Fertility and Conception Midwifery Care

I offer a wide variety of midwifery care for fertility, preconception, conception, and home insemination (IUI) services. Sorting through the fertility care options, recommendations, cycle tracking details, and decisions can be overwhelming! I love supporting people to find the information they need and individualized family building pathway that works for them. I also offer consults with known sperm donors and counseling support care for individuals and families trying to conceive (TTC). The majority of the fertility and preconception care I offer can be done in-person as a home visit or as a video telehealth visit, with the exception of IUIs and labwork which are all provided in your home.

PreConception and Fertility care

If you are planning or already trying to get pregnant, I offer both preconception and fertility care, as well as conception options counseling. There are many possible topics we can discuss in your visit, depending on what is relevant to you and your family building. Common topics include:

  • Ways to support your body in maximizing the chances of conception. I offer individualized support with nutrition, sleep, smoking reduction/cessation, and recommendations for when consider trying acupuncture, supplements, and herbs.

  • Recommendations for supporting healthy sperm production. This includes individualized discussion of nutrition and other factors that impact sperm health, as well as support with when and how to access a semen analysis and what to do with the information.

  • In-depth education about how to chart your cycles and interpret the information. We discuss how and why to track basal body temperature (BBT), cervical fluid/mucus, cervical position/texture, and ovulation predictor kits (OPKs) that test luteinizing hormone (LH).

  • Reviewing previously charted cycles together to assess for any issues that may impact conception. This could include identifying short, long, or irregular cycles, cycles without ovulation (also called anovulatory cycles), lack of fertile cervical fluid, and optimal timing of insemination or sex with your individualized signs of ovulation.

  • Exploring different options for getting pregnant. We can cover what to consider and how to access: donor sperm, donor eggs, sperm banks vs. known donors, medicated vs. unmedicated cycles, and various insemination options, I offer information as well as decision-making support to help you find what fits best for you and your family.

  • Information about the timing and process of stopping hormone treatments prior to conception. If one or both of people contributing eggs and/or sperm to conception has been on estrogen, progesterone, and/or testosterone hormones, we can talk through the process and timeline of what to expect leading up to trying to conceive.

  • Review general health screenings to consider prior to or during the process of trying to conceive. The focus is on easy-to-test health issues that can impact fertility, conception, and pregnancy health.

  • Discuss fertility-specific health screenings and tests to consider prior to or during the process of trying to conceive. Support with deciding when and where to access fertility health testing. Some fertility-specific testing, such as bloodwork, I can offer as part of a follow up home visit after our initial fertility and conception visit.

I am happy to provide care via telehealth for folks who are not in my travel radius for home visits, which is 1 hour from Brattleboro, VT.

Fees

All initial fertility and conception visits are scheduled for 1.5 hours to provide the level of in-depth and individualized care I offer. My fees for fertility and preconception consults are:

Initial 1.5 hour consult: $200

Follow-up 60-minute visit: $125

Follow-up 30-minute consults: $75

As a starting point for our conversation about fees, please look over my payment and fees guidelines to learn more about my sliding scale and barter options.

In-home Insemination Care (ICI and IUI)

When you are ready to try and get pregnant, I offer in-home insemination services in the midwifery care model. This means the care is in your own comfortable home space, informed consent is deeply woven into my care, we move forward at the pace you choose and are comfortable with, and I am on call for individualized IUI timing based on your ovulation signs rather than trying to make fertility windows fit into standard clinic hours. I am experienced in providing trauma-informed care and we will make a care plan specific to your needs prior to the IUI.

Timing is one of the most important elements of conception, and in most situations it is ideal for insemination to take place within 12 hours of ovulation, so I am on call for insemination services and can provide this care outside of typical business or clinic hours.

I provide two types of insemination services—ICIs (intracervical insemination) and IUIs (intrauterine insemination).*

ICIs

ICIs (intracervical inseminations) are where the semen or sperm are deposited within your cervical canal with a needle-less syringe.

An ICI can be done with:

  • fresh samples that contain sperm and seminal fluid

  • prepared and washed samples containing only sperm, such as from the sperm bank

  • unwashed samples from sperm bank

IUIs

IUIs (intrauterine inseminations) are where washed and prepared sperm are deposited directly in your uterus with a thin tube called a catheter.

IUI requires washed and prepared sperm, where the seminal fluid has been washed away. Washed sperm is necessary because an IUI is bypassing the body’s systems of separating sperm and seminal fluid at the cervix. Using unwashed sperm for an IUI can cause intense abdominal cramping and pain.

Donor sperm from a sperm bank is most often washed and ready for an IUI, but not always. The sample will be marked when you purchase it as appropriate for either ICI or IUI.

If you are using a fresh semen sample or unwashed sperm from a bank, I can provide the sperm washing along with your IUI for an additional fee.

*If you are interested in an IVI (intravaginal insemination), a.k.a. the “turkey baster” approach, self-insemination, or DIY home insemination, this is something that most often can be done at home on your own without the help of a professional. I am happy to discuss the best approach with you beforehand as part of a fertility and preconception visit. If you do not feel comfortable doing this on your own, we can also discuss how I can support you at home with this process. Optimal timing is equally important for this, so I recommend support with cycle tracking and identifying your ovulation window.

Fees

I require all individuals and families to have an initial 1.5 hour fertility and preconception visit prior to scheduling IUI care with me. I deeply understand and respect how much time, planning, money, emotional investment, and logistics you put into each cycle of trying to conceive, particularly when planning an IUI and/or using donor sperm. I want each cycle to have the best chance possible for conception! I can offer the highest quality of care with home inseminations when we have an initial visit to review how you are tracking your cycles, assess your previously tracked cycles to make individualized IUI timing recommendations, and more. See above for prices and details of that care.

My fees for in-home insemination care are:

In-home ICI/IUI: $300 each

2nd ICI/IUI in the SAME cycle: $150

Sperm washing: $100 each

As a starting point for our conversation about fees, please look over my payment and fees guidelines to learn more about my sliding scale and barter options.