IVF Inventor Wins the Nobel Prize

In 1978, the first in-vitro fertilization baby - Louise Brown - was born to a couple that had been trying to conceive for nine years and had thought it would never happen due to blocked fallopian tubes. Thirty two years later, over 4 million couples have used IVF to successfully conceive and become parents. And finally, this year British biologist Robert G. Edwards - pioneer of IVF - is being recognized with the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine.

Professor Edwards spent 20 years determining how human eggs matured and which hormones regulated maturation.  He discovered when human eggs could be fertilized and when they could be transfered back to the uterus. He and gynecologist Patrick Steptoe preformed the first IVF procedure on Lesley and John Brown. IVF had been tried on people before, but never before resulted in a successful pregnancy. But because of the work of Robert Edwards, Lesley and John Brown were able to become pregnant and parent a child.  They and all the subsequent IVF parents have Edwards to thank for their babies...its about time he was recognized for this stupendous achievement!

So, from me and everyone else in the TTC community... Congratulations, Professor Edwards!

Read more about Robert Edwards and the nobel prize on the Seattle Times Website.

Pregnancy Test Information

If you're trying to get pregnant, the first thing you need to do is get all the information on pregnancy tests.

The most affordable way to test for pregnancy is to preform a home pregnancy tests. These test strips detect levels of hormones in your urine that build up as the pregnancy develops. They are highly accurate, very affordable, and available online and in drugstores and markets in two different forms.

Types of Pregnancy Tests
The first form involves collecting urine in a cup, and dipping the test strip in the urine. You can buy pregnancy home test strips here for as low as $0.50 each!

The second form is called "midstream" tests. They are a little more expensive, but allow you to test your urine without bothering to collect it in a cup.  This is what trying-to-conceive women often call POAS - or Pee On A Stick... Buy midstream pregnancy tests here for as low as $1.80 each.

When to Test
No matter which test format you decide to go with, you can start testing as soon as 6-8 days after conception, though tests become more accurate, the more time has passed.  Other brands of tests may be less accurate than the ones linked to here.

If You Test Positive
You need to speak with your doctor right away. Your doctor can take blood based pregnancy tests to confirm the result. Early care from your doctor will help keep you and your baby healthy.

If You Test Negative
You may still be pregnant. The hormone that home pregnancy tests detect builds steadily as the pregnancy continues. Test again in a few days or a week, if you still haven't had a period.

Information on how to use pregnancy test can be found here: http://www.early-pregnancy-tests.com/inpregtesstr.html

I hope this answered some of your questions... Good luck testing for pregnancy!

Home Birth vs Hospital Birth

"Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency?"


This is the question asked by the film The Business of Being Born.  This documentary followed the stories of women giving births in different settings, and explored the controversial issue of who women should turn to when a baby is on the way. 


If you're new to the subject, here's a quick background. Back in the day, doctors or midwives would come to the mother-to-be's home and assist with the birth from there. Giving birth at home has titanically declined in the 20th century.  According to the wikipedia page for Home Births,  50% of births in the US were home births in 1938.  Today, that number is down to less than 1%.  In Japan, home births accounted for 95% of births in 1950, but only 1.2% in 1975. (That's quite a change, in just 25 years! It's a wonder hospitals were able to adapt!)  Now, its common practice to go to the hospital to give birth - most insurance companies only cover hospitalized births - and telling your friends and relatives you're planning on having your baby at home might even get a few raised eyebrows. 


But there is a growing trend of women choosing to go the home birth route.  This tends to be a very polarizing subject - many people on one side saying doctors know best, and as many on the other side saying doctors are in it for the money, not the patients. If you're feeling ambitions, scan through some of the comments on this CNN blog post for a glimpse at different people's opinions. Reviews of the hospital experience vary from glowing to horrific. 


While it is agreed in both camps that women should receive thorough prenatal care and give birth in a hospital if there is any risk of complications, thats about where the agreement ends. Pro home-birthers say hospitals provide, at best, an uncomfortable, unpersonalized experience where the nurses and doctors try to get you in and out ASAP, at worst a restrictive, germ-filled places where nurses try to push you into procedures you don't want. On the other hand, one pro hospital woman claimed that unexpected post-birth complications could have killed her if she wasn't in hospital, and plenty of others say their hospital experience was easy, relaxed, and just fine. 


So assuming you're on the road to a normal delivery without foreseeable complications, what factors should you take into account before making a decision on where to give birth? Ask yourself the following questions - they might provide that extra guidance that you need!


