You have the green light. Ovulation is imminent. All signs, basal body temperature chart, cervical mucus consistency and the ovulation stick confirm it, too. The time is right for conception. But you’ve been in infertility treatment for a while, so your desire (the spark) isn’t exactly burning as bright as it once did. It’s common for couples that have been in fertility treatment for a while to admit that sex doesn’t have the same spark it did before treatment. When you just had sex because you wanted to, it was a lot more fun. No one was wondering if they...
HRC Fertility’s Dr. Potter Co-Authors Gender Selection Paper
The effectiveness of flow cytometric sorting of human sperm (MicroSort®) for influencing a child’s sex
Can Acupuncture Help You Get Pregnant?
Many of my patients have tried acupuncture as part of their fertility treatment. Some of them ask if it will help them get pregnant. I always tell them there is no scientific evidence that convinces me it can. However, I also don’t think it can hurt. Acupuncture is a traditional Chinese medicine treatment that proponents say helps the flow of energy in a woman’s body to facilitate a more fertile and healthy reproductive system. Inserting needles at various points in the woman’s body, called the pathways, the acupuncturist is directing the flow of qi (pronounced like “chi”). The needles don’t...
Dr. Daniel Potter and Dr. Jane Frederick receive Orange County Physician of Excellence Award!
Stay tune for the April issue of the Orange County Register Magazine! Each year the Physicians of Excellence program committee honors Orange County’s most noteworthy physicians and will provide the list in their April issue of the Orange County Register Magazine.
Does Thinking Positive Help You Get Pregnant?
When you want to get pregnant, it’s all you think about. For couples in fertility treatment, it can be all you think about for a long time, making it an emotional roller coaster. It is normal in these cases to protect yourself from disappointment by not expecting a positive result. But thinking positive has some benefits you don’t want to overlook. There is no evidence to support the idea that thinking positive helps you get pregnant. That being said, it certainly will not hurt your chances. Furthermore, a healthy positive attitude is important to your health and especially to your...
The Many Causes of Early Miscarriage
An early miscarriage is a common occurrence, more common than many people think. Some estimates say 20 to 30 percent of pregnancies end in pregnancy loss, and the majority of these losses occur in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. The causes of early miscarriage are numerous. Many women who suffer an early miscarriage are understandably sad and want to know what happened. In many cases, it’s impossible to know for sure what caused a miscarriage for a specific case. There are, however, many common reasons for why a pregnancy fails early. Irregularities in the chromosomes cause many early pregnancy...
Why the Line Might Be Faint on Your Pregnancy Test
When you are trying to get pregnant, the two-week wait can seem like a long time. However, once you have passed the date, you can take an early pregnancy test to see what your results were. Some of my patients get a faint line on their test and wonder what it means. To that end, here are the reasons you got a faint line on your pregnancy test: It’s early. If your line is faint on your test, it just means you took the test early in your pregnancy. Early pregnancy tests are designed to detect the pregnancy hormone called...
First Infertility, Now Depression?
Infertility affects as many as one in eight women. Dr. Alice Domar of Harvard Medical School and the Mind Body Institute estimates that these women are twice as likely to suffer depression. With numbers like these, it’s important to pay attention to the state of your mental health when you are in fertility treatments. Depression is more than being sad about a failed cycle. The condition is characterized by intense feelings, sometimes described as feeling hopeless, that can last for days or even weeks at a time. It can be a debilitating condition and prevents your normal function. Symptoms to...
What Does a Success Rate Mean to You?
Most fertility clinics include their success rates in their information about the clinic. A success rate is the percentage of successes in relation to the number of attempts. But what do those numbers mean? What does a success rate mean to you? First and foremost, it means different things depending on what the numbers are reporting. There is a clinical pregnancy rate that tells you the percentage of women who got pregnant as a result of treatment. However, this does not take into account how many of these pregnancies make it a full term to a live birth. Just like...