TresSugar

Woman Implanted With Wrong Embryo to Give Birth

TresSugar — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 06:00:00 -0700

Carolyn Savage was elated when she was told her implanted embryo had taken, and she was pregnant with her fourth, and last, child. After her first pregnancy, Carolyn faced a host of life-threatening problems, and two of her children had been born prematurely. Determined to have a fourth child, she and her husband Sean resorted to in vitro fertilization.

And then they received the unthinkable news from the fertility clinic: another couple's embryo had been implanted. After consulting lawyers and the biological parents, the Savages decided Carolyn would carry the baby to term and then give it up to its parents. Although the legal option was theirs, because of their beliefs, they chose not to terminate the pregnancy. Carolyn has decided to have her remaining embryos implanted in a surrogate who will carry and deliver her fourth child.

As advanced as reproductive technology is, we have yet to catch up with ways of handling the ethical dilemmas that arise when things go wrong. What if Carolyn didn't want to carry another person's baby and decided to terminate it? Legally, the biological parents would not have had recourse, but imagine how tragic her decision would have been for all involved. What do you think about fertility advancements? Are they necessary, or should people just adopt or be content with the number of children they have?

In NY, Women Can Sell Their Eggs For $10,000

TresSugar — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:00:00 -0700

New York's Empire State Stem Cell Board has $600 million in state funding for stem cell studies. The only problem? It needs more stem cells! So the board has decided to let researchers pay women up to $10,000 for the discomfort, time, and expenses involved with donating their eggs for stem cell experiments.

Fans of the unprecedented plan say it removes a great obstacle to finding treatments for life threatening diseases. Researchers say that a lack of compensation made it nearly impossible to convince women to donate their eggs. That may be because the process is not simple. Women have to take hormone injections for weeks that stimulate their ovaries to produce eggs. Then they have to undergo a painful extraction procedure.

Fertility clinics are successful in getting women to undergo the process because they compensate them - so science says it just wants part of the action. Critics say that the practice amounts to human body-part trafficking and worry that underprivileged women will be pressured to donate their eggs for the money.

How much would it take for you to sell your eggs?

Controversial Doctor Says Human Cloning Is Coming . . . Soon

TresSugar — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:30:00 -0700

This story really freaks me out. Doctor Panayiotis Zavos claims that he has transfered cloned embryos into four women who had agreed to give birth to cloned humans. While his work hasn't ended in any viable pregnancies, Dr. Zavos isn't stopping.

The Gilbert Gottfried look-a-like (clone?) is doing his work in the Middle East, some speculate, because it's illegal to attempt to clone humans everywhere else. He is determined to succeed, and there are many people who are willing to pay for his services. Zavos thinks he can create the first cloned human within two years.

The doctor also admits that he has cloned the cells of three dead people, which he didn't implant into anyone. For example, the frozen cells of Cady, who died in a car accident at age 10, were sent to Zavos. To create embryos he fused Cady's cells with cow eggs that had their own genetic material removed.

I hope we never see the day when parents can clone their dead children, or when any human can be cloned for that matter.

Do you think we should do everything we can to stop science from moving forward with human cloning, or am I just being close minded?

Octomom Bill Would Limit Number of Embryo Implants

CitizenSugar — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 11:00:00 -0800

California may be all right with Nadya Suleman having octuplets, but one state senator says such a thing shouldn't happen in the great state of Georgia.

Republican Sen. Ralph Hudgens has introduced a bill that would limit women under 40 to two embryos and women over 40 to three. A doctor implanted Nadya, 33, with six, a number that violated the medical field's self-regulations. The American Society For Reproductive Medicine supports limiting embryos to two for women under 35, and five for women over 40.

Defending his legislation, Sen. Hudgens said:

She is not married, She is unemployed, she is on government assistance, and now she is going to put those 14 children on the back of the taxpayers in the state of California.

Critics worry that Georgia fertility doctors would lose business to neighboring states. Others think that the bill is an attempt to outlaw abortion, since it defines an in vitro embryo as a human being.

I'm sure there would be outrage if a law attempted to limit natural conceptions. Do you think government should step in to stop an "octomom" repeat, or should it be left to the medical community?

Good Idea or Bad Idea: "Booty Caller"

DearSugar — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:00:00 -0800

Tracking your period can be a nuisance, especially if you're forgetful, but don't fret because the folks at BabyCenter.com are here to help. Their genius Booty Caller is a free text message service that will alert you three times per month, letting you know when you're most fertile and offering up other helpful fertility advice. If you're trying not to get pregnant, use this information as a reminder to be extra careful with your birth control during ovulation.

The "Booty Caller" can alleviate one of your monthly worries, so ladies, tell me, do you think this free service is a good idea or a bad idea?