First off, where are you most comfortable? 
Would you rather have the familiarity of home and the company of family or the reassurance of having that medical safety net there for you, just in case? Labor is a long process and it is important no matter where you choose to be that you feel comfortable and confident throughout. 


Can you find a doctor/midwife that you feel confident about?
Try interviewing a few different healthcare professionals before you make your decision. It will help you get a feel for how much personal attention each person is able to give you throughout the prenatal and delivery process.


How much can you afford?
When interviewing your doctors and midwives, ask for estimates of the cost of home birth or hospital birth. Call your insurance company and ask how much of hospital delivery they will cover, and if they cover home delivery too. You may find one option to be much more affordable than the other!


How far away is the nearest hospital?
If you're considering home birth and live in an isolated area, consider how much time it would take to get to a hospital in case something unexpected comes up during delivery. 

Egg Donation - Dangerous and Unregulated

In the world of trying-to-conceive there are plenty of discussions about how to promote the health of developing babies, even if they're conceived through IVF. But if the eggs for IVF are coming from a donor, the mother-to-be and fetus might not be the people at the greatest risk in this situation. 

A new documentary, Eggsploitation, interviews three women who have nearly died because they decided to be egg donors. Egg "donation" is a booming market. Donors are offered thousands of dollars for their eggs - in 2008 it was a $38 million dollar industry.  But when young women agree to sell their eggs, enticed by altruism or cash incentives, they are uninformed and poorly screened.  Donors are treated like a supply source - mined for resources then forgotten - not like patients who have undergone extreme medical procedures, and not nearly enough research has been done for this business to be as widespread as it is.

Case in point, the drugs that egg donors inject are not FDA approved to be used as ovarian hyper-stimulants.  According to this article about the documentary :

"In clinical studies using Pergonal for ovarian hyperstimulation, 2.4-5.5 percent of women developed complications," noted Dr. de Solenni in her testimony. "Similarly, the FDA's data on Lupron, another drug used for ovarian hyperstimulation, records a death rate of .5 percent."

"Complications", huh?  


Calla Papademas, one of the women interviewed in Eggsploitation, suffered "complications".  She was offered over $50,000 for her eggs and so began the procedure in great health, hoping to make some easy money.  In the end, she had brush with death, was in a coma for several days, had a stroke, suffered brain damage and permanent pituitary failure.  The egg collection facility gave her $750 for an uncompleted donation and denied all responsibility. Because she did not complete the donation cycle she is not considered an "egg donor" and so her health problems are not reported with the risks of egg donation.  

Hear her story from her own mouth:

This is seriously messed up. Its appalling that the government has not stepped in to regulate this multi billion dollar industry. If you're considering getting egg donations, ask yourself if its worth putting a young woman's life at risk before you go through with it... 

Pregnancy Misconceptions

Women out there seem to have a lot of misconceptions about their own bodies and the process of pregnancy.  I read around different blogs and articles and see especially a lot of concerns about bleeding during pregnancy, and people wondering if they could have gotten pregnant sometime before their last period.

Well I found a really thorough answer on this blog that I wanted to share. The question was:

"When is it normal to bleed during pregnancy?

When and how much are you suppose to bleed during pregnancy? I know some women bleed at the beginning. I might have had two periods, but I guess I could mistake them for bleeding. I don’t think I am pregnant, but it is possible."

And the best answer was given by contributor "Juzz":

"If you are pregnant, you have probably heard about other women who have their periods during pregnancy. This story seems to cycle throughout the generations and is almost an urban legend now. Everyone seems to know someone who has a friend who got their period during their pregnancy!

Many women can experience episodes of bleeding and spotting during pregnancy. Bleeding is especially common in the first trimester and about 30% of pregnant women experience bleeding during this time. Although fewer women bleed during the second and third trimesters, spotting is still possible and not all that uncommon. However, though this bleeding may resemble menstruation, it actually is something different altogether.

Why You Can’t Get Your Period During Pregnancy
Your period is caused by your menstrual cycle. During this cycle, your body releases hormones, which send signals to your reproductive organs to perform certain actions. An increase in your hormones causes your ovaries to release an egg that travels from your ovaries through your fallopian tubes. Meanwhile, a protective layer of blood and tissue thickens along the walls of your uterus. If this egg is not fertilized, your hormone levels will drop, signaling to your body that it is time to shed the lining that built up in your uterus. This is what causes your period.

During pregnancy, your body is completely focused on providing for your baby. Your brain sends signals to your ovaries to stop the menstrual cycle in order to give your baby the proper environment to grow. As a result, instead of dropping, your hormone levels will continue to rise for the next nine months. This helps your uterus prepare for the growth and nourishment of your baby.

