
fertility care with haw river midwifery
Traditionally, midwives, healers, and wise women have always come alongside folks in every stage of reproduction - conception, birth, preventing and ending pregnancies. My hope in offering fertility care to my community is to tap into that wisdom while also taking advantage of the most up to date evidence. While fertility care can involve enormous amounts of technology, my approach is based on the midwifery model of care - low-intervention, preventative, holistic, and centered on empowering folks in their bodies.
I offer care for all folks and families, with a special emphasis on the queer and trans community, who often are not facing infertility challenges as much as simply needing assistance in obtaining and utilizing sperm.
As a midwife I provide guidance around lifestyle changes and timing of intercourse/insemination, I order and interpret labs, and use herbs and supplements as my first line for optimizing fertility. I perform intrauterine inseminations with fresh sperm from a known donor or frozen sperm from a sperm bank. Occasionally I will do medicated cycles with letrozole for the right candidate and with informed consent. For anything outside of my scope I am very happy to provide a referral to a fertility clinic.
what we offer
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Up to 90 minutes in person at our office
This is road mapping and planning visit. We extensively review your health history, and options and choices and work on a plan for your next steps in your fertility journey. In this visit you can expect:
A review of your reproductive goals and progress up to this point
Options for getting pregnant (timed intercourse, IUI, IVF and donor options if applicable)
A road map of your fertility journey with timelines for personal, clinical, and logistical steps
Carrier testing options
Discussion of legal issues and resources
A health history and holistic and HAES (health at every size, ie weight loss is not a part of the plan) recommendations for preconception care to optimize fertility
Physical exam
Labs and pap (actual lab costs not included, just the collection of pap/ordering of labs and interpretation of results, but insurance can be billed for these) or review of previously drawn labs
Guidance around tracking fertility
Guidance around exogenous hormones
Plan for follow up with IUI and chart reviews
Resource list
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30 minutes, virtual or in person at our office
These are often for folks tracking ovulation (this would be a monthly visit in those cases) but can also be any fertility-related follow up. In these visits we can
Review your charting/findings
Discussed progress in the changes you are making to enhance fertility
Discuss labs findings and next steps
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In your home or our office based on your preference. Trauma-informed and client-participatory as desired.