Ready for some fun and a chance to win Starbucks??
It’s Nearly Wordless Wednesday. Welcome to our weekly wacky photo caption contest where anyone anywhere can enter to win by submitting a clever caption for the photo of the week. And what infertile couple, or generally stressed out person, can’t use a fun distraction once a week? Come on and play!
Each week, the winner gets a gift card. It’s our little thank you for playing our game.
This week’s contest winner will get a Starbucks gift card. Come on and play. What tall, vente, grande treat will you choose if you win? The gift card is yours to choose your favorite!
But first let’s announce last week’s winner: Jessica! Congrats!
Who could forget the little boy on his trike in the middle of the busy road with traffic descending upon him! Well, we liked Jessica’s: “Well at least he’s checking his blind spot!” caption best.
Jessica, please email your address and the words “NWW Contest #19-Starbucks” to Lindsay at lmontello@liivf.com to claim your gift card.
Now, on to this week’s challenge.
Where on earth could this train be heading?
Give this photo a caption on the blog.
Best entry winner gets Starbucks on us! It’s a fast, fun and free contest open to anyone, whether infertile or not, and whether a patient of our practice or not.
Bookmark our blog or like us on Facebook and check back next week to see if you won and we’ll mail you your gift card.
Plus, if you “LIKE” us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/longislandivf , we may be able to send you the prize as an e-gift right through Facebook, depending on what this week’s prize is, so you could be enjoying your winnings as early as on the day we choose the winner! (And as much as we’d love you to “LIKE” us on Facebook, it is absolutely not required to either enter or win our contests! But did I mention we’d love it if you did
Enter today! Or at least before next Tuesday!
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Why not bookmark us so you remember to check back often…at least every Wednesday…so you don’t miss our NWW contests. And we also run bigger contests, too. Please feel free to suggest other fun places we could get gift cards from that you’d like to win as prizes for these fun contests or topics you’d like to see discussed on the blog. Now go enter the contest!
Photo credit: http://www.funtal.com/picdetail.php?catId=37&tid=370

Since many may still be reeling from the emotions and stress of Mother’s Day, it’s a good time to remind you of Long Island IVF’s many supportive counselors on staff, and to call your attention to the Mind Body Program and its benefits.

Bina Benisch is a Registered Professional Nurse and a psychotherapist with an M.S. in Mental Health Counseling. She did her Mind Body Medicine training at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

Bina is the support group coordinator, patient advocate, and stress management psychotherapist for Long Island IVF, working with both female and male patients. Her groups are wildly popular, and she always has room for more.

Bina explains the Long Island IVF Mind Body Program and its benefits for those couples trying to conceive:

Life changes.  You’ve had your intentions, your hopes, and your dreams of where life would take you.  What you may not have envisioned is suddenly being a member of the population that struggles with infertility.  Being diagnosed with infertility – for any reason – “unexplained,” male factor, or female factor, can feel like a lonely, isolating experience for many reasons.  The fact is that most women never expected to be in this position, and this is often one of the most stressful times in a woman’s life.  Feelings of anxiety, depression, isolation, and anger can be overwhelming during infertility.  Often, anger masks the feelings of loss experienced month after month of trying to conceive without success. Infertility impacts on one’s marriage, self-esteem, sexual relationship, family, friends, job, and financial security. 

Our Mind Body Program provides a space where you can relax, a place where you are free to express whatever it is you are feeling … a sacred circle of connection and support.  I have been told by women who have participated in the Mind Body Support Group that they experience a huge relief by connecting with other women who really “get it,” who understand these unique feelings. During the sessions, I take part of the time to teach Mind Body methods to elicit the relaxation response (emotional and physiological relaxation).  In this way, you can learn to practice these methods on your own on a daily basis.
In our Mind Body support group, patients experience the opportunity to share information, feelings, or their own personal stories. You may be surprised to see how your support can help others or you may be relieved to hear others experiencing the same type of thoughts and feelings as you experience. Often, the supportive nature of this group, and the connection that develops between members, fosters a healing process.
Feelings of isolation, anger, and stress are slowly relieved. Our Mind Body program focuses on symptom reduction and developing a sense of control over one’s life by utilizing Mind Body strategies and interventions which elicit the relaxation response. The relaxation response is actually a physical state that counteracts the stress response. You can think of it as the physiological opposite of the body’s stress response. We cannot be stressed and relaxed at the same time.

