People are turning to apps for everything these days, and fertility is no different. Thanks to Ava, a fertility-tracking app and bracelet, a Utah mom was able to conceive her second child, after trying for over a year.
Lizzie McGee and her husband Sam welcomed a healthy baby boy named Jace on July 11, according to a press release. The infant is now known as the world's first "Ava baby."
"He's a little miracle," the 32-year-old mom told USA Today. "There was such a long time that we didn't even know if we would be able to have a baby."
The couple had always struggled with fertility issues. Previously, it took the McGees four years, which included a miscarriage and the help of fertility drugs, to welcome their first child. The experience was not only lengthy and costly, but also emotionally draining.
That's why the couple chose to give Ava a shot after the new technology launched last summer.
The fertility tracker works much like a FitBit, hence the nickname "FitBit for Fertility." The bracelet contains sensors that track physical symptoms, such as heart rate, breathing and body temperature. Women wear the device while they sleep and the next day, the bracelet (which connects to a phone app) predicts their most fertile days.
After just three months of wearing the bracelet, McGee conceived her baby boy.
The mom-of-two told Parents.com the device kept moving her ovulation date, which is how she knew it was getting to know her body. "The day the ovulation date stayed in place, I thought to myself 'it really knows me. I'm going to get pregnant this month.' I knew it," she told the site.
Now that Jace is here, the McGees couldn't be happier. "It was amazing," the mom told USA Today. "He's a healthy, sweet-tempered, beautiful baby boy."
Infertility is more common than people think and affects almost one in six Canadian couples. Secondary infertility, which is the inability to conceive without reproductive assistance after previously giving birth, is just as common.
Infertility is more common than people think and affects almost one in six Canadian couples.
According to Ava co-founder Lea von Bidder, secondary infertility is especially common "in cases where a couple has started their family later in life because it's widely known that fertility decreases as maternal age increases."
While there are plenty of fertility apps in existence, Ava is the first wearable technology that tracks a woman's cycle in real-time. Ava is also a stress-free way to determine fertile days, as there's no need for women to input their own personalized data or pee on a stick, Parents.com notes. And while the cost is a cool US$200, for those who have gone through fertility treatments, it doesn't seem too pricey in comparison.
Last year, a real Fitbit detected a woman's unexpected pregnancy due to irregular heart rate readings, so clearly this type of technology is on to something when it comes to fertility.
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