As children and young adults many of us were raised to grow up and become not just well established adults, but moms and dads. It is often a natural progression to graduate school, focus on career, marry and raise a family. Kids are the ultimate goal and accomplishment.

Today however, given the rise in infertility one in five couples today, or 7.3 million Americans struggle with infertility — the biological inability to conceive or carry a pregnancy to full term. Many factors can contribute to this staggering and continually growing statistic. Most common are delayed child bearing, advanced maternal age, medical conditions, sexually transmitted diseases, obesity and environmental factors. As women continue to work and delay having children, their needs with regard to infertility treatment has also continued to grow.

The infertility diagnosis can be devastating and demoralizing. Unable to become pregnant or carry a pregnancy to term, women often feel inadequate, alone and depressed. Infertility treatment is costly and invasive. Success rates are not guaranteed and insurance benefits are often limited. The emotional, physical and financial stressors associated with the infertility process are often challenging and overwhelming.

Age matters in many aspects of life and definitely in the creation of life. Women are most fertile between the ages of 20 to 28 with their fertility decreasing in half by the time they reach 35 years of age. By age 45, only a 1% chance remains each month of conceiving naturally. This is a startling fact considering the average age a woman has her first child has risen to a record high of 25.1 years with 20% of women waiting until they are 35 years old to begin their family.

An increasing number of women choose to delay childbearing due to further schooling, career choice, or are waiting to find their perfect partner. Many individuals are choosing to be single parents. While those choices are understandable and personal, as women naturally age so do their ovaries; affecting their fertility. Oocyte cryopreservation, commonly known as egg banking, generally provides women up to the age of 38 a chance to stop their biological clock and effectively plan and preserve their fertility for the future.

Other treatment options to help overcome infertility include egg donation and surrogacy. Egg donation involves retrieving eggs from a donor between the ages of 21 and 32. Since success rates are linked to the age of the egg, using an egg donor can greatly impact the success rates for pregnancy after in-vitro fertilization treatments. It is most common to use an egg donor in an anonymous arrangement. Legal contracts are necessary to outline the roles of all parties and to have the egg donor relinquish all rights to offspring produced from the treatment cycle.

Surrogacy is another widely available option to help overcome infertility. Over the past decade surrogacy has become more acceptable as the laws in certain states have enabled couples and individuals to establish parentage at birth or shortly thereafter. The most prevalent form of surrogacy today is gestational surrogacy where the surrogate candidate is not biologically related to the offspring.

The pathway to parenthood is not always linear. But understanding the treatment options available will help you to determine your emotional tolerances and physical endurance for exploring treatment and reaching the American dream of becoming a mom and dad.

About Mindy Berkson and Lotus Blossom Consulting

As one of the first infertility consultancies in the United States, Lotus Blossom Consulting, LLC was founded by Mindy Berkson in 2005. With more than a decade of experience at physician’s offices, and egg donor and surrogacy agencies, Berkson assists individuals working through the often-challenging roadblocks of infertility, by providing the best information and resources available to them from around the world – all in one location.

Lotus Blossom Consulting works with individuals on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration clients’ emotional, physical and financial infertility issues and then develops an individualized, comprehensive plan, to help clients make informed decisions. Mindy is a sought-after infertility expert and has appeared on countless media programs and speaker panels educating audiences on the topic of infertility, egg banking and surrogacy. For more information about Lotus Blossom Consulting, LLC, call toll free (877) 881-2685, email mindy@lotusblossomconsulting.com or visit the web at www.lotusblossomconsulting.com or www.infertilityconsultant.com.

I am proud to announce that Lotus Blossom Consulting has officially established the Jude Andrew Adams Charitable Fund to bring new life to families who are struggling to conceive.  motivation and intention in creating this grant is to offer a free fertility treatment for those who could not otherwise afford it.  To learn more about this fund and how it came to fruition, please click here.

Applications for a free treatment cycle are now being accepted.  The board of directors will select from applicants who meet the following criteria:

• Have a history of infertility, and provide a physician documented medical indication for exploring IVF treatment along with the application
• Demonstrate a financial need; defined as a gross combined annual income less than $80,000. A copy of the last two years’ IRS tax returns and two of the most recent pay stubs is required.
• No insurance coverage for infertility treatments.
• Do not currently have any children.
• Be under age 40.
• Be current legal citizens of the United States and living in the United States at the time of the award and subsequent treatment.

Thank you all for your help and support for this great cause. 