Therefore when a person elicits the relaxation response, the body’s stress response is halted, stress hormones diminish.  It is important to understand fertility holistically. Your mind and body work together, not separately. Therefore your thoughts have a direct effect on your physiology. When you are experiencing stress, your brain releases stress hormones. These stress hormones function in many ways. One of the stress hormones, cortisol, has been documented to interfere with the release of the reproductive hormones, GnRH (gonadatropin releasing hormone), LH (luteinizing hormone), FSH (follicle stimulating hormone), estrogen, and progesterone. In fact, severe enough stress can completely inhibit the reproductive system. Cortisol levels have also been linked to very early pregnancy loss. For this reason, it has been found extremely helpful when treating infertility, to include mind body strategies which help to alleviate the stress responses which may inhibit fertility.

All mind body methods ultimately cause the breathing to become deeper and slower. This causes stress responses such as heart rate, metabolic rate, and blood pressure to decrease. The way in which you are taught to elicit the relaxation response is through methods such as: breath focus, guided visual imagery, muscle relaxation and learned mindfulness, and meditation. Awareness of the mind body connection allows us to use our minds to make changes in our physiology. This holistic treatment – combining bio-medical science with mind body medicine deals with the treatment of the whole individual rather than looking only at the physical aspect.  The fact is, body and mind work together.

Let’s not forget the men. Men often feel uncertain about the ‘right’ way to support their partners, and don’t realize how they themselves are affected. We now offer our “Just For Guys Group.” In sharing how infertility affects the men, their relationships, and each man’s deepest sense of self, these men gain insight, and experience support during what can be an isolating and difficult time.

We invite and encourage you to take advantage of this unique area of support provided by The Mind Body Program at Long Island IVF.

Of course, I’m not talking about anything underhanded…
Well, Mother’s Day is finally past. Another day filled with thoughts of “Why me?” and “Why do those awful neglectful parents in the news get pregnant when I can’t?”
There’s another option for those still TTC who are frustrated and heartbroken over how long it’s taking to begin your life as parents…
Foster parenting. Even if temporarily.
Many people want to exhaust all efforts to have their own biological child before considering options like donor egg/sperm/embryos, surrogacy, or adoption. And that’s totally understandable. Everyone is entitled to build their families their own way and in their own time. But you rarely hear people mention foster parenting as a permanent or temporary answer.
May is National Foster Care Month.
Does the thought of the criminal parents in the news make you angry and ill? Does your heart break for the babies born sick? Or the children nearly murdered by abusive parents? Do you long to make a difference in the life of a suffering child?
If you answered yes, maybe becoming a temporary or permanent foster parent may be for you. Of course, it isn’t easy. There are qualification processes and red tape to go through. But for some people, having a child to start loving, even while you continue your infertility journey, can take off some of the stress. A win-win in some cases.
Sometimes you can foster a newborn; other times an older child. Sometimes the child becomes available for adoption; other times not. Sometimes it’s a short-term situation; other times it’s longer term. Maybe your needs will match those of a child awaiting a foster family.
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Did you ever consider foster parenting?

Photo credit: http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=19826&picture=sad-child-portrait

Some of you are suffering from secondary infertility. You have a child, but can’t complete the family you envisioned without medical assistance. Maybe the child you do have was a result of medical assistance, so you understand the pain of those still on their infertility journeys. For those of you who are already mothers, Long Island IVF wishes you the happiest of Mother’s Days with your miracles.
But for those who are childless and TTC, Mother’s Day is the toughest day of the year to get through. It’s worse than the winter holidays, New Year’s Day, and your birthday. And if your own Mom is gone or if you lost a baby along the way, it’s unbearable.
Not having your family built yet can make you feel like you don’t fit in at whatever gathering you may have to attend today. It’s hard not to be bitter. It’s hard to bite your tongue at the insensitive comments.
It’s hard to know what’s worse…the moms who complain about the gift they got today, always criticize their kids, or (*gasp*) say they wish they didn’t have (so many) children. Or the women who nag you with nosy, personal questions about when are you finally going to have a baby? And let’s not even talk about those who complain about their “accidental” conceptions!
Today or tomorrow (or really any day), if you find yourself here, please feel free to vent.
If you bit your tongue today, please tell us what was said and what you wish you would have said in response.
If you didn’t bite your tongue, please, please, please share what your comeback was! Was it a cold glance, a look to kill, words of venom? Any furniture go flying? Hospital visits?
Or if you have any tips on how you got through the day, or interesting ideas on spending the day, please share those as well.
We’ll choose one comment to win a little gift card to help take away the sting a bit. Post your comments by Thursday night.
Here’s a tip from me for today: Tell yourself that this will be the last Mother’s Day you go through without a baby in your arms or on the way. (It may or may not be true, but you will feel better for today if you allow yourself to envision that is true.)
Thinking of you all today, mothers of the present and especially those wonderful mothers-to-be in waiting.

