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August 2020
PREG Designated A Center of Excellence (COE) Network
GREENVILLE, COLUMBIA AND MT. PLEASANT, SOUTH CAROLINA- Piedmont Reproductive Endocrinology Group (PREG) has received the Center of Excellence designation from the Clinical Sciences Institute of the Optum Fertility Solution Centers of Excellence network.
June 2020
We Have Some Exciting News to Share . . .Our Family Is Growing!
On July 22nd, 2020, we’ll begin welcoming patients at our new comprehensive fertility and IVF center in the Lowcountry.
Since 2013, Dr. Stephanie Singleton and her team at the Fertility Center of Charleston have provided patients an opportunity for compassionate and individualized care in the Lowcountry. Dr. Singleton will return to her home state of Georgia next month and we at PREG are excited to announce that, as of July 22, 2020, we’ll assume operations of her practice and facility as we launch our Lowcountry center – but that’s just the beginning.
June 2020
May 2020
Navigating conception and infertility in a pandemic
For anyone planning or hoping for pregnancy in the coming months, a pandemic just adds to an already
stressful situation when it is difficult to conceive. Whether or not to put plans on hold or to seek infertility treatment — or even determining when it is time to consider that treatment — can be a momentous decision.
Though much is still unknown about COVID-19, there does appear to be encouraging news for those trying to grow their family.
Read the full story here at www.upstateparent.com
February 2020
Skip The Baby Shower — And Other Self-Care Tips For Infertility
Shutting down anyone who says to “just relax” is an act of self-care.
More than 6 million women in the United States have difficulty getting or staying pregnant, and they are increasingly open about how hard that can be — especially online. But while infertility isn’t the taboo topic it once was, mental health support still isn’t what it needs to be for the subject. Research shows, for example, that depression levels in patients dealing with infertility can be comparable to those seen in patients dealing with cancer.
Read the full story here at www.huffpost.com
January 2020
Congratulations to Dr. John F. Payne, MD for being listed as one of the top Reproductive Endocrinologists of 2020
November 2019
11 Of The Worst Things You Can Say To Someone Struggling With Infertility
What may be comforting to some is deeply insulting to others. Infertility can feel like a personal failing and by putting it down to simply not being in God’s plan, you are throwing our suffering in our face.
Imagine yourself in our shoes and what it would be like if someone kept telling you to be patient for something you desperately want and may never have.
Read the full story here at www.buzzfeed.com
November 2019
I Froze My Eggs to Focus on My Career
The Story
Oocyte cryopreservation. Egg freezing. Putting your future babies on ice. No matter what you call it, there’s a pretty big price tag.
How much are we talking?
For Vix Reitano, it was more than $8,000. That included $350 for initial blood work and other tests, over $3,500 for hormones that stimulate egg production, and $4,500 for the egg retrieval procedure. But the cost varies a LOT based on your health, insurance coverage, and the clinic or hospital you go to. Think: anywhere from $4,000 to $13,000.
Oh, and some women may need to go through more than one cycle to get the number of eggs they want. On the bright side, some clinics charge less for additional cycles.
Read the full story here at www.theskimm.com
November 2019
As Goldman Sachs offers fertility treatment as a perk…should employers help staff freeze their eggs?
Offering egg-harvesting as a business perk is a smart move by Goldman Sachs; just don’t kid yourself that altruism plays any part in it.
The banking behemoth announced this week it will offer workers up to £15,500 to help cover the cost of fertility treatments including extracting eggs for freezing or for use in IVF, or buying eggs from a donor.
Why offer this ‘benefit’? To keep employees driven and focused in an extremely tough working culture.
Read the full story here at www.dailymail.co.uk
November 2019
Bank of America is moving an increase of its minimum wage to $20 forward from 2021 to Q1 2020
Bank of America (BofA) announced that its employees will begin earning a minimum of $20 per hour by the end of Q1 2020, CNBC reports.
The wage hike was originally scheduled for 2021, but was accelerated as “part of the company’s commitment to delivering sustainable, responsible growth by being a great place to work,” according to a statement cited by CNBC. The impending increase follows a move by BofA earlier this year to increase its minimum salary from $15 per hour to $17 per hour.
Read the full story here at www.businessinsider.com
April 2019
‘My plan is different’: Jill Martin discusses freezing her eggs 5 years ago
Five years ago, at the age of 38, I decided to freeze my eggs. Today, I’m ready to talk about it with other women.
Everyone’s journey is different. Kathie Lee always says, “Do you want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans.”
My plan? Well, if you were to rewind and ask teenage Jill what she would be when she “grew up,” she would have said, “married, with two children, working in fashion … And happy.” Well, two out of four isn’t bad, right?
Earlier this week, Dylan Dreyer spoke very bravely about secondary infertility. She talked about coming into work after she initially thought she had a miscarriage and putting on a happy face because “that’s what we do.” She later found out that she did in fact miscarry. It is something that many of you have gone through, judging from the overwhelming response.
