Reproductive Nurses (also known as Fertility Nurses) care for individuals, couples, and families who seek treatment options related to reproductive health. These nurses work with women experiencing infertility, couples having difficulty with conception, or women going through menopause. If practicing in Ontario, Reproductive Nurses are registered with the College of Nurses of Ontario and usually active members of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario. The College of Nurses of Ontario is the governing body for Registered Nurses (RNs), Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs) and Nurse Practit ..read more

Deciding to start or expand your family is a special time for an individual or couples but it also comes with a lot of planning. As an 2SLGBTQIA+ individual or couple, there are many choices for you or/and your partner to make, and those choices may range from exciting to overwhelming. (Decision fatigue, anyone?). Tripod Fertility’s Third Party team is here to inform you of your choices and guide you through the third-party reproduction process. The first step is to look at and understand all options for achieving parenthood. Some options might fit while others may not be a fit, but it’s wort ..read more

Single Mom by Choice (SMBC) – First key fertility journey steps Deciding to become a single mom by choice is the beginning of a new chapter in one’s life – one where you are in the driver’s seat, making the decisions that feel good to you with creating the family of your dreams. A single mom by choice, or SMBC, is a mom who chooses to have a child on her own, typically using donor sperm to conceive. Being an SMBC brings with it so much joy, and autonomy! While there are several key steps in the process, you can take these steps one at a time, and at your own pace. Here are the first steps to g ..read more

A form of assisted human reproduction, intrauterine insemination or IUI fertility is a procedure during which a doctor places prepared, washed sperm into the uterus to meet the egg during a woman’s ovulation. Many times, IUI is used alongside fertility drugs to boost the chances of conception. The success of this procedure varies greatly by age and infertility cause and severity. Your doctor will examine your history and advise you on what your chances of success with IUI might be. Could IUI Benefit You? An IUI procedure might help you if: •       Your male partner has low ..read more

Reproductive immunology might not be a field of medicine you’re familiar with. However, if you are struggling with infertility, it’s definitely worth exploring. This area of medicine examines the interactions between the reproductive and immune systems. Your immune system may view an embryo as some sort of invader and react accordingly by doing what it can to stop the growth of embryonic cells. Many types of immune treatments are now being used in reproductive medicine to suppress the immune system and reduce inflammation to support successful pregnancy outcomes. When To Consider Reproductive ..read more

Grief is a natural response to losing a loved one. Individuals experience loss in a variety of contexts and situations. How one grieves and feels the loss of a loved one is unique to them.[1] A loss during pregnancy and/or of an infant (also known as perinatal loss) is a life-changing experience that profoundly affects individuals, including their identity, relationships, and sense of worth and belonging.[2] This type of loss can include miscarriage, termination due to medical reasons, stillbirth, or infant death. When facing grief and loss, it is important to remember that grief can manifest ..read more

When it comes to preconception and prenatal health, folate may be best and folic acid is not too far behind. Vitamin B9, also known as folate, is a nutrient that is involved in several vital functions.  It is most known for preventing neural tube defects but is also involved in DNA synthesis and repair, blood cell production, and rapid cell division during gestation and infancy. Less commonly known is the role folate plays in supporting healthy cognitive function and reducing miscarriage risk.  Folate deficiencies are associated with a higher risk of congenital heart defects, low bir ..read more

My name is Olivia Walsh, and I have completed my first year of undergraduate studies at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec and will start my second year this September.  I am a student in the Faculty of Arts & Science, majoring in Cognitive Science (neuroscience stream) and minoring in English.  I am very excited and grateful for the opportunity to work as a research intern at Tripod Fertility this summer and have learned a tremendous amount during my time here so far.   Endometriosis Bei ..read more

In the beginning, planning a family is one of the most exciting things to happen to a relationship. First, there is the new excitement of adding to your family; then, however, if you do not conceive in the first 3 to 6 months (or 12), that excitement starts to decrease, and it may take the romance right out of the equation. This is something we hear about from our own patients and unfortunately, most of our patients come to us after 12 or more months of TTC and not getting pregnant, which means intercourse may already be lacking intimacy. The hope of fertility treatment success may spark the r ..read more

Intrauterine insemination, also known as IUI, can help couples with unexplained fertility struggles conceive a child. A good fertility team will suggest IUI as a potential treatment option if this could be beneficial in your situation. To really understand this insemination process, it is important to start right from the beginning. What exactly is IUI? As you may have already presumed, IUI is an insemination process during which the sperm is placed right into the uterus. This helps both the sperm and egg to have a better chance of leading into a potential pregnancy. Before you can find out if ..read more