If your body continued to have regular menstrual periods while you were pregnant, it would be shedding the uterine lining that helps nourish your baby every month. Biologically speaking, this wouldn’t make much sense. Therefore, the spotting or bleeding during pregnancy many women experience is caused by something other than their period.

Decidual Bleeding
One of the most common causes of period-like bleeding during pregnancy is called decidual bleeding. Sometimes, during pregnancy, your body’s hormones can get out of whack, causing you to lose parts of the lining of your uterus. This is especially common in the early stages of pregnancy, before the lining has completely attached to the placenta. While it can be troublesome to think about shedding part if your uterine lining, decidual bleeding is generally not thought to be a health threat to you or your baby.

There are a number of other reasons why bleeding during pregnancy may occur. Most of them present little health risk to you and your little one. However, bleeding can sometimes indicate a complication with your pregnancy. If you are pregnant, it is important to be aware of your bleeding. If you experience any abnormal bleeding at any point during your pregnancy, contact your health care provider immediately."

Love it! Couldn't have said it better myself. The summary of it all is "Light bleeding during first trimester = very normal, heavy bleeding or regular period = possible problem or no pregnancy".  Hope that clears things up!

Andropause and Testosterone Replacement

Have you ever heard of "andropause"? Its essentially the male equivalent of menopause - older men's bodies produce lower levels of testosterone. Though linked with sexual dysfunction, its a more serious issue that is also tied with fatigue and depression...and it occurs much less often.

An article on business week called Low Testosterone in Older Men Less Common Than Thought sheds light on the problems of how to diagnose and treat andropause:

Many men have been taking testosterone supplements to combat the perceived effects of aging, even though it's not clear if taking these supplements help or if they're even safe. The result has been mass confusion, not only as to whether male menopause exists but also how to treat it.

 "A lot of people abuse testosterone who shouldn't and a lot of men who should get it aren't," said Dr. Michael Hermans, an associate professor of surgery in the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and chief of the section of andrology, male sexual dysfunction and male infertility at Scott & White in Temple, Texas.

Its sad (and a little scary) that men are eager to sign up for testosterone replacement therapies before there is research to support these treatments.  And its strange that there isn't more research done, since male sexual health seems to get so much attention from the pharmaceutical companies.

Read the full article and know what you're getting into before getting hormone replacement treatments!

Stress and Male Fertility

What does a healthy sperm look like?

I love the above illustration. It very clearly illustrates abnormalities to look for when analyzing semen quality (using a home sperm test). Since anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 of all couples infertility cases are caused by male factor infertility, its important to understand what healthy sperm look like, and what you can do to improve sperm quality if your little swimmers aren't up to snuff.

I found this article on www.healthyfellow.com and thought it was interesting enough to share:

Stress is an inevitable part of every day life. But new research from the University of California, Berkeley offers one more reason for men to better manage it. When stress hormones, such as cortisol, increase in the male body, it leads to a subsequent decrease in another hormone called gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH). GnRH is made in a part of the brain called the hypothalamus, and it plays a role in the production of key hormones (luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone) that can affect the quality and quantity of sperm. This stress/fertility link has been fairly well established in years past. (1,2,3)

Now, scientists have discovered another way by which stress can negatively impact male reproductive health. It appears that glucocortiocoids (stress hormones) also instigate the manufacture of a substance called gonadotropin inhibitory hormone (GnIH). This alteration in brain chemistry encourages a further decline in GnRH and the sex hormones necessary for proper sperm activity and production. Another consequence is a decline in sex drive caused by a drop in testosterone levels. (4)

A study published in June 2009 demonstrated an encouraging effect of an herbal extract called Withania somnifera. This herb goes by the common name of Ashwagandha. It plays a major role in Ayurveda, the Indian healing tradition. Ashwagandha seems to address various problems associated with male infertility. Namely, it is believed to provide a stress-modulating effect, a boost in antioxidant protection and a favorable shift in sex hormone levels. 

I've posted before about how yoga can help boost fertility, but people usually assume this applies only to TTC ladies.  Research shows that male fertility can also benefit from the stress-reducing qualities of a good yoga workout/meditation session. The article also mentions antioxidants being of utmost importance to male fertility, antioxidants like Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and Vitamin E.  If you're worried that you're not getting enough of these, consider a fertility vitamin rich in antioxidants, such as FertilAid for Men.


Read the rest of the article here.  Good luck, and don't stress!

