Coming Together to Help

We all face personal struggles, challenges and trials everyday, but unfortunately today many in Oklahoma are facing tragedy. Here is a comprehensive list of trustworthy organizations that are taking donations in order to help those whose lives have been drastically affected. Also check with local churches or other missions in your area.

Salvation Army

Donations can be made by going online towww.salvationarmyusa.org, by calling 800-SAL-ARMY (800-725-2769), or texting the word “STORM” to 80888 to make a $10 donation through a mobile phone.

American Red Cross

Donations can be made by going online towww.redcross.org, by calling 800-RED-CROSS (800-733-2767), or texting the word “REDCROSS” to 90999 to make a $10 donation through a mobile phone.

Heart to Heart International

Donations can be made by going online tohttp://www.hearttoheart.org, by calling 866-341-GIVE (866-341-4483), or texting the word “HEART” to 27722 to make a $10 donation through a mobile phone.

Baby Blues or More? Living with Post-Partum Depression

I’ve had this blog post sitting as a draft for almost three months now because this post hits very close to home and I wasn’t sure I was ready to divulge such a private part of my life. However, after prayerful consideration, I decided that if this post helps just one person, it will be worth it to me. Krissy touched on post-partum depression in an earlier post, but I want to talk a little more about it.

First of all, how can you tell the difference between “baby blues” and full-on post-partum depression? WebMD offers a comprehensive explanation on baby blues versus post-partum depression here, but basically baby blues only last 1 to 2 weeks immediately after childbirth, while post-partum depression slowly builds, peaking at around 3 or 4 months after birth.

Unfortunately, post-partum depression and the so-called “baby blues” carry a stigma and keep many women from seeking the help and treatment they need. Fortunately, the stigma is slowly starting to disappear, thanks to celebs like Vanessa Lachey and Alanis Morrisette (who speak out in this ABC News segment) and real-life women blogging about their struggles with both the baby blues and post-partum depression. I admit that I was one of those women who didn’t get help right away even though I needed it. The reasons for not seeking help were numerous…I felt like I would be judged, I felt that I was a mentally-stable person before pregnancy so what I was experiencing wasn’t that bad, I felt that I should be able to handle it.

Thank goodness for my amazing husband and some amazing friends who helped me through a very dark time in my life and encouraged me to get help. Even if I didn’t want to admit it, I was suffering from post-partum depression and needed professional help to get me through it. It was amazing how much better I felt after finally admitting I was suffering from post-partum depression and started taking medication.

I just want to implore you to ask for help. Even if you think it’s just the baby blues, there’s no reason to suffer in silence. Talk to a friend, take a coffee break, get out of the house, do whatever you need to clear your head. You don’t have to be super mom, you just need to be the best mom to your baby and you can only do that by taking care of yourself.

An All Natural Solution to Infertility

At the beginning of the year my sister-in-law inspired me to start eating a healthier diet, namely an all-natural diet, cutting out as many preservatives and additives as possible. At first I wasn’t so convinced that it really mattered- people have been eating these things for years and they seem fine. But the more I read, the more I think that I may be wrong. Although I am so thankful to live in a place and a time where I can easily access something to nurture my body, do prepared and boxed foods really nurture my body? I wonder how much healthier a life I could live if all my food came straight from the earth, from the livestock, etc. without being processed, packaged and stored. I have no plans or evan any desire to start a vegetable farm or raise any kind of farm animal, but I do like to know where my food is coming from and how close it is to its peak quality. Similarly, I also like to know what types of ingredients I am putting into or on my body when I choose vitamins, medications, lotions and so forth.  That is one reason I stand behind the ToConceive product so firmly. The ingredients are not only all natural, but the use of the product causes the female body to stimulate the production of her own sexual arousal Natural Conception  Lubrication, which in turn allows her body to naturally continue the conception process. The ingredients are all derived from natural plants and are only pharmaceutical grade ingredients.

I absolutely understand that not everyone will be able to achieve a natural conception due to different medical problems, but if a natural conception can be achieved, ToConceive can safely play a part in making that happen. For a much more detailed scientific explanation of the natural conception process and how ToConcieve fits into that, please visit our website. http://www.keytoconceive.com.

ToConceive Partners with Don’t Cook Your Balls

ToConceive has recently partnered with Don’t Cook Your Balls, a website that offers a light-hearted look at male infertility. Offering a plethora of helpful information on male infertility issues, the Don’t Cook Your Balls website discusses the science of conception, including how sperm are made, how testosterone affects fertility, how the male reproductive system works and male sexual health. The website delves into male fertility testing, providing information on the different types of male infertility tests, when you should get tested and understanding the results. Looking at the most common types of male infertility, Don’t Cook Your Balls discusses common causes of male infertility and things you can do to boost sperm count. Other helpful information provided includes infertility resources, reproductive specialists, male fertility products and support groups.

ToConceive is proud to work with Don’t Cook Your Balls to educate and support those dealing with male infertility. Check them out at www.dontcookyourballs.com.

Stages of Infertility Treatments

At what point in the TTC journey should a couple consider treatment for infertility? Each circumstance and each individual couple will need to make that decision on their own, but once that decision is made, here are the stages that generally take place on the treatment journey.

