[wanttobemommy]

Just surfing the web and thought I would post some helpful info.


Consider the numbers for yourself. According to the National Center for Health Statistics
approximately 2.1 million married couples experienced some type of fertility problem in 1995,
approximately 1.8 million women used fertility drugs in 1995,
approximately 9 million American women have used the services of fertility clinics to date.

If you suspect that you and your partner may have a fertility problem—or if you're a woman in a lesbian relationship or a single mother considering pregnancy—it's time to start shopping around for a fertility specialist.
You have three basic options:

an obstetrician/gynecologist (who may or may not specialize in the treatment of infertility),
a urologist (that is, a medical doctor who specializes in the treatment of disorders of the kidneys, urinary tract, bladder, and male reproductive organs),
a reproductive endocrinologist (that is, an obstetrician/gynecologist who has completed extra training in the medical and surgical treatments of reproductive disorders).
CHECKLIST: FINDING THE RIGHT SPECIALIST

What percentage of your practice focuses on the treatment of infertility?
Are you board certified in reproductive endocrinology?

What types of treatments do you provide?

Do you conduct the full range of infertility tests and treatments yourself, or will you need to refer us to other specialists?

What are the fees for those treatments? What percentage of these fees is my insurance company or HMO likely to cover?

What are your success rates for couples with our type of fertility problem? Does that rate refer to the number of pregnancies achieved or the number of live births?

Will you be available to answer our questions by phone, or will we need to come in and set up an appointment whenever we have any concerns?

Will our questions be answered by you or another person?

How would you react if, at any point in our treatment, we decided that we wanted to get a second opinion?

The infertility workup
An infertility evaluation is designed to answer four basic questions:
Is the female ovulating regularly?

Is the male producing healthy, viable sperm?

Are the egg and the sperm able to unite and develop normally?

Is anything preventing the fertilized egg from implanting and developing properly?