Some people have one or more fertility issues that makes it impossible to get pregnant without help.

Your actions matter.

Your immediate actions can determine if you get pregnant right away or if you have to wait years from now.

Your actions this year can even make the difference between you having a child in your life or never having one.

Even if your are fortunate enough and get pregnant in your lifetime, your actions are important because they could affect whether you retain the option to have additional children after the first one.

In the first 20 years of practice, my team and I have helped our patients take home over 2000 healthy babies and they have all come about in one of three ways.

THE FIRST WAY IS GETTING PREGNANT NATURALLY

We have helped some of our patients get pregnant naturally with no drugs, simply by making lifestyle changes.

Most people know that diet, exercise, stress, sleep and quitting bad habits can greatly affect their quality of life. It can also greatly affect their fertility. For some patients, it’s worth discussing in detail some or all of these aspects of their daily life. On one hand, this seems like common sense. On the other hand, there are specific strategies that can get immediate results.

In some cases, our patients have appreciated being told exactly what to eat (and what not to eat). Each patient is different in what food guidelines they can and cannot realistically accept so each case is individualized. Often, we put together a plan, try it out for a week and keep making improvements based on continued back-and-forth communication with the patient.

Many patients are convinced they don’t have enough time and energy in their life to regularly exercise. We put together an exercise assignment that was surprisingly doable (less than 15 minutes per week) and they were able to significantly change their life.

Within this category of success stories in which patients got pregnant naturally, we also include many who were given the proper fertility-enhancing medications. So technically it wasn’t 100% naturally, but still, their pregnancy came about through having sex and no medical procedure.

THE SECOND WAY TO GET PREGNANT IS THROUGH IUI (intrauterine insemination)

IUI involves painless guidance of the sperm into the uterus via a soft flexible catheter.

The main feature of this type of treatment is the efficient physical delivery of the sperm 99% of the way to its final destination rather than relying on it to make the full journey from the starting line, something that is especially useful in sperm that is less than ideal in count, motility and/or morphology.

IUI bypasses any dangers of an unfavorable cervical environment or unfavorable vaginal environment. It greatly addresses the universal problem of wasted leakage. And it is enhanced by a sperm wash process that seeks to take the subset of sperm that swim the best and concentrate them together after separating out the bad cells that are getting in the way.

IUI is often done with near-perfect timing not only on the day of ovulation, but as close as possible to the hour of ovulation. Many couples have difficulty having sex on demand during their fertile window, either because of a busy work schedule or because of performance difficulty. IUI can make it easier on the husband by giving two days advance warning and facilitating the way the sperm is obtained. Our office is open for IUI seven days a week.

IUI is often done in conjunction with fertility-enhancing drugs in order to increase the quality and quantity of ovulation that month.

IUI can be done with no drugs or minimal drugs at a cost of around $1000 all-inclusive. If more powerful injectable drugs are used, the cost can reach the $3000 range. The overwhelming majority of patients can try this less expensive option before considering IVF.

THE THIRD WAY TO GET PREGNANT IS IVF

In-Vitro-Fertilization is the most powerful way to get pregnant the fastest. It involves physically putting the sperm and egg together under precise laboratory conditions. After the fertilized eggs (now called embryos) grow to a suitable stage, they can be tested to see if they are chromosomally normal or not. This goes a long way to predicting their viability. The chance of a healthy pregnancy after placement of a single chromosomally-normal embryo is 60-80%.

If the sperm is very poor, then IVF is the only viable solution.
If the tubes are blocked, then IVF is the only viable solution.
IVF is also done in cases where trying naturally and IUI have failed repeatedly.

IVF also has some other advantages.

Genetic testing can eliminate the risk of chromosomal conditions such as Down Syndrome.

IVF with the freezing of embryos now can help you preserve your chances of a second and third child later, even after you pass age 40.

IVF can give you options in influencing whether your next child is a boy or a girl.

WE RESPECT YOUR PRIORITY

Some patients come in with the desire to do aggressive treatment to get pregnant as soon as possible. Other patients come in wishing to use the easiest most conservative ways to get pregnant. My job is to educate patients to choose from among all their reasonable options and to guide them to avoid unreasonable options.

WHEN YOU ARE READY, PLEASE ASK US FOR HELP

If you are ready now for us to help you, please let us know and we will walk you through the process of setting up a consultation visit.

If you have some questions before coming in, take advantage of our free 15 minute videochat consultation.