anyone try natural cycle IVF at Dominion Fertility?

[Anonymous]

My husband and I have been TTC for one year and are starting to think about seeing a fertility specialist. He already had his sperm tested and has low-ish motility (2 or 2+ out of 4). We're hoping that I don't have any problems that are further affecting our fertility (I have been charting my temp every month and it looks like I am ovulating but I'd still have to have all the tests). Anyhow, we were thinking about trying natural cycle IVF if we are candidates for it (I'm 32) since I am nervous about the hormones used in traditional IVF. Anyone have any experience with this or any thoughts on Dominion Fertility?

[Anonymous]

I can't speak to Natural IVF but I can say that I am having a positive experience at Dominion Fertility. I am currently in my first IVF cycle. We have unexplained infertility and I am also 32. I was really worried about the drugs but so far so good. My advice to you is not to keep waiting, just go for the consultation and get yourself tested to make sure you are seeing the full picture and can make an informed decision based on what you find out. Best of luck.

[Anonymous]

Dr. Gordon at Dominion rocks!

[Anonymous]

We haven't tried it but I think we're headed that way. I'm interested in any responses this thread gets.
We have 20 month old twins from IVF#1 and have 2 embryos frozen. We'd like a 3rd child and if these embryos don't lead to a pregnancy we'll likely do natural cycle IVF until a cycle works. I'd rather not take the drugs again and also we're not thrilled about the chance of creating embryos that we'll never use (as would likely happen in a normal IVF cycle). Our issue is solely male problem as well so we just need IVF to help with fertilization.
We currently go to Shady Grove (love them but I don't think they do natural cycle IVF) but will switch to Dominion after our FET if needed.

[Anonymous]

What makes you nervous about the hormone injections? It's really not that bad. I did not think I could do shots and dealw
with all the injections, but it was fairly easy once you do it once or twice. I saw Dr. Gordon at Dominion Fertility and
she has blessed me with 2 beautiful children through IVF cycles--a 3 year old and 8 month old.

In my opinion Dominion Fertility is the best practice around in NOVA. Their staff are extra special and I think they go the
extra mile. I had to call in so many emergencies on their hotline and they took care of everything right away.
They are super detailed and attentive to all their patients and their success rates are great.

Don't be afraid, IVFs are so commom now. Just about everyone I know gets pregnant through some time of fertility
medications.
I've had friends, neighbors and clients use this practice. All delivering healthy babies. Some twins too.
I can't say enough good things about Dr. Gordon, he truly is one of the finest.

[Anonymous]

In response to PP, the fertility meds can increase one's chances of getting ovarian or breast cancer. As someone whose mother had breast cancer, I personally wouldn't want to add to my risk.

To the others, what is natural cycle IVF? I've never heard of a hormone free option. We also have some mild male factor issues. I conceived #1 without intervention, but at age 39 I'm not sure how long I want to try again without getting help.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I do have concerns (potential cancer risk among them) with hormones that led me to consider trying natural cycle IVF, plus -- for me personally -- I think that there are limits to what I am willing to do to have a child that is biologically related to me and my husband (although we could change our minds later). If natural cycle IVF doesn't work, we will probably use a sperm donor. To answer your question, natural cycle IVF is IVF without (most of) the hormones. Instead of taking lots of hormones to produce more than 1 egg each month, the doctor just extracts the one egg that you would produce naturally and then performs IVF on that egg (or at least that is my non-MD understanding.) I think Dominion Fertility is the only place in DC that does natural cycle IVF. So I was curious to see if anyone had any experience with it.

[Anonymous]

I have a 10 week old that is the result of a natural cycle FET at Dominion. I did a medicated cycle (that ended in miscarriage) and then Dr. D. suggested natural FET for our only remaining frozen embryo. I was surprised since we only had the one frozen, but decided to give it a shot. For obvious reasons, I can't say enough wonderful things about Dominion.