photo credit: http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=22120&picture=mothers-day

Have you hugged your favorite nurse today?
When you’re TTC and seeing a Reproductive Endocrinologist, nurses take on a whole new importance in your life. Especially if you’re doing IVF or IUIs and are in the doctor’s office all the time.
Except for maybe an ICU nurse… perched beside your bed monitoring the bells and whistles that are keeping you alive from moment to moment… your IVF nurse is probably the most important nurse you’ll ever have a relationship with.
The nurse does so much to make your cycle run smoothly, and much of it is behind the scenes stuff you don’t even know about. She works weekends and holidays. If it’s your day to be inseminated on Christmas, she’ll be there by your side. I was lucky enough to have some great IVF nurses when I was a patient, and also to work beside them for years as a medical assistant. Many of them are still working at Long Island IVF, helping create today’s families.
Is there a special nurse in YOUR life? Do you have a special story to share about her? Or maybe you just want to make her day and give her a “shout out’ right here. Go on and do it. You‘ll both feel good about it!
Fine, I’ll start.
Thanks to the best IVF nurses around: Joey, Denise, Maryann, Sue, Patty, Dotty, and Karen. Also a shout out to my buddy Dina who started working at Long Island IVF as a medical assistant on the same day I did and went on to become a nurse. And to my favorite OR nurses Judy and Eileen.
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Now, whose hand did you squeeze to death or whose shoulder did you cry a river on?

Welcome to the Journey to the Crib Podcast.  We will have a blog discussion each week with each chapter.  This podcast covers Chapter Eight: Hydrosalpinx. You, the listener, are invited to ask questions and make comments.  You can access the podcast here: http://podcast.eastcoastfertility.com/?p=57

Hydrosalpinx
A hydrosalpinx is a fallopian tube that is blocked at its distal end opposite the entrance to the uterine cavity.  It is filled with inflammatory fluid most likely the end result of a pelvic infection.  This fluid can flow into the uterine cavity thereby creating a hostile environment for a potentially implanting embryo.
Aside from preventing natural conception due to an inability for the fallopian tube to pick up an ovulating egg, the hydrosalpinx may complicate an in vitro fertilization procedure by creating a uterine cavity that is unfavorable for a transferred embryo to implant.   Furthermore, the transferred embryo may be pushed into the fallopian tube by a uterine contraction and be stuck in this diseased tube where it could grow and develop into an ectopic pregnancy.   In normal tubes the embryo is swept back to the uterus by the air like projections found in the lining of healthy tubes.
Fertility surgery to open hydrosalpinges provides a 20% pregnancy rate with a very high risk to result in the development of an ectopic pregnancy.  We therefore recommend instead removal of these tubes or at least ligation where the flow of the inflammatory fluid into the cavity or travel of the embryo out of the cavity into the tube is prevented.
Salpingectomy, removal of the fallopian tube or a tubal ligation is performed by laparoscopy.  Recently, hysteroscopic procedures have been developed to create a blockage at the junction of the tube and the uterine cavity.  This is a much less invasive vaginal procedure.  There is no cutting and may sometimes be performed without anesthesia.  The tubes may take three months to completely scar to create the necessary obstruction prior to proceeding with IVF.   
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Was this helpful in answering your questions about hydrosalpinx and its effects on a woman’s fertility?

Please share your thoughts about this podcast here. And ask any questions.

