In vitro fertilization clinic helps two Boca women conceive
 
 
Published Saturday, December 25, 2004 at 1:00 am
by Dale M. King

Two Boca Raton women who overcame fertility problems in 2004 will get special “presents” in the New Year.
Children.
Aileen Casimis is in her 12th week of pregnancy – with twins. Another woman, one who asked to use only her first name, Danielle, is in her 11th week. She doesn’t know the sex of her child yet.
Infertility was an unexpected problem for both – since they had each given birth on previous occasions.
The two women – who are not acquainted – at first received help from other doctors and clinics, but were unable to get pregnant. IVF Florida, an in vitro fertilization facility with offices in Margate, Palm Beach Gardens and Pembroke Pines, finally helped them conceive.
“We do all types of in vitro fertilization,” said Dr. Wayne Maxson, the founding physician of IVF Florida. “Many women with problems getting pregnant can be treated by OB-GYNs, but we have special training.”
He said IVF is the only practice in Palm Beach County that includes board-certified reproduction endocrinologists – a specialty area of OB-GYN.
“Patients don’t always need to see RE’s,” he said. But the two Boca women, he said, had special problems that needed additional research and treatment.
“They were more complicated” than other cases, the doctor said.
Actually, Casimis’ troubles were not all related to infertility. Her immune system somehow perceived a fetus as an infection – and attacked it. Twice, she was fertilized by IVF – and in both cases, her own blood system terminated the pregnancies early on.
“I went to another doctor and received medication for that problem after extensive testing,” she said. Then, it was back to IVF – where the third pregnancy has been successful.
What puzzled Casimis was the fact that she has a 12-year-old son – and no indication of fertility problems, she told the Boca Raton News.
The IVF procedure mimics natural conception. As Casimis explained it, a woman’s egg is surgically removed, then fertilized with the husband’s sperm. The combination is observed according to a specific schedule. When IVF doctors determine the time is right, the fertilized egg is put back in.
Casimis said the process was “nerve-wracking” because physicians could not tell her – until the procedure was done – whether she had been successfully impregnated.
“It is a challenge,” she said. “You are never sure. Every day is a struggle.” But she is happy to say her embryo is “in perfect condition. Everything is great. And my husband is thrilled.”
Danielle expressed a similar feeling. Now age 29, she gave birth to a son nearly three years ago. Later, she and her husband tried to conceive another child. “We tried for six or seven months” without success, she said.
She first went to another fertility clinic. She endured six months of injections “and they didn’t work.”
Then, she found IVF – and became pregnant on the first try.
“In vitro fertilization offers a much better chance of successful pregnancy,” she said.
While she didn’t go through any physical pain, she did say the procedure was “mentally draining.”
Officials at IVF said the incidents involving the two Boca residents show that even young women can have fertility problems.