Treatment

by

Meredith is a 35-year-old woman living and working in Philadelphia. She has an exciting career in communications, working for a large corporation. Her job actually  played a major role in her decision to pursue egg freezing treatment. Meredith decided to share her story to help educate others about taking control of fertility and pausing the biological clock.

Testing My Fertility

Three years ago, after reading a few articles online, I heard about an egg freezing informational talk happening at a local bar. My best friend and I went to get more information. It was really helpful, so we both decided to get our fertility tested. The testing was pretty easy, comprised of bloodwork and an ultrasound. Even though I’m terrified of needles, the blood test part was fast. It was important for me to get answers.

My numbers looked good and I decided to hold off on freezing my eggs. My friend’s numbers showed she should pursue egg freezing sooner rather than later, so she went through the process.

My New Job

I got a new job at a large corporation and found out my insurance covered the majority of egg freezing treatment. I was really excited about this because my past insurances would cover IVF, but not egg freezing. Since I wanted to freeze my eggs, I decided now was the best time to do it while I had coverage. After speaking with my insurance company, they recommended four fertility centers in my area.

Choosing a doctor was important, so I felt it was necessary to research the four centers for egg freezing in Philadelphia. One center was Shady Grove Fertility (SGF), which I had never heard of, but it was conveniently located in Center City.

Meeting Dr. Brianna Schumacher

SGF was having a seminar hosted by Dr. Brianna Schumacher, who I immediately LOVED. I made a consultation appointment with her to get more information before deciding which center to choose. Dr. Schumacher was informed and actually interested in egg freezing. She really “got it.” Many of the other fertility centers only focused on IVF, and egg freezing was just something else they offered. Dr. Schumacher  was clearly passionate about egg freezing and invested in me.

Deciding where to freeze my eggs was hard because my best friend went to another center and had a great experience, but in the end, I wanted Dr. Schumacher as my physician. I really connected with her.

The Egg Freezing Process

As I mentioned earlier, I am SCARED of needles. The thought of daily injections and blood draws was of course daunting, but I knew I needed to do this for myself. I had a nurse friend come over and share tips for giving myself the injections, which really helped. I’d have music or TV playing in the background to help distract myself from my fear. Sometimes my amazing friends would come over. They were a great support system during this emotional process.

The egg retrieval was a smooth process. I was most nervous about the IV, but the nurses and anesthesiologist were amazing. Dr. Ryan Martin did my retrieval and he was also great. The whole team put me at ease. The recovery was easier than I expected.
I am really proud of myself because I was able to push past my fear of needles. I truly felt empowered throughout this whole process.

Why Egg Freezing?

I don’t have a partner and I don’t want to rush my future based on my biological clock. Egg freezing buys you time and relieves the stress of dating. I know it feels like a large investment, but it’s an investment in yourself that you need to consider. The option to take control of your fertility is priceless.
 
[READ: Talk Show Hosts Experience “Aha Moment” After Dr. McCarthy-Keith’s Egg Freezing Explanation]
[Watch: Egg Freezing On-Demand Webinar]

Schedule An Egg Freezing Appointment

by

An article featured in the New York Times discusses how millennials are becoming the new target demographic for egg freezing. While most women considering egg freezing are thought to be “30 something year olds,” the market is now skewing younger. What is the reason for this?

The answer is younger women are more likely to have better quality eggs. The younger generation is also more aware of their fertility than ever before and recognize that fertility does in fact decline with age. Younger women are becoming more proactive about their fertility. Women are also becoming savvier and more inclined to have their fertility tested to see where their fertility stands in order to preserve their options through egg freezing before the inevitable decline in egg quality and quantity. Many women who freeze call the endeavor “a gift for your future” or a “security blanket” that offers them options for their future.

But what holds people back from moving forward with egg freezing?

The two biggest factors that can stand in the way, the article cites, are cost and success rates. Will it be worth the money to freeze my eggs and how do I know it will be successful?

SGF recognizes that cost is a determining factor of whether or not someone might move forward with this process, which is why we have developed unique financial programs to help make egg freezing more affordable. Our flat fee program called Assure 20 and Assure 30 is designed to guarantee multiple cycles or the number of eggs retrieved. One year of storage fees are included, then it is $50/month thereafter.

How do I know egg freezing is successful?

At SGF, we stand behind our technology and approach with published success rates data and help women take the guesswork and uncertainty of whether egg freezing really works. Most other practices or clinics don’t have any facts or figures behind their egg freezing cycles. What makes SGF different is that we are one of only a few fertility centers in the U.S. with published egg freezing pregnancy data.