It’s that time of the week again! It’s Nearly Wordless Wednesday. Welcome to our weekly wacky photo caption contest where anyone anywhere can enter to win by submitting a clever caption for the photo of the week. And what infertile couple, or generally stressed out person, can’t use a fun distraction once a week? Come on and play!
Each week, the winner gets a gift card. It’s our little thank you for playing our game.
This week’s contest winner will get a Starbucks gift card. Come on and play. Wouldn’t a tall, vente, grande treat of your choice hit the spot right about now? Win this contest and the gift card is yours to choose your favorite!
But first let’s announce last week’s winner: Jason! Congrats!
Who could forget the woman at the bus stop walking her…son? Remember the leash? Well, we liked Jason’s: “If you have ever put clothes on your pet…You are in no position to judge!” best.
Jason, please email your address and the words “NWW Contest #18-Starbucks” to Lindsay at lmontello@liivf.com to claim your gift card.
Now, on to this week’s challenge.
It’s Mother’s Day this week…one of the toughest days of the year for those TTC. It makes it even harder to tolerate bad parenting in others. So if it helps you this week, you can let the parents of this little really have it (but watch the language!). Give this photo a caption on the blog.
Best entry winner gets Starbucks on us! It’s a fast, fun and free contest open to anyone, whether infertile or not, and whether a patient of our practice or not.
Bookmark our blog or like us on Facebook and check back next week to see if you won and we’ll mail you your gift card.
Plus, if you “LIKE” us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/longislandivf , we may be able to send you the prize as an e-gift right through Facebook, depending on what this week’s prize is, so you could be enjoying your winnings as early as on the day we choose the winner! (And as much as we’d love you to “LIKE” us on Facebook, it is absolutely not required to either enter or win our contests! But did I mention we’d love it if you did
Enter today! Or at least before next Tuesday!
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Why not bookmark us so you remember to check back often…at least every Wednesday…so you don’t miss our NWW contests. And we also run bigger contests, too. Please feel free to suggest other fun places we could get gift cards from that you’d like to win as prizes for these fun contests or topics you’d like to see discussed on the blog. Now go enter the contest!
Photo credit: http://www.killmydaynow.com/2011/03/funny-pictures-of-bad-parenting-part-3-58-pics.html/

Don’t miss this chance to meet and mingle with the Long Island IVF team and get all your questions answered! What else would you have planned on a Tuesday night?

Listen, Mother’s Day is looming. We know it’s the roughest time of the year to be TTC. Especially if you’re feeling out of control and powerless. Why not spend some time with us learning all about IVF? After all, knowledge is power.

So, why not grab a friend* and come down to meet some of the team… and we’ll give you a Starbucks card for yourself?

Can’t get your friends to come with you? Well, you still have US…and we’re the best friends someone suffering from infertility could ask for…we understand AND can help! You’ll get riveting, cutting edge fertility information from some of the most respected doctors, embryologists, and staff members in the reproductive medicine business. You could even make a new friend.

As if that’s not enough…we’ll have cookies. That’s right. Cookies to snack on. It’s a party now.

While you’re at it, why not get familiar with the doctors and staff who may be helping you with a FREE MICRO-IVF CYCLE if you win the Grand Prize in our ongoing Extreme Family-Building Makeover Contest. See the April 23, 2012 post on this blog for details, or the Long Island IVF Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/longislandivf

Plus, after you’ve learned everything there is to know about IVF, you can have all your personal questions answered privately right after the speakers wrap up their quick presentations. And the best part is that you don’t even have to be a current patient to come! Just come in off the street. Have an early dinner and come over afterwards. Or swing by after work.

Have you been trying to conceive without success? Maybe suffered one or more miscarriages? Is your day 3 FSH in the stratosphere? Have other programs told you to give up?  Have they said you’re too heavy to conceive? Do you need info on grant programs and financing? Would you like to hear of contests where you could win great prizes like restaurant certificates and free or discounted infertility services? If so, you really need to come down and meet the some of our professional team.

Don’t you owe it to yourself to just check it out? When was the last time you could corner a RE and ask all your questions without them politely dashing out? For free.

Come on. We’re waiting for you. And your legitimately interested friend*…who, by the way, can’t be a spouse, partner, parent, child, pregnant neighbor, octogenarian, or octomom. (That would be cheating!)

