Weekend egg retrieval/transfers at Dominion Fertility

[Anonymous]

Do you know whether Dominion Fertilty has a different doctor rather than Dr. G or Dr. D. doing egg retreivals and tranfers on the weekend?

[Anonymous]

Yes, they have a weekend doctor - Dr. Payson (I believe). He did our ET.

[Anonymous]

PP, I hope Dr. Payson is very skilled. I am particularly worried about the egg retrieval by someone else other than Dr. G.

[Anonymous]

When I was there (three years ago), I had two procedures on weekends and my doctor (DiMattina) did them both. I don't think they have a different doctor there on weekends regularly. Perhaps things a different now, but when I was there, Dr. D. and Dr. G. alternated weekends.

[Anonymous]

17:22 here. I have had several procedures done on the weekends - by all 3 doctors (Dr. G, Dr. D, and Dr. P). I was concerned about Dr. P as well. I asked nurses about him because I went to the practice based on the reputations of Drs. G and D. The nurses told me that Dr. Payson is the director of a nearby military fertility center (maybe Walter Reed?). I have found him to be quite nice, but of course, that doesn't speak to his expertise. In the end, I must admit that it made me nervous not knowing his background. I'm still in my 2ww, so I guess we'll know shortly.

As far as IVF goes, I have heard that the embryo transfer is actually the single most important step in the process. Even with great quality embryos, they need to be inserted in just the right location (a certain distance from the top of the uterine cavity), and inserted gently. I worry more about that procedure than the retrieval. For the retrieval, I want to make sure that there is a quality embryologist on site.

FWIW, you should also know that Dominion just hired a new RE to start in August. See their website for more details. She has an impressive record(education, training). However, it's worth noting that she is still relatively "new". Everyone needs to get their start somewhere, but it's natural for us (as patients) to want someone who has a lot of procedures under their belt.

[Anonymous]

Well, it looks like Dr. Payson is skilled, because I'm getting positives on my pg. tests. I still haven't had beta, but looks good so far...

[Anonymous]

PP, congratulations!! Was it a natural cycle IVF? Also, would you mind sharing your routine after the transfer - whether you stayed in bed the first day, what you ate, whether you exercised, etc.?

[Anonymous]

11:38 here. Thank you! Yes, it was natural cycle IVF. After transfer, I sat on the couch all afternoon/evening with my feet up and relaxed. I got up a couple of times to go to the bathroom or get something to eat, but I really limited my activity. The following two days, I also kept activity somewhat limited. I walked around, but didn't exercise or run errands. I also didn't lift anything heavy. After the 3rd day, I pretty much resumed normal activities (except still didn't exercise or lift heavy things).

The first day, I also tried to keep from eating anything that would make me especially "gassy". I had plain cheese pizza...

I didn't do anything like acupuncture. I had my usual cup of (caffeinated) tea in the morning because I didn't want to have a caffeine-withdrawal headache. I didn't have any other caffeine for the rest of the day.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, PP, for useful information. Do you mind me asking what fertility issues you have? We only have a male factor and althouth ICSI is supposed to help, I am not sure they are picking genetically perfect sperm based only on how the sperm looks. DF doesn't have an advanced equipment to do tests on sperm to determine the truly healthy ones.

[Anonymous]

I am AMA, and along with that, have diminished ovarian reserve. Mild male factor (morphology).

I believe you're right that Dominion judges sperm quality based on "looks", and that there are now more advanced methods/equipment available. I would be interested to know if there have been any studies showing that the "looks" approach is really flawed. In other words, did researchers choose sperm that looked good and subject them to the new testing/equipment and learn that the sperm were actually flawed? I don't know the answer to this...

I can tell you that having done both stimulated and natural IVF cycles, I MUCH prefer the natural cycle. Even though I had to cycle a few times, it saved time because I didn't have to wait in between cycles, and there wasn't the "gear-up" month of birth control pills, etc. And saving the $$ on medications (and injecting myself several times each morning and night) was great.

I didn't know how I would feel about natural cycle, but having done it, I would never go back to stimulated. It did have some frustrations (like the cycle I got canceled due to LH surge), but it was still much faster, easier, and less expensive than stimulated.

[Anonymous]

I would like to see those studies too. The reason I started questioning the sperm selection process based on "looks" was multiple stories of women whose several medicated IVFs failed (they only have a male factor), plus my own natural IVF failed (the egg got fertilitized, but the embryo did not develop). Dr. G. encouraged me to try again, but if another natural cycle fails, I'll start looking for a place that does more advanced analysis and selection of the sperm than just the "looks" criteria.

And I agree - natural IVF is not that bad at all, plus my experience with the staff at DF was great, so I don't want to look for a different clinic at this point. I am using my insurance coverage and DF is charging the regular IVF rate for the natural one, so I think if the next cycle fails, I might try one more time before depleting my coverage and then moving on.

How many natural cycles have you tried before succeeding?

[Anonymous]

I did 4 cycles total, but only 2 of them made it to transfer. On one, they didn't get the egg at retrieval. On another, I was canceled before retrieval due to LH surge. Can you pay OOP for cycles that are canceled due to LH surge or other, so that you don't use up your limited IVF coverage? If you don't go to transfer, you get a partial refund.

[Anonymous]

We had to decide and sign the paperwork before we started the process whether to pay OOP or through insurance. There is no option of switching mid-cycle if you don't make it to transfer.

Again, congratulations! You definitely give me hope.