Embryo Adoption = Success for Dr. Potter Patient

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When Laura returned to Dr. Daniel Potter to help her get pregnant a second time, she had every reason to be confident. After all, Dr. Potter was responsible for her successful pregnancy with her first child.

Unfortunately, after three unsuccessful treatments, blood tests revealed that Lara’s FSH levels–which control the production of healthy and mature eggs–were so low that her eggs were no longer viable.

Lara remembers that Dr. Potter sat her down in the office to break the news. “He offered me tea, and was very nice. He’s always nice, no matter what. He went over the tests in non-medical terms, and I asked him a thousand questions. That’s one of the great things about Dr. Potter; he will tell you what’s going on in plain language that anyone can understand.”

Lara and her husband eventually decided to pursue embryo adoption and, with IVF, Lara became pregnant and gave her son a little sister!

According to Lara, it wasn’t just Dr. Potter who made her experience so great, but the entire staff that made her feel important and cared for as a patient. She also liked how informative and reassuring the team was during ultrasounds.

“Everyone at HRC is kind, friendly and available to patients. Whenever I called, someone either got back to me in a timely manner or would leave me a message in the morning, apologizing for not getting back to me right away.

“When it came to procedures, everything was explained step by step and all of my questions were answered.”

Laura knows firsthand the difficulties of infertility and the importance of being comfortable with your doctor and staff. She and her husband found that comfort with HRC and Dr. Potter.

Why I Would Recommend HRC Fertility to a Friend

Rosemary and Andre were referred to HRC Fertility’s fertility specialists by her OB when they were having difficulty conceiving on their own.

The couple attended one Dr. Bradford Kolb’s free informational meetings, and decided to proceed with treatment and Dr. Kolb. Rosemary and Andre ended up doing three rounds of IVF, and are now the proud parents of a beautiful baby girl, Elise.

When asked what she liked best about treatment, Rosemary had this to say:

“From start to finish, everyone from the front desk, to the surgery center, to Dr. Kolb, to my nurse coordinators–and especially Debbie, with whom I had the most contact–were supportive. Everybody there was so kind and so encouraging.”

One of the things Rosemary liked best was Dr. Kolb’s positive attitude, especially when her first cycle ended in miscarriage and her second didn’t result in any viable eggs.

“When my husband wasn’t able to be at the appointment, he was very supportive and encouraging, so I had a lot of trust and faith in him,” she said. “Both Dr. Kolb and Debbie were hopeful about the next time  so I had to believe in that.”

Dr. Kolb had a great analogy about a bowl of eggs that helped Rosemary stay positive about her treatment. He described a woman in her 20s having a bowl of eggs with which to get pregnant. Because Rosemary had only one ovary and one fallopian tube, her bowl of eggs was smaller, but not empty.

Dr. Kolb kept reminding Rosemary that it was just a matter of finding a good egg–which they did on her third cycle. Though she and her husband were elated, she began bleeding heavily at 8-1/2 weeks and was worried about a miscarriage.

The morning of her appointment, Dr. Kolb was taking longer than anticipated in the surgery center. The front desk staff recognized Rosemary’s anxiety and did what they could to help her stay informed during her wait.

The good news was she wasn’t miscarrying and was instead suffering a subchorionic hematoma, a common cause of bleeding in early pregnancy.

“The whole staff was so excited for me,” said Rosemary, who added that she would definitely recommend HRC to other couples who need infertility treatment. “It was just a really…. I don’t know…. I’m not going to go as far as saying it was a family, but it was definitely a sense of community, of everyone rooting for all the patients there.

“I really did appreciate and enjoy every step of the way. Everyone was so kind and so understanding, so sympathetic and empathetic. It really was a great experience.”

If You Don’t Like Your Clinic, Find One You Do

L and A (couple wishes to remain anonymous) didn’t start their fertility journey with HRC. In fact, they didn’t even know HRC or Dr. Robert Boostanfar existed when they started trying to conceive.

“We started this journey with another clinic that was more like a mill,” L recalled. “It seemed like there were extra tests that weren’t really necessary. Also, they didn’t really share information with us. We’re pretty well educated, so it’s not like we didn’t understand the medical terminology. But it was like pulling teeth to get information out of them. It seemed like all they wanted to do was take our money.”

One of the couple’s biggest frustrations was the communication between the clinic and the couple regarding their case. She described how the first clinic wouldn’t even tell them why they should do a specific test.

“It was like, ‘you need to do this, this and this’ with no reasons given. After doing our own research, we discovered those tests weren’t even necessary. It was just another way of getting money,  an even bigger financial burden.”

The couple knew it was time to find another clinic, and discovered HRC. Once they became patients at HRC, they felt they were much better informed, even when the news wasn’t good.

On their first cycle, they chose to quit halfway through because Laura’s ovaries weren’t preparing enough eggs for the cycle.

After a couple of months, they started a second IVF cycle. Seven eggs were successfully retrieved and they ended up with three viable embryos. L and A needed to decided on how many to transfer. They learned that there were pros and cons to either transferring too few or too many embryos.

The important thing was that they knew all of their options. Part of the reason L and A felt comfortable making their decision is that they felt HRC was very informative, giving them both the best and worst case scenarios. Also, Dr Boostanfar was great at mapping out all the possibilities so they could make the best decision possible.

“We were very happy with HRC the entire time,” said L. “We knew all the possibilities and we ended up with the best case scenario–beautiful twins.”

The Emotional Journey of Infertility Treatment

Michelle and Trevor, like most couples undergoing fertility treatment, had both an emotional and physical journey.

The couple went to their OBGYN after trying for a year on their won. Michelle suffered from PCOS, a hormonal imbalance and common condition for women in their childbearing years. The doctor started them on Clomid to try to stimulate regular ovulation and facilitate conception. Michelle described how she felt throughout her treatment.

“I had a meltdown each time the Clomid didn’t work, and every day it seemed like another one of my friends was pregnant–on Facebook, in public, everywhere. And then I would hate those people for no good reason.”

It’s not uncommon for patients undergoing fertility treatment to feel frustrated by their lack of control. “I felt like a failure,” she recalled. “I blamed myself and cried a lot.”

Still, Michelle never wanted to quit, in part because she doesn’t think she tried long enough to get pregnant to reach that level of discouragement.

“When I found out I had PCOS, I knew getting pregnant was going to be a challenge for me,” she said. “I decided to approach treatment knowing it was going to be an uphill battle instead of being surprised by it.”

After their doctor suggested infertility treatment, Michelle and Trevor moved to HRC and Dr. Alison Peck with the goal of intrauterine insemination (IUI). After getting pregnant and quickly miscarrying, Michelle received the biggest surprise of all: getting pregnant before their second IUI.

Their baby Jackson was born in March 2015–proof that there’s a great view at the top of the hill.