BPA-exposed rats develop polycystic ovarian syndrome

That is the name of this article from Environmental Health News published yesterday.  The study, which examined rats injected with BPA (bisphenol A) - a polymer used to create plastics - found that early exposure to BPA can lead to the rats developing PCOS-like symptoms later in life. PCOS, as most in the TTC community already know, is one of the leading causes of infertility in women.  However, little is understood about what causes PCOS, which is why I found this article so interesting.

The widely used environmental chemical BPA disrupts hormonal activity and has been shown to interfere with the normal development and function of the reproductive system. Scientists have suggested that early exposure to hormone disrupting chemicals, such as BPA, may therefore play a role in the development of PCOS. A team of Argentine researchers recently tested this hypothesis, examining whether exposure to BPA during a critical period of development might contribute to this common disorder. They found that rats exposed to BPA shortly after birth showed symptoms similar to those that characterize PCOS in women, including altered hormone levels, differences in the ovaries and impaired fertility.

Unfortunately, epoxy resins containing bisphenol A are used as coatings on the inside of almost all food and beverage cans, though it is currently under scrutiny. Plastics labeled with either of the following can contain BPA that can leak into food:

There isn't much good news here, folks, this stuff has been on the market for over 50 years.  If you do have PCOS though, I did just read an article about how FertilAid for Women can help women with PCOS.

Good luck, stay healthy, and watch what you eat off of.

Click here to read the rest of the article on BPA exposed  rats and PCOS

Women Aborting IVF Babies

Wow, this story might be a little hard to read, especially for those of you who have been struggling with infertility for years.  Times Online just published an article called IVF babies aborted as mothers lose in love, a look at women in Britain who, after becoming pregnant through IVF, decide to have an abortion for "social reasons".

"Figures obtained under freedom of information rules show that an average of 80 abortions are carried out each year after IVF, which can cost about £5,000. Up to half of these involve women aged 18-34."

The article goes on the profile a few of these women and the reasons for aborting the pregnancy:

Victoria, a secretary from London, decided to abort her much-wanted IVF baby when it became clear her marriage was breaking up. “I couldn’t cope with bringing up a child on my own and I didn’t want any link that would force me to stay in touch with my husband,” she said.

Jessica Rogers, a nursing supervisor at the Marie Stopes clinic in Bristol, said she recently dealt with a woman expecting twins through IVF who had discovered her husband was having an affair. Rogers said: “She was having his babies and she just didn’t want to continue with it on her own. I don’t think he even found out she had been pregnant.”

Now, normally, I'm an unflinching supporter of women's right to abortion, but this might be too much even for me. Though to be truthful, my main objection is with couples recklessly undergoing IVF when they aren't actually ready for a baby.  These stories are awful all around...as horrifying as these abortions are, I can't imagine a child being well cared for in a household where both parents are so unstable and mercurial...

In Great Britain, up to three rounds of IVF are funded by the National Health Service (NHS), in other words, publicly funded. Are couples more likely to undergo IVF irresponsibly when the money doesn't have to come out of their own pockets?  What kept these women from bearing the children they fought so hard to conceive and giving them up for adoption?  What can fertility clinics do to ensure that this doesn't happen?

I don't have the answers, but I do know one thing: Something is seriously wrong in this picture. 

Read the full article here: http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/article7144878.ece

Free stuff - A TTC raffle for a good cause

Do you like raffle give aways? Nearly free TTC (trying to conceive) stuff? Helping out a good cause?

Of course you do! That's why today's blog post is just going to be a little link to Busted Plumbing - a great little infertility blog that is calling out to the community for help. She's raffling off TONS of goods from www.FairhavenHealth.com, one of my favorite TTC supply sites, and the proceeds are going to help a little boy whose mother recently passed away. Donate $1 per entry, be a good person, win some stuff. Simple as that :)

Click here to learn more about the raffle.

Or go to this page to donate and enter the raffle between June 3rd and 9th.

Fertility and Age - A Broader View

Fertility doctors are, in my view, utterly ignorant of what can and does occur in the natural world.

So concludes a guest writer over at the blog Infertility - Fertility Over 40, a history buff who has a bone to pick with all the folks spreading negative hype concerning women's age and fertility. She brings to light a slew of historical examples of women not only getting pregnant after 40, but doing it without even breaking a sweat, so to speak!  She gives some pretty compelling evidence to her cause, through anecdotal examples throughout history and also provides some good statistical back up:

Here in the UK, there were 26,419 births to women over 40 in 2008, hailed as a "record high" having nearly doubled since 1998. But let's take a step back! In 1938 there were 27,200 births to mothers over 40, at a time when our population was significantly less so that the birth rate to mothers over 40 was even higher. In fact, births to "older" mothers only really dropped with the introduction of the pill and access to abortion. 