In a published study, Shady Grove Fertility assessed the performance of 1,171 egg freezing cycles for 875 women. At the time of the study, 117 of these women had returned to undergo 128 egg thaw cycles, using a total of 1,283 frozen eggs. The results from these 128 egg thaw cycles included 51 viable pregnancies, resulting in 55 children and 8 more on the way at the time of the study (12 of the pregnancies were twins). In addition, 62 good quality blastocysts remain in storage from these warming cycles for future attempts.

This data allowed SGF to make predictions on the number of recommended eggs to freeze in order to take home a baby. For women younger than 38, we recommend freezing 15 to 20 mature eggs, giving them roughly a 70 to 80 percent chance of at least one live birth. For women 38 to 40 years old, we recommend freezing 25 to 30 mature eggs, giving them a 65 to 75 percent chance of at least one live birth. These recommendations can be individualized according to the specific family building goals.

While costs and finances are the biggest factor, knowing that your eggs are safe is another big consideration. The technique used to freeze eggs at SGF is called vitrification, known as “fast freeze” cryopreservation. While many fertility centers have adopted this technology, the skill and precision of the technicians is of utmost importance. As one of the largest fertility centers in the country, we have many years of experience in freezing and thawing both eggs and embryos, which is an important consideration when selecting a fertility center.

Our goal is not only to educate women about the process and help you determine if this is the right option for you, but it’s also to help you take home a baby. Our goal is to do everything we can to help you grow your family when the timing is right.

Schedule An Egg Freezing Appointment

To learn more about egg freezing or to schedule an appointment, please contact our New Patient Center at 1-877-411-9292 or complete our brief online form.
 

by

Egg freezing is a viable resource for women who want the option of building a family at some point but, for any number of reasons, are not quite ready to start. Women choose egg freezing because they realize their biological clock will continue to tick and they know that fertility declines with age.

The Washington Post turned to Shady Grove Fertility’s own Kate Devine, M.D., a reproductive endocrinologist and Director of Clinical Research who practices in our K Street Office, to help answer the question, “If a women freezes her eggs, will her future babies be healthy?”

Are egg freezing babies healthy?

The short answer, yes. Dr. Devine assures egg freezing patients that according to the available evidence, babies born as the result of egg freezing are normal. “Though still somewhat limited by the newness of the technology, the data we have accumulated to date are reassuring, particularly for women for whom the alternative might be not to have a child from their own eggs.”

Though the process of egg freezing has been around since the 1980s, it has become an increasing popular option, especially as the age of first-time moms increases. The process is similar to in vitro fertilization; a woman’s ovaries are stimulated with hormones, and the eggs are then retrieved from the ovaries. The eggs that are retrieved are cryopreserved through a flash-freeze process called vitrification. When a woman decides she wants to use her eggs, they are thawed and fertilized, similar to the IVF process, and then transferred into her uterus.

Dr. Devine recommends that a woman freeze her eggs before the age of 35 for the best chance of pregnancy success, although women up to their early 40s may also freeze. The success rates of SGF’s egg freezing program show women younger than 38 who freeze the recommended number of eggs (at least 20 eggs) approach an 80 percent chance of having a baby from those eggs, should they ever need to use them. Women 38 to 40 years old who freeze the recommended number of eggs (at least 30 eggs) have a a 70-75% percent chance of having a baby if they need to use their stored eggs.

Schedule an Appointment

Can I afford egg freezing?

Shady Grove Fertility helps patients grow their family by making treatment financially possible. We have recently introduced a new egg freezing monthly payment plan for as low as $195 per month. Our newest financial program offers a discount and an affordable monthly fee, which includes long-term (5 years) storage. Use your eggs early, receive money back.

If you’re considering freezing your eggs, the first step is to evaluate your fertility through ovarian reserve (a.k.a. egg quantity) testing done at SGF. Ovarian reserve testing evaluates several hormone levels between days 2, 3 or 4 of your menstrual cycle. Our clinicians perform this testing to determine the how many eggs we might be able to obtain from each round of ovarian stimulation medications followed by an egg retrieval procedure. After this testing, your SGF physician will review the results and your options with you. He/she will provide you guidance to create your personalized egg freezing plan. This plan will help answer the questions: should I freeze, when should I freeze, how many eggs should I freeze based on my family building goals, and how many egg freezing cycles will it likely take.

The best time to have a baby is an incredibly personal decision and one that takes significant thought and consideration. SGF is here to help make that decision a less stressful one.

Schedule an Appointment

To learn more about egg freezing babies being healthy or to schedule an appointment, call 1-877-411-9292 or submit this brief online form.

Editor’s Note: This blog was originally published in October 2017, but was updated for accuracy in August 2019. 

by

When Maria and Areen Movsessian of Rockville, MD, tied the knot, they had no idea they would face years of infertility and heartache when they were ready to start building their family. They also had no idea that their struggle to conceive would lead them to uncovering a diagnosis of azoospermia, a rare condition characterized by the absence of sperm in the semen. After trying for years, the couple was blindsided to learn of Areen’s unexpected male factor infertility and wondered, “Is it ever going to be us?”