We understand that sometimes the pathway to parenthood is not linear. As frustrating as this is, reality requires us to make difficult choices and explore paths that we never imagined. Coming to terms with using a third party candidate can be a complicated and overwhelming process. In my experience, when clients can reach a comfort zone in selecting a candidate who meets close to their ideal criteria, the process becomes much more palatable.
So where does one begin the search? Some clinics provide in house egg donor recruiting programs. These programs tend to be small and often consist of only local donors. Due to their size, supply does not often meet demand and wait lists to select a candidate tend to be long. The agency route is another avenue. Agencies often have larger pools of available candidates, but weeding through profiles to identify ideal candidates can be time consuming and overwhelming.
Explore your resources. As an Infertility Consultant my focus is to advocate for the intended parents. Through carefully established strategic alliances with agencies nationwide, the consultants at Lotus Blossom Consulting have access to vast pools of qualified and available surrogate and egg donor candidates. Our match time is typically less than two weeks. We deliver to your email box targeted profiles to specifically meet your ideal criteria. There is no limit to the number of profiles you will have to choose from. The goal is to identify a candidate that appropriately suits your needs. But in addition, Lotus Blossom Consulting closely screens the agencies. We drive business only to agencies that are willing to include special clauses in their contracts for our client, which ensures that your financial risk factors will be mitigated in the event that a candidate does not pass your physician’s medical screening. This is one of our commitments to you in working as your advocate.
With our help, the complicated process becomes less overwhelming. Our very personalized touch and direct guidance in what to seek in an ideal candidate enables clients to focus their energies and emotions on other aspects of the cycle. Having the confidence to move through third party reproduction comes with knowing that you selected the right candidate, within a timeframe that is consistent with your course of treatment, and a budget that suits your financial reserves.
The journey through infertility need not be a fearful or overwhelming adventure. Identifying support, resources and guidance can save valuable time, preserve emotional well being and help to optimize the resources for your treatment cycle while minimizing the overall financial expenditure for the end family building goal. Being proactive in building the foundation for multiple cycles is simply acting prudent.

I am so honored to have the opportunity to sponsor a very special film entitled In The Family at the Women’s Resource Fair in Evanston Illinois. This very powerful and moving documentary eloquently displays and affords so many BRCA gene victims with education and information on a topic that is all too often stigmatized and avoided because it is too painful to discuss.

I believe the quote “…information really is a blessing. It’s a source of power.” perfectly depicts your relevant take away message.

I work every day with clients nationwide in your situation. Women who are facing the fear of the unknown, and or the inherent actuality of not being able to deal with the outcome of test results, or worst yet the reality of what options may exist, if any.

These are beautiful women in the prime of their reproductive years who need to know how best to maximize their chances of success while simultaneously increasing their opportunities for biological family building.

It pains me to see women so secretive, ashamed and feeling isolated and alone in this difficult decision making process.

It is my hope that In The Family delivers very powerful and important message to help women become their own best advocates as it relates to their health. Advocacy must start with education, awareness, information, and resources necessary to allow each one of us to make informed medical decisions.

In my experience, part of the decision making process that needs to be incorporated when dealing with test results or deciding whether or not to undergo testing is often influenced by the desire and innate need to have biological offspring. Perhaps if women knew and understood the available options today in the very advanced and technologically savvy world of in-vitro fertilization, the difficult decisions that have to be made, could be lessened by the increase in reproductive opportunities available today for the future.
The newest technology to enter the infertility arena is Egg Banking. This technique allows women to freeze their own biological eggs for use in the future. Egg banking is available to women up to 38 years of age. It is a wonderful new option for those who have put off child bearing for careers, for finding the right partner, and also for those who may have suffered medical diagnosis that could compromise future fertility.
Freezing eggs allows women to avoid having to use an anonymous sperm donor until they are ready to fertilize the eggs, at which time they may have identified a known sperm donor. Another advantage of egg banking is that eggs can be thawed in the future, fertilized with sperm of choice and then refrozen as embryos for future in vitro fertilization treatment cycles. This fast growing and very new technology offers more choices and much more flexibility with fertility treatment options for the future.
If you are interested in more details, I will be sharing in detail this option as well as many others on Saturday March 21st at 3:15 in my presentation entitled Conceivable Options: Exploring Fertility Choices. The Unitarian Church 1330 Ridge Avenue, Evanston, Illinois.

As an Infertility Consultant, I am horrified and embarrassed that octuplets were allowed to be created, and the industry has been burdened by the wrath of their birth these past few weeks. The news stories have been less than flattering, and rightfully so. But it is unfair that one story gone awry should cloud what the industry as a whole has to offer. Infertility treatments have helped so many to achieve their dreams of parenthood. These success stories cannot be mitigated.

Now more than ever it is vital to focus on education. Empowering the patients with information about the risks and potential outcomes associated with given procedure, and helping patients to determine an appropriate level of risk given their particular situation and individual risk adversity.

I understand completely, the exhaustive process that infertility involves. It affects every emotion, both in one’s personal and professional life, it greatly impacts one’s financial resources, and physically, continued treatments take a toll on one’s body.
And if this is not enough there are still many factors that need to play into the decision to undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments. These are the moral and ethical debates. What to do with embryos that have been frozen for future embryo transfer attempts once your family is complete? Should we be able to create more embryos then we intend to transfer so that we can use these embryos for future genetic siblings?

