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Take control of your fertility
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Your complete guide to Understand why you’re &
not conceiving
understanding fertility and getting pregnant
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Explore your treatment n
This friendly guide combines professional and personal advice on every
options
aspect of fertility and infertility. From deciding when to seek help and f
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what help to seek, to the emotional, fi nancial, and medical considerations Research fertility clinics
of fertility treatments, you’ll be reassured every step of the way with all and fund your treatment r
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the support and specialist advice you need to increase your chances of a
Find the right doctor i
healthy and happy pregnancy. l
for you i
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Dr Gillian Lockwood specialises in reproductive medicine. Jill Anthony-
y
Ackery is a former fertility patient. Sharon Perkins is a Fertility Clinic
Nurse Coordinator. Jackie Meyers-Thompson is a former fertility patient.
Explanations in p lain En glish
‘Get in, get out’ information
Icons and o ther navigational aids (cid:1) Find listings of all our books Dr Gillian Lockwood
Medical Director of Midland
Tear-out cheat sheet (cid:1) Choose from many diff erent Fertility Services
subject categories
Top ten lists Jill Anthony-Ackery
A dash o f humour and fun (cid:1) Browse our free articles Successful former fertility patient
Jackie Meyers-Thompson
Fertility patient
ISBN 978-0-470-05750-6
£15.99 UK Sharon Perkins
$29.99 US
Fertility Clinic Nurse Coordinator
A Reference for the Rest of Us! ™
Health/Pregnancy Lockwood UK Edition
and Parenting et al
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Fertility &
Infertility
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
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01_057506 ffirs.qxp 4/11/07 12:05 AM Page iii
Fertility &
Infertility
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
by Dr Gillian Lockwood,Jill Anthony-Ackery,
Jackie Meyers-Thompson,and Sharon Perkins
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Fertility & Infertility For Dummies®
Published by
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
The Atrium
Southern Gate
Chichester
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England
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Printed and bound in Great Britain by Bell & Bain Ltd, Glasgow
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About the Authors
Dr Gillian M. LockwoodBM BCh MA (Oxon) DPhil MRCOGis the Medical
Director of Midland Fertility Services (www.midlandfertility.com). Gill
was a late recruit to medicine. She read Philosophy, Politics and Economics
at Oxford University and then worked as a Government Statistician. A televi-
sion documentary encouraged her to change careers to Medicine and she
qualified in 1986. A chance meeting with Professor Robert Edwards (the ‘test-
tube’ baby pioneer) introduced her to the science of IVF and since 1990 she
has specialised in Reproductive Medicine.
For 10 years Gill was Senior Clinical Research Fellow and Lead Clinician at the
Oxford Fertility Unit, where her research interests included polycystic ovary
syndrome, premature ovarian failure, and recurrent miscarriage.
She lectures and broadcasts on ethical and social issues in reproductive med-
icine, has chaired the British Fertility Society Ethics Sub-Committee, and is a
member of the RCOG Ethics Committee. She is an Associate Editor of Human
Reproductionand a member of the Editorial Board of Human Fertility. She has
published over 30 ‘first author’ articles in international journals and has con-
tributed to many text books and review publications.
Since 2000 Gill has been the Medical Director of Midland Fertility Services
(MFS), in the West Midlands. MFS is a ‘nurse led’ fertility unit at which the
nursing staff perform all procedures required for IVF including surgical sperm
retrieval (TESA), egg retrieval, and embryo transfer. MFS recently announced
the successful delivery of the UK’s first ‘frozen egg’ babies; a development
that has given new hope of becoming ‘genetic mothers’ to the thousands of
young women who each year have to undergo sterilising chemotherapy or
radiotherapy.
Jill Anthony-Ackery BA (Hons)is the Communications Manager at Midland
Fertility Services. Jill is a relatively recent entrant to the world of fertility
treatment, with responsibility for the communications and marketing of MFS
since 2003, initially as a consultant public relations director and then as a
member of the clinic staff since 2004.
Her qualifications for such a role? A degree in art and film history (!) and 18
years’ experience managing the reputations of client companies from a small
UK trade association to international cosmetics, steel, and photographic
equipment manufacturers. Oh! and also two years of ICSI treatment at MFS,
during which she and her husband Gwyn conceived twins, suffered a miscar-
riage at around 12 weeks, then had an unsuccessful frozen embryo transfer,
followed by a second full cycle, resulting in the birth of their daughter Connie
in 2002.
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When she returned to work in 2003, she combined her almost evangelical zeal
about those miracle workers at MFS with her professional experience and
patient perspective – and got paid for doing so! It’s a dream job where she
continues to be inspired daily by the team and patients.
Jill has written countless articles in a range of newspapers, consumer maga-
zines, and trade publications from many industry sectors. She was also the
original editor and a contributor to Beyond the Lens, the business bible for
professional photographers. In 2006, her work at MFS won a gold award from
the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and she works closely with national
and regional press, television, and radio to satisfy the unquenchable media
interest in assisted conception.
