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Conceivable Options™ – When The Pathway to Parenthood is Not Linear

by Mindy on November 10, 2010

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.

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When the Path to Parenthood is Not Linear

by Mindy on March 26, 2009

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.

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Blogging for Growth

by Mindy on August 31, 2007

Here at Lotus Blossom Consulting, we believe in people.

As Infertility Consultants, we have to, because our clients are people and what we provide our clients at the end of our journey together are little-bitty people. People are our business.

From financing to egg donors to gestational surrogates – we have the resources and emotional strength so you don’t have to go it alone.

This is, as you can see, the inaugural entry for the blog…I hope to give you a chance to get to know me a little better and see if our personalities might mesh. I love helping people, and will be providing resources and other fun things that will help you in your journey to have a child.

You are not alone.

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