How Do I Choose a Infertility Specialist?

My partner and I are struggling with infertility, how do we choose a specialist who can help us?

There are a few things to consider when choosing a fertility doctor or specialist:

-  Recommendation: You might get a recommendation from a friend, family member or trusted doctor.

-  Comfortability: It is important that you feel comfortable with your fertility doctor, as you will have many personal questions and topics to discuss with him or her. Set up an initial consultation - that both you and your partner are able to attend - to determine your level of comfortability with your prospective doctor.

-  Accessibility: Find out how easily you will be able to get your questions answered when you have them in between scheduled appointments.

-  Insurance/Payment: If your insurance covers infertility treatment, then make sure that it further covers the practice you are looking into. If your insurance will not cover your treatments, make sure you understand the clinic’s billing process.

-  Qualifications: Make sure that your infertility specialist is board certified in both OB/GYN as well as in Reproductive Endocrinology

We at the Reproductive Science Institute (RSI) of Suburban Philadelphia, P.C., want to make your decision an easy one. Our clinic is accessible, being open 7 days a week. Our doctors, Rhonda Hearns, M.D. and medical director Abraham K. Munabi, M.D. are both board certified in OB/GYN and Reproductive Endocrinology and both have a list of impressive accomplishments and appointments.

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IVF May Still Be an Option After Recurrent Miscarriages

If you’ve experienced recurrent pregnancy loss with normal conception, you may be a candidate for IVF. You might wonder how your body could carry a pregnancy through an IVF  conception when you’ve had so much trouble after natural conception. There are a number of factors that can be the cause for miscarriage, but one frequent cause is chromosomal abnormalities in the embryo. When going through the IVF process, you can opt for something called Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD). What happens with PGD is a single cell is removed from each of the embryos collected for your IVF treatment. Those cells are then analyzed for genetic abnormalities that would likely result in miscarriage. The embryo(s) that will be implanted are chosen based on this analysis.

This is obviously a simplified description of the PGD process, but you can read more about it here and if you would like to learn more, please contact us!

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Gestational Carrier at 61 and for Her Own Grandson

This is a wonderful story of a successful IVF that also demonstrates the love and sacrifice of family.

After delivering stillborn twins and then having a miscarriage, Mr. & Mrs. Connell, a couple in Chicago, Illinois determined with their doctors that the best option for them to have their own biological child was to use a surrogate gestational carrier. Driven by her own experience of joy in having her own children, Mrs. Connell’s 61 year old mother, Mrs. Casey, agreed to be the gestational carrier, as long as the doctors were able to assure a high probability of her body accepting the IVF treatment.

Since Mrs. Casey had gone through menopause 10 years before, she was administered hormone treatments in order to prepare her uterus to accept a pregnancy. She underwent IVF, being implanted with an embryo created by her daughter’s egg and son-in-law’s sperm. The first IVF treatment did not take, but she got pregnant as a result of the second.

Mrs. Casey had a healthy pregnancy and delivered her grandson via cesarean section with no complications. She experienced some minor health complications after the birth, but recovered quickly.

Our congratulations and best wishes to the Casey and Connell families!

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Keep Yourself Informed and Involved When It Comes to Healthcare

Obviously healthcare is a buzzword these days. Regardless of your political leanings, it’s hard to miss the fact that everyone is debating the direction of the new healthcare law. Have you kept up on the fact that one of the aspects of the proposed bill that the Institute of Medicine is reviewing has to do with the coverage of fertility treatments? The determination is trying to be made over whether fertility treatments ought to be included under the category of essential health benefits. With such a high percentage of American couples facing infertility these days, the effects of the rulings will be widespread. While determinations are still being made, it is critical that you make your concerns and wishes known amongst your employers, healthcare providers and all the way up to your political representatives.

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Communicating Your Way Back to Intimacy

Life is so hectic and busy that connecting to those closest with us can easily get put at the bottom of the list. This should never be the case with your significant other - putting each other as your top priority is what keeps that spark burning. It’s especially important to keep the intimacy alive when you’re going through a rough time together, such as dealing with infertility and the emotional effects that come along with that.

Don’t mistakenly think that intimacy solely means sex. While sex is clearly an important aspect of intimacy with your partner, communication is even more vital. So if you’ve gotten out of the routine of daily communication with each other, start small.

-  Promise to spend your first minutes at home together at the end of the day talking and debriefing rather than immediately sitting down in front of the t.v. or computer

-  Make the decision to eat breakfast together in the morning

-  Make a weekly dinner date

-  Take a walk together daily or a couple times each week

-  Read and discuss a book together

There are so many other ways you can add consistent communication back into your lives together as a couple, but the important thing is that you do at least one of those things. Not only will you regain the intimacy you had early on in your relationship, but you’ll find that you’re less stressed because your verbalizing your stresses to someone else.

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Becoming an Egg Donor

If someone were to ask you if you wanted to make a difference in the world, not too many people would answer, “no.” Most people want to make a difference and there are so many ways to do it, large or small. If you are a woman within the ages of 21 to 32, one of the ways that you could accomplish that is by becoming an egg donor. Now, if this sounds like something you would be interested in doing, it’s important to educate yourself about the process involved. Briefly, though, you have to go through an extensive health screening in which your daily habits (diet, exercise, smoking, drinking) as well as your family health history will be analyzed. If it’s determined that you are in good health and would make a good egg donor, you will then have to provide information that will be pertinent for the couple or mother that will ultimately choose you as their donor. Your identity will certainly be kept private, but those considering egg donation will want to know things about your genetic characteristics because it is important to most people going through the process that they are able to choose an egg donor with characteristics similar to their own.