Are our fertility doctors really that out of touch with the way our bodies work? Given our culture's tendency to over prescribe and medicate, I wouldn't find that too surprising. But there's something else at work here...

While she makes a good point, it is a medical fact that women over 35 are more likely to be affected by reproductive problems such as endometriosis and fibroids. And while this may not prevent most older women from having children, the sad truth of the matter is that older women are much more likely to conceive a child with birth defects than their younger counterparts. March of Dimes gives us the following statistic:

A woman’s risk of having a baby with Down syndrome is:

• At age 25, 1 in 1,250
  
• At age 30, 1 in 1,000
  
• At age 35, 1 in 400
  
• At age 40, 1 in 100
  
• At 45, 1 in 30
  
• At 49, a 1 in 10

Perhaps so many older women are using IVF, not only as a method of overcoming declining fertility with age, but also as a way to screen for genetic defects in the embryo.  Perhaps the media and fertility doctors are misrepresenting or misinterpreting the reasons behind the use of artificial methods of conception.  Still...she does make a good point, and takes a healthy, broader view of fertility and age.

Read the full article on Fertility Over 40

Do Infertility Drugs Raise the Risk of Autism?

image from tangle_eye on morguefile.com

Researchers at Harvard School of Public Health have found a disturbing link between Clomid-type drugs and a raised incidence of children born with autism.  An article on Time's website reviewed the data which revealed this:

A study presented Wednesday at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Philadelphia provides some of strongest evidence to date that Landes might be onto something. The study, conducted by a team at the Harvard School of Public Health, found that autism was nearly twice as common among the children of women who were treated with the ovulation-inducing drug Clomid and other similar drugs than women who did not suffer from infertility, and the link persisted even after researchers accounted for the women's age.

Moreover, the association between fertility drugs and autism appeared to strengthen with exposure: the longer women reported being treated for infertility, the higher the chances their child had an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

The study was conducted via questionnaire, nearly 4000 nurses who had used Clomid-type drugs themselves filled it out.  Of those women, 111 reported bearing a child with autism.

While the research had some holes in it, it still presents a very compelling link between autism and Clomid.  What worries me most is why has it taken this long for these kinds of correlational studies to be done?!  Clomiphene was approved in 1967, and no one has asked if the children conceived during its use are suffering from abnormal effects?  What is wrong with our pharmaceutical companies!!!

IVF is also known to cause a high risk of birth defects, especially since most IVF procedures involve attempting to implant multiple embryos, and twins and triplets are always at greater risk. (I've already posted about alternative methods that use just one embryo, Single Embryo Transfer IVF, and Soft IVF, which also uses lower doses of Clomid-type drugs.)

 I worry that most doctors immediately resort to hormone treatments for infertility: fear of wasting time and money on phony products makes doctors and patients alike more biased towards pharmaceutical solutions.  But the truth is, these drugs are some serious shit! Take a look at  Clomiphene's Wikipedia page and one of the sections is "Use in bodybuilding", as in a follow up to a steriod cycle (!), and we all know that bodybuilders get pretty messed up.... Anyways, for a lot of people, natural methods work! Ovulation tracking, prenatal vitamins, a healthy amount of exercise... shouldn't our doctors be prescribing us these things first?

I'm all in a huff.   Read the full article here and let me know how you feel. 

Soft IVF: A safer, cheaper way to artificially conceive

I just read an article about IVF methods I've never heard of before: soft IVF and natural-cycle IVF.  Not only do they cost less than normal IVF, but unlike standard IVF, they don't force the body into menopause and have no health risks.  Read the full article:
 The Telegraph

Here are some excerpts from the article:

"I was told I had fewer eggs than expected for a woman of my age and warned the quality could be poor," says Marina. "My fertility was more like that of a woman of 40, and my chances of conceiving naturally were around 10 per cent.

The couple were told that IVF offered the best chances of a successful pregnancy, and Marina joined the ranks of more than 36,000 women who undertake IVF each year in Britain. Like many of these women, Marina had to undertake the treatment privately. For while the NHS offers infertile couples aged between 23 and 39 three cycles of IVF, standards of service vary across the country, with many primary care trusts offering fewer cycles.

Marina had concerns. "As a chemist, I didn't want to throw myself into IVF. I was concerned about the drugs involved." She decided to explore her options and contacted dozens of fertility clinics before coming across one that offered alternatives to conventional IVF.

