn this episode of Talking Away The Taboo, Michelle (Malka) Grunstein, LMFT CATC-IV, joins Aimee Baron, MD to talk about...
-the beginning of her journey to becoming a SMBC
-how she is finally pregnant again (after three early losses) and gives us a window into the process
-how she needed to do IVF and use a sperm donor, which were both completely new experiences for her
-dealing with some complications which forced her on bed rest
-the insensitive comments from IRL friends and people on the internet…sigh
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.
Connect with Michelle:
-Follow her on Instagram
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