Family of miracles

Ellen McCarty

FOUNTAIN VALLEY -- A beautiful little girl held a water bottle in a

waiting room at the West Coast Fertility Center as 44-year-old Lowell

Gavito waited to be tested for an innovative infertility treatment -- the

frozen egg transfer.

As Becky, a year old, walked around the room, beaming at strangers in her

fancy dress and hat, Gavito smiled through her tears, saying, “I can’t

believe she’s mine.”

Fourteen months ago, Gavito became the first woman to give birth after

receiving a blastocyst culture, a fertilized egg that divided into

several cells before it was inserted into her uterus.

On Nov. 16, Gavito received five embryos into her uterus. If her second

induced pregnancy is successful, she will become the first woman in the

United States to give birth as a result of a frozen egg transfer.

Although frozen sperm have been used for 40 years, eggs are more fragile,

said Dr. David Diaz, medical director of the fertility center at Fountain

Valley Regional Medical Center, who is overseeing Gavito’s pregnancy.

Eggs never survived the freezing process, until the development of cryo

protectant -- a type of antifreeze -- and the Intracytoplasmic Sperm

Injection, which allows embryologists to inject sperm directly into an

egg with a needle.

Despite the improved technology, there are no guarantees of successful

pregnancy.

Last month, a Santa Ana woman received a frozen egg transfer, but her

pregnancy ultimately failed.

“We’re careful not to have high expectations,” said Gavito’s husband,

Bob, who this time contributed his own sperm to the pregnancy. “If it

doesn’t work, we already have a miracle.’

Although Becky looks like her parents, her genetic material came from

anonymous donors.

Every day, Bob Gavito injects progesterone into his wife’s body through a

needle, a process that will continue throughout the nine months of

pregnancy.

Gavito also must endure hormonal side effects, including headaches,

nausea and a roller coaster of emotions.

“It’s tough, but when you look at her, it’s worth it,” she said, gazing

at her daughter.

The couple married on Valentine’s Day four and a half years ago.

They considered adoption, but county adoptions are not approved for

couples older than 40, and private adoptions can cost up to $20,000,

Gavito said. In comparison, infertility treatments cost about $7,000

each.

“This shows other women that pregnancy can be delayed later in life,” she

said.

She has a son, 19, from a previous marriage. But her husband never had

children of his own until Becky arrived.

On Nov. 12, after receiving multiple tests, Diaz determined that Gavito’s

uterus and her husband’s sperm were primed for the transfer.

Weeks of progesterone shots had thickened Gavito’s uterus and enabled it

to nourish the inserted embryos, he said. The next day, eight frozen eggs

were thawed, and seven of them were successfully inseminated.

On Sunday, five of the cells divided. They were inserted into Gavito’s

uterus last Tuesday, Nov. 16.

Confined to her bed to help keep the eggs inside her uterus, Gavito said

waiting is the hardest part.

“I’m stir crazy already,” she said.

On Tuesday, she will take a pregnancy test.

She has a 30% chance of having twins and a 5% chance of having triplets,

Diaz said.

But the couple is hoping for more than one baby.

“Twins would be wonderful,” Gavito said. “We’d be on cloud nine.”