It's a white flower that blossoms under inhospitable conditions, but it's also the name of a new group helping couples struggling to cope with infertility.

Paperwhites is the new organisation whose aim is to act as a support group as well as a source of information for couples.

"Paperwhites are a type of flower that can grow without soil," said group organiser Lisa Bagchi. "I thought it was a nice image, because a lot of our members are trying to build a family in an unconventional way.

"These flowers prove that you can grow and bloom in an unconventional manner."

Mrs. Bagchi, who is married to Kris Bagchi, started the group, which currently has 10 members, after going through multiple miscarriages.

"There is an evolution to this group," said Mrs. Bagchi. "It won't be the same people all the time. Ideally, people will progress and achieve their goals."

Members are dealing with their infertility in a variety of ways. "Some of our members are turning to a homeopathy to help with their reproductive issues," said Mrs. Bagchi. "We have herbalists. We have people who are not going down the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) road. That is not what they want."

She added: "We want couples struggling with infertility to know that while it is a private and intensely personal matter, they are not alone."

She said living in Bermuda, where ART resources and information are not immediately at hand, can make couples feel even more isolated.

"But there are couples going through the same thing right here in our own community and we can help each other," she said, adding that there was a lot of cheerleading at the meetings.

The Bagchis suffered a number of miscarriages before seeking medical assistance.

"We were so naive looking back," said Mrs. Bagchi.

"We lost our first pregnancy at seven weeks. A year went by with no pregnancy. Then we started seeking additional help. We had a couple procedures done and we got pregnant another four times and lost those pregnancies."

After having genetic testing done, it was found they had a chromosomal abnormality called Full Trisomy 16, a chromosomal disorder in which an individual has three copies of chromosome 16 instead of the usual two.

Trisomy 16 is not compatible with life and is the most common chromosomal cause of miscarriages, causing more than 100,000 miscarriages annually in the United States alone.

The Bagchis turned to in vitro fertilisation (IVF) to help them finally make their child a reality.

IVF is a method of assisting reproduction that involves surgically removing an egg from the woman's ovary and combining it with sperm in a laboratory dish. If the egg is fertilised, the resulting embryo is transferred to the woman's uterus. "We used IVF to do pre-genetic diagnosis," said Mrs. Bagchi. "They take a single cell from the embryo then diagnose it for any abnormalities and then transfer the ones free of abnormalities back."

Undertaking IVF was a hard decision for the Bagchis to make. "We did the first round in January of this year," said Mrs. Bagchi. "And I didn't respond to any of the medications and it was cancelled. When it failed I was devastated."

At that point she turned to more traditional methods to help her along.

"What I did was I implemented a daily regimen of wheat grass into my diet," she said. "And I did my next cycle of IVF immediately after the first with no breaks."

She said in Bermuda, because everything has to be done off-Island, it means that often couples undergoing IVF don't have the luxury of "taking a break" from trying.

"After the wheat grass regimen, by the time my second IVF cycle started I had quadrupled the response," she said. "The wheat grass cut my follicle stimulating hormones (FSH) in half. The lower your FSH the higher your ovarian reserve is.

"That, as a consequence, gave me more follicles which gave us more eggs, which gave us a better chance."

Thanks to that second cycle of IVF, the couple is now expecting a baby in December.

"We were elated and ecstatic," said Mrs. Bagchi. "Because of the process we had been through we had a lot of good information about our baby."

She said that IVF sometimes has a stigma attached. "It is not viewed as natural in some people's eyes," she said. "If you get to the point where you need ART, you have already struggled and suffered enough. Chances are you just can't take much more of it."

Usually, people seeking help for infertility will be subjected a battery of tests – hormone levels are checked, and doctors look for clotting disorders. Men as well as women can have a number of problems leading to infertility – one third of fertility problems are because of the woman, one third because of the man, and one third a combined problem.

Mrs. Bagchi said the first steps when seeking ART are often a medication called Clomid that stimulates follicle production. Another step is interuterine insemination (IUI) which is performed by threading a very thin flexible catheter through the cervix and injecting sperm directly into the uterus.

"The clomid and the IUI are usually less expensive and usually the first route people take," Mrs. Bagchi said. Unfortunately much of ART is not covered by insurance and can be costly.

"Since most ART is not covered by insurance, the patient has to pay out-of-pocket, often leading to increased stress as well as long-term financial burdens," said Mrs. Bagchi.

The average cost of an IVF cycle using fresh embryos (not including medications) is around $8,158. Medications for IVF are $3,000 to $5,000 per fresh cycle, on average.

"Factor in flights, hotel, rental car, costs etc. and you're averaging $15,000 per cycle for a Bermudian resident seeking treatment in the United States."

Mrs. Bagchi advised other couples dealing with infertility to seek the advice of medical experts. "An obstetrician is used to treating healthy, unchallenged women," she said. "It is not their focus. It is not their business.

"We were with our obstetrician-gynaecologist too long," she said. "She was full of positive energy. She said, 'I'm sure it is going to happen'. But the reality was different. We needed someone who was steeped in that reality everyday."

Medical experts advise that women under 35 should seek medical help after one year of unprotected intercourse, and women over 35-years-old should seek help after six months.

Mrs. Bagchi said Dr. Dale Wilmot, at the Point Finger Road Medical Centre, is the local expert to turn to first if couples are ready for the next step.

"Dr. Wilmot works with the Diamond Institute For Infertility and Menopause in New Jersey. He does direct you to Diamond, if that's what you need."

But she said many women go to other clinics in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. Paperwhites currently meets the first and third Monday of every month, except for the holidays, at the Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation at 27 Jubilee Road, Devonshire from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.