In sex education videos the race of sperm to egg is portrayed like an Olympic swimming final as sperm surge purposefully down the female reproductive tract to the finish line. The reality, however, may be rather less elegant.
Month: May 2012
New WHO statistics report includes good news for women’s and children’s health
16 MAY 2012 | GENEVA – The World Health Statistics 2012 report puts the spotlight on the growing problem of the noncommunicable diseases burden, but also highlights progress in women’s and children’s health.
How Does Infertility Affect us When we Become Moms?
by Iris Waichler
Mother’s day is over now. For those who are still trying to become a parent it is an incredibly difficult day. I hope you were able to …
In Sperm Banks, a Roll of the Genetic Dice
For more than a year, the Kretchmars carefully researched sperm banks and donors. The donor they chose was a family man, a Christian like them, they were told. Most important, he had a clean bill of health. His sperm was stored at the New England Cryogenic Center in Boston, and according to the laboratory’s Web site, all donors there were tested for various genetic conditions.
Because of Abstinence Education, 60 Percent of Young Adults Are Misinformed About Birth Control’s Effectiveness
A new study from the Guttmacher Institute unsurprisingly finds that greater knowledge about contraceptive services is directly correlated to a decrease in young adults’ risky sexual behavior.
So Eager for Grandchildren, They’re Paying the Egg-Freezing Clinic
At the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine, a popular destination for women hoping to preserve their fertility by freezing their eggs, Dr. William Schoolcraft, the founder and medical director, has started to notice something different: more of the women are arriving with company.
Conceiving a Child Can Be Emotional, Costly
Three foster children came in and out of the lives of Heidi Sue and Annie Angueira before the couple could even begin the journey that finally brought them the infant they knew they’d be able to keep.
Gender Selection – How and Why?
Gender selection is a fairly new option in the field of fertility treatment. Patients undergoing IVF can now choose whether to use a male or female embryo. Here are some frequently asked questions about this process.
What Technology is Used?
Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) is the only reliable method for selecting the gender of a child. Sperm sorting is sometimes used by couples in the hope of increasing the chances of conceiving a child of the desired sex. However, the effectiveness of this method is unproven lacking data from large, multicenter trials.
How Does PGD Work?
After an egg has been fertilized in an IVF dish, it is allowed to develop for 3 days. After this, a single cell is removed from the embryo. It is evaluated for Y chromosome (the male chromosome) markers. If these genetic markers are present, the embryo is male. If not, the embryo is female.
Is This Process Safe and Reliable?
The process of PGD does not prevent an embryo from developing normally. The results of the evaluation are available after about 2 days. This means the embryo is transferred to the mother’s womb on the 5th day instead of the 3rd day. This is still within the time frame for successful embryo transfer. This method of determining the sex of an embryo has been shown to be 99% accurate.
Why Might Patients Choose this Option?
Patients sometimes use gender selection if they already have children of one gender and wish to balance their family with a child of the opposite gender. Or, the family may have a history of genetic disorders that are passed down through the X chromosome. These recessive traits typically affect male children because they have only one X chromosome. Choosing to have a girl makes it unlikely that this disease will affect the child. Some patients simply prefer to have a child of a specific gender.
Are There Ethical Concerns about Gender Selection?
Some people feel that selection of non-essential characteristics like gender is not an appropriate use of medical technology. Others believe gender selection is an aspect of reproductive rights and parents should be allowed to make this decision. The use of this technology to prevent genetic disease or to provide family balancing is typically viewed as less controversial than other uses.
Some things are worth the wait — even a 22-year wait
We thought we’d end the week with a wonderful, inspiring story: Did you read the news this week in the Daily Mail, a UK newspaper and site, about a woman who tried for 22 years to get pregnant, to no avail, but at the age of 43 she conceived and delivered a beautiful baby girl?
The Daily Mail reported on Monday that Paula Lackie was told at the age of 21 that she’d never conceive naturally, thanks to damage done to her Fallopian tubes by endometriosis. She went on to adopt two children. To make matters more challenging, Lackie’s second husband, Grant, could not conceive with his first wife, for unknown reasons. But Lackie’s grandmother became pregnant at 43 — Paula’s age now — so Paula always held out hope she could get pregnant naturally, the site reported.
And indeed she did: In April the couple welcomed baby daughter Isla, weighing 7 pounds.
What inspiring stories have you heard about someone having a baby even when the odds were against them?
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Male Equivalent of Menopause: MANopause
The official term for manopause is andropause. Men with this condition suffer from lower-than-normal levels of testosterone. According to various studies, this condition affects 20 to 30 percent of all men. Unlike menopause, which usually runs its course in a few years, andropause can last for decades.