“What many couples don’t realize is that infertility affects men as often as women and yet our research tells us that only 44 percent of couples complete fertility testing at the same time. Without testing the male partner up front, some patients waste precious time, money, and effort by beginning fertility treatment without having all of the vital information. To save time and money and potentially heartache, we always recommend female and male testing be completed simultaneously before any treatment begins. A simple, private semen analysis can help uncover if there’s an issue with the sperm that we need to consider,” added Paul R. Shin, M.D., Areen’s reproductive urologist who sees patients in SGF’s K Street, Frederick, Fairfax, Fair Oaks and Rockville locations.

SGF’s Center for Male Fertility, led by Dr. Shin and Dr. Cori Tanrikut, offers a range of male services including basic evaluation and testing to state-of-the-art microsurgical techniques including varicocele repair, vasectomy reversal, and vasectomy, as well as sperm injection and extraction techniques that have nearly eliminated infertility among couples with a severe male factor.

“That day I’ll never forget. I walked into her OB/GYN’s office like any guy, ready for my results and I was so confident that there was nothing wrong with me. I actually thought there would be something wrong with her. I remember glancing at the test results that said ‘sperm count’ and it said ‘N/A’. And then I thought, ‘Is that me? What’s going on?’”, shared Areen.

“Fifty percent of patients with azoospermia do have sperm, it just doesn’t make it out with the semen, so the first step is to determine if a patient falls within that 50 percent,” added Dr. Shin.

While infertility is often regarded as a female problem, the partner’s role is equally as important, as 40 to 50 percent of all infertility cases are due to male factor infertility. Male factor can present itself in different forms. Azoospermia is a more uncommon diagnosis, but sperm production issues or anatomic problems can be determined by basic semen testing.

“Everything you think about when you’re younger, like having your own kids, teaching them how to ride a bike… All of those things suddenly didn’t apply to me anymore. It was freaky. I was really lonely and scared,” shared Areen.

Maria and Areen moved onto IVF treatment after receiving a positive sperm retrieval from Dr. Shin. After another cycle of IVF, Maria and Areen received devastating news. None of their embryos survived the treatment.

When a couple goes through an infertility struggle, so much of the process revolves around mental strength, which is why SGF offers a variety of resources to provide support. Both in-person and online events, along with support groups, are posted monthly and encouraged for all patients to attend.

“Mentally and emotionally speaking, infertility and the stress associated with it can be overwhelming,” adds Dr. Shin.

Though they hadn’t anticipated needing additional rounds of IVF treatment, the Movsessian’s decided to continue knowing they’d do whatever it took to build their family. In April 2018, Maria and Areen welcomed a healthy, baby girl into the world after undergoing a third round of IVF.

The stigma attached to male factor infertility is its own challenge to address, but Areen advises other men to get their testing done early to avoid surprises down the road. “Male factor is a big deal, and it makes the process a lot easier when you know what you’re working with. I 100% recommend that men get an analysis done so that they know what they’re dealing with.”

For more information about overcoming male factor infertility, watch SGF’s Male Fertility Webinar On-Demand.

Schedule an Appointment

To schedule an appointment with reproductive urologists, Dr. Shin, Dr. Tanrikut, or any of SGF’s reproductive endocrinologists, call 1-888-761-1967 or submit this brief form.

by

One of the common misconceptions about fertility treatment is that multiples are standard and nearly inevitable. According to the CDC, the national rate of twins and higher order multiples (e.g. triplets or more) increased from 1998 to 2009. While historically twinning makes up about 2 percent of the live birth population, over this 21-year period the rate doubled. An important driver of this increase was the number of couples undergoing fertility treatment. Thankfully, and especially at SGF, rates of twins from fertility treatment are now declining due to improved IVF practices, such as blastocyst culture, preimplatation testing of embryos, and blastocyst vitrification, which enable highly successful single embryo transfer. For the story, “7 Things You Need to Know if You’re Pregnant with Twins,” US News talked to Dr. Kate Devine, Shady Grove Fertility’s Director of Clinical Research.

Looking back, why did couples experience more twins from fertility treatment?

Dr. Devine tells US News that until recently, fertility experts were more limited in their ability to examine the quality of embryos created during the in vitro fertilization (IVF) process. Determining which embryo(s) were best to transfer was done according to their rate of development and morphologic characteristics alone, and usually only over the course of the first two to three days of their development.

However, in recent years, improvement in embryo culture techniques have greatly improved our ability to observe and assess embryo growth and development for longer duration in the IVF lab. In addition, we now have the ability to do genetic testing on embryos to select a chromosomally normal embryo for transfer. If there are additional high-quality embryo(s), we can store them for the future. Prior to the advent of these technologies, it was difficult to select a single embryo with a high probability of implanting in a woman’s uterus and resulting in a healthy baby.

