BabyBloom (IVF Cycle Tracker)

Empowering those navigating infertility chaos and setbacks, with intuitive tools, guidance & emotional support that cut complexity and mental load. Built by a fertility warrior for fertility warriors.

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Inspiration

Infertility is a marathon no one trains for, and for which tech solutions are severely lacking. Years of appointments, thousands of shots and pills, hundreds of blood draws, repeated setbacks and losses, and brutal conversations … all while juggling work, home, insurance, pharmacies, and the cost of egregiously expensive care - plus the grief and mental load.

After 3+ years as a 41-year-old fertility warrior, I kept asking myself: why isn’t there one simple, comprehensive, intuitive, trauma-aware app that actually helps me hold it together - practically and emotionally - and without ads, data mining or full of triggering content?

BabyBloom was born from that gap, from not finding the right tools myself, and from watching my community (including my OB-GYN sister Clementine) struggle without a dignified, accessible support tool that actually got it.

What it does

Today tab = daily clarity. Surfaces what matters on a daily basis: meds, appointments, tasks, check-ins, tips. And with a one-tap “Add” button to easily log meds, cycles, events, labs, moods, etc. on the go. Seedlings tab = exhaustive cycle & protocol hub. One place to document every aspect of your cycle and treatment: meds, appointments, labs, ultrasounds, procedures, BBT, symptoms, moods, to-do’s, notes, embryos, transfers, positive HPTs, questions for your medical team, private thoughts .. **no more stitching data across multiple apps. **Meds made manageable (with AlarmKit integration). Search meds, set dose/frequency, and sync to iPhone alarms. A clean checklist helps you stay on track and complete each med taken - **because one missed dose can derail a costly cycle. **Symptoms & moods tracking. Rich libraries for quick daily logging, plus history and simple trends to spot what matters. Guides and insights from a fellow patient. Practical, lived-experience how-tos and explanations: fertility basics, retrieval prep, OHSS prevention, transfer optimization and so much more, **so that hard moments feel more navigable and the medical complexity seems more understandable. **Calm & Wellness Kit. Grounding tips and tools, and a private journal for when anxiety spikes, or when you want to simply ground yourself again, **so that you can feel more calm and relaxed during those hard times. **Privacy by default. On-device storage. No ads. No tracking. Inclusive by design. Gender-neutral language and support for all paths to parenthood.

How we built it

First-time builder. I started with zero coding background - no Xcode, no Terminal, almost no app know-how. My partner Emmanuel (whom I have watched building CardPointers since 2019) kept nudging me to try, convinced I could build my “passion app” with AI’s help. Lived-experience blueprint. My own infertility journey became the spec. I mapped real workflows, pain points (missed doses, scattered notes, re-triggering screens, insurance/pharmacy chaos), and turned them into features. Copy and empty states are trauma-aware, inclusive, and designed to lower decision fatigue and be gentler on the fertility warrior. AI as a “pair-programmer”. I built BabyBloom leveraging LLMs - Alex, Claude, ChatGPT (GPT 5 Thinking) and some others - iterating hard in Terminal and Xcode. I learned to prompt, verify, refactor—and, when a bot led me astray, to rebuild whole sections. The result: a stable MVP I’m proud of. Stack. Swift/SwiftUI + SwiftData in Xcode, on-device storage for privacy, AlarmKit for reliable dose reminders, and RevenueCat for a simple, transparent paywall. Human help (just enough). Occasional guidance from Emmanuel on App Store Connect, provisioning, and a few gnarly breaks; app icon by Matthew Skiles; medical content gut-checks from my Ob-Gyn and fertility warrior sister.

