From MSNBC:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13452919/
Send in the clowns to boost IVF success
Humor appears to improve rates of fertility treatments
Are you freaking kidding me? Clowns?!?!?! I'm glad it worked for those ladies, but this is just going to spurn more people to assume (ASSume) that IF is caused by stress and that if we'd just relax and stop trying so hard that we'd be pregnant already. Whatever!
On a totally separate note, my mom calls me today to tell me that she checked with her hematologist and turns out she has both Protein C deficiency and Protein S deficiency. Wow, can't say for sure, but I've got to think that having both of these is pretty darn rare. I had a whole bunch of blood taken today to screen for clotting disorders as well as other stuff. I hope to get the results back in the next few weeks. They took about 12-14 vials of blood today and I nearly fainted when they were done. At least the phlebotomist was good and quick.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Saturday, June 17, 2006
That's a lot of poopy diapers!
So, I'm watching a show on Discovery Health Channel about a couple who have twins, then had sextuplets. She has PCOS (luckily, one infertility problem I DON'T have) and they did IF treatments to get pregnant. They weren't specific on the show, but I have to assume it was IUI (Intra-Uterine Insemination) both times.
I just can't get over this feeling that this was so irresponsible of the couple and of their doctor to allow them to go ahead with the IUI if she was producing so many follicles. Their first IUI worked and gave them twins, they shouldn't have allowed the IUI with more than 3 follicles. Originally, she was pregnant with septuplets (7 babies at once) but they lost one of them. I understand that the couple was against selective reduction, that's their choice (and luckily, so far in this country we still have that choice) but come on! There's no way you can give each of those children the attention they deserve.
This brings me to another more famous large family. That family (forget the name off the top of my head) with 15 children and she's pregnant again with #16!!!!!! I'm not trying to say people can't have as many children as they are able to provide for, this family seems to be doing a decent job of providing material things for their brood. But, I wonder, are they being provided with a quality childhood? The older siblings are 'mini-moms' to the younger ones and the younger ones are being raised by siblings more than the parents. I just have a problem with that. Don't get me wrong, my grandmother had 10 children (I, apparently, didn't inherit her fertility) so I am a product of a large family. Had my grandparents stopped at the traditional 3-4 kids, my mom wouldn't be here, and neither would I, but still, I can't get past this feeling that it's irresponsible and selfish. I'm sure someone is going to read this and be offended by that, and I guess that's fine. They don't have to agree with me, but this is how I feel and this is my blog.
I just can't get over this feeling that this was so irresponsible of the couple and of their doctor to allow them to go ahead with the IUI if she was producing so many follicles. Their first IUI worked and gave them twins, they shouldn't have allowed the IUI with more than 3 follicles. Originally, she was pregnant with septuplets (7 babies at once) but they lost one of them. I understand that the couple was against selective reduction, that's their choice (and luckily, so far in this country we still have that choice) but come on! There's no way you can give each of those children the attention they deserve.
This brings me to another more famous large family. That family (forget the name off the top of my head) with 15 children and she's pregnant again with #16!!!!!! I'm not trying to say people can't have as many children as they are able to provide for, this family seems to be doing a decent job of providing material things for their brood. But, I wonder, are they being provided with a quality childhood? The older siblings are 'mini-moms' to the younger ones and the younger ones are being raised by siblings more than the parents. I just have a problem with that. Don't get me wrong, my grandmother had 10 children (I, apparently, didn't inherit her fertility) so I am a product of a large family. Had my grandparents stopped at the traditional 3-4 kids, my mom wouldn't be here, and neither would I, but still, I can't get past this feeling that it's irresponsible and selfish. I'm sure someone is going to read this and be offended by that, and I guess that's fine. They don't have to agree with me, but this is how I feel and this is my blog.
Friday, June 16, 2006
My blog de-virgining
I've lost track of how many times my husband or friends have told me I should start a blog. But what would I talk about? Who cares what I have to say? Probably no one. Oh well. I'm on this stupid laptop so much anyway, I might as well do something semi-productive.
Ok, so I have no idea where this thing is going but I guess I can start with what's going on in my life. I don't even know who I want to let know about this blog. Maybe it will just be for me. Hmmmm...kind of like that idea.
Ok, so what's going on with me. We're coming up on 2 years of trying to conceive (TTC) a second child and today was a bit of an epiphany for me. You see, yesterday we got back the test results from the chromosomal analysis of the fetal tissue recovered during my D&C in May. 46XX. It was a she and her chromosomes were normal. We 'knew' it was a girl, but this just confirms it. Well, sort of. We can't be certain the cells they tested weren't mine. So, she was normal. So why did she have to die? Here's the epiphany part. My mom told me yesterday that she has Protein C deficiency. I've known for years that she has ulcerated sores on her ankles/feet, but thought that was from her diabetes or the spider bite she got years ago. Sometimes mom doesn't really understand everything the doctors tell her and in telling me about things, details get lost in translation. I have no idea yet if I have also inherited Protein C deficiency the way my mother did from her father, but there's a good chance. I'll have my Reproductive Endocronologist (RE) runs some tests next week to find out. This is a clotting disorder that, simply put, can cause miscarriage when the blood flow to the newly forming placenta is cut off by clots. Right now I'm torn between being excited about having found a probable cause for the miscarriage and this feeling of almost blame (but not really) over the fact that I didn't know this sooner. I wish my mom had been more clear about her specific diagnosis and I should have asked her more specific questions. I wish I'd seen the possible connection to my mom's chronic use of Coumdamin (a blood thinning medication) and my infertility.
Instead, now we might be adding another hurdle to our infertility race against time. As if it weren't bad enough we are dealing with my high FSH, and my husband's low sperm count and low morphology. The clock is ticking, but maybe, just maybe, we've found which wire to cut.
Ok, so I have no idea where this thing is going but I guess I can start with what's going on in my life. I don't even know who I want to let know about this blog. Maybe it will just be for me. Hmmmm...kind of like that idea.
Ok, so what's going on with me. We're coming up on 2 years of trying to conceive (TTC) a second child and today was a bit of an epiphany for me. You see, yesterday we got back the test results from the chromosomal analysis of the fetal tissue recovered during my D&C in May. 46XX. It was a she and her chromosomes were normal. We 'knew' it was a girl, but this just confirms it. Well, sort of. We can't be certain the cells they tested weren't mine. So, she was normal. So why did she have to die? Here's the epiphany part. My mom told me yesterday that she has Protein C deficiency. I've known for years that she has ulcerated sores on her ankles/feet, but thought that was from her diabetes or the spider bite she got years ago. Sometimes mom doesn't really understand everything the doctors tell her and in telling me about things, details get lost in translation. I have no idea yet if I have also inherited Protein C deficiency the way my mother did from her father, but there's a good chance. I'll have my Reproductive Endocronologist (RE) runs some tests next week to find out. This is a clotting disorder that, simply put, can cause miscarriage when the blood flow to the newly forming placenta is cut off by clots. Right now I'm torn between being excited about having found a probable cause for the miscarriage and this feeling of almost blame (but not really) over the fact that I didn't know this sooner. I wish my mom had been more clear about her specific diagnosis and I should have asked her more specific questions. I wish I'd seen the possible connection to my mom's chronic use of Coumdamin (a blood thinning medication) and my infertility.
Instead, now we might be adding another hurdle to our infertility race against time. As if it weren't bad enough we are dealing with my high FSH, and my husband's low sperm count and low morphology. The clock is ticking, but maybe, just maybe, we've found which wire to cut.
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