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Fertility Associates - Te Waipounamu | South Island

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    Starting a family is one of the biggest decisions people make in life, yet having a baby is not always easy.

    As New Zealand’s leading provider of fertility diagnosis, support and treatment, Fertility Associates is dedicated to giving you the best possible chance of having a baby. 

    We’ve been busy building families for over 36 years with more than 29,000 babies born so far. Committed to excellence, each Fertility Associates clinic has a close-knit team of doctors, nurses, counsellors and scientists who provide full patient support throughout treatment. Our clinics feature modern facilities and state of the art equipment.

    With clinics located throughout New Zealand, we're conveniently accessible to you, and we also extend our services to residents of New Caledonia and Tahiti. Whether you opt for private or publicly funded consultation and treatment, we're here to support you.

    We offer both private and publicly funded consultation and treatment. If you have a fertility question that remains unanswered, the sooner you talk to us the better your chances of success.

    To contact one of our clinics or make an appointment, please call 0800 10 28 28 or visit us online at www.fertilityassociates.co.nz

    We also offer a Free Nurse Consultation service - your patients can book online here. 

    What is Infertility?
    Infertility is usually defined as not becoming pregnant after a year of trying, but some couples know or suspect they are infertile well before a year is up. For instance, the woman might have irregular periods or not ovulate at all.

    For more information on infertility please visit Understanding Your Fertility.

    When Should I do Something? The right time to seek help is when you are concerned about your fertility.  Often simple tests to check ovulation and sperm quality will give you some clarity on next steps.  General guidelines are that you should refer to a fertility specialist if you have been trying to conceive for 12 months without success and the woman is under 35, or refer earlier if the woman is 35 or older.

    For more information on this please visit our Biological Clock.

    Other Languages: Fertility Information
    Fertility Associates provides information on fertility treatments in Maori, French and Chinese. We can also assist those patients who require a Maori, French or Chinese interpreter.

    Other Services
    We also offer obstetrics, endocrinology, vasectomy reversal, and gynaecology.

    Practitioners

    • Dr Michelle Bailey

      Dr Michelle Bailey

      Fertility Specialist
    • Dr Angela Beard

      Dr Angela Beard

      Fertility Specialist and Gynaecologist

    • Dr Natalie Burger

      Reproductive Endocrinologist and Fertility Specialist
    • Dr Catherine Conway

      Dr Catherine Conway

      Fertility Specialist and Endocrinologist
    • Dr Keryn Harlow

      Dr Keryn Harlow

      Fertility Specialist
    • Dr Sarah Wakeman

      Dr Sarah Wakeman

      Fertility Specialist, Obstetrician & Gynaecologist

    • Dr Laura Frampton

      Fertility Clinician

    Services Provided

    Counselling and support
    At Fertility Associates we understand the major impact and distress infertility can cause.  Our counsellors are available to help with:

    • Coping strategies
    • Decision-making strategies
    • Information about infertility and emotional responses
    • Support during and following treatment
    • Relaxation techniques
    • Other difficulties that may arise because of infertility
    • Pregnancy loss
    • Conception involving donor eggs, sperm or embryos, and also surrogacy.
    Who are the counsellors?

    Andy Leggat, Auckland
    Maggie Fung, Auckland
    Jenny Eaton, Auckland
    Kimberley Gamet, Auckland

    Margaret Stanley-Hunt, Wellington

    Caren August, Hamilton

    Anne Ott, Christchurch

    More information on our counselling and support services and our counsellors is available here.
    Non-IVF treatment
    Often, all couples need is a little help. Rather than undertaking a complex treatment like IVF, we will try lower technology treatments such as Ovulation Induction (OI), Intrauterine Insemination and Donor Insemination.

    Ovulation Induction (OI)
    • Medications used to induce ovulation in women with irregular or absent cycles
    • Medications used to increase the number of eggs maturing, ideally two or three

    Artificial Insemination (AI)
    • Insemination close to the time of ovulation of sperm from the recipient's partner (IUI)
    • Insemination close to the time of ovulation of sperm from a carefully screened donor (DI)

    Please click here for more information from Fertility Associates on Non-IVF Treatment.
    IVF-related treatments
    Please click here for information on IVF-Related Treatments including IVF, ICSI, embryo freezing and assisted hatching.
    Pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS)
    PGS checks the number of  chromosomes in each blastocyst and can be useful for:
    • women 36 and older with good ovarian reserve, 
    • people who have had recurrent miscarriage,
    • people not pregnant despite the transfer of several embryos – PGS may uncover a higher than expected
    • chromosome abnormality rate
    • patients who are willing to go through more than one egg retrieval cycle to obtain a normal embryo
    More info can be found here.
    'IMSI' High Magnification ICSI
    When there is significant male infertility, the embryologist injects a sperm into each egg using a technique called ICSI. IMSI is a variation of ICSI using high magnification. ICSI can be useful for:
    • Men with poor sperm morphology. Poor morphology makes sperm more susceptible to oxidation damage
    • Men with a higher level of DNA fragmentation in their sperm. DNA fragmentation is a sign of oxidation damage
    • People with few embryos developing to the blastocyst stage
    • People not pregnant despite the transfer of several reasonable quality embryos.
    'TiMI' Time Lapse Morphometry Imaging
    TiMI photographs embryos every 10 minutes to capture developmental milestones in the embryo’s life that are missed when embryos are only inspected once a day.

