For One Couple, a Health First Gynecologist Was the Starting Point That Got Them to the Finish Line

One in 8 couples suffer infertility. A gynecologist can help.

January 23, 2024

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TONYA CHANEY, a school resource officer in West Melbourne, is the mother of three. So when she and her partner, Paul Phillips (at left), began trying to conceive, it was a frustrating mystery why they seemed to be struggling. Health First Gynecologist M. Scott Bovelsky, MD, performed a sonohystogram that revealed a growth in the endometrial lining of her uterus that was preventing a fertilized egg from implanting.

When Brevard County Sheriff’s Cpl. Tonya Chaney wanted another baby, and it wasn’t happening, she visited the Health First Medical Group-Gateway practice of Gynecologist M. Scott Bovelsky, MD.

She already has three sons, but her youngest was born 14 years ago, when she was in her 20s. “I’m 42 now,” she said earlier this month, “and I want a girl.”

Many couples trying to get pregnant don’t. Experts know that pregnancy isn’t a likely outcome in any given month even for unchallenged couples, but about 1 in 8 have fertility complications requiring medical intervention.

The scientific designation of infertility is trying and failing to conceive after one calendar year. For women 35 and older, providers may begin examining infertility causes after six months.

The reasons for infertility in women are many, including infrequent or absent eggs, blocked fallopian tubes, and the shape or condition of a uterus that prevents a fertilized egg from attaching. For men, the reasons could be too few or inactive sperm, or the seminal fluid itself.

READ what came of Cpl. Chaney’s struggles in the full feature published on Space Coast Daily HERE.