Obviously the first step is testing for possible reasons a woman is not achieving pregnancy. There is a very helpful chart on Webmd.com that lays out the different tests that are offered and what their purpose is. Find it here: http://www.webmd.com/infertility-and-reproduction/should-i-have-infertility-testing. Once the testing is complete, depending on the results, specific treatments will follow.

The least expensive and least invasive treatments for infertility are medications and hormone injections for causes such as ovulating problems and unexplained fertility. More complicated and expensive treatments are usually prescribed for blockages in the fallopian tubes and endometriosis. Both of these problems require surgery. Doctors may also recommend insemination for the sperm if male subfertility is pinpointed as the issue (www.webmd.com).

When these treatments do not result in pregnancy, couples must decide if they want to continue their journey with assisted reproductive technology (ART). These technologies include IVF, ICSI, GIFT and ZIFT. These are the most costly, pricing as much as $18,000. They are also invasive and often painful.

The success rate for any of these treatments obviously vary with each individual couple, but each pregnancy that results is surely worth the pain and the cost.

With the development of ToConceive, we hope to help couples reduce the number of stages in their infertility journeys by providing a safe and natural way to assist conception. ToConceive can be an effective solution to many cases of infertility, including hormone deficiancies, unexplained infertility, male subfertility and PCOS. ToConceive can also be used in conjunction with other infertility treatments to help speed up the conception process.

The new conception buzzword–sperm capacitation

If you’ve been following Key to Conceive social media, you’ll notice we’ve been talking a lot about sperm capacitation. Krissy gave us a great overview on what sperm capacitation is and why it’s so important in an earlier blog post. You can find that post here.

Many people understand that a woman needs to ovulate to release an egg and that a man’s sperm must fertilize that egg, but in between those steps, sperm capacitation must occur for the sperm to have the capacity to penetrate and fertilize the mature egg. Key to Conceive wants to educate people on the importance of the sperm capacitation step.

Sperm capacitation is essential for several reasons. First, a woman’s natural conception lubrication dissolves the immobilizing cholesterol from the sperm and creates an enzyme that allows the sperm to fertilize the ovum. A woman produces that natural conception lubrication when she becomes sexually aroused. When used regularly, ToConceive also helps a woman produce her own natural lubrication to aid in the capacitation process. Secondly, sperm capacitation selects out immature and abnormal sperm that lack capacitation. The process also selects out sperm coated with anti-sperm antibodies or strips off those antibodies to allow for proper capacitation. Sperm capacitation works to allow only the fittest sperm to fertilize.

Sperm Capacitation, an introduction

Sperm Capacitation, the missing piece!

You may wonder why we talk about sperm capacitation so much and often blog, post, tweet, etc. about it. Here’s why–without Sperm Capacitation, conception will not take place! Many cases of infertility can be linked to sperm capacitation, but the average couple struggling with it has likely never even heard the term, much less understand its importance. We want to help educate those who are TTC about sperm capacitation in hopes of more successful conceptions. Here is an introduction to Sperm Capacitation for you:

What does Sperm Capacitation mean?

Sperm capacitation is the process by which the woman’s lubricant removes the outer layer of the sperm that is entering the vagina on its way to the fallopian tube.

What capacitates the sperm?

The woman’s natural vaginal lubrication that is produced during sexual arousal.

Why do some sperm not become capacitated?

In many cases, the woman’s body is not producing enough vaginal lubrication to capacitate the sperm.

Clearly, this leads us to the conclusion that if sperm are not being capacitated, then women are not getting pregnant. So, what can be done?

How do sperm that are not being naturally capacitated become capacitated?

One way sperm can be capacitated is through in vitro capacitation, which occurs in a laboratory. Sperm can also be capacitated through the woman’s use of ToConceive, as it helps her naturally produce the lubrication needed to achieve sperm capacitation.

Is sperm capacitation always necessary?

Yes, as part of the process of conception, sperm capacitation is always necessary. It is even necessary in Assisted Reproductive Technologies, such as IUI, IVF and GIFT.

Hopefully you can now understand why we are constantly talking about sperm capacitation–it truly is the KEY to conceive! For more education on sperm capacitation and how ToConceive specifically can help this process, please visit the links on the topic at http://www.keytoconceive.com and watch the video “How to Conceive”.

GMO Foods and Infertility

Graphic courtesy of the Non-GMO Project

After my blog post on Clean Eating and how it can affect fertility, I thought with all the recent media attention on the Monsanto case that I address the issue of GMOs (genetically-modified organisms) and GMO foods. While GMOs have been around for decades, just recently studies have been done on the potential affects of GMOs and the public has become more aware of what they are.

First of all, what is a GMO? According to the Non-GMO Project, “GMOs are plants or animals that have been genetically engineered with DNA from bacteria, viruses or other plants and animals. These experimental combinations of genes from different species cannot occur in nature or in traditional crossbreeding.”

So, what do GMOs have to do with fertility? The blog, Holistic Squid, mentions several studies that show GMOs do have a negative effect on animals, including  a three-generation study of hamsters in Russia where the hamsters were nearly completely infertile after being fed GMO soy for three generations. A study from 2005 showed that rats fed a GMO soy diet has low sperm quality.