Read the full story here at www.today.com
February 2019
The South Carolina legislature has introduced legislation that would hurt the family building community in your state, and we need your help to stop this bill.
Senate Bill 485/House Bill 3920, known as the “Personhood Act of South Carolina,” proposes an amendment to South Carolina Statutory Code where the General Assembly “finds that a human being is a person at fertilization,” and therefore “right to life for each born and preborn human being vests at fertilization.”
The intent of this bill is to attack abortion, but it implicates standard infertility treatments, like IVF. If passed, this amendment could prevent doctors from practicing IVF in accord with the best standards of medical care,and cancer patients whose only hope lies in freezing embryos could be prevented from having biological children.
RESOLVE is dedicated to helping everyone have access to the standard of care to build their families.
Do members of the South Carolina General Assembly know what this bill (and others like it) mean
for millions of Americans struggling with infertility?
We don’t know. What we DO know is that South Carolina legislators need to hear from us . . . from YOU!
Send this letter now – it takes just minutes but makes a big difference!
Don’t sit back and let others make laws that impact your family building! They need to hear from you! And please encourage your friends and family to act as well.
-RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association
January 2019
Baylor’s uterus transplant trial ushers in the future of fertility amid concerns over ethics, cost
Doctors at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas have begun the second phase in the trial of a feat once considered impossible: transplanting a womb.
With transplant candidates chosen and funding secured, a massive team of doctors and surgeons is honing the complex procedure that can allow infertile women — previously limited to adoption or surrogacy — to give birth.
Their first success with the procedure came in 2017, when Baylor doctors delivered the nation’s first baby born from a transplanted uterus. Now 1 year old, that infant is on Time magazine’s January cover about the future of babies.
Read the full story here at www.dallasnews.com
December 2018
Coping with infertility during the holidays: Darkness and light
In my experience, most people dealing with infertility would say that their longing for a child brings sadness year-round. Still, there are times and seasons when the pain intensifies.
This may be in spring or early summer when the world is in bloom, winter coats are off and pregnant bellies are out, when greeting card companies and florists ambush airwaves to promote Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.
Similarly, the winter holidays present an ever-lengthening stretch during which many women and men who are struggling with infertility feel pummeled. Bookended by Thanksgiving and New Year’s, this has become a season of holiday cards spotlighting happy children, and loud messages of merriment in stores and public places. Short days, dark nights, cold, snow, and clouds further conspire to tell those who are struggling with infertility that ‘tis hardly the season to be jolly.
Read the full story here at www.health.harvard.edu
November 2018
INVOcell Enables Same-Sex Couple to Both Physically Participate in the Pregnancy and Birth of Their Child
MEDFORD, Mass., Oct. 31, 2018 /PRNewswire/ – INVO Bioscience, Inc. (OTC: IVOB), a medical device company granted FDA clearance for the first Intravaginal Culture System, INVOcell™, today announced a successful pregnancy where both partners of a same-sex couple were able to carry the baby in separate phases of the pregnancy – from the fertilization of the egg and development of the embryo to the birth of the child.
Read the full story here at invobioscience.com
October 2018
Why Are So Many Black Women Suffering Through Infertility In Silence?
Infertility affects at least 12 percent of all women up to the age of 44, and studies suggest Black women may be almost twice as likely to experience infertility as white women.
Yet only about 8 percent of Black women between the ages of 25 and 44 seek medical help to get pregnant, compared to 15 percent of white women.
To better understand what’s driving the disparity between the number of Black women suffering from infertility and those pursuing treatment, WomensHealthMag.com and OprahMag.com teamed up with the Black Women’s Health Imperative and Celmatix, a startup bringing personalized medicine to women’s reproductive health and fertility, to survey more than 1,000 women of multiple races about their fertility.
Read the full story here at www.womenshealthmag.com
October 2018
PREG is proud to Introduce ‘The Piedmont Reproductive Endocrinology Group IVF Refund Program!’”
Powered by Univfy, this program is to help increase your chances of success and make IVF more affordable. IVF is one of the most effective fertility treatments available today. That’s why many patients like you are considering it. But the high costs of IVF and often uncertain outcomes may keep you from trying. is proud to offer to help you choose IVF in a way that saves both precious time and money in your fertility journey, while improving your chances to have a baby.
October 2018
Why Kyle and Samantha Busch are opening up about second IVF treatment
NASCAR driver Kyle Busch and his wife Samantha have been incredibly open over the last few years about their struggles with infertility.
They went through in vitro fertilization (IVF) to help them conceive their son, Brexton, who turned three in May, and they announced Tuesday on Twitter that they’re ready to do it again to try and have another baby.
Read the full story here at usatoday.com
September 2018
Why Mrs. North Carolina 2018 is sharing her deepest secret with the public
When people used to ask Mrs. North Carolina Nichelle Sublett why she hadn’t had children yet, she would force a smile and lie. She thought her infertility story was shameful, embarrassing, difficult. Being unable to get pregnant made her feel like she was a failure at motherhood, at being a wife, she said.
