On our Facebook page we state, “A Pregnancy a Day Since 2000”. It is perhaps a catchy slogan but when you think about what it means, it is actually incredible.
Every month, I tally the new early pregnancy viability ultrasounds, give the number to Brad (our nurse and business manager), who updates the counter on our main web page. An early viability ultrasound is the ultrasound which we perform at the clinic about 40 days after we think you have conceived (about 26 days after a missed period). There is an information sheet dealing with it on our web page called Assessment of Early Pregnancy.
Many years ago, I did a study in which I followed the first 1,000 normal early viability ultrasounds until they delivered their babies. The astounding result was that 94.4% of our patients delivered a healthy baby within 2 weeks of their due date. It is therefore very predictive of a good pregnancy and it is what we use to update our pregnancy counter!
Early on in the clinics history, we never dreamed of being able to support a slogan like “A pregnancy a Day …”. The first full month of operation didn’t produce a single pregnancy ultrasound, however, the second month there were three and the third month there were five.
It wasn’t until 2006 that we started to believe the slogan could be attained. That year, we started tallying about 30 pregnancies a month and each year since that it has edged up slowly. It was the the end of the year in 2009 that the magic began.
Our first day of operation was Monday, October 2nd, 2000. On Friday, October 2nd, 2009, nine years to the day from the beginning, we started the day with our pregnancy counter at 3,286. That was one short of a pregnancy a day if you counted the two included leap years. We had two early pregnancy viability ultrasounds booked that day and both were good, edging our total to one better than a pregnancy a day!
Since then we have never looked back. Most months, there are at least 30 new pregnancies keeping up the pace nicely. However, last month was a very special month. For May 2012 I have the absolute privilege of reporting 44 new normal pregnancy ultrasounds. That is the all-time monthly record.
This new milestone has made me reflect about our good fortune.
First and foremost, this is happening because of the wonderful staff we have at S.O.F.T. supporting all of our patients. When you first come to S.O.F.T., you will be greeted by someone at the front desk who you will find warm and friendly. If you continue with treatment, you will get to know them very well. Next, you will meet someone from our friendly nursing staff. These people love their job and know it very well. They will take care of you and your every need with a smile. No request is ignored; no question is too unimportant. Next, you may have the pleasure of meeting one of our ultrasound sonographers. Again, you will be impressed by their knowledge and skill, but also by their warmth. You may not meet but will probably come to realize, there is a very skilled lab staff in the background, doing everything they can to facilitate your treatment.
Other things may help contribute to our success but you have to realize the importance of the staff. One of the two physicians who work at S.O.F.T. sustained a very severe injury at the beginning of May; but is improving in her recovery. This limited the amount of physician time available for the month. Despite this, we attained the highest number of new pregnancies per month ever in the history of S.O.F.T.
Thank you very much to each and every staff member at the clinic for the 4,375 pregnancies as of the end of May, 2012!
James Martin MD.
