By: Tori Brown, New Hope Center for Reproductive Medicine
Marketing Coordinator/Physician Liaison

 

All through life we are taught to dream; to shoot for the stars and never give up on what we really, truly want in life. The hope that one day our dreams will become reality is what gets a lot of people through their day-to-day lives, and pushes them to keep going when they feel like they can’t. But what happens when you have a dream that can’t be achieved? What happens when no matter how many how-to books you read, classes you take, or effort you put in, your dream always seems a little bit too far away to grasp? That is what it feels like to struggle with infertility. The one thing you want most in the world is constantly just out of your reach. The pain and loss that infertility can cause are so great, they can take all faith of achieving the dream of parenthood away from its sufferers. But, thanks to the miracle of medicine, there is always hope: New Hope, to be exact.

The New Hope Center for Reproductive Medicine, run by Medical Director and founder Dr. Robin Poe-Zeigler, is the light at the end of a dark tunnel for patients struggling with infertility.

Founded in 1997, The New Hope Center has helped bring thousands of babies into the world through cutting-edge fertility treatments, such as in vitro fertilization, intra-uterine insemination, and embryo donation. But what is, perhaps, even more impactful for patients than the medical expertise that can be found at New Hope is the essence of the place itself. Once you’re a patient at New Hope, you become a part of the family. Every office visit feels like a trip home, where anything is possible and you are surrounded only by love and support. Dr. Robin, as she is known by all of her patients, has carefully crafted a sanctuary to help heal those who feel broken by their infertility.

When patients realize that they need help getting pregnant, it can be overwhelming and very scary. Feeling the need to label yourself as “infertile” can hurt almost as badly as the absence of a child. It’s very difficult to feel as though your body is betraying you, and taking the first step to seek the help you need can oftentimes be the most challenging. At The New Hope Center, they understand that. “These patients can be anxious, afraid and often emotional,” Dr. Robin notes, “so treating the mind as well as the body is an important component at every step in this journey.” Every staff member at The New Hope Center plays a key role in creating these miracle babies, but more importantly, they form relationships with the patients that make the intense fertility treatment process a little bit easier. Dr. Robin greets every patient with a warm hug and always remembers little details about her patients’ lives outside of their infertility struggles. She sees each one of them as an extended member of her family, and ensures that they feel that way as well. Her ideals of love, family and compassion trickle down into each and every experience these patients have at New Hope.

As the practice’s founder, Dr. Robin is the beating heart of New Hope.
She says, “I believe that we have been given very specific medical knowledge and resources beyond belief. I believe these women are sent to me, and if I’m giving them a blessing, it’s only because I myself have been blessed.” Dr. Robin is happily married to her high-school sweetheart, Mark Zeigler, and is the mother of one son, Derek, who is in his junior year at The University of Virginia where he studies law. But her life has not always been so blessed. Her mother faced a two-and-a-half year battle with breast cancer, which she unfortunately lost in 1982. Watching her mother lose her fight with breast cancer inspired Dr. Robin to pursue a career in the medical field, and choose a specialty that focused on bringing new life into the world.

She earned her medical degree from Eastern Virginia Medical School, during which time she was awarded a pathology externship at the University of Minnesota.  She later completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at York Hospital in York, Pennsylvania, and returned to Hampton Roads to complete a fellowship at the Jones Institute. Upon completion of her fellowship, she returned to Minneapolis, Minnesota where she assisted in establishing a Donor Egg Program at a reputable IVF center. Despite her success in Minneapolis, she found that she was not compatible with the Minnesota climate. So, she returned to Virginia in February of 1997, and opened The New Hope Center for Reproductive Medicine, determined to establish a comprehensive center with the compassion, medical skills and technologies to offer just that: new hope to patients struggling with infertility.

Located in Virginia Beach, The New Hope Center is a one-stop-shop for fertility patients. There are three distinct laboratories at New Hope that all connect to a central suite. It is a perfect mixture of what happens in each of these laboratories that allows New Hope miracles to be born.

Hormonal Assay and Immunology Lab.
This satellite of LabCorp features two full-time phlebotomists. The phlebotomists, supported by two technicians, draw blood and run all hormone tests, giving Dr. Robin the ability to share results with her patients the same day – critical information when medication adjustments need to be made during an ovarian stimulation cycle. Having the ability to give same-day results also allows New Hope team members to ease patients’ anxiety about the progress of their cycles.

Andrology Lab.
Two on-site andrologists do semen analyses, as well as insemination preparation in this lab. They process the semen so it’s ready for Dr. Robin to place in the patient’s uterus when she’s ovulating.  “We’re available seven days a week in the andrology lab,” Dr. Robin says.  “If ovulation occurs over the weekend, or on a holiday, no matter the time, we’re here for the patient. I’ve even come in on Christmas Day!”

Embryology Lab.
The New Hope Embryology lab is where the real medical-magic occurs. It is in this fully CAP certified labs that women’s eggs are retrieved and fertilized embryos are transferred.

