Monday, February 17, 2014

The Stork for Women - A New, Private, In-Home Infertility Treatment

The following post is a bit different from topics that I usually write about, but it is a topic that is extremely close to my heart: Infertility. While we are not currently struggling with the effects of infertility, I know that a lot of my friends are, and I'm guessing, a lot of my readers are as well. Because of that, I felt that this post fits our blog.

Below, I will be explaining a new fertility treatment on the market. I wanted to give fair warning to those readers who may have little eyes in the room or those (like my teenage brothers who read this blog) who may want to skip over it. Also, I'd like to disclose that this is a sponsored post, but that in no way affected my opinion or willingness to review it...I would have reviewed it anyway! Yes, I'm that excited about it! And I hope you can hear my excitement as you read on!


Okay....so infertility.

INFERTILITY.

It's not something that is spoken about often, and yet 1 in 6 couples have trouble conceiving. That means that approximately 8 MILLION couples are currently dealing with this in the US. That is a HUGE number.

So...if you were wondering...yeah, we dealt with infertility when we were trying to start a family. Baby showers and newborns always sent me home in tears. I was days away from asking to be removed from the nursery rotation at church when we found out that we were finally pregnant. It got to the point that I just couldn't take it anymore. It hurt too much.

Sean and I were blessed in that our infertility ended only a couple of months after we started treatment. We were able to start our family by taking a drug to induce ovulation. (There is a very long story here that I'm hoping to write about at some point this year.) But for many women, it's not that easy. After taking ovulation drugs, they move on to more invasive treatments:
  • Intracervical treatments
    •  10-20% success rate
  • Intrauterine Insemination (IUI)
    • Cost is $1000-$5000 per attempt
  • Invitro Fertilization (IVF)
    • Cost is $20,000-$30,000 per attempt
    • Multiple long-term risks to mother and baby
The cost to even try having a baby is astronomical! And if that doesn't work...then the couple is kind of out of luck.

While we were in our required year of trying before a doctor would officially help us, we were overwhelmed by the idea of starting infertility treatments. The invasive and financial commitment was more than we wanted (or could) deal with. Imagine how happy I was when two rounds of a $40 prescription worked for us!

But that doesn't mean that I've forgotten what it's like to desperately want a baby and be unable to conceive.

So when I got an email a couple of weeks ago about a new fertility treatment option, I was immediately interested. "Please, let someone have come up with a cheaper option!"

And they did!

The Stork for Women is a new fertility option on the market. It functions like the intracervical treatments that are normally done in the doctors office with two BIG differences.
  • The Stork can be used at home. It maintains the privacy and intimacy of the couple without involving a doctor, putting feet in stirrups, or having to send your husband to a little room to do his business. Each treatment comes with a cap that is inside a condom. So couples can collect what they need the old-fashioned way. The tampon-like applicator makes it easy to insert, and the string attached to the cervical cap makes it easy to remove six hours later. Plus, with The Stork, those six hours can be spent doing something besides keeping your feet up in the air. Go to the movies! Cook dinner! Play a board game! None of that awkwardness that goes with a regular intracervical treatment.
  • For an infertility treatment option, it is cheap. It's $79.99 for one treatment, or $210 for a three pack of treatments. Compare that to other options and suddenly the idea of pursuing a baby becomes a lot more affordable!

How to Use the Stork® from The Stork for Women

The company behind The Stork are hoping to have it available over the counter by the end of 2014, but right now it is only available with a doctor's prescription. You just send the prescription in online, and they send The Stork out.

Before agreeing to write this post, I did a lot of research. I asked questions, attended a webinar, and examined every bit of The Stork's website. As I said in my email to the woman coordinating this, "I can't hold out hope unless I think this really is a viable option."

I want to make sure that if you decide to try it as a way to bridge the gap between prescription drugs and in-office treatments, you understand the odds. In my opinion, the loss of hope month after month is one of the hardest parts of dealing with infertility.

Right now, The Stork has not been around long enough to have a reliable set of stats. They are still in clinical trials with it. However, the belief is that it is at least as effective as the intracervical method....with much more intimacy and a lot less money involved. For those dealing with a low sperm count, sperm immobility, or a hostile vaginal environment (fancy way of saying the PH balance is off), that big news!

My two cents as a woman who dealt with infertility: It's certainly worth trying.

It's actually unbelievable how easy it is to use. Why did it take someone so long to come up with a solution?! (By the way, the man behind this treatment understands infertility because he and his wife dealt with it too!)

While I haven't personally used this, I'm very excited that this option now exists. I frequently get emails from friends or acquaintances asking for advice or simply wanting to talk to someone who understands the pain of infertility. I really feel that this option gives couples new hope for starting a family. How encouraging to know that there an option like this out there now! If we were battling infertility again, would I try this route?

Absolutely.

What do you think? Is The Stork for Women something that you would try if you were struggling with infertility?

This post is sponsored by The Motherhood and The Stork, however all opinions, words, and emotions are mine! For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

11 comments:

  1. Wow, that's amazing. I had no idea such a thing existed! I'm so glad there are options for people who struggle with this.