Jackie Meyers-Thompsonis managing partner of Coppock-Meyers Public
Relations/For Your Information Communications, and a ‘professional’ fertility
patient.
Sharon Perkinsis the nurse coordinator for the Cooper Center for In Vitro
Fertilization in Marlton, New Jersey, one of the largest infertility centres in
the United States. She previously worked in labour and delivery and neonatal
intensive care.
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Dedication
From Gill:This book is dedicated to my family. To my husband, Michael, who
made it possible for me to study medicine; to my three sons, Nick, Jamie, and
Sam, who remind me every day what a blessing children are; to my mother,
Ivy, who makes it possible for me to work, travel, do research, give lectures,
and still know my boys will be well fed and have their homework completed
on time.
From Jill:This book is dedicated to my husband Gwyn who let me reveal so
candidly some of the personal stories about our fertility treatment, and to
our darling daughter Constance Lydia, who is the reason for my being able
to contribute to this book.
From Jackie:This book is dedicated to my Darling Husband (DH!), Darren
Thompson, who has loved me and believed in us, through it all. And to my
mother, Larissa Meyers, and my father, the late Leonard Meyers, who taught
me early and well that I could climb any mountain.
From Sharon:This book is dedicated to my father, who always believed I
could do anything.
Authors’ Acknowledgements
From Gill: This book is written with thanks to all the colleagues with whom I
have worked since my first day as a clinical medical student in 1983. From the
kind nurses who showed me how to take a blood sample without making a
mess of the patient, to the patient professors who encouraged me to study
for a PhD in Oxford when I’d discovered that reproductive medicine was the
most exciting, rewarding, and interesting job ever.
My thanks also go to the patients. Being a fertility patient is tough but I have
been fortunate to have the privilege of caring for a group of people who,
almost without exception, have met the challenges of fertility treatment
with patience, warmth, courage, and humour. And some got babies too!
From Jill: Gill and I have worked together at Midland Fertility Services since
2004 and while I learn something new/interesting/amazing/funny from her
during every conversation, I thank her for the huge privilege of working
together on this project.
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My route to writing such a book was unplanned and a wonderful outcome to
the dark moment, back in 1999, of being told ‘you need fertility treatment’. Of
course, our daughter Connie was the greatest result of that time and as the
fertility experts at MFS are now my colleagues, I need to thank them all–
mainly for helping us to have Connie, but also for the continuous learning
process I enjoy from our work and which has helped me write this book –
especially Su Barlow, Judith Baron, Heidi Birch, Jo Johnson, Anna Kavanagh,
Vicki Robinson, and Linda Tanner.
Thanks to my parents David and Sheila Anthony (the oracles!) who made me
believe I could achieve whatever I set my heart on. I hope to pass the same
mind-set on to Connie, as unstinting belief in your child is a wonderful and
lasting gift. They know how huge my thanks are.
While I have incorporated Gwyn’s and my own personal stories into the book,
I have also remembered the experiences of some of the MFS patients who
have shared their stories with me over the last few years to re-tell through
the media, including Vivian Barnes, Michelle Brookes, Shara Brookes, Elaine
Eades, Julie Griffiths, ‘Lucy’, and Tom and Li McLoughlin-Yip. While their sto-
ries aren’t explicitly included in the book, they have helped shape some of
the content, so that readers in similar circumstances may find the best
advice and a possible way ahead.
Also thanks to Mrs (Isobel) Watts – your influence continues!
Finally, to Samantha Clapp and Rachael Chilvers at Wiley – we took it to the
wire, but we did it! Many thanks.
From Jackie: Thanks toDr Jerome Check, Dr Jung Choe, and the Cooper
Center for In Vitro Fertilization in Marlton, New Jersey. It was at the Cooper
Clinic that I met my writing partner and friend, Sharon Perkins. Her humor,
caring, and expertise make her as great of a nurse as it does a writer.
Thanks to Cousin Sandy, the Thompsons, the Jaffes, the Cicecklis, the
Perlsteins, Melissa, Camille, Suzanne, Courtenay, Susan, Leslie, Sharon,
and Nancy. Thanks too to Stephanie Smart and Jennifer R. Bloome.
From Sharon: Thanks to Jackie Meyers-Thompson; my husband, John; my
children, John, Matt, Kim, Greg, Cindy, Ben, and Molly; Matthew Ryan, the
most wonderful grandson in the world; my mother, Lois Orchard; my sister,
Sue Collins; and my sister-in-law, Louise Kalmouni. My father, father-in-law,
and mother-in-law would all have loved to see this book become a reality. As
my mother says, they’re having a book party in heaven!
Thanks to Dr Check, Dr Choe, Dr Nazari, Dr Krotec, and Carol. And to all the
wonderful patients I’ve met over the years, this book is really for – and
because of – you.
