Celine Dion and her miracle twins

I don't usually like to get too caught up in celebrity baby watches but did anyone see Oprah's show with Celine Dion the other day? Celine introduced her twins from her home in Florida. Those baby boys are just precious and I couldn't be happier for Celine and her family. I've been following her story since she announced her difficulty with conceiving and like many others have been wishing her the best outcome. I knew she was going to be successful because of her determination and positive outlook. I loved seeing her in her jammies, without make-up along side her babies; her gratitude for her blessings was truly apparent. I wasn't able to embed the Oprah clip but here is a link.

http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/At-Home-with-Celine-Dion-and-Her-Miracle-Twins-Video

AFA Telephone Support Group: Dealing with Miscarriage and Early Pregnancy Loss

You're Invited to a FREE Telephone Coaching Support Group  Wednesday, February 23rd    Dealing with Miscarriage and Early Pregnancy Loss  Many of us have persevered and stayed the course, became pregnant only to be followed by loss with major set-backs, sadness and disappointment.  This FREE AFA TELECOACHING group will explore the aftermath  of miscarriage, while managing our grief and healing. During this one hour group conference call, you will receive  information on: getting the support you need be present for ourselves and our partners in healing together and apart communicate with family and friends effectively return to work and routine accept, let go, and move on WHEN: Wednesday, February 23rd   WHERE: Telephone Conference Line (call-in information will be  given at time of registration) TIME: 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Eastern time FACILITATORS: Emily Laitmon, LCSW and Joan Winograd, LCSW   COST: FREE!    For further information and to register contact:   Emily Laitmon, laitmon@aol.com, 212-988-2054, 914-633-4224  Joan Winograd, joanwino@aol.com, 212-362-4003     Emily Laitmon, LCSW, is a psychotherapist in private practice in NYC and Westchester specializing in women's issues, couple counseling, relationships and family building.  She is also a bereavement counselor and offers support to several hospitals and genetic depts. She is a group facilitator and coach for AFA.  Ms. Laitmon has written articles and led seminars on emotional challenges of infertility and couple therapy.  She has experienced  repeated IVFs resulting in a daughter and adopted a son. Joan D. Winograd, LCSW, has been a therapist specializing in infertility issues, as well as pregnancy loss, for the over 20 years, having personally dealt with such issues.  She practices on the Upper West Side in New York City, and sees individuals, couples and groups, and has spoken extensively on the subject. She is a Coaching Support Group Leader with the  American Fertility Association.

How to Hire a Reproductive Attorney written by Melissa Brisman, Esq.

Heartfelt Egg Donation, LLC provides a legal Services Agreement/Contract for each egg donation cycle as part of our services and is included in our agency fee.  Our agreement is drafted by a reproductive law attorney and is customized for each egg donation cycle. We always suggest that you have a reproductive law attorney review the document and answer any legal questions you may have. Below is an article written by Melissa Brisman, Esq. that will help take the mystery out of how to hire a reproductive attorney.
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How to Hire a Reproductive Attorney written by Melissa Brisman, Esq. A version of this article originally appeared in the Winter 2006 issue of Conceive Magazine.

If you’re facing fertility challenges and turning to assisted reproductive technologies, you may need some expert legal advice. To make sure you get the best, you’ll need to do some interrogating. Because reproductive law is still in its infancy (no pun intended!) there are still very few attorneys who specialize in this area. That’s one reason it’s especially important for any prospective parents to research the qualifications of the lawyer they’re hoping will assist them on the path to parenthood. For instance, a family law practice is substantially different from a law firm specializing in reproductive law. Firms advertising themselves as specializing in family law may be willing to take your case, but may not have the expertise to handle it as well as an attorney specializing in reproductive law. Websites and Internet message boards can offer a wealth of information when you start your research. Once you narrow down your search, you should get answers to the following questions before retaining the services of an attorney or firm.

1. How much experience do you have in this specific area?
Obviously your attorney’s professional experience is crucial. You’ll want to make sure he or she has the expertise and qualifications of a reproductive attorney rather than a more general family law practitioner. The subtleties and ever-changing legislation in reproductive law mean you really need someone who specializes in this field and keeps up with all the latest developments.

But once you ascertain professional expertise, personal factors become important, too. The issues that come up in reproductive law can be quite delicate and intimate, and you need to feel comfortable with the attorney who is representing you.

Both factors need to be in place—professional qualifications and a good personality match—before you can be sure you’ve found at attorney who will give you the information and advice you need while protecting your interests and understanding your particular situation in this unsettled area of the law.

2. Does your law firm offer any services other than “legal”?
The list of things to do when you’ve started on the road to family-building through assisted reproductive technology can seem infinite. You’ll ask yourself: How will I find and manage the money needed to pay all these people? What about my insurance? Who will coordinate all the “little things”? How can I find a gestational carrier and/or egg or sperm donor if I need one? It goes on and on. You may wish to consider a “one-stop shopping” approach by choosing a law firm that offers all of these services, and more. By hiring this type of firm you can cut your “to do” list to a manageable size. And while the law firm offering all these services may charge more money than other firms, the cost can still be substantially less than if you were to pay for each of these jobs individually.