Create Health Clinics in London offered two procedures that sounded promising: "soft" IVF, which uses minimal doses of drugs and "natural-cycle" IVF, in which no drugs at all are used. Compared to the average £5,000 cost of a cycle of standard IVF, soft IVF (£2,500 per cycle) and natural-cycle IVF (£1,500) were also considerably cheaper.

"Soft IVF is far less disruptive to a woman's body than the standard approach,"says Dr Geeta Nargund, consultant gynaecologist and director of Create Health Clinics. "With soft IVF, ovary-stimulating hormones are given to a woman during her natural cycle, whereas the practice with conventional IVF is to induce an artificial menopause and then kick-start an artificial cycle,"

"The drug doses are also far lower – just 30-40 per cent of those used in standard IVF. The aim is to collect around six or seven mature eggs rather than 12 to 14. As a result, there is a greatly reduced risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, a condition in which the ovaries and abdomen can swell and fill with fluid. It can lead to discomfort and nausea and, in severe cases, may prove fatal. It affects up to 2 per cent of women undergoing IVF." explains Dr Nargund.

Marina began her first soft IVF treatment in June 2006. "I was given a 10 per cent chance of success and the first two attempts failed," she says. "Each time, the fertilised egg grew into an embryo but when it was placed back in my uterus, it didn't implant in the womb lining."

Dr Nargund recommended that for her third attempt Marina try natural-cycle IVF. This procedure uses sophisticated scanning techniques to monitor blood flow and the growth of an egg within a woman's natural cycle. Just before ovulation, the egg is collected and fertilised in the laboratory. If it grows into a healthy embryo, it is placed in uterus three to five days later.

Marina's procedure was a success. "To our absolute delight, I became pregnant," she says. "My son Radha is now two-and-a-half."

...

"The ovaries of women who are nearing the end of their fertility do not respond well to fertility drugs," explains Dr Nargund. "We also know that stimulating the ovaries with higher drug doses is linked to a negative effect on egg quality. That is not what you want when your egg quality and quantity may already be low."

Indeed, scientists at the University Medical Centre in Utrecht found that using lower drug doses and collecting fewer eggs was equally, if not more, effective in producing healthy embryos. Soft IVF produced 39 per cent of healthy embryos compared to just 28 per cent in women given conventional IVF.

"It is generally thought that the more eggs the better, but what you really want is better quality eggs and embryos," says Dr Esther Baart, embryologist at the University Medical Centre in Utrecht, who carried out the study.

Bill Ledger, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Sheffield and head of the Assisted Conception Unit at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, says that the benefits of soft IVF are so clear, he hopes it will one day replace high-dose approaches.

"At Sheffield, we've been offering soft IVF for a long time," he says. "It's more attractive to patients who are wary of higher dose drugs and we get comparable results. With the standard protocol, the woman suffers at least a two-week menopause with hot flushes, night sweats and no libido. With mild IVF, that just doesn't happen."

...

"These approaches are safer for the woman, cheaper, less disruptive and vastly reduce the risk of multiple pregnancy," she says. "It really makes sense to consider them instead of blindly using high doses of fertility drugs."

Stress and Infertility

When you were growing up, did you mother ever tell you not to stress out about those school projects too much, or else you'll catch a cold? ...I know mine did, and it turns out she was right.  Stress has a known negative effect on overall well being.  Unfortunately, this means stress also negatively affects reproductive health, and can inhibit fertility.  Bad news for all the TTC people who can't spend a waking moment not worrying about their next ovulation or pregnancy test result!

Feeling "stress" triggers the release of "stress hormones", like adrenaline and epinephrine, which boost your heart rate and suppress reproductive, digestive, and growth systems. While essential for survival on a short term basis, long term chronic stress, which many infertile couples feel full force, interrupts ovulation and sperm production, and decreases the desire to reproduce in both men an women.  If your "baby dancing" has become a bit of a chore, stress might even be the culprit!

What's the solution to stress?  One of my favorite stress relievers is the tried and true long hot baths in scented bath salts, or maybe lighting a few soothing candles while drinking a cup of tea, but the most popular method right now is yoga.  There are many yoga routines out there, even many home yoga for fertility plans, but I'm going to talk about my favorite, Bend Breathe and Conceive with Dr. Anna Davis.

Dr. Davis is a fantastic teacher. She holds a doctorate in Biophysics and Physiology and has been practicing yoga for more than 25 years.  Her voice is soothing and the poses she guides you through are easy enough for beginners and interesting enough for seasoned yoga pros.

