I am shocked at the amount of misinformation out there about the cost of fertility treatments. At just my clinic, you can ask one of the five women that I know who are or have been patients and they will tell you wildly different pricing for the same procedures. Granted, each person's insurance coverage is different - the protocols are not the same - and the timing has been different for all of us, but it is just plain crazy to me that one of us will quote $15,000 as what was spent and another $8,000 - at the same clinic. The truth is that when you sort out the details we are all spending about the… [more]

People struggling to conceive have no doubt heard the advice to be still immediately after intercourse, to put their legs in the air, or to not use the restroom. I have also heard, though, that those are old wives tales and that nothing you do immediately after sex will make a difference in whether or not you will conceive. This rationale makes sense to me for a number of reasons. I tried hours of legs in the air, held it when I really had to "go," and laying flat on my back for as long as possible with no success. I also know plenty of women who intentionally did some of those things in an effort… [more]

There has been a lot of research on a link between diet and reproductive health. Many tout eating certain foods as the answer to infertility woes, or claim that avoiding certain foods will result in improved fertility. I do think that what you eat and drink can play a role, but in no way does that translate into using any kind of diet plan as a "bible" for conception. There will be women who eat the perfect diet and are still unable to conceive and those who subsist on junk and "no-no" foods and easily become pregnant. Regardless, if you are like me, there comes a point when you are willing to try just about anything… [more]

I did not go into IVF with the intent of conceiving twins. When it happened, though, I initially gave no thought to the risks associated with multiple births. Nor did I consider why my doctor was less than thrilled. I assumed that he intended to help me conceive and helping me get pregnant with two babies was even better. Now I know that he may have been acknowledging pressure on many fertility specialitists to limit conception of mulitples. One of the primary concerns with multiple pregnancies is the likelihood that women carrying more than one child will give birth prematurely. More than 50% of twins are born early, and that percentage increases drastically with… [more]

A good rule of thumb for women struggling with infertility is to behave pre-conception as you would in the early stages of pregnancy. That means a lot of people abstain from alcohol, caffeine, and certain foods when undergoing fertility treatments. When it comes to your hair, though, opting to let your grays or roots show is to some akin to leaving the house in your underwear. I had the worst of both problems - gray roots - and was appalled when I heard that coloring my hair was something else that I needed to give up when trying to conceive. Along with my questions of whether a glass of wine was ok when we were taking… [more]

IUI is widely considered the "first step" when a couple begins fertility treatments beyond taking medications. I have had friends state that they are willing to try IUI, but draw the line there. They say that they won't "go as far" as attempting IVF. This decision is, if I am being brutally honest (and I am), baffling to me. IUI is more affordable and less invasive, but there are definitely risks that often are not considered when someone decides that IUI is the better bet. IUI is less effective meaning repeated tries are often necessary. When IUI is successful multiple births occur much more frequently than with IVF. The majority of multiples conceived… [more]

I am lucky to have a good group of girl friends who unabashedly share all when it comes to conversations about sex, fertility woes, and relationship challenges. So, when one of the more outspoken women in the group proclaimed that she had found the key to improving your sex life the discussion was lively and entertaining as well as good insight into a relationship that we all learned was very physically fulfilling. She told each of us to go out and purchase lubricant and use it often. Fertility experts, however, disagree. Research has found that some lubricants on the market are detrimental to sperm, and that some products can even act as a spermicide… [more]

Monitoring your fertility by taking basal body temperature, using ovulation kits, or tracking cervical mucus can contribute to making you feel even more stressed. It brings fertility issues to the forefront on a daily basis and makes infertility an issue not to be ignored, if for no other reason than you can't and still monitor as you need to. Accurate and convenient are certainly not two words that you associate with fertility monitoring. A company out of the UK, though, is trying to change that. A new device called DuoFertility is on the market and is being touted as the most precise and convenient way to maximize your chances to conceive. The DuoFertility… [more]

Women opt to use donor eggs for a variety of reasons, and quite a few people attempting IVF are using them. In 2007 the CDC numbers indicated that more than 10,000 IVF cycles each year utilize donor eggs and that 5,000 or more live births result from these cycles annually. A large majority of women using donor eggs do so because of age. Of women age 40 and older, approximately 75 percent use donor eggs. Younger women also utilize donor eggs for reasons that include premature ovarian failure, absent ovaries, the presence of genetic diseases that could be passed along, unsuccessful previous treatments, or not producing the quality or quantity of eggs necessary for the procedures… [more]

I was told time and time again that my fibroids were not causing issues with fertility. In fact, most research seems to indicate that fibroids do not reduce fertility and that the removal of them does not improve chances of pregnancy. I, however, disagree and so did my reproductive endocrinologist. I found it hard to believe that growths that were described as the size of tennis balls and grapefruits had no effect. I suffered miscarriages and many, many months of not conceiving and I have to think that the fibroids were the problem in at least a few of those months. Studies have even shown that women with fibroids do seem to have lesser implantation… [more]