I started my company, Lotus Blossom Consulting after having walked in the shoes of these women who are tortured by these very difficult decisions and face the same crap shoot each time they undergo an IVF treatment. There are no guarantees. The stakes are high financially and emotionally, as well as the desire to pursue each attempt is inflated by the basic and often innate desire to procreate. So how does one strike the appropriate balance when attempting to achieve their end family building goals?

There is no one solution. Each individual is required to make choices that are often very risky. Choices, however, need to fall within the parameters and suggested guidelines that are set in place and congruent with industry standard. These guidelines although suggested, do act in the patients’ best interest. In the recent case of the octuplets certainly, this intended mother should have considered, or been required to undergo four separate frozen embryo transfers limited to only two embryos each. These multiple transfers would have limited the exponential potential risk factors associated with multiple births. The intended mother would have had the same opportunity of achieving her goal of a large family, but the pathway to parenthood would have afforded her a chance at a similar outcome with much less risk to herself and the all of the offspring.

We need to learn from this graphic mishap and move forward with measures to appropriately balance hope with caution. These efforts emanate from education and awareness. Education is empowering. Education needs to include:

• Having a clear understanding of your treatment options and the success rate of each given opportunity at a particular embryology laboratory
• Assuming appropriate risk factors emotionally, physically and financially for each individual situation
• Formulating a clear cut treatment plan, treatment philosophy with specific boundaries to guide you
• Using the above established guidelines to know when to change the course of treatment
• Understanding informed medical consents, risks and benefits before signing and undergoing any treatment

These are the necessary elements that allow you to be your own best advocate through the process.

Being your own best advocate requires effort and commitment. Keep copious notes of your consultations, ask for medical records and test results. In the event that you decide to obtain a second opinion, the information does not need to be re-gathered. Learn about your condition, your options for treatment, and the success rates for couples in your situation. Doing your research will enable you to effectively discuss your situation with your healthcare team. Learn to advocate for yourself by being assertive, staying informed, asking questions, and keeping records. Be certain you get what you need from your healthcare team.

Patient advocacy is more important than ever in order to keep up with the advancements of medical innovations and technologies available to us today. With these advancements come responsibilities. These responsibilities demand a level of conscientiousness, and this needs to be distributed among those who offer and those who receive the benefits.

CHICAGO, Nov. 6 /PRNewswire/ — Lotus Blossom Consulting, LLC, a Chicago-based infertility consultancy with clients around the world,announces the availability of their free E-Book, Financing Your Infertility Treatment, available on their website at http://www.lotusblossomconsulting.com. The E-Book addresses the financial aspects of infertility, and it will be available beginning with National Infertility Awareness Week, November 4 – 10, 2007, and beyond.

According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, most infertility cases — 85% to 90% — are treated with conventional medical therapies such as medication or surgery. Yet, infertility treatment can be costly, success rates are not guaranteed, and insurance benefits may be limited.

“Beyond simply the medical issues, there are so many factors to consider when dealing with infertility,” says Mindy Berkson, co-founder  Blossom Consulting. “Proper financial planning and utilization of insurance benefits in the right order can help you effectively minimize costs, maximize insurance benefits, and save significant out of pocket expenditures. Lotus Blossom’s E-Book can help.”

The E-Book, Financing Your Infertility Treatment, provides an overview of financing options available, with particular emphasis placed on individualized tax situations, specific insurance benefits, and the total financial resources available before undergoing the infertility journey.For more information on the E-Book, contact Lotus Blossom Consulting tollfree at (877) 881-2685, email consultant@lotusblossomconsulting.com or visit them on the web at http://www.lotusblossomconsulting.com.

ABOUT LOTUS BLOSSOM CONSULTING, LLCAs one of the first infertility consultancies in the United States,Lotus Blossom Consulting, LLC was founded by Mindy Berkson in 2005 after her own personal battle with secondary infertility. With extensive experience in all aspects of infertility, from egg donors and surrogates to in-vitro fertilization, Lotus Blossom Consulting works with individuals on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration clients’ emotional,physical and financial infertility issues then develops an individualized,comprehensive plan, including relevant insurance information, to help clients make informed decisions. Lotus Blossom Consulting has worked with many individuals to enrich their lives by helping them to fulfill their dreams of having children.

For more information about Lotus Blossom Consulting, LLC, call tollfree (877) 881- 2685, email consultant@lotusblossomconsulting.com or visitthem on the web at http://www.lotusblossomconsulting.com.

Before beginning any discussion about insurance coverage, it’s important to explain the status of fertility benefits in the United States. Not every employer is required to cover fertility treatments; this benefit is delineated per state.

I’m really pleased to be able to present you with an article published this month in FHI (For Her Information) – please take a moment and visit. You’ll be glad you did!

http://www.forherinformation.com/herstoryart11007.php