News & Updates from I Want To Put A Baby In You!

Julie Eshelman is the Founder, CEO, and President of Building Military Families Network where she took her struggles and lack of support and access to information in family building and created an organization to fill that gap for military and veteran families. Her own family’s experiences with infertility and the frustrations resulting from a lack of insurance coverage and a support network led her to advocate and launch a nonprofit for the change she desperately wants to see for the next generation of military and veteran families. Julie was named the 2022 Armed Forces Insurance Fort Leavenworth Spouse of the Year for her awareness, advocacy, and leadership in infertility and military family building.

Building Military Families Network is a 501c3 organization with a mission to provide an empowering and supportive network to military and veteran families navigating the challenges in the family-building process through support groups, education, and resources. Their Education Center and Resource Library empower military and veteran families with all the information and tools they need on their journey to parenthood. The Support Group Program provides families with peer support and builds community. Their advocacy efforts are focused on increasing insurance coverage and improving access to all family-building options for military and veteran families. Building Military Families Network is a beacon of hope for building military families.

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As members of the LGBTQ+ community, Kristina and Sol always knew they would need fertility treatments to build their family. However, dual infertility diagnoses made their journey even more complex. This experience fueled their passion for advocacy, inspiring them to champion for expanded access to reproductive technology, fair donor-conceived laws, and protections for LGBTQ+ families. Kristina furthers this mission in her role as Chair of Colorado Fertility Advocates.

After more than a decade of fertility treatments—including IVF, RIVF, and Donor Embryo—their family is now complete. They are proud parents of three wonderful children: two boys and a girl, ages 11, 8, and 3.

Beyond their advocacy, Kristina and Sol are deeply committed to advancing health equity for marginalized communities, increasing the visibility of diverse leaders—including Latino, LGBTQ+, and underserved communities—and championing reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ equality. Kristina serves on the boards of the LGBTQ+ Heritage Project for the United Methodist Church and the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce. Sol, who is Latino and bilingual, is a Board Member for Project Worthmore and a former member of Commerce City’s DEI Commission and Cultural Council.

Professionally, Kristina has built a successful 20-year career in Marketing and Strategic Communications, specializing in the healthcare and fintech industries. Sol is also an accomplished leader, with expertise in operations and project management across community health centers, government and educational organizations, and, most recently, a nationwide private equity-backed dental company.

In their free time, Kristina and Sol love attending and coaching their kids’ countless sports and activities, exploring Colorado through hikes and scenic Sunday drives, enjoying live music, cheering on Sol’s hometown teams (the Padres and Chargers), road-tripping, listening to audiobooks, playing board games, and spending quality time with family and friends.

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Shea Bart Andreone is a writer, speaker, and author. She is also a mother who knows the agony that can come with trying to have a baby. Shea’s journey to becoming a mother to two healthy children was punctuated by pain, hospitalizations, and death. Carry On offers a candid, intrepid look into the real stories of the many people for whom this universal drive to start a family doesn’t come easily. These stories are an exploration of these people’s love, hope, and desperation to keep trying.

Shea’s writing, from her own blog (Twig-Hugger) to numerous articles in mom and parent-oriented platforms (The Next Family, Motherfigure, LA Parent, Your Teen Magazine, and Chicken Soup For The Soul) has given her views and opinions platform to reach interested and like-minded eyes and ears. 

Shea has been a featured speaker at Expressing Motherhood, a live storytelling event held in major cities across the United States. She has shared her story about living with Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG). Shea dealt with HG for all three of my pregnancies, and participated in research studies through HER, the world’s largest network of HG survivors and experts.

She’s been featured on podcasts, including “Single Vs. Married”, where she spoke about natural childbirth, medical interventions traditionally utilized during childbirth, and why she opted to have as few interventions as possible during her own labors and deliveries. Shea discussed the months of trying to conceive, illness, and suffering that finally resulted in giving birth to a healthy baby girl.

Before having children, Shea was a competitive and then professional figure skater. Hailing from New York, Shea acted off-Broadway for nearly a decade. She then moved to the West Coast and continued to act, in TV, films, and theater. While Shea loves NY and travels back often, LA is where her husband, children, dog and her call home.

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Dr. Julie Bindeman graduated from George Washington University and is the co-owner of Integrative Therapy of Greater Washington in Rockville, Maryland. Her specialty is in the field of Reproductive Psychology, where she actively writes, lectures, and presents. She is an approved consultant in EMDR through EMDRIA as well as a facilitator for basic training with The Touchstone Institute. She has served on several committees within the Mental Health Professional Group of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and was elected in 2021 to its Executive Committee. She previously served as a Board Member of the Maryland Psychological Association for over 10 years. Dr. Bindeman is a member of multiple organizations focused on Maternal and Reproductive Mental Health and was appointed by the Governor of Maryland to serve on its Maternal Mental Health Task Force. She was awarded the Karl Heiser Award through the American Psychological Association for her legislative efforts on behalf of psychology. Dr. Bindeman has published several chapters and articles pertaining to Reproductive Psychology and is the editor of the book “The Mental Health Clinician’s Handbook for Abortion Care” that was released September, 2024.

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Zach French is an attorney with experience in technology startups and business development, and most recently served as an executive at SeedTrust. Zach’s connection to the ART world began when he and his wife, Alexandra, embarked on their own surrogacy journey after Alexandra’s battle with breast cancer. The tremendous mental and financial toll from their journey led them to establish The Surrogacy Foundation (formerly Gift of Surrogacy). Zach left SeedTrust in February to become full-time Executive Director of the nonprofit. Zach and TSF are on a mission to expand access to surrogacy by propelling it into the mainstream using a collaborative approach to build a sustainable grant program and technology-enabled education and support.

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