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Infertile patients cannot afford to wait for treatment while their eggs get older.

Dr. Sherman Silber, Infertility Center of St. Louis, is offering video consultations for patients who need to plan now for their treatment while stay-at-home orders are in place. He is talking to and evaluating patients in their home to comply with social distancing measures.

Dr. Silber is discovering that patients actually prefer this method of telemedicine consultation over the conventional office visit. Patients have conveyed that “it is so much more convenient and less stressful” to have a telemedicine personal consultation than to take a day off from work to travel to the doctor’s office and sit with other nervous patients in the waiting room.

The COVID-19 pandemic is thus changing much of the way we will do things in the future, and for the better. “Our patients are surprisingly much happier with this approach. Of course, at some point we need to perform hands on treatment. But with this new manner of seeing patients, we can come to the right diagnosis and treatment plan for most patients more efficiently, quickly, and painlessly, with no loss of personal one-on-one communication.” This is a very welcome new era of telemedicine that has been forced on us by the current difficult times.

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The Infertility Center of St. Louis
The Infertility Center of St. Louis
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Cara and Chad’s Mini IVF Success Story

August 26, 2025

Cara and Chad’s mini IVF success story shows the importance of persistence and hope

During a recent Facebook Live, Dr. Sherman Silber spoke with two of his patients-turned-parents. Cara and Chad introduced our St. Louis fertility specialist to their 10-week-old bundle of joy and shared their mini IVF success story.

The couple’s journey to conceive started almost a decade ago

Like many people today, Cara and Chad waited several years to start their family. They wanted to first focus on completing their educational and career goals. By the time they were ready to try for a baby, Cara was about 30 years old.

During an OB/GYN visit in 2018, Cara learned she had a large fibroid. Doctors can often remove fibroids using minimally invasive surgery. However, Cara’s fibroid was so large that her doctor decided an open myomectomy was a better option.

While treating the large fibroid, the surgeon also discovered and removed several smaller ones. The surgeon then told the couple that Cara would need to recover for six months before trying to conceive.

An open myomectomy didn’t resolve all the couple’s problems

Cara and Chad hoped that fibroids were the only thing standing in the way of their pregnancy plans. Unfortunately, they learned that Chad also had a low sperm count and low motility. They were facing a combination of male and female infertility.

At this time, the couple lived in Austin. They saw a specialist who told them that in vitro fertilization (IVF) was the next step. “It threw us for a loop because we never thought we’d have to do IVF,” Cara recalls.

Together, the couple started thinking about adoption. Around the same time, they also moved to St. Louis to be closer to Chad’s family. This move would make all the difference on their path to parenthood.

Dr. Silber proved the couple could have a mini IVF success story

“I was so scared of all the injections and hormones and everything you have to go through with IVF, but I felt like we should look into IVF one more time,” Cara explains. An internet search led them to Dr. Silber, our St. Louis fertility specialist.

The couple instantly felt comfortable with Dr. Silber and liked his approach. He explained that IVF wasn’t their only option. They could pursue mini IVF and focus on egg quality over quantity. He also said intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) could address the sperm issues.

“I wanted the best possible eggs and the least amount of hormones and injections, so mini IVF was perfect for me,” Cara says.

Is mini IVF successful? Cara and Chad’s results speak for themselves

After two rounds of mini IVF, the couple ended up with three blastocysts. One of them became their beautiful baby. As for the other two, they’re safely in frozen storage. When the couple is ready for their second baby, they will return to our St. Louis fertility specialist.

“I feel so lucky our first embryo took,”Cara says. “Overall, I was surprised that mini IVF wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. The process and team were great and everyone was so organized and caring.”

When asked about her advice for other hopeful parents, Cara focused on hope and support. “You need strong relationships and not to blame each other,” she explains. “Also, don’t give up hope. There’s always hope.”

If you’d like to have your own mini IVF success story, contact us to schedule a free consultation with Dr. Silber. We look forward to helping you welcome the baby of your dreams.