3. Do you charge a flat fee or an hourly rate?
Before you sign a retainer agreement with a law firm, you should find out about the way the firm charges for its services. For instance, some attorneys work on a contingency basis—meaning they are only paid if their work is successful—but this is not appropriate in the field of reproductive law, and you should steer clear of any attorney who offers this payment option. Most attorneys charge an hourly rate, which means you’re billed a set amount for every hour (or part of an hour) that the attorney is working for you. But since it’s nearly impossible to foresee the amount of time your case will take (especially in such a constantly changing area of the law), this arrangement means it will be virtually impossible for you to know how much your legal
fees will wind up costing.

Considering all the unforeseeable expenses prospective parents encounter, it’s a great advantage to know up front what your legal fees will be. You can do that if you hire an attorney who works on a flat fee basis. When you retain an attorney for a flat fee, you can budget for your legal fees in advance. Of course, there may be some additional expenses, such as court filing fees, but these are usually minimal.

4. Where are you licensed to practice law?
Attorneys must be licensed by each state to practice law there. As you will discover when you begin your search for legal advice, individual lawyers and firms in this field come from all over the country. It’s a great advantage to have an attorney who is licensed in the states relevant to your case. Your attorney should be licensed in any states in which any medical procedures are being performed. And if you’re using a “third party” (egg donor, sperm donor, surrogate/gestational carrier), you should try to have a lawyer licensed in at least one (and ideally more) of the states in which the individuals reside. Of course, it would be impossible to find an attorney licensed in all 50 states, but it is important to find an attorney licensed in the state(s) where your clinic is located, where your baby will be born, where you live, where any third parties live, and where the IVF procedure will take place, etc.

5. Do you have a knowledgeable and experienced support staff?
When you retain an attorney, you’re not just hiring one lawyer, but the entire law firm. One sign of a good attorney is having a capable and confident staff who can assist you when the attorney is unavailable. Although a lawyer’s support staff can’t offer legal advice, they can ensure that all other aspects of your case are handled in a timely and professional manner. (On the other hand, a “solo practitioner” who has no office staff, or an attorney with poorly trained or inexperienced personnel, can make the entire process more difficult.) If possible, try to find out how long the employees have been working with the attorney; a high turnover rate may indicate some problems in the office itself.

Melissa B. Brisman is an attorney who practices exclusively in the field of reproductive law and is considered by her peers to be a leader in her profession.  Ms. Brisman’s experience and qualifications are unparalleled.  She employs an experienced and qualified staff of legal and administrative professionals and is licensed to practice law in Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and   Pennsylvania.  Ms. Brisman has a practice, Melissa B. Brisman, Esq., LLC, located in Montvale, New Jersey, offering a full range of legal services in connection with gestational carrier arrangements, ovum, sperm, and embryo donation, and adoption.  In addition, Ms. Brisman is sole owner of Reproductive Possibilities, LLC.  Reproductive Possibilities, LLC is an agency offering a donor record-keeping service which maintains contact information for intended parents and their anonymous ovum donors for a period of years following a donor arrangement.  Reproductive Possibilities, LLC also facilitates gestational carrier arrangements.  Ms. Brisman is also sole owner of Surrogate Fund Management, LLC, a company that manages escrow in connection with reproductive arrangements.

Series: Egg Donor Frequently Asked Questions - #8 What Happens Once I'm Selected to be an Egg Donor?

What happens once I am chosen by an Intended Parent and agree to be their Donor?

• The entire process should take between 6 to 8 weeks.
• If the Intended Parents and you agree to meet, we will schedule a meeting that will be facilitated by Heartfelt Egg Donation.
• You will receive a contract and you will meet with an agency-appointed attorney for legal consultation and contract review.
• We will schedule your initial required psychological evaluation and testing and medical evaluation.
• The treating physician will counsel you through the process and inform you of your schedule and how and when to begin taking the fertility medication.
• You will be scheduled for a procedure that will remove the eggs from your ovaries. This procedure usually takes about 30-40 minutes and is done under sedation in an outpatient setting.
• You will receive your compensation check within 7 days after the retrieval.

How long will it take to be matched?

This is not something we can predict. Some donors have been matched within one week of applying; others have taken as long as one year and some may never be matched.

How much time will I have to take off from work or school?

Appointments are usually early in the morning, so little or no time is missed. You will need to schedule an entire day for the egg retrieval. If your retrieval requires travel to a city where the Intended Parents doctor is located you may have to take additional time off of work or school. All travel and accommodation requirements will be arranged and paid for by Heartfelt Egg Donation on the behalf of the Intended Parents.

How much will I be paid and when will I receive the check?

Heartfelt Egg Donation has signed an agreement with the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) that states that we will abide by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) Ethics Committee Guidelines governing the payment of egg donors. The guidelines pertaining to appropriate donor compensation specifically state: "Total payments to donors in excess of $5,000 require justification and sums above $10,000 are not appropriate." Donors will not be compensated over $10,000 under any circumstance. Typically, you will receive your check within 7 days of the egg retrieval.