Seminar begins Tuesday  May 8th at 6:30 pm at:
LIIVF, 245 Newtown Rd., Suite 300, PLAINVIEW, New York 11803
We’ll be there ‘til the last question is asked and answered…or we run out of cookies…whichever comes first Be there.
Photo credit: http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=19777&picture=cup-of-coffee

Early May is tough. And Mother’s Day is probably the hardest day of the year when you’re childless and TTC.
But for those who have lost a child, it must be unbearable.
If you or someone you know has experienced this unimaginable pain and loss, today is dedicated to supporting you and to acknowledging and remembering your child. It is National Bereaved Mother’s Day, the first Sunday in May.
I spent some time on a beautiful site owned by CarlyMarie, the woman behind the creation of Bereaved Mother’s Day. It’s a beautiful, supportive, calming place where extraordinary women can go to attempt to heal from extraordinary pain.
Check it out here: http://carlymarieprojectheal.com/2012/05/international-bereaved-mothers-day.html
So whether you are coping with infertility or with the devastation of infant or child loss, please know that there is support out there, in blogs, forums, and counseling support groups, to help you when you are ready to seek it. Please ask.
Blessings to you and your angels.

And for those still trying to build their families who need financial assistance to do so, please consider entering Long Island IVF’s “Extreme Family-Buiding Make-Over ” Contest, where the Grand Prize will be a FREE basic Micro-IVF cycle, valued at $3,900.00. Go to the April 23, 2012 blog post herein to enter, or check out the rules on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/longislandivf?ref=tn_tnmn
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What have you done to help yourself through the pain? What memorial or tribute comforted you? Do you know of any other good support services? Let us know.
Photo credit: carly marie @ http://internationalbabylostmothersday.blogspot.com/

Infertility Podcast Series: Journey to the Crib: Chapter 7 Are Fibroids and Polyps Preventing You From Getting Pregnant?

Welcome to the Journey to the Crib Podcast.  We will have a blog discussion each week with each chapter.  This podcast covers Chapter Seven: Are Fibroids and Polyps Preventing You From Getting Pregnant? You, the listener, are invited to ask questions and make comments.  You can access the podcast here: http://podcast.eastcoastfertility.com/?p=52

Are Fibroids And Polyps Preventing You From Getting Pregnant?
Fibroids, also known as myomata, are benign smooth muscle tumors of the uterus.   Most are located in the muscle wall and become clinically significant if they invade the uterine cavity or take up so much space in the uterine wall that they may distort the uterine cavity, obstruct the blood vessels serving the endometrial lining or even block the fallopian tubes.   Fibroids may also extend outside the uterine surface, subserosal or pedunculated when connected to the uterus by a stalk.  These tend to be clinically significant only when they affect the fallopian tubes from picking up the eggs.  Fibroids growing into the uterine cavity are called submucosal myomata and these have the greatest impact on implantation and fertility.
 The diagnosis of fibroids may be suspected at a bimanual examination of the uterus or a hysterosalpingogram but ultrasound and MRI are the best diagnostic modalities to evaluate the extent of the fibroids.  A hydrosonogram where water is injected into the uterine cavity allows delineation of the myoma or, for that matter, polyps (endometrial growths).  Further examination of the uterine cavity is performed at a hysteroscopy when the myoma or polyp may be excised.
 There remains controversy regarding the indication to surgically remove intramural fibroids or those that reside within the uterine wall and not significantly affecting the uterine cavity.   Some specialists believe that intramural fibroids greater than 3 cm are more likely to affect fertility and recommend surgery for these.  Others have a larger threshold or smaller if there are numerous myomata or they cause tubal obstruction.
 Polyps like submucosal fibroids are thought to effect implantation and it is therefore recommended they be removed when trying to conceive.  Patients with a history of anovulation and unopposed estrogen are more likely to have hyperplastic endometrium which can include polyps.  Rarely, in these cases they can be neoplastic and need to be removed and examined by a pathologist.
 Examination of the uterine cavity is essential prior to performing an IVF procedure to ensure the optimal result for patients.
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Was this helpful in answering your questions about the effects of fibroids an polyps on TTC?

Please share your thoughts about this podcast here. And ask any questions.