IUI 'the right decision,' new mother says

SIOUX LOOKOUT – For Myriam Bernier, getting pregnant by intrauterine insemination (IUI) in Winnipeg was a no-brainer.

“It was easily the right decision for us,” Bernier said in a phone interview. “It made the most sense.”

Bernier and her wife decided in 2021 to become parents.

As same-sex partners, their first step was finding a clinic that could make parenthood a reality for them.

After careful research and considering their options, they settled on Heartland Fertility in Winnipeg as the place for them.

It was there that Bernier, a children’s speech language pathologist in her early 30s, underwent the IUI procedure in which sperm is placed directly into the uterus.

The first procedure didn’t produce a pregnancy, but a second round worked and Bernier gave birth to baby Charlotte in July 2023.

“Charlotte is great,” Bernier said as the infant vocalized in their Sioux Lookout home. “She was a great pregnancy, and she’s growing pretty great too.”

Speaking from Heartland Fertility’s new location in southwest Winnipeg, Dr. Gordon McTavish described IUI as “sort of an entry-level assisted reproductive treatment.

“And it’s great if we can help people get pregnant that way, because it’s a lot less expensive as far as an assisted reproductive intervention,” he continued.

“We use a small catheter that transfers that fluid right up inside the uterus so the sperm has, like, a kickstart out to the fallopian tubes to try and bump into an egg,” he said.

“I always say it’s like creating a good blind date: It just puts the parties together in a more accurate timing to see if they can actually improve their fertilization.”

The expanded clinic’s innovative technologies and larger medical team has shrunk wait times to “only a few weeks,” according to a Heartland media release.

The Winnipeg team is “taking the next step in our growth to expand our ability to serve more patients from across Northwestern Ontario, Manitoba and beyond,” McTavish said.

Northwestern Ontario residents can also access IUI and other fertility services through the North Shore Fertility Clinic (not affiliated with Heartland) in Thunder Bay, where government-funded fertility treatments are available to people with valid Ontario health cards.

Ontario residents generally aren’t covered by the Ontario Fertility Program when they go to Winnipeg for fertility treatment, so Bernier and her spouse paid out of their own funds.

But it was worth it, Bernier said while holding little Charlotte.

Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Thunder Bay Source