Single parents
Single parents come to Shady Grove Fertility for reproductive assistance for many reasons. One of the most common reasons is deciding to pursue parenthood regardless of a partner or spouse. No matter the reason, our medical team has the resources and experience to help you achieve your goals.
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Single mothers by choice
There are many reasons that you may decide to have a child without a partner. You may have promised yourself that you would become a single parent by a certain age if you had not met the right partner. You may have been married and divorced without children and still want to be a mother. Or perhaps you always pictured yourself as a mother and not a wife, so single motherhood makes sense.
Whatever your reasons may be, Shady Grove Fertility has the resources to help your dreams of motherhood come true. There are many treatment options available to single women, whether using donor sperm or a known donor, or using more advanced treatment options if your physician discovers infertility. In addition to clinical resources to help you become pregnant, our support team is also available to help you prepare and adjust emotionally, through individual counseling sessions or through free monthly support groups that meet throughout the Mid-Atlantic Region.
If you are not ready to pursue parenthood now but want to preserve your fertility options for the future, learn more about egg freezing here.
Single fathers by choice
Shady Grove Fertility (SGF) has the resources to make your dreams of parenthood come true. SGF is proud to be experts in the field of third-party reproduction, working with hundreds of male patients planning to build a family through fertility treatments.
The initial step will be to meet with your physician to discuss the details of using an egg donor and gestational carrier.
The physician and your care team will outline the process of matching with an egg donor and freezing embryos. Once you have identified a gestational carrier, she will undergo medical and psychological screening, followed by a frozen embryo transfer (FET).
Center for Male Fertility
SGF’s Center for Male Fertility offers a range of male services including basic evaluation and testing to state-of-the-art microsurgical techniques including varicocele repair, vasectomy reversal, and vasectomy, as well as percutaneous epididymal sperm aspiration (PESA) and testicular sperm extraction (TESE) for in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Selecting a gestational carrier agency or attorney
Finding a gestational carrier is an exciting step for patients. Our medical team can provide a list of agencies and attorneys that other patients have used, allowing you to find the right company to work with to find a gestational carrier, a woman with no genetic tie with the child she is carrying. The average wait to be matched with a gestational carrier is 6 to 12 months and can vary based on the agency you are working with. Patients are encouraged to start the process to match with a gestational carrier, while working with SGF to match with a donor and create embryos. Once a gestational carrier is identified, she will undergo a thorough medical and psychological evaluation. In addition, the intended father(s) and gestational carrier will need to work with reproductive attorney’s to enter into a legal agreement. Patients working with a known (not recruited) gestational carrier will also require legal counsel. The intended father(s) and gestational carrier will need their own legal representation. Once ready, the gestational carrier will undergo a Frozen Embryo Transfer.
Find a Reproductive Attorney Here.
Selecting an egg donor
SGF has a robust egg donor program, giving intended fathers the option to use fresh or frozen eggs. In addition, patients may use Fairfax Egg Bank, as well as Donor Egg Bank USA‘s frozen egg bank.
For patients using an SGF egg donor, one of the major advantages is the ability to participate in the Shared Donor Egg Program to reduce cost. With the Shared Donor Egg Program, a single donor’s eggs can provide enough eggs for two or three recipients, saving the recipients up to 50% on treatment costs.
