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'Special Deliveries'
Picnic Celebrates Reproductive Clinic's Success Stories

By Cindy Wojdyla Cain
Herald News Staff Writer
August 1999

JOLIET -- The babies and toddlers gathered at a picnic on Sunday looked like any other kids.

They drooled, they cried, they gurgled.

Only their parents and the staff from Reproductive Health Specialists, Ltd. knew the children received a little extra help coming into this world.

All of the babies were born with a nudge from science, provided by the Joliet-based clinic, which opened two years ago.  About 30 babies, including two sets of triplets and a set of twins, were on hand Sunday along with their proud parents and siblings.

The picnic, held adjacent to the clinic office at 310 N. Hammes Ave., allowed clinic staffers to see the end results of their work.  Typically, couples who become pregnant only receive care at the clinic for the first trimester of pregnancy then return to their obstetricians.

"This is a time for us to participate in a little bit of the joy," said Linda Mroczkowski, the clinic's office manager.

More than 60 babies have been conceived through the clinic's services, but only 40-45 have been born.  The rest are "in the works" as Mroczkowski put it.

Reducing Multiple Births

Dr. Marek Piekos, a reproductive endocrinologist, located the clinic in Joliet because there was no other such facility in the region.  Since opening in Joliet, the clinic has opened satellite offices in Melrose Park and Chicago.

One of the newest services provided by the clinic is the use of blastocyst cultures, which allow more mature embryos to be implanted in women.  Because the blastocyst has a better chance of attaching, fewer embryos are implanted leading to fewer multiple births.  Piekos tries to avoid high-risk multiple births beyond twins.

Kathy Samano of Joliet had triplets, two boys and a girl, in February.  But, she has no complaints.  Samano and her husband, Guillermo, had one son, Guillermo, Jr., 7.  But the couple wanted more children.

One of Samano's fallopian tubes was damaged by a tubal pregnancy a few years ago and her other tube was not ovulating.  She sought help from the clinic.

"They implanted six eggs and we got three babies," she said.  "We discussed doing a reduction (of embryos) but we prayed from the very beginning and if that (triplets) is what God wanted that's what was going to happen."

Jamin, Alejandro and Miguel Angel were born Feb. 12.

"It's been difficult, but I'd do it all over again," said Samano.  "My house is so much more lively with them."

Clinic Workers Share In Joy

The picnic was a way for Samano and other patients to show off their special deliveries and show their appreciation for clinic employees.

"These people have just been fantastic," said Jeanette Stevenson of Shorewood, who attended the picnic with her husband, Dan, and daughter, Megan, 7 months.  "They're so caring and involved."

Stevenson suffered one miscarriage before conceiving Megan.

"It was as hard on them (clinic staffers) as it was on us," she said.

"Clinic employees get just as emotionally involved in the failures as the successes," Mroczkowski said.

"I've seen staff members sit there and cry because they get to know these people so well," she said.  "The biggest heartbreaker is when couples conceive and then they lose the baby."

Even science isn't 100 percent effective in correcting all infertility.

"I wish it were," Mroczkowski said.  "But sometimes there's just nothing you can do."

But Sunday was a day for celebrating the successes.  Watching parents tote diaper bags and push strollers had special meaning.

"For some of these people it's been a long haul with many years of trying," said Judie Mirous, clinical director and in vitro coordinator.

Sometimes the clinic is so successful at helping clients, the effects linger even after a baby is born.  Anita Gomez of River Forest became pregnant with twins, Alicia and Monica, who were born Sept. 19, 1997.  A short while later, Gomez became pregnant again, with no help from the clinic.

"I was totally in shock," said Gomez who attended the picnic with her twin daughters and surprise son Luis, who was born in January.

"It's been like Babies 'R Us at my house,"

Cara Merriman sought help from the clinic after giving birth to a daughter, Nikki, five years ago, then suffering one miscarriage and a tubal pregnancy.  When Cara became pregnant, her daughter worried the new baby wouldn't make it.

"She said, 'Mom, do you think God will let us keep this baby?'"