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Medical advances, embryonic biopsies gave David and Darra Williams healthy twin boys
By LOIS EVEZICH ALISO VIEJO NEWS
June 16, 2005
David Williams never thought he’d have children. With a brother who died at 20 from cystic fibrosis, and an uncle with the disease, he didn’t want to take the chance.
When he and Darra started dating, he didn’t keep his concerns from her. They married, but were standoffish about babies, he said. Still, they didn’t rule them out.
“I’m a carrier,” David said. “If both parents are carriers, the child has a bigger chance of inheriting the disease. I was the only carrier, though, but there was a slight chance the child would have cystic fibrosis.”
They consulted Dr. Lawrence Werlin in Aliso Viejo, a specialist in fertilization for couples who want children. Werlin was interested in embryo biopsies. The process involves extracting eggs from a woman’s ovaries and injecting them with sperm, and when embryos develop, cells are biopsied looking for abnormalities.
Since David had had a vasectomy, his sperm had to be aspirated too.
Without the embryo biopsies, the Williams might never have had babies.
“Darra’s was a high-risk pregnancy,” said Werlin. “She’d had two miscarriages and failed artificial inseminations.” But genetic tests proved she wasn’t a carrier. Darra gave up 11 eggs, and after fertilization, seven of them were biopsied. Werlin injected the best five embryos into her womb, and initially four took.
“Some had chromosome defects,” David said. “But now we have 16-month-old twin boys.” And they are perfect, he said.
“When we were finally pregnant, Darra had bi-weekly ultra sound. We fully expected to have one child. We celebrated with Dom Perignon. Darra didn’t drink anything, but we were so relieved. Werlin then referred us to an obstetrician.”
The babies were born at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center, and the Williams knew they were boys.
“Early on they told us the sex of all four implants,” David said. Only two embryos fully attached. “I’m happy to have had two healthy boys.”
The Williams story was so successful that Werlin refers them for interviews to other patients who are thinking about the same procedure.
“The Williams were involved in this study because of the pregnancy losses,” he said. “It’s the first randomized prospective study in the world, published in 2003. It looks at multiple cycles of pregnancies lost. Now we do this on a fairly routine basis, especially in high-risk pregnancies.”
Werlin said he is gratified to see the procedure results.
“I’ve always been interested in hormones. When you think about medicine, it’s an art. Not everybody fits into the same category. Hormones are one of the few things in medicine that make sense. They’re predictable.”
Werlin said the most important thing is that he works with wonderful people. They’re basically young and healthy. “When you’re successful it’s the best thing in the world. When you’re unsuccessful, it’s devastating. “But ultimately it’s not life-threatening,” he said.
Most of Werlin’s patients are incredibly motivated, he said.
“They read the same journals I read. They look online. David and Darra were never down. They were always optimistic, wanted to push ahead and meet the next challenge.”
Our fertility clinic focuses on helping you build your family regardless of your sexual orientation or the gender you choose to identify with. We are even taking further steps to make LGTB people feel more welcome at our fertility clinic. Each of our patient-facing staff goes through LGTB training to let family-building clinicians provide necessary support and make you feel highly welcome.
Coastal Fertility Medical Center offers one of the most advanced fertility treatments and is completely transparent regarding the costs of procedures and any other expenses that you may have to pay before commencing your treatment. This differentiates us from some fertility clinics that reduce prices before the signing of the contract but charge you extra later on. We make sure our patients are well aware of any possible extra pricing that may occur over the course of their treatment.
The infertility industry is currently segmented, with each service or treatment being handled by a different provider. Our all-inclusive model simplifies an otherwise complex and difficult process. We are here to revolutionize the infertility industry by offering a one-stop-service model to assist our patients through infertility challenges while reducing physical, emotional, and financial risks.
Our globally respected team of specialists are helping improve IVF technologies to enter into a generation of better outcomes for infertility. Although you’ll have a doctor guiding you, you are also going to benefit from the experience and insights of other doctors during case review collaboration meetings, which take place every week. So, you won’t just rely on the expertise of a specialist but benefit from the knowledge of many reputed fertility experts.
Our team specializes in difficult cases and help patients who may have been considered “hopeless” at other fertility clinics. Thanks to our personalized solutions, expertise, and internal collaboration, weare able to maximize pregnancy success rates that are well above the industry average, even in difficult infertility cases.
We know that every situation is different and that everyone requires different treatments. Unlike facilities that take “a one-size-fits-all” approach for all cases, our fertility specialists use more than 40 customized protocols to raise the chances of success. The customized approach even extends to our fertility laboratory. Our on-site lab director and his highly-experienced team nurture every embryo and egg to increase the odds of success of each cycle.
