Santa Claus is Coming to North Central Baptist Hopital

Please join us for the next Fertility Support Group meeting.  Patricia M. Dorner, licensed counselor will be on hand to give emotional support in the family-building journey.

We look forward to seeing familiar faces and welcoming new ones on Tuesday, June 23rd from 6 to 7 pm.  We are located at 520 Madison Oak Drive in the Atrium building classrooms 1 A&B, adjacent to the Emergency Room.  Refreshments will be served.  This is a free service of North Central Fertility Center.

I am happy to announce that Dr. Sharma, Ph.D. will be in attendance at the May 26th support group meeting.  Dr. Sharma is a licensed Psychologist and has been through the family building journey that you are going through.  She has an excellent website that encompasses all of her expertise.  Feel free to visit her website at www.poonamsharma.com.

We look forward to seeing familiar faces and welcoming new ones on Tuesday, May 26th from 6 to 7 pm.  We are located at 520 Madison Oak Drive and meet in the Atrium classrooms 1 A&B, adjacent to the Emergency Room.  Refreshments will be served.  This is a free service from the North Central Fertility Center.

Come join us on April 28th for the Fertility Support Group at North Central Baptist Hospital.  We are located at 520 Madison Oak Drive in the Atrium Building classrooms 1 A&B, adjacent to the Emergency Room.  We meet on the 4th Tuesday of every month from 6 to 7 pm.  Refreshments are provided and physicians are on hand to answer questions.

At North Central Fertility Center we service 3 physicians.  Each one will tailor egg stimulation medications based on your specific needs; these appointments are with your Reproductive Endocrinologist in their office.

When your ovarian follicles are ready, you will have your retrieval under moderate sedation in our clinic, which houses the IVF lab.  You will feel nothing and have no memory of the event, but will not be sedated so much that you need a breathing tube.  An anesthesiologist is on hand to administer these medications via an IV catheter and will be at your side the entire time. 

Using ultrasound guidance, each ovarian follicle is drained one at a time.  An Embryologist inspects the follicular fluid under a microscope for an egg.  After each follicle has been drained and inspected, the pelvic cavity is inspected via ultrasound.  Anesthesia medications are discontinued and the patient is allowed to wake naturally and is monitored until she meets certain criteria, lasting a minimum of 30 minutes. 

The patient is assisted to a recovery room where a light snack is given to make sure you will not be nauseated from anesthesia.  If you're tolerating food/drink and have urinated, your IV will be discontinued and you will be able to dress and go home.

The eggs are fertilized on the same day as your retrieval and monitored closely by the Embryologist.  On day 3 your best embryos will be transferred back to you.  Your spouse/significant other is able to join you in the procedure room on this day.  The transfer takes about 15 minutes, followed by 30 minutes of resting flat on your back.  After this, the patient is given dismissal instructions per their physician and waits for more blood work and finally a pregnancy test 11-14 days after receiving embryos.

Please note, the number of embryos to transfer back is based on many factors such as patient age, history, egg maturity at retrieval, rate of fertilization and grade of embryos.

At North Central Fertility Center we service 3 physicians.  Each one will tailor egg stimulation medications based on your specific needs; these appointments are with your Reproductive Endocrinologist in their office.

When your ovarian follicles are ready, you will have your retrieval under moderate sedation in our clinic, which houses the IVF lab.  You will feel nothing and have no memory of the event, but will not be sedated so much that you need a breathing tube.  An anesthesiologist is on hand to administer these medications via an IV catheter and will be at your side the entire time. 

Using ultrasound guidance, each ovarian follicle is drained one at a time.  An Embryologist inspects the follicular fluid under a microscope for an egg.  After each follicle has been drained and inspected, the pelvic cavity is inspected via ultrasound.  Anesthesia medications are discontinued and the patient is allowed to wake naturally and is monitored until she meets certain criteria, lasting a minimum of 30 minutes. 

The patient is assisted to a recovery room where a light snack is given to make sure you will not be nauseated from anesthesia.  If you're tolerating food/drink and have urinated, your IV will be discontinued and you will be able to dress and go home.

The eggs are fertilized on the same day as your retrieval and monitored closely by the Embryologist.  On day 3 your best embryos will be transferred back to you.  Your spouse/significant other is able to join you in the procedure room on this day.  The transfer takes about 15 minutes, followed by 30 minutes of resting flat on your back.  After this, the patient is given dismissal instructions per their physician and waits for more blood work and finally a pregnancy test 11-14 days after receiving embryos.

Please note, the number of embryos to transfer back is based on many factors such as patient age, history, egg maturity at retrieval, rate of fertilization and grade of embryos.

There is no way to soft step the subject of donor gamete (egg/sperm).  Occasionally couples are forced to face this head on.  For one reason or another, choosing an egg or sperm donor is the next step to a successful IVF cycle.  Choosing your donor goes beyond picking out someone who has the same features as you and your spouse.  To be informed, make sure your facility is doing the testing required for freezing.  There are about eleven tests that should be performed prior to banking.

It is also strongly recommended that the donor (directed or anonymous) be a proven donor.  Questions to ask:  Has this donor produced a pregnancy after freezing of the gametes?  Has the donor ever produced a pregnancy or do they have a family of their own?

Anonymous donors are chosen from national banking companies.  Directed donors are known to you and can be extended family members (to keep the family genes).

For more on this and many other subjects, come join us on March 24th for the Fertility Support Group at North Central Baptist Hospital.  We are located at 520 Madison Oak Drive in the Atrium Building classrooms 1 A&B adjacent to the Emergency Room.  We meet the 4th Tuesday of every month from 6 to 7 pm.  Refreshments are provided.

Thank you to all who attended the February Fertility Support Group.  One of the topics of discussion was insurance coverage for the treatment of fertility.  

Thank you to all who attended the Fertility Support Group Meeting this week.  We had a lot to talk about and so little time.  I wanted to include links to websites corresponding to the available handouts.  I hope this meeting was beneficial to you and that you got out of it what you were seeking.  Please email us or leave any comments for improvement or suggestions for future groups.  We are still new at this too so your feedback is important to us.  Thanks again and I hope to see you next month on February 24, 2009.

Dr. John Case and Dr. LeRoy Jones - Urology San Antonio - www.urologysanantonio.com
Dr. Poonam Sharma - Infertility Psycology Services - www.fertilitycounseling.com
Dr. Linda Ellsworth - Fertility Concepts - www.fertilityconcepts.com
Dr. Garza - The Advanced Fertility Center - www.advancedfertilitycenter.org
Dr. Gerard Honore - Perinatal and Fertility Specialists of San Antonio - www.pfspecialists.org

Cindy Vidal
North Central Fertility Center Lab Director

The next fertility support group meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 27th from 6 pm to 7 pm in the Atrium Education Rooms 1 A&B at North Central Baptist Hospital.  Join us for food, fellowship, education and fertility support.  Format is open dialogue and physicians will be on-hand to answer questions.  This is a free service of the North Central Fertility Center at North Central Baptist Hospital.

To RSVP or for more information, please contact Cindy Vidal at 297-4483.