Posts Tagged ‘fertility preservation’

IUI and IVF Twins

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

California Couple Has Two Sets of Twins with IUI and IVF at West Coast Fertility

 

The Nichols Family: Stephanie and David, with IUI twins Caleb and Alexis, and IVF twins Brayden and Sierra. 

 The journey through infertility treatment can be long and disappointing. Still, couples continue to carry on with high hopes that next time will be the one. We would like to share a story with you today about a couple that persevered and were able to overcome their obstacles. Stephanie and David Nichols are the proud parents to two sets of twins, one through Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) and the second set through In-vitro Fertilization (IVF).

 Stephanie first met Dr. Diaz in 2001 and was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), a hormonal condition that results in problems with ovulation. With the help of medications and IUI many of our PCOS patients will ovulate and achieve a successful pregnancy. The response to medication is monitored by ultrasound until follicles are mature at which time hCG is given to release one or two eggs. A semen sample is prepared in our laboratory and the most active sperms are released into the uterus with a soft tube allowing them to fertilize the egg inside the woman’s fallopian tubes.

You Tube: California Couple Has Two Sets of Twins with IUI and IVF at West Coast Fertility

 Success came during this couples second IUI attempt and on June 1, 2002, they welcomed a set of healthy twins, Caleb and Alexis.

 Three years later the Nichols returned to continue their family building journey. After several IUI attempts, they asked about in-vitro fertilization (IVF); an advanced procedure where eggs are harvested by ultrasound technique and fertilized in our embryology lab. It is a very controlled treatment that involves placing a limited number of embryos (fertilized eggs) into the uterus where implantation occurs.   

 In March 2007, Stephanie underwent her IVF egg harvest and embryo transfer at West Coast Fertility Centers. A positive pregnancy test was obtained two weeks later indicating she was pregnant once again. To the couple’s delight, the first ultrasound showed a very familiar image…the presence of twins! On October 22, 2007 the lucky couple gave birth to their second set of twins, Brayden and Sierra.

 Dr. Diaz (center) and Joan Moody N.P. (right) meeting with David and Stephanie Nichols and their second set of twins: Brayden and Sierra, born with the help of IVF.

 We recently had the opportunity to meet with this special couple and their four children to hear about their new life as a family. It was an emotional meeting for everyone as the proud parents shared the story of how the staff at West Coast Fertility Centers had transformed their lives. The family was delighted at the chance to share their experience and hopefully inspire all patients struggling to overcome infertility. With determination and help from West Coast Fertility Centers, dreams really do come true.

 To request information about our treatments please contact West Coast Fertility Centers info@ivfbaby.com . Our phone number is 714-513-1399.

Tennessee Affiliate

Friday, April 2nd, 2010
 
EGG FREEZING BREAKTHROUGH
EXPANDS OPTIONS AT IVF CENTERS
 
 
Embryologist Susan Walker (at left), from The Fertility Center of Chattanooga, shown with FROZEN EGG BANK staff, Andrologist Christine Stevens (middle) and  Senior Embryologist Cris Rodriguez-Karl.(right)
 
We are pleased to announce The Fertility Center of Chattanooga our Frozen Egg Bank affiliate in Tennessee was featured in the local media as a forward thinking IVF center that offers egg freezing as an option to their patients. This article highlights the significance of having an egg freezing program as a way to expand the role of a modern fertility center.  Susan Walker, Senior Embryologist at Chattanooga came to train with our team of scientists. During her visit, Susan learned the art of using the Landa Freezing Technology which has yielded very promising results in the preservation and thawing of human eggs. After completing her training, Susan received her certificate of training then returned to her center to introduce the science of egg freezing to her staff. Since then the Tennessee facility has successfully frozen their patient’s eggs for use in the future.
 
According to Chattanooga Medical Director, Dr. Barry Donesky, “The Fertility Center is working in conjunction with the Frozen Egg Bank, founded in 2005 in Orange County, California. These pioneers are known for one of the nation's most successful cryopreservation programs, and their patented procedure for egg freezing has led to a 55 percent pregnancy success rate with frozen egg transfers and nearly 30 live births over the past four years. More than 90 percent of frozen eggs have survived the thawing process with 80-plus percent developing into embryos ready for transfer at the Frozen Egg Bank. Women age 37 or younger have been most receptive to frozen egg transfers. Additional information is available at www.eggfreezing.com.” Since then 52 healthy babies have been born from frozen eggs using the Landa freezing Technology. An additional 10 pregnancies are ongoing.
 
The Frozen Egg Bank is a network of 7 IVF centers located in the U.S. working together to offer egg freezing and thawing services to their patient population. To learn more about fertility preservation with egg freezing please visit our web site.   

Cancer Patient Freezes Eggs

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

 

Hodgkin's Lymphoma Cancer Patient Freezes Eggs

 
Being told you have cancer can be one of the scariest diagnoses a patient will ever receive. Young patients that haven’t had the opportunity to start a family, may fear losing their ability to one day have children. Although chemotherapy and radiation can be life saving, they may also cause difficulties becoming pregnant when a patient wishes to start their family. We recently had the opportunity to work with a young woman diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma who would like to share her journey with you today. 
 
Twenty-three year old Brie was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma three weeks before her first visit to West Coast Fertility Center. She wished to learn more about our egg freezing process and was interested in preserving her eggs prior to starting chemotherapy. Dr. Diaz shared our egg freezing thaw/survival rates and 52 healthy live births, two very important factors to investigate when you are considering freezing your eggs. 
 
 
Since Brie was due to start her chemotherapy later in the month, she decided to proceed with her stimulation protocol immediately. During her frequent visits to our facility, she was truly a delightful patient and our staff developed a great deal of respect for this courageous young patient. She persevered through 14 days of injectable fertility medication with remarkable good humor and close attention to detail. Ultrasounds and blood tests were performed to assess her follicle development. During this period there was ongoing communication to and from her oncologist to coordinate and assure her cancer treatment was not compromised.  On the day of her egg harvest, 13 eggs were retrieved and of these eggs 11 were mature enough to freeze. Although Brie has a long road ahead of her, she was able to start chemotherapy knowing her ability to one day have children may have been preserved.
 
We are pleased to offer our egg freezing services to patients who have unfortunately been diagnosed with cancer. West Coast Fertility Center helps by reducing some of the costs while working closely with Fertile Hope (affiliated with the Lance Armstrong Foundation), a non-profit organization that offers emotional support to cancer patients. Our industry partner, EMD Serono provides free medications to our patients. This helps make egg freezing more affordable to these patients whose medical treatments may pose a risk of infertility. To learn more about egg freezing please contact the West Coast Fertility Center patient care coordinator.

Moral Debate

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

 

In vitro fertilization a moral debate for parents

Dish of Embryos 

 Many couples who have already had success with in vitro fertilization and who do not want to have another baby face a moral debate: Do they donate their extra embryos to research, to another couple or simply discard them? The moral debate regarding frozen embryos continues, read this article and the response from Dr. Diaz. We are also interested in hearing your thoughts on this subject. 

 

 

LA Times

Friday, November 13th, 2009

 

Study Finds Fertility Procedures Do Not Delay Cancer Treatment

 

 

LA Times Health. November 13, 2009 10:11 am.

A study published this week reassures women and their doctors that fertility procedures can be done in an orderly way that should not delay breast cancer treatment. The findings show the key to timely fertility procedures depends on all the parties involved — the patient, cancer surgeon, medical oncologist and reproductive specialists — working together and communicating effectively. Read more.

 


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