Building families

For couples having fertility problems and needing in vitro fertilization,Regional Fertility Laboratories are the only place in the Permian Basin to go, lab director Keith Hill said.

The lab has treated around 150 couples since 2002, he said. Its pregnancy rate of 50 to 60 percent is above the national in vitro fertilization success rate of 40 to 45 percent.

“That puts us in with all the top pregnancy rates in the country,” he said.

For women under 35, Hill said the lab’s percentage goes up to 65 percent.

Along with in vitro fertilization, the lab has intracytoplasmic sperm injection available, in which a single sperm cell is injected into an egg. Hill said this is good for men with low sperm count.

Medical director Dr. Sandra Bello said techniques like this have advanced since she started practicing medicine in 1996.

“We’re trying to imitate Mother Nature,” she said. “Women with no fallopian tubes, they can’t get pregnant. But with in vitro they can. We bypass all that.”

After Bello makes a diagnosis, a retrieval of the egg is made. It is then transferred to the lab. There, Hill studies it over several days to determine if it has a chance to develop.

The lab also treats unexplained infertility cases.

The number of cases the lab treats in a day can vary, Hill said.

“If we get three or four cases, we can get that whipped out in an eight-hour day,” he said.

The average age for women being treated is around 37 years old, Hill said. With eggs degenerating over the years, age can be a factor in the success rate.

Some women will always have a more difficult time, he said.

“A lot of times with modern medicine people have the conception that we can do this easily,” Hill said. “But when a woman is born, she’s born with a finite number of eggs.”

Bello has advice for couples having problems with fertilization.

“It’s not anybody’s fault,” she said. “A lot of couples start blaming each other.

“Keep calm, have faith. It will happen,” she said. “And follow instructions.”