Fertility specialist Dr. Bonnie Patel holds 1-year-old Jayden Vance and mom Ella Vance holds his twin brother, Jackson. PHOTOGRAPHED BY PATRICK HEAGNEY

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With the help of fertility specialist Dr. Bonnie Patel of Atlanta Center for Reproductive Medicine, Ella Vance and her husband, Josh, are now the proud parents of twin 1-year-old boys.

“The moment my husband and I walked into the clinic for our initial consultation with Dr. Patel, she welcomed us with open arms,” says Ella Vance of her first fertility consultation with Atlanta Center for Reproductive Medicine (ACRM). An event planner in her mid-30s, Vance and her husband, Josh, turned to ACRM in February 2020 after trying to conceive on their own for over a year with no success.

Drawn to the practice’s stellar reputation and high success rate as well as access to multiple locations throughout the city, Vance says she immediately felt “at ease” with Patel, a University of Georgia graduate who received her MD from the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine and joined ACRM in September 2018.

“She was direct and honest and sat down with us and went through each available option specific to our situation, step by step, helping us weigh the pros and cons and success rate percentages,” says Vance. “You spend a lot of time in the clinic, sometimes multiple times a week, and every single time I walked in, I felt a sense of comfort, which is hard to find while going through the emotional roller coaster of infertility.”

According to Patel, in general, women under 35 should consult with a fertility specialist after 12 months of unprotected intercourse, after six months if 35 or older and immediately if 40 and older. But “infertility can be very distressing, and patients can and should seek evaluation sooner than these guidelines if they desire,” she explains.

After three failed attempts at intrauterine insemination (IUI), including a miscarriage, the Vances decided to pursue in vitro fertilization (IVF), and welcomed healthy twin boys, Jackson Charles and Jayden Cole, Sept. 9, 2021—just 18 months after they started the fertility process. Patel says “caring for incredibly strong and resilient patients, like Ella, is without a doubt the most rewarding aspect of this career. Through all the emotional, physical and financial hurdles, our patients continue to stay steadfast in their determination and have an unwavering faith that this process will work for them and their dreams of building a family will be realized. Ella can attest to this; infertility challenges come with intense highs and lows, and the resilience and grace that she and Josh summoned through their journey was incredibly inspirational.” atlantainfertility.com