    TiMI can be useful for:
    • people who expect to have several good quality embryos
    • people who have had low quality embryos previously may experience better embryo development or learn
    • why embryo development is poor.
    More info can be found here.
    Checking fertility
    Understanding the key factors that affect a couple’s chances of conception and delivery of a healthy baby are important.  These include:

    Age, Diet, Body Mass/Weight, Exercise, Smoking, Drugs.

    Please click here for more information on Key Factors Influencing Fertility.

    Additionally, the Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) test for women and a semen analysis for men provide important indicators in diagnosing any fertility issues.

    Please call Fertility Associates on 0800 10 28 28 to organise for these tests to be done.
    Male infertility
    About 25% of infertility is calculated to be directly due to the male partner and another 15-25% probably also has a male contribution.

    Please click here for information on Male Infertility.
    Donor eggs, donor sperm, donor embryos
    Donor Eggs

    Donor eggs can be used for women with premature menopause, women who have not become pregnant after many IVF cycles and women who no longer have viable eggs of their own because of their age.

    Donor Sperm

    Traditionally donor sperm is used when a man has few sperm or poor quality sperm.  Rarely it is used if the man's sperm carries a very high risk that any child might have a serious congenital abnormality.  It is also an option for single women or women in a same-sex relationship.

    Donor Embryos

    Some people, having undergone successful IVF treatment and completed their families, may still have frozen embryos.  They will need to make a decision about what to do with their remaining embryos.  One option is to donate them to people for whom this may be the only option of experiencing parenthood.
    Genetic carrier screening
    Genetic carrier screening gives individuals and couples information about their risk of having a child with a genetic condition.

    It will tell you if you are a carrier for three common inherited conditions:
    1. Cystic Fibrosis (CF)
    2. Fragile X Syndrome (FXS)
    3. Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA)
    Many people are carriers of Cystic Fibrosis, Fragile X Syndrome and Spinal Muscular Atrophy even though they do not have anybody in their family who has the condition.
    Egg freezing and storage
    Egg freezing is a form of fertility preservation for women about to undergo treatment for cancer or for women who have concerns about their ability to conceive longer term.  Egg freezing may also be an option for couples with religious, moral or ethical objections to creating embryos that won't be used immediately.

    Please click here for more information on Egg Freezing and Storage.
    Fertility preservation and cancer
    There are a number of reasons why people may look to preserve their fertility. These reasons may either be health related or possibly for social reasons such as wanting to leave having children until later in life.

    This section is also for people who are about to have chemotherapy, radiotherapy or surgery that may affect their fertility. Facing a diagnosis of cancer is a traumatic and difficult time, and there will be many tough decisions to make.

    Treatments to help fight cancer may also affect your ability to have children. Fortunately, if you want to be a parent following treatment you still may be able to fulfil that dream.

    For Women, the options are:
    • Egg Freezing and Storage - Egg freezing may be useful in a number of clinical scenarios, such as a woman who is about to undergo treatment for cancer or when a single woman wishes to preserve her fertility more.
    • Ovarian Tissue Freezing and Storage - This technique may be used to help women at risk of losing ovarian function due to radiotherapy or chemotherapy as treatment for cancer.
    For Men, the options are:
    • Sperm Freezing and Storage - Long-term storage of sperm is almost always possible before various types of medical treatment that can damage sperm production.
    • Testicular Tissue Freezing and Storage - The freezing of testicular tissue is recommended when testicular tissue is obtained for diagnostic purposes
    Ovarian and Testicular Tissue Freezing and Storage
    Ovarian and testicular tissue can be frozen and stored before surgery or cancer treatment.  To date, some babies have been born following the storage, thawing and fertilisation with the eggs or sperm that come from these pieces of tissue.
    Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD)
    Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) involves taking one or more cells from embryos to test the cells for genetic disorders or for the number of chromosomes present. It requires IVF to provide the embryos for testing.
    Surrogacy
    Surrogacy is the term used where a woman bears a child for another woman. It is used in cases when a woman cannot bear the child because the uterus is absent or malformed or when a medical condition exists making pregnancy a threat to her and/or her baby's health.

    Please click here for more information from Fertility Associates on Surrogacy.
    Sperm freezing and storage
    Long-term storage of sperm is almost always possible before various types of medical treatment that can damage sperm production occurs, for example, chemotherapy, irradiation therapy or surgery (including vasectomy).

    Please click here for more information from Fertility Associates on Sperm Freezing and Storage.
    Surgical sperm recovery
    MESA, PESA, TESA and TESE are acronyms for various techniques to obtain sperm from the testes or epididymis to use in ICSI.  These procedures are usually done under local anaesthetic, and extra sperm can be frozen for future use.

    Charges

    Find comprehensive information about treatment costs and payment options here

    We also have a facebook page here 

     

    How do I access this service?

    • Contact us
    • Make an appointment
    • Referral

    Disability Assistance

    • Provision for wheelchair access
    • Provision of wheelchair accessible toilet
    • Provision of mobility parking space

    This information has been provided by healthpoint.co.nz, helping people better understand and use New Zealand health services. Healthpoint and Te Whatu Ora Southern do not endorse or adopt the information or materials provided by any of the service providers, and accept no responsibility or liability for any errors, omissions, offers or details in any such information or materials.

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