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Need a Reason to Lose Weight?

DearSugar — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 06:00:00 -0800

If you need another reason to keep your weight down, especially this holiday season, use better sex as your motivator! As stated in the December issue of Glamour magazine, research shows that sustaining a healthy weight can actually boost sex drive and fertility in both men and women. Mary Jane Minkin, MD, explains that extra body fat makes extra estrogen which has the ability to hinder ovulation in women, and new research reveals that those excess pounds on men could damage their precious sperm.

Since exercising gives you those "feel-good endorphins," hit the gym and keep your BMI between 20 and 24.9 - your body and boyfriend will thank you!

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Sex Myth: You're More Fertile After a Miscarriage

DearSugar — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:00:00 -0700

If you're trying to have a baby, you may have heard that after enduring a miscarriage, your body is more fertile. Unfortunately, according to a recent article in The New York Times this is just a rumor. While it's true that your progesterone levels (the hormone that helps with pregnancy) are elevated, there's no evidence to support the notion that it can help you conceive any faster. What's more important is that you get back to your regular menstrual cycle, because as soon as you're ovulating again, you can try to get pregnant.

Miscarriages aren't the most pleasant topic, but it's important to know that they're actually fairly common, occurring in 30 to 50 percent of pregnancies. The reason we think they're uncommon is because most miscarriages occur early on, so early in fact that the woman doesn't even realize she's had one. The good news is that when a woman does get pregnant again, she only has a 2.25 percent chance of miscarrying again. The odds of a third miscarriage are less than one percent.

Keep in mind that starting a family can take some time. As the article notes:

Another study in The New England Journal of Medicine followed a large sample of healthy women seeking to conceive and found that of those who miscarried, 95 percent became pregnant within two years.

So if a little one is on your mind, try to be patient and have fun making it happen.

Source

Should There Be an Age Limit For Fertility Treatments?

DearSugar — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:00:00 -0700

I'm a firm supporter of fertility treatments that help women and couples have babies when health issues make it difficult. I always thought that young people would be the ones seeking out this kind of help, but I just read about a 59-year old woman who gave birth to triplets, all with a little medical help. Her body was obviously passed her prime and well into menopause, but she wanted a baby. In France, where she lives, it's illegal to help a woman have a baby if she can't procreate naturally, so she went to Vietnam, received treatment, and gave birth to two boys and a girl.

In several countries, it's fairly common for older women to have babies after undergoing fertility treatments. Ever since 1994, when Italian fertility doctor Severino Antinori helped a 63-year-old have a baby, other doctors have followed suit. So my question to you is this: Do you think there should be an age limit for fertility treatments? If a women needs help having a baby, does she have a right to seek it regardless of whether she's in her 20s, 40s, or 60s? Share your thoughts below.

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Would You Ask a Friend to Father Your Child?

DearSugar — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:00:00 -0700

Having a successful date is hard enough these days, so when you're ready to have kids but don't have a man in your life, it might be time to ask your best guy friend to father your baby. According to a new study in the London Times, more than half of the women surveyed - 56 percent to be exact - admitted to considering asking a male friend to be their baby's daddy if they couldn't find the right partner by a certain age. The survey also notes that two-thirds of women have concerns about their fertility, and surprisingly so do 26 percent of men. While having a baby is sure to be on many people's brains, both men and women in Britain are so concerned about it that they'd actually reconsider staying with their partner if they were unable to procreate.

For many, the preferred way to start a family would be with someone you're in a committed, loving relationship with, but tell me ladies, would you ever consider asking a male friend to be the father of your baby if you were unlucky in love?

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What's the Connection Between Soy and Sperm Count?

DearSugar — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:00:00 -0700

With all this talk about meat and dairy products causing heart problems, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, more people are switching to alternative foods made with low fat, high protein soy. Tofu, soy milk, and fermented soy products such as tempeh, miso soup, and soy sauce are just a few, and so many people are adding them to their diets to be healthier. Some rumors have been spread that eating soy causes breast cancer, but right now the American Institute for Cancer Research says that there's no evidence that proves this theory. Well that's good news for the ladies, but as far as men go, now there's talk about how soy may affect sperm count. A US study discovered that men who included soy in their diets (equivalent to one cup of soy milk or one serving of tofu every other day) had an average sperm count of 41 million sperm per milliliter less than men who didn't eat soy foods. Geez, that's a huge drop in those little guys!

Now before you freak out, this isn't to say that eating soy affects the chances of having a baby; after all, soy products have been a part of Asian diets for generations with no signs of fertility problems. Also, this study doesn't touch upon the quality of sperm, and since it only takes one good swimmer to make a baby, it seems that more research needs to be done before drawing any conclusions about tofu and fertility. So as with everything, I think moderation is the key.

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