Therefore, physicians would typically transfer two and sometimes more than two embryos in hopes of successful implantation. And yes, multiple births were more common. Dr. Devine says, “The goal was to boost the woman’s chances of delivering a baby, since it wasn’t clear which embryos would make it.”

New Technology Results in Fewer Twins

Today, technology allows embryologists and physicians to examine embryos much more carefully and select with confidence the one with the highest chance of implanting and resulting in a successful pregnancy. At Shady Grove Fertility we’ve long been proponents of elective single embryo transfer, or eSET. We observe all fertilized embryos until they reach the blastocyst stage. This is the stage when the embryo has differentiated into two parts: the inner cell mass, which is the potential fetus, and the trophectoderm, which has potential to become the placenta. It is also the stage at which the embryo implants in the uterus in both natural and IVF pregnancies. By combining blastocyst culture with single embryo transfer, we have drastically decreased the number of multiple pregnancies, while maintaining excellent IVF success. And by increasing the proportion of singleton pregnancies, we dramatically decrease health risks to both baby and mother.

The assumption that fertility treatment means twins is no longer correct or close to it. Thankfully, due to improvements in technology, SGF’s standard of care has changed to singleton pregnancies, enabling “one healthy baby at a time.” We are now better able to offer the best care for our patients leaving them with healthier choices for not only themselves, but for their baby and future children.

Schedule an Appointment

To learn more or to schedule an appointment with an SGF physician, please call our New Patient Center at 1-877-971-7755 or fill out this brief form.

Editor’s Note: This blog was originally published in Feb 2017, but has been updated as of July 2019. 

by

The concept of retrieving your eggs might sound daunting but SGF physician Dr. Lauren Roth, who sees patients in SGF’s Frederick and Rockville, Maryland offices, explains in Parents Magazine exactly how the process will go—and why women don’t need to feel intimidated.
Women choose to undergo an egg retrieval for one of three reasons:

  • They plan on using in vitro fertilization, which allows the retrieved egg to be fertilized by sperm and placed back inside a woman’s uterus as a fertilized embryo.
  • They want to freeze their eggs and wait until they’re ready to have a child, for reasons often related to education, career, or personal life.
  • Or, they plan to donate their eggs to another woman or couple.

Whatever the reason may be for making this decision, you can assume the retrieval procedure to be consistent, though the steps that follow will differ depending on your overall treatment plan. Here’s what you can expect, from the day before the retrieval, to the day of the surgery, to recovery.

Understanding the Egg Retrieval Process

Your doctor wants to optimize your chances of future pregnancy by retrieving as many healthy eggs as possible within one ovulation cycle. To do this, you’ll get testing done ahead of time to determine your egg count and from there you’ll move on to hormone injections. “We analyze hormone levels in the blood and ultrasound findings on the ovaries,” says Dr. Roth. “This allows the doctor to make a medication protocol specific to that woman so we can try to get as many eggs to develop in unison as possible.”

“By taking injections of your prescribed dosage for around 1.5 to 2 weeks, you initiate the simultaneous growth of multiple mature eggs,” says Dr. Roth. Thirty-six hours before the retrieval, your physician will order an injection often called a “trigger shot” that both finalizes the maturity of the eggs and stimulates your body to release them.

Will the Egg Retrieval Procedure Hurt?

“The egg retrieval is surgical, using mild sedation via IV that prevents a woman from feeling or remembering anything,” says Dr. Roth. The procedure is guided by a vaginal ultrasound, which reduces the risk of complications and will only take around 20 to 30 minutes. During the surgery, the physician will use a needle to enter each ovary and remove the fluid via suction from each follicle. Once you’re awake, you’ll need to have a friend or partner drive you home. In about a day you’ll be back to normal activity.

“Because egg retrieval is a surgery, you might experience some minor side effects like bloating, cramping, constipation, or spotting but most patients can return to work the next day,” says Dr. Roth.
SGF patient Stephanie Gerry, now mom of three, shared her experience with us. “Since I was diagnosed with PCOS, I knew ahead of time that I would likely need treatment to conceive. When I went through the egg retrieval process, my doctor was able to get 24 eggs and my husband and I decided to fertilize 6 of those.”

The best way to prepare yourself for an egg retrieval is to walk into an appointment being educated and informed of the process. We want you to feel comfortable throughout the entire procedure, beginning to end, so that you understand the entirety of the retrieval and are ready to take your first steps.

Schedule an Appointment

To learn more or to schedule an appointment with Dr. Lauren Roth, or any other SGF physician, please call our New Patient Center at 877-971-7755 or fill out this brief form.

2026 Shady Grove Fertility

Also of interest