Because the studies are so new, it’s hard to say for sure what effect GMOs are having on humans now or what negative effects they may have in the future. But for those trying to conceive, eliminating GMOs can be a small step that can have a big effect on helping them get pregnant. I would suggest that each person take the responsibility to research GMOs and decide for themselves whether or not to include them in their diet. Lots of resources are popping up on both sides of the debate that offer helpful information so you can decide what’s best for you and your family.

Here are some resources to get you started:

http://www.fertilityauthority.com/blogger/cindy-bailey/2011/04/12/genetically-modified-foods-may-affect-fertility

http://www.fertilityfactor.com/could-genetically-modified-foods-be-responsible-for-your-infertility.html

http://www.saynotogmos.org/

http://www.betterfoods.org/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/harvest/etc/links.html

Unexplained Infertility

While researching the topic of unexplained infertility, I stumbled across an interesting article on advancedfertility.com. To illustrate all of the things that “must happen perfectly in order to get pregnant and have a baby,”  they made an oversimplified list of the science involved in a successful conception.

What must happen for a successful conception:

• The hormones that stimulate egg development must be made in the brain and pituitary and be released properly
• The egg must be of sufficient quality and be chromosomally normal
• The egg must develop to maturity
• The brain must release a sufficient surge of the LH hormone to stimulate final maturation of the egg
• The follicle (eggs develop in structures called follicles in the ovaries) must rupture and release the follicular fluid and the egg
• The tube must “pick up” the egg
• The sperm must survive their brief visit in the vagina, enter the cervical mucous, swim to the fallopian tube and “find” the egg
• The sperm must be able to get through the cumulus cells around the egg and bind the shell (zona pellucida) of the egg
• The sperm must undergo a biochemical reaction and release their DNA package (23 chromosomes) into the egg
• The fertilized egg must be able to divide
• The early embryo must continue to divide and develop normally
• After 3 days, the tube should have transported the embryo down into the uterus
• The embryo must continue to develop and expand into a blastocyst
• The blastocyst must hatch out of its shell
• The endometrial lining of the uterus must be properly developed and receptive
• The hatched blastocyst must attach to the endometrial lining and “implant”
• Many more miracles in early embryonic and fetal development must then follow…

A weak link anywhere in this chain will cause failure to conceive

The above list is very oversimplified, but the point is made. There are literally hundreds of molecular and biochemical events that have to happen perfectly in order to have a pregnancy develop.

(from http://www.advancedfertility.com)

Wow! The way I see it is that those suffering with unexplained infertility should not be considered “unfortunate,” but that each time a baby is successfully conceived should be considered a miracle! This reminds me of my college biology class. I remember being completely blown away by the many “miracles” that have to occur in order or a baby to be conceived, carried through pregnancy and then delivered. Among other things, it definitely strengthened my faith in my Creator God!

All of this to say, there are many factors involved in conception and pregnancy, and if any one of them does not function properly, infertility occurs. Unexplained infertility simply means that the doctor cannot find that “weak link” that is not properly functioning. During his studies and through years of experience, Dr. Thompson, founder of ToConceive, found that sexual arousal and inadequate normal vaginal lubrication are probably main causes of unexplained infertility. This is because of the lack of optimum sperm support and the lack of adequate sperm capacitation necessary for ovum fertilization. ToConceive is a natural and inexpensive product that is designed to do just that- increase the female’s sexual arousal and aid the body in producing an adequate supply of vaginal lubrication.  It also aids in male subfertility issues (oftentimes also unexplained) as it capacitates the sperm to allow it to fertilize the ovum. Before heading down the road to IVF, why not give it a try and see if your diagnosis of unexplained infertility can be cured!

For a much more in-depth explanation of the science behind conception, please visit http://www.keytoconceive.com.

Key to Conceive Partners with Nehemiah Vision Ministries

This year, in honor of RESOLVE’s National Infertility Awareness Week, Key to Conceive is partnering with Nehemiah Vision Ministries to promote the health of women here in the United States and in Haiti. Every year, RESOLVE, the National Infertility Organization, hosts a week-long educational campaign to promote infertility awareness. This year, National Infertility Awareness Week will take place April 21-27.

To celebrate those who have overcome infertility, Key to Conceive will be donating 25 percent of all sales during National Infertility Week to Nehemiah Vision Ministries. NVM is a non-profit, international organization focused on transforming the lives of the people of Haiti through education, social assistance, health and spiritual development. NVM’s mission includes a Christian academy, children’s home and a sponsor-a-child program.

Just like NVM, Key to Conceive loves children and wants to see each child, whether here in the United States or in a foreign country, receive the love, guidance and basic necessities they deserve.

Key to Conceive promotes solutions to those currently dealing with fertility issues and strives to empower couples to achieve pregnancy and parenthood. We also believe in NVM’s mission of empowering the Haitians to rebuild and thrive.

If you or someone you know is struggling with infertility, we encourage you check out the Key to Conceive  website, which is full of helpful information on trying to conceive, the conception process and infertility issues.