 This fertility yoga DVD consists of a series of poses, hand positions, and meditative breathing techniques designed to relieve stress - while simultaneously toning muscle groups that play vital roles in conception and pregnancy.

Bend, Breathe, and Conceive is a fertility yoga routine specifically designed for trying to conceive women, but I've heard of many couples happily and successfully going through the DVD together.



To view a clip from the DVD, visit Bend, Breathe and Conceive's website, http://www.bendbreatheandconceive.com/bbc_trailer/yoga-trailer-n1.html

You can buy Bend, Breathe, and Conceive from Fairhaven Health, where it has a perfect 5 star review!!

Is the Pill Masking a Common Cause of Infertility?

Premature Ovarian Failure, or POF, affects 1 in 100 women but many women may not even know they're affected. What can keep women and doctors alike from noticing this disease? The Pill!

Premature Ovarian Failure (POF), also known as Premature Menopause, occurs when the ovaries aren't making enough of certain hormones for the body to ovulate properly.  It can cause irregular menstrual cycles, bone loss, and if left untreated, infertility.  Irregular periods can be a sign of POF - and a simple hormone test can diagnose the disease.  But many times, doctors can write off missed or irregular periods as a result of poor diet or stressful life style, and put women on the pill without testing for POF. The pill then masks the symptoms - forces the body to menstruate regularly - without addressing the source of the disease.

So what happens if you've been taking the pill for years, stop taking it, and months later are still not ovulating regularly or pregnant?  While its normal to not have a period for up to a few months after stopping the pill (your body has to start making its own hormones again, after all) after about 3 months or more, you might want to speak to your Ob-Gyn.  They can easily test for hormone levels and let you know if you're affected by Premature Ovarian Failure. It is important to get treatment for POF - untreated it heightens your risk for osteoporosis.

So, if you're coming off the pill and don't start ovulating again, talk to your doctor and stay healthy!

TTC TV on TLC - What a mouthful!

If you haven't heard of it yet, theres an interesting show (or mini-series, I suppose) that might help you feel like you're not the only one out there with infertility problems.  TLC.com's new web-only series called "The Conception Story" follows six women through their trying-to-conceive journeys.  So far, there are only introduction clips for each of the women, along with profile stories in their blogs, but it promises to grow into a pretty amazing thing.  The stories are all rather touching, and its wonderful to hear women talk about their infertility issues while letting other infertile women know that they're not alone.

Each of the women is keeping a TTC blog and the series will unfold in real time as these couples send video footage to TLC, the network edits it, and posts it a few days later. The women are of varying ages, and have had different fertility experiences thus far across the board, from the 25 year old doctor, Angel, trying for her first to the stay-at-home mom, Amber, whose first child came as a surprise and whose second child hasn't come at all, after almost 3 years of trying.

Its a pretty interesting series, but I was disappointed to read in the New York Times that the whole thing was a an idea for an advertising stunt from First Response Pregnancy Tests. My hope, however, is that this series about such an intimate and personal subject will become something larger than what it starts out as.  I mean really, how could it not?

If you've seen any TTC related tv lately, let me know! I'd love to here what else is out there!

FertilAid Fertility Supplements

Are you and your partner getting enough of the vitamins and minerals that your reproductive system needs to function and stay healthy?  If you're trying to get pregnant, have you started taking a prenatal vitamin to ensure the healthy development of your future baby?

I'm guessing the answer for most of us is no to at least one of those questions. That's why I'm going to talk about FertilAid for Men and Women. 

FertilAid for Women is part fertility enhancing nutrient blend and part complete prenatal multivitamin. It also includes Vitex Agnus-Castus (aka Chasteberry), which has been clinically proven to help balance hormones - particularly useful if you have an irregular cycle. 

FertilAid for Women provides a range of antioxidants (Vitamins A, C, and E for example), to support healthy cell structure and tissue maintenance. 


Folic acid is essential for fetal development of the brain, spine, and skull.  Deficiency of folic acid during pregnancy can increase the risk of preterm delivery, infant low birth weight, and fetal growth retardation.


Iron helps your body produce healthy eggs during ovulation.

FertilAid for Men is geared towards raising sperm count and quality. It is packed full of ingredients proven to increase the number of sperm, their motility and speed, and their morphology - and more, healthy sperm means a better chance of fertilization!

Antioxidants are especially essential to the production of healthy sperm, and FertilAid for Men is packed full of them. They both support healthy cell formation and protect the cell from aging and harmful environments. 

L-Carnitine is an amino acid that is critical to sperm maturation and growth.

Zinc has been shown to positively affect sperm formation and motility, as well as boost testosterone metabolism. 