Dr. Robin’s off-site laboratory director, Lisa Ray, in conjunction with three other senior embryologists, travels to New Hope from Chicago and Charlotte on a monthly basis. Along with the two existing on-site embryologists, Caitlin Toler and Brittany Popp, they identify eggs; inseminate eggs with sperm; culture embryos; freeze eggs, sperm and embryos; and assist in the transfer of embryos into the patient’s uterine cavity.

Biopsies of the individual embryos allow the New Hope Center staff to determine whether any genetic abnormalities exist within the embryos, well before implantation takes place. Pre-implantation genetic screening, or PGS as it is more commonly known, has existed for about 10 years, but it’s evolving, and the advancements have been huge. “At first, we could identify three, then seven, then nine, then 11 – and now, we can screen the entire 23 pairs of chromosomes,” Dr. Robin says.   This new technology allows her team to distinguish between chromosomally normal and abnormal embryos.

Parent of Origin Testing.
When an embryo is revealed to have an abnormality or defect, the technology now allows Dr. Robin to identify whether it came from the egg or the sperm.  “That’s an important piece of information,” she says, “especially for women, who always seem to assume it’s their eggs that are faulty.”  This sophisticated testing has allowed New Hope to implant only chromosomally normal embryos, thereby sparing prospective parents the heartache of many miscarriages and infants with major chromosomal abnormalities, life-threatening conditions, and early demise.

“We see this is a way of preventing potentially devastating heartache,” Dr. Robin says.  “And because the determination can be made before implantation, there are few, if any, bioethical considerations.”

Surgical procedures.
The New Hope Center has two fully built operating rooms that connect to the Embryology Lab. Procedures such as hysteroscopies are performed to diagnose and correct problems with a woman’s uterus before embryos are transferred. Having these spaces on site allows patients a level of comfort that cannot be found at most other establishments. Instead of feeling like they are going into a new, scary and sterilized place, they are just coming back to their comfortable home-away-from-home, in the trusted care of Dr. Robin.

“There is no question about the commitment of my patients to undergo any process that can allow them to conceive and carry a child,” says Dr. Robin.

New Hope offers several services for many different types of potential parents; each type of treatment is uniquely catered to every patients specific needs. Dr. Robin and the New Hope team cater every treatment plan and process based on what service will provide the patient with the best outcome, and what will be in their best interest financially. We offer in vitro fertilization, intrauterine insemination, embryo donation, and gestational carrier services, along with others. Our embryo donation and gestational carrier services are wonderful for patients who have trouble carrying children to term, or who are not biologically able to do so. This allows all patients, regardless of their relationship status or sexuality, to experience the joy of watching their child grow and develop.

Everyone is welcome at the New Hope Center.
Dr. Robin sees each patient as a potential loving parent.  There is no judgment and no discrimination; thus New Hope welcomes committed homosexual couples who are seeking to become parents.  “My job is not to judge; my job is to help people become mothers and fathers,” she says.  “I don’t discriminate against anyone.  If an embryo is supposed to implant, it’s going to implant, and I will do my best to make that happen.”

She employs certain modalities to help lesbian couples, one of which involves taking eggs from one partner, adding donor sperm, and implanting the embryo into the other partner.  “Both women are involved in the process, and it’s been so rewarding,” Dr. Robin says.

Similarly, she has had a fair number of gay men seeking young egg donors and gestational carriers to assist them in having the child they long for.  “At New Hope, we assist them in finding these essential people,” she says, asking, “Why shouldn’t these energetic, highly-motivated men have the opportunity to love and nurture children?”

New Hope welcomes patients of all types into the family, with the only requirement being a desire to love and care for a child.

The measure of success.
Not every case can result in a pregnancy that goes to term, Dr. Robin concedes. But she emphasizes that at New Hope, “patients leave either with a healthy baby, or with a full understanding and, hopefully, with peace, about why there won’t be a child.”  But there is always love, and there is always compassion.

Celebrating Miracles.
When patients have worked so hard for their child and their little miracle is finally born, it is a huge cause for celebration. That is why, almost every year since the practice opened in 1997, Dr. Robin has hosted “Little Miracles” birthday parties. These parties serve as a gathering for the entire extended New Hope family to come together to celebrate the births of their children, re-connect with the New Hope team members who made those children possible, and give Dr. Robin the chance to experience their little ones. These events are peppered with laughter, tears of joy, and hearty celebration.

The next “Little Miracles” party is particularly special to Dr. Robin and the entire New Hope team, as it will be celebrating the 20th birthday of the practice. “This is a chance for me to connect and hug all of the families that I have had the pleasure of being a part of. It is very special for me, and I think it’s special for them, too,” Dr. Robin compassionately notes. The party will be held at the Norfolk Zoo in July of 2017 on National Parents Day – July 23rd.

“We’re here to make a difference.”

It’s more than a motto: it’s a way of life for Dr. Robin Poe-Zeigler and her team at The New Hope Center for Reproductive Medicine.  “We started out with seven patients in 1997,” she says, “and we have grown to thousands of patients and thousands of babies, and for that I am eternally grateful.”

The New Hope Center for Reproductive Medicine
448 Viking Drive, Suite 100
Virginia Beach, VA, 23452
757-496-5370
www.thenewhopecenter.com