Read the full story here at charlottefive.com
September 2018
Pregnant Carrie Underwood Reveals She Suffered 3 Miscarriages in Last 2 Years: ‘I Got Mad’
Carrie Underwood has revealed that she suffered from three miscarriages in the last two years.
The “Cry Pretty” singer — who shares son Isaiah, 3, with hockey player husband Mike Fisher, 38, and has a baby on the way — opened up about her challenging fertility struggles in an interview on CBS Sunday Morning, saying she experienced the first miscarriage last year.
Read the full story here at people.com
September 2018
8 Celebrities With PCOS Who Are Powerful AF Despite Their Struggles
Happy PCOS Awareness Month, everyone! While it’s always important to stay informed when it comes to your reproductive health, this month provides a special opportunity to learn a thing or two more about polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), the most common hormonal disorder there is, affecting about 10 million women in the world. If you’re personally coping with PCOS, always remember that you are not alone. In fact, even some major celebrities with PCOS have used their platform to speak out about their struggles (and triumphs!) with the disorder,
and cultivate awareness in our society. . .
Read the full story here at elitedaily.com
July, 2018
Delaware Joins States Requiring Coverage of IVF and Fertility Preservation
View the full Bulletin by ASRM here
May 2018
PREG was happy to raise money during NIAW to help couples struggling to build their families!
For more information on how you can help with this movement, please visit: www.resolve.org
Our Administrator and CFO, Faith Ripley and our Founder/Medical and Laboratory Director, Dr. John Nichols are pictured here.
April 2018
‘I felt very alone’: One campaign aims to end the silence around infertility
When Angelica Nassar unexpectedly became pregnant at 29, she felt thrilled. She always dreamed of having a family even though she spent most of her 20s focused on her career. But then she miscarried. And, suddenly, having a baby seemed harder than she imagined.
“It really opened our eyes,” Nassar, 40, of Houston, told TODAY. “I never thought I would be one of those people who would have trouble.”. . .
Read the full story at TODAY.com
March 2018
Congress Approves FY18 Budget; Extends IVF Services for Wounded Veterans
After running on a series of temporary extensions, the federal government finally has an operating budget for fiscal year 2018. Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a 2,200+ page bill to fund the government through September; the Senate followed suit this morning. Despite the early morning veto threat, President Trump signed the measure into law moments ago. . .
Read the full story by ASRM News
February, 2018
PREG is proud to announce that we are now partnered with CapexMD to offer yet another option for financing your IVF treatment and medications!
They are able to customize loan programs with highly competitive rates that include a variety of loan types. Check out their brochure!
December 2017
Louise Brown Visits with Dr. Richard Paulson and 200 Guests
On the 40th anniversary of the groundbreaking medical procedures that would lead to her birth and during ASRM’s 2017 Scientific Congress and Expo, the first IVF baby, Louise Brown. . .
Read the full story by ASRM News
November 14, 2017
Dr. Travis McCoy Speaks to AAGL Global Conference
We are proud to have our very own, Dr. Travis McCoy, speaking to the AAGL
Global Congress on Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery this week in
California!
Dr. McCoy has extensive surgical expertise in advanced laparoscopic and hysteroscopic surgery. These include microsurgical techniques. He has served as a regional referral surgeon for patients with severe endometriosis, uterovaginal anomalies, and complex uterine fibroid cases. In addition, he has performed over 600 da Vinci Robotic Laparoscopic surgeries!
We are thankful to have Dr. McCoy on our team here at PREG! #TeamPREG #AAGL2017 #pregonline
September 2017
An Introduction From Our Surgery Scheduler
- I am the surgery scheduler here at PREG and will help you make this process go as smoothly as possible.
- First, we will find a date that will work for you and your schedule.
- (Usually 4-6 weeks from now) I will also send you an e-mail with the hospital information and appointment times as we get closer to the day.
August 2017
New Pregnancy Procedure Comes to Greenville
GREENVILLE, S.C. (WSPA) – There’s hopeful news for couples struggling to have a baby. It’s a new procedure that’s similar to Invitro Fertilization, but half the cost. And it’s recently come to Greenville.
Scott and Laura Reichen did it 8 weeks ago and after nearly 4 years of trying to have a second child, they found out they are pregnant.
“To have a doctor that, believed we had a chance, and um, that had hope, I think that was more healing for me than anything we’ve done in the last 3 years.”
Dr. John Nichols at PREG in Greenville brought Simply IVF to people in the Upstate this past February.
July 2017
Hey! From Greenville, SC!
Hey from Greenville, SC! We have a heart for children and those who struggle with infertility, and going though foster care and adoption process. Want to spread the message of hope and awareness to those going through that process.
We discuss infertility and foster care in detail because we believe nobody should do this alone.