Additionally, it is important to know that your decision to be an egg donor does not mean that you will be in and out the door and that’s it. Your menstrual cycle will have to be monitored for a time (read, several cycles) so that the ideal time for retrieving your eggs can be determined. You will have to recognize this as a commitment and adhere to making it to all scheduled appointments throughout the process.

After thinking through all of the ins and outs of egg donation, if you still believe that being an egg donor is something that you would like to do, then wonderful! You will truly be making a difference in at least one life! If you are interested, RSI has an egg donorship program and would love to help you take that initial step in the process.

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Beating the Blues - Winter & Otherwise

I think it’s safe to say that we’re in the full fledge of winter now, considering the storms that have swept the country! One of the downsides of living in states that are further north is the propensity towards seasonal depression. The hours of daylight are shorter, the weather is colder and though snow is pretty for a little while, the general feel of the season doesn’t have the brightness of spring and summer. The emotional effects of infertility can easily be enhanced by this, so it is important to take care of yourself to keep your spirits up.

Here are a few suggestions:

1.        Stay hydrated - winter air is very dry, so it’s important to keep yourself hydrated within and out by using moisturizer, but most importantly, by drinking lots of water! As we’ve all heard so many times, approximately 8 glasses of day is the ideal.

2.        Exercise - when it’s cold out (or when you’re feeling blue) it’s highly tempting to sit in your favorite comfy chair curled up with a blanket. But getting yourself moving for a minimum of 20 minutes a day can do wonders for lifting your mood! Don’t believe me? Countless studies prove that physical activity raises your endorphins, which puts you in a better mood. You don’t have to feel obligated to join a gym or run a marathon. Something as simple as taking a 20-30 minute daily walk is great, as long as you’re doing something to get yourself moving.

3.        Light - because of the shorter days and staying inside more than we do in the summer, our bodies can easily start to miss the light. To remedy this, you could take a daily walk out in the sun (kill two birds with one stone!). Some people also find it helpful to get a special lamp for seasonal affect disorder.

4.        Sleep - make sure you’re getting the recommended amount of sleep every night. Many medical professionals will also tell you that keeping yourself to the same schedule every night (that is, sleeping during the same hours) is the best way for your body to get restful sleep. Getting a good night’s sleep can keep your energy, and thus your mood, up throughout the day. Just make sure not to get too much sleep.

5.        Enjoy yourself - take time to do things that you enjoy! This is a big factor in boosting your mood because it’s always more difficult to be happy when you’re stuck in work or your routine round the clock, never taking time out for recreation. This could be anything from setting up date nights with your significant other to inviting friends over or enjoying an event with friends to even scheduling a vacation if you’re able.

When you’ve struggled with infertility and you’re working so hard to get pregnant, sometimes you can forget to take care of your more daily needs. Make sure to follow some or all of these tips once a day or a few times a week to keep your body and mind at their optimum.

(If you are feeling emotional lows or signs of depression on a consistent basis, it is important that you consult a physician.)

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Challenges of Parenting Multiples

The psychological, social, and economic aspects of multiple pregnancies have not received the same amount of attention as the medical risks, but they are just as important to consider.  If you are contemplating fertility treatment that puts you at risk for multiple pregnancy, or if you are currently pregnant with multiples, familiarizing yourself with these issues will help you make informed decisions regarding treatment, and, if necessary, prepare you for the unique challenges of multiple birth and parenting.  For more information on the medical aspects, please contact us for a copy of the ASRM Fact Sheet titled Complications of Multiple Gestation.

PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES

●Multiples may be hard to tell apart even if they are not identical.  Help differentiate multiples by color coding their clothing or using bracelets that spell out their names.  Soon you will be able to tell them apart by their individual characteristics and personalities.

●Parents may bond to multiples differently than to single-born children (singletons).  You may find yourself preferring one infant more than the others, and your “favorite” may vary from week to week.  Each infant will have different needs at different times, requiring different amounts of attention.

●Managing the physical care of multiples is more difficult than managing singletons, especially in early infancy and childhood, and may lead to chronic stress and fatigue in the parents.  Make sure that you reserve some time for you and your spouse as a couple, even if only for a few minutes a day.  Remember to take care of yourself as well as your children.

●Older siblings may have difficulty adjusting to multiples, especially in competing for your attention.  Try to be sensitive to the needs of your older children.  Involve them in the pregnancy by taking them with you to doctor visits.  Ask them to help choose items for the nursery.  Asking them to be your “helper” and soliciting their opinions on the care and raising of the multiples will help them feel needed and loved.

●Some parents and schools prefer that multiples be in separate classes to promote individually, particularly if the children have different abilities.  However, some schools may not have enough classes to separate multiples, and logistical difficulties magnified if the children need to be placed in different schools. 

Contact your local school system to ask about your children’s teachers to provide the best environment for your children.

●Parents of multiples may feel socially isolated.  Fatigue, lack of personal time, immersion in the care of the children, and financial difficulty are common reasons.  It is easy to become engrossed in caring for multiples, but don’t abandon all of your hobbies and interests.  Instead look for ways to be creative in balancing your needs with those of your children.

●Multiples often attract attention.  This may have positive or negative consequences depending on the personalities of the parents and children and the nature of the attention.  Plan ahead how you will respond to such attention.  Role play, try different scenarios, and you will less likely be caught off guard.  Keeping a sense of humor is important.

●Help from family and friends is often short-term.  Parents of multiples usually need additional help, even if one parent stays at home.  Premature infants require smaller, more frequent feedings than full-term infants and significant time for night feedings and diaper changes.  Nighttime help may be necessary until the babies acquire reasonable sleeping habits.  If you are unable to have someone in your home to help, work out a schedule so that neither parent does the bulk of the work.  Sleep deprivation may cause fatigue and depression.  Be aware of these signs in yourself or your spouse and work as a team to overcome these difficulties. 

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