Challenges we ran into

AI pair-programming reality. LLMs speed up the work considerably, but they have pure hallucinations, introduce logic bugs, and happily duplicate singletons for no reason whatsoever. I had to learn to prompt, verify, and refactor, and sometimes even rebuild whole sections - fast and last minute ... Trauma-aware UX at speed. Fertility warriors are already stressed, grieving and easily triggered. Balancing clarity with care meant: neutral/comforting palettes, warm-but-plain language, “skip/come back later” paths, fewer triggers, and small, timely nudges instead of guilt. StoreKit + provisioning gremlins. Bundle IDs, entitlements, sandbox users, and the classic “why won’t this build today?” Xcode mood … plus a tricky RevenueCat paywall config. Human help here was a lifesaver. Time zones & DST. Dose schedules need to “just work” across travel and clock changes - especially for hyper-sensitive meds such as “trigger shots”, timed to the minute. We added guards and tests to keep reminders trustworthy. AlarmKit edge cases. New framework + sparse examples = fun. We hit duplicate/late alarms until we built an idempotent scheduler and tighter state checks.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

From idea to iOS app, with no coding background. Shipped an end-to-end MVP by pairing with AI and putting in many, many work hours - while undergoing several time-consuming fertility treatments. Actual proof that accessible tools can unlock even the most unlikely new builders. Making a difference for”social good”. A trauma-aware, dignity-first companion that turns chaos into clear steps. Smart and intuitive tools, a host of convenient and practical logs, caring prompts, non-triggering and plain-language guides, a wellness/calm kit for grounding, and journaling feature to ease daily anxiety ... Result: cutting decision fatigue and helping with brain fog, relieving treatment related anxiety, fewer or no missed doses, better clinic conversations, and (hopefully) giving thousands of fertility warriors real peace of mind for better outcomes with their fertility treatment. Medication adherence, solved. AlarmKit triggers native iPhone alarms for doses: so much more reliable than push notifications! Big thanks to Emmanuel’s Apple-stack expertise. Privacy by default. On-device storage with a deliberate no-tracking, no-ads stance.

What we learned

AI is a force multiplier … if you stay the editor. Treat LLMs like junior teammates: great at drafts and scaffolding, but you still need to verify, compare versions, and test changes in small steps. It’s never finished … and bugs love a comeback tour. A fix today can break tomorrow, and the smallest code change can lead to the biggest surprise code regressions. Design for stressed humans. Calmer palette, clear tabs (“Today,” “Seedlings,” “Meds,” “Plan,” “Track”), gentle language, skip/come-back-later paths, and small, timely nudges all reduce the mental load .. so many choices that could easily send a user “over the edge”. Scope is a feature; perfect isn’t. Ship the minimum helpful core. And your day one minimum will NOT be your ASC submission minimum. Cut anything that doesn’t reduce complexity or prevent real-world mistakes. The rest can follow once people are helped. AppStore review goes smoother with prep. Going through the process myself would have been time-consuming and extremely difficult … getting timely help from Emmanuel on Connect/provisioning saved hours (and my sanity).

What's next for BabyBloom (IVF Cycle Tracker)

Polish & reliability. Deep testing, bug fixes, and smoother navigation; visual refinements that keep daily use frustration-free. Active marketing. Community-first outreach in TTC/IVF forums and groups. Convert users with short webinars that demo workflows and Q&A. Further App Store Optimization, and a simple landing page with demo video to capture interest. Develop clinic/nonprofit partnerships and creator reviews. Holistic and useful insights, not just random data points. Trends for cycles, labs, ultrasounds, symptoms, moods, embryos etc. with plain-language takeaways. Filterable and exportable for users and their clinician. Exports that work. One-tap “doctor packet”: PDFs of meds list, timelines, and charts; plus CSV/email options for personal records. Expansion of the Bloom Wisdom library. Grow the resource library with plain-language, lived-experience guides, checklists, and scripts - for users to manage their cycles, clinics, insurers, and daily decisions easier and with less stress. Meds & therapies 2.0. Track pharmacy/source, cost, supply on hand, refill timing, and savings notes (insurance, copay cards) to cut Rx headaches and costs. Add a Supplements Manager and a Therapies tracker (acupuncture, red-light, etc.) with schedules, reminders, and outcome notes, so Rx and non-Rx care live in one place. Further personalisation. Add data points in existing screens, and allow users to further customise views and their UX. In-app support. Embedded chat for quick help, AI handling basics, with fast handoff to a real human when needed.

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