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  2. Well, I am not sure how this increases the chances of conception. During IUI, the sperm is injected all the way into the uterus, through the cervix, that makes sure it gets to the right place. This would have to be used in conjunction with ovulation prediction kits, to ensure that the woman is ovulating, too. It just seems a little simplistic.

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    1. It's not meant to replace an IUI treatment. IUI would be a good next step to this. This is the equivalent of the Intracervical treatment. You are right though. It isn't as fool-proof as IUI, but it is a lot cheaper! So for a couple who is wanting to do everything they can to get pregnant before paying thousands of dollars and be able to do it at home, this is a great first option!

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  3. I know a couple of people that are struggling with this very thing right now. I'll definitely be passing this along to them in hopes that it might help. Something is much better than nothing. Thanks for sharing!!

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  4. I struggle with this just because I'm not sure which is worse: loss of hope (because of not being able to afford typical fertility treatment) or false hope (getting hopes up about a new in-home procedure that may not be able to work if there are unknown issues due to not being able to afford fertility testing).

    After 4 years of trying and 2 miscarriages along the way, the only time I was able to get and stay pregnant was though a combination of ovulation drugs, the IUI procedure, and taking progesterone (testing showed that one of my tubes was possibly blocked which made it harder to get pregnant - the miscarriages were most likely due to low progesterone).

    If someone had an issue like having blocked tubes and didn't know it because of not going through testing, the stork treatment wouldn't have any effect since it doesn't seem to bypass the tubes like IUI does. Of course, God can do anything He wants to do though :)

    I think this is a great alternative to the more expensive doctor’s office procedures of the same nature (intracervical) IF the woman has already had testing done to rule out issues preventing that from working (to avoid a false hope situation) AND if the company truly believes there is as good of a success rate as those done in the doctor office setting.

    Thanks for blogging about this, it was very interesting! Also, I loved you talking about working in the church nursery. That hit so close to home for me. After my 2 miscarriages and before I got pregnant with my son, I remember praying about where in the church I should serve. I remember telling God that I would work anywhere he wanted me to except the nursery (because it would be too hard), and I remember Him saying, “Well, that’s where you’re going to work!” I got pregnant with my son not long after I started volunteering in the nursery :)

    - Erin Donahoo

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    1. Aw, Erin. I know you had a horrible time getting pregnant. You know intimately the pain of infertility. :(

      I think anytime an infertile couple starts looking at treatments, whether it is ovulation medication or IVF, there is a sense of hope that goes with it...otherwise they wouldn't try. I do agree though that if the issue is blocked tubes, then this won't help.

      I do have several friends who can't afford all of the testing, but can afford one of these sets to give them an extra chance of conceiving. I think each couple needs to understand (and do the research! Don't just rely on the research I've done!) how both of their bodies work, and then weigh the pros and cons of testing first, then using The Stork, or using The Stork, and then testing if it doesn't work.

      I'm just glad to finally see an infertility treatment that lets couples maintain their intimacy at home! :)

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  5. Interesting...the website says that this method is designed to assist with low sperm count, low sperm motility, hostile vaginal environment (pH imbalances), and ovulation timing. The problem for my husband and I was that his sperm count was alarmingly low, to the point where doctors were concerned that it might diminish to zero, leaving us no chance to conceive our own children. On the positive side, this problem was detected very quickly and inexpensively, but on the negative side, we were told that the chances of us conceiving 1 baby during the course of our lives without assistance was about 5%. Not wanting to wait and risk the sperm count going even lower (and wanting a chance to have more than 1 baby), we opted for IVF. This would have been cost prohibitive except that a dear friend of mine passed away and left us an inheritance that made IVF a possibility for us. We purchased "insurance" on our IVF procedure so that if it did not work (no successful fertilization), we would be entitled to one more try at no cost. Fortunately, the procedure worked (almost too well!) resulting in 25 fertilized eggs! I was a bit overwhelmed, to say the least! We ended up with 9 embryos that had a chance at life. We had two transferred and gave birth to twins who are 4 years old and thriving. Then we had two more transferred and only one implanted, with the pregnancy ending in miscarriage between 7-9 weeks. We had two more transferred and neither one attached. With fear and trembling, we decided to have the final three transferred and I am currently 7 months pregnant with a healthy baby girl. The IVF road has been challenging, but such a blessing for us. However, looking at this Stork method briefly, it is definitely something I would have talked to my fertility doctor about to see if he thought it was a reasonable option for us. For the price, it seems like you can't go wrong giving it a try if your issue is one of the ones it is designed to help with. Blessings to all who are struggling with infertility. May God grant you the desire of your heart.

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  6. If someone has a tubal ligation, the stork would not work right????

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  7. I'm trying to do my research on the stork to see if it's an option for my fiancee and I. Due to 3 ectopic pregnancies I had both fallopian tubes removed. My heart's desire is to be a mother although I have 2 beautiful step-daughters they want a younger sibling. Ivf is expensive and no portion is covered under any insurance but abortion is.....(this country is backwards regarding pro life) I'm trying to stay hopeful but it's extremely hard at times

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