Healthy Fertility

Thinking of growing your family?

First of all, thank YOU for choosing to love. I believe that if there is a desire to be a parent, the capacity to be one is there.

Preconception Care

That is, the capacity to commit to raise and nurture another person.

I am happy to support you, whatever path you choose to help grow your family!

Fertility is my special focus as a practitioner. As a Naturopathic Doctor, my goal is to optimize your health and wellness. By doing so, I aim to support both your natural fertility cycles and improve your success with Assisted Reproductive Technology (ARTs), which are medical procedures that address fertility challenges.

Assisted Reproductive Technology (ARTs)

ARTs are innovations in fertility medicine that help people bypass steps in reproduction to achieve pregnancy. ARTs are procedures such as the following, which are listed in approximate order of invasiveness (from least to most):

Artificial Insemination (AI) and Intrauterine Insemination (IUI)
Fallopian Sperm Transfer System (FAST)
In Vitro fertilization (IVF)
Gamete Intra-Fallopian Transfer (GIFT)
Zygote Intra-Fallopian Transfer (ZIFT)
Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)
Ovum Transfer (OT) and Cytoplasm Transfer (CT)
Cryopreservation of gametes (egg and/or sperm) or embryos
The use of fertility medications.

How I can help

Fertility is the body’s natural ability to conceive a child. Your body’s ability to conceive (i.e. get pregnant) is a reflection of so many complex processes and factors that affect your health.

If you (and your partner) are experiencing difficulty getting pregnant, then getting more information about your body will help overcome your fertility challenges.

Here are some ways I can help:

Optimize your (and your partner’s) fertility so that you can feel prepared to get pregnant whenever you are ready
Provide insight and potentially identify factors affecting your fertility that may have been previously missed with a thorough health history intake
Uncover and explain what may be the reason for your “unexplained infertility”
Provide evidence-based information surrounding your fertility challenges and how we can achieve pregnancy in spite of such conditions
Provide education and counseling on nutrition, lifestyle, and environmental factors that impact fertility
Prescribe nutraceutical supplements and bioidentical hormones as needed to enhance your fertility
Provide support for managing stress in a realistic and sustainable way
Provide acupuncture and some body work treatments to help address fertility issues and improve ART success

What kind of fertility conditions do you treat?

Some of the fertility conditions Dr. Kim treats and co-manages with your health care team are:

Autoimmune infertility
Clotting disorders
Diminished Ovarian Reserve (DOR) OR Low Ovarian Reserve
Endometriosis
Fibroids
Implantation issues
Luteal Phase Defect
Male factor infertility
Ovulatory disorders
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) or Anovulatory Androgen Excess (AAE)
Poor egg quality/poor sperm quality
Poor response to fertility medications
Premature Ovarian Failure (POF), Early menopause
Recurrent miscarriage/recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL)
Thin lining in the uterus
Thyroid issues such as hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Grave’s thyroiditis
Unexplained infertility

How does your Preconception Care Plan work?

Our goal with Preconception Care is to optimize and prepare your body for conception. Working with me, you’ll find that the intention for our Preconception Care work is finding out how to best take care of your body so that you (and your partner) are nourished and prepared for pregnancy, parenthood, and beyond.

If you (and your partner) are ready to get pregnant, you can get started with Preconception Care at 3-6 months before you plan to actively conceive. During this time, we will identify some of the road blocks you may be facing as well as incorporate evidence-based information and interventions to help you achieve a successful pregnancy.

Why is the time frame 3-6 months long?

The 3-6 months takes into account the growth and development of our reproductive cells (oocytes/eggs and spermatocytes/sperm). The 3-6 months time frame (around 100 days, to be more precise) is the ideal time to not only improve the overall health and quality of both eggs and sperm cells, but also improve your chances of achieving and maintaining a healthy pregnancy.

Fertility optimization sessions

The first session

Our Preconception Care Plan begins when we review your health concerns, health history, and health goals during our first visit, which takes around 60-75 minutes. We will review recent lab tests you may have on hand, perform physical exams, and come up with a management plan to address your fertility challenges. We will also be setting treatment expectations and outcomes for our future visits. By the end of our first visit, we will have discussed a prescription that involves an individualized nutrition, lifestyle, supplementation, investigatory lab testing, acupuncture (if preferred) plan.

The second session

Our second session together will take place around 2-4 weeks after the first session. We will review your lab tests (if ordered previously), responses to treatment interventions, modify any part of the prescription (if needed), discuss new information/findings, answer any questions you may have, perform acupuncture (if preferred), and continue working towards your health goals.

Ongoing care: the third session and beyond

We will continue to review how you respond to and/or modify interventions we’ve initiated, clarify any questions or concerns, perform acupuncture, discuss how you can maintain practices that have worked well for your health, support you throughout pregnancy, and continue working towards your health goals.

Book an appointment

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