Coastal Fertility Medical Center offers one of the most advanced fertility treatments and is completely transparent regarding the costs of procedures and any other expenses that you may have to pay before commencing your treatment. This differentiates us from some fertility clinics that reduce prices before the signing of the contract but charge you extra later on. We make sure our patients are well aware of any possible extra pricing that may occur over the course of their treatment.
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Following the Preimplantation Genetic Screening process, which helps ensure there are normal chromosome numbers and detects possible genetic disorders, the most healthy embryo(s) are selected to be implanted into your or your chosen surrogate’s womb. 2 weeks after the transfer of the embryo, your physician will conduct a final blood test to determine the level of hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) in your body. Increased hCG levels usually indicate a positive pregnancy test.
For fertilization to take place, the collected egg and sperm are combined in a petri dish and cultured in an embryo incubator. This dish is closely watched to check whether any of the eggs have been fertilized. Once the egg is fertilized, it is referred to as an embryo or a blastocyst on the 5th day of development. Our in-house embryologist carefully nurtures every embryo to the right time, even if it means working outside the standard business operating hours. For instance: If an oocyte is not mature, our laboratory will wait for it to mature and then ICSI it at the right time.
The egg retrieval is a slightly invasive medical procedure that takes about 20 to 30 minutes. You will be given an anesthetic to make you sleep for the duration of the procedure. Using ultrasound technology, your doctor will harvest your eggs transvaginally with a small, hollow needle connected to an ultrasound probe. Once your eggs are collected, your partner’s semen or donor sperm you have pre-selected is used for fertilization. The sperm are washed and prepared, and the top-quality sperm extracted is used to fertilize the eggs.
Your doctor will create a customized medication schedule that contains information about the fertility medications and hormone injections you have to take. Medication and injections are taken to encourage your ovaries to mature a large number of eggs for fertilization. Since women don’t respond to fertility drugs and hormones the same way, personalized protocols are crucial to the IVF cycle success. At Coastal Fertility, we will monitor you closely, letting you understand the changes occurring in your body and keeping track of how your egg follicles are growing.
On-site consultations typicallyinclude a standard fertility evaluation, consisting of a physical examination, complementary follicular ultrasound, and testing to enable your doctor to know your present fertility status and draw up a treatment plan.
This consultation includes a detailed medical evaluation with a doctor. You and your physician will review your health records and have enough time to talk about your goals and get answers to your questions. We recommend that you jot down all your questions before the visit to allow you to make the best use of the time spent with your doctor.
Your Reproductive Endocrinologist will take all factors into consideration and create a comprehensive plan of care, otherwise known as the treatment plan. This plan will include treatment recommendations from the physician and enable your financial coordinator to make a precise quotation once you meet.
Our globally respected team of specialists are helping improve IVF technologies to enter into a generation of better outcomes for infertility. Although you’ll have a doctor guiding you, you are also going to benefit from the experience and insights of other doctors during case review collaboration meetings, which take place every week. So, you won’t just rely on the expertise of a specialist but benefit from the knowledge of many reputed fertility experts.
The infertility industry is currently segmented, with each service or treatment being handled by a different provider. Our all-inclusive model simplifies an otherwise complex and difficult process. We are here to revolutionize the infertility industry by offering a one-stop-service model to assist our patients through infertility challenges while reducing physical, emotional, and financial risks.
Our fertility clinic focuses on helping you build your family regardless of your sexual orientation or the gender you choose to identify with. We are even taking further steps to make LGTB people feel more welcome at our fertility clinic. Each of our patient-facing staff goes through LGTB training to let family-building clinicians provide necessary support and make you feel highly welcome.
We know that every situation is different and that everyone requires different treatments. Unlike facilities that take “a one-size-fits-all” approach for all cases, our fertility specialists use more than 40 customized protocols to raise the chances of success. The customized approach even extends to our fertility laboratory. Our on-site lab director and his highly-experienced team nurture every embryo and egg to increase the odds of success of each cycle.
Our team specializes in difficult cases and help patients who may have been considered “hopeless” at other fertility clinics. Thanks to our personalized solutions, expertise, and internal collaboration, weare able to maximize pregnancy success rates that are well above the industry average, even in difficult infertility cases.
Upon your arrival, you will check in with a Patient Care Coordinator. We will obtain your insurance information for benefits verification, a copy of your identification and take a picture for your electronic medical chart
Coastal Fertility is the leading provider of fertility solutions located in Orange County. Join us to get free updates on fertility news, treatments, infertility solutions and more.
Coastal Fertility is the leading provider of fertility solutions located in Orange County. Join us to get free updates on fertility news, treatments, infertility solutions and more.