Both versions of FertilAid have some really amazing reviews and success stories. You can read a few and buy FertilAid for Women and FertilAid for Men online from www.FairhavenHealth.com, and they'll give you free shipping on your order.

If you're looking to try both, order a Value Pack and save some money!  Looks like its on sale right now too!

Good luck, and stay healthy!

Its National Infertility Awareness Week!

Are you suffering from infertility? You're not alone, in just the United States, 7.3 million people are affected by infertility.  It can be an emotional journey - made even harder by a lack of support from ones' friends and doctors. National Infertility Awareness Week is an event that hopes to educate people about infertility and help those suffering from it get connected!

RESOLVE: the National Infertility Association has put together a website for National Infertility Awareness Week, and it just might help you get involved! Check out their Events Page and see if its not too late to catch something going on near you!  Its a great chance to connect with other TTC couples and maybe learn a few things you didn't know about your own fertility journey. 

RESOLVE's website, http://resolve.org/ is another great resource.  From there you can search for infertility support groups in your state, find a variety of medical professionals and services, and learn much more about infertility, its causes, and what you can do if you've been diagnosed with it. 

If you don't know much about infertility, I recommend you start learning by reading their Infertility FAQ.  

Good luck! And remember, never feel like you're the only one!

IVF: Two Embryos No Better Than One?

It is a common practice during in Vitro Fertilization to transfer multiple fertilized eggs at a time, in the hopes that if multiples are transfered, there is more of a chance that one will implant and lead to pregnancy.

However, with multiple embryo transfers, bearing multiple children becomes possible.  Why is that bad?  Multiple pregnancies (like bearing twins, triplets, or the horrific octuplets) carry extra risks for the mother and the babies. Multiple birth children are more likely to suffer chronic disabilities, more likely to be stillborn.  Mothers of twins are more likely to have complications, or die in childbirth. And whats more, transferring 2 embryos barely increases the odds of successful IVF at all!

Studies have found that for women 35 years and younger, chances of successful pregnancy are not too different in single embryo transfer procedures vs double.  In one study, 43% of women who transfered 2 embryos had successful pregnancies, and 39% of women who transfered one embryo had successful pregnancies. That's only a 4% difference! However, in the 2 embryo group, 33% of the births were twins, compared to 0.8% in the one embryo group.  Is that four percent increase worth the increased risk to mother and child?  I would say no!

And yet, IVF patients and doctors continue to insist on multiple embryo transfers, usually because they are just unaware of the risks or think that 2 embryos are twice as good as one.  If you are considering IVF, be sure that both you and your doctor are informed about single embryo transfer methods and success rates!

Read more here
or
Read the results of the research here

Pregnancy and Fertility Calendar

If you're trying to conceive, you've probably already heard about the "fertile window" - those 4-5 days around ovulation during which conception is possible.  

Whether you are just starting out on your TTC journey or you've been trying for a while now, you should not overlook the importance of knowing when you ovulate. On the one hand, if you and your partner don't have sex during that window, the sperm will have no egg to fertilize.  On the other, making love every day you're not menstruating can be exhausting and lead to vaginal dryness.  Studies show that pregnancy is most likely to occur when couples have sex every day of the fertile window - and to do that, it helps to know when you ovulate by using a fertility calendar!

While there are many different ways to track ovulation, from the pee-on-a-stick method to fancy saliva hormone monitors, one of the cheapest, easiest, reusable methods is using a fertility calculator or fertility calendar.  There are free online versions, like the one offered on Ovulation-Calculator.com, but personally, I prefer having a physical chart to look at. One with fantastic reviews is the Pregnancy and Ovulation Wheel from FairhavenHealth.com.

Unlike other paper fertility calendars, this Pregnancy and Ovulation Wheel can be adjusted for irregular cycles and it doubles as a pregnancy calendar.  It tells you your peak fertile day, when to expect implantation and missed periods, and when to start taking pregnancy tests. After becoming pregnant, you can use it to remind yourself of important dates to see the doctor, and it gives you an idea of fetal weight and stage. Plus, it's cheap and can be reused the next time you or a friend is trying to get pregnant. This is one of the best fertility calendars I've seen to date! 

Good luck, and have fun!

PS If you've used this or any other fertility calendar, feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Dogs and Babies - How to Set the Stage for a Positive Relationship

Dogs and babies, the darlings of any household!  But what can you do to make sure that Fido never hurts the baby? Even the most loving pet can turn into a jealous monster if it thinks its competing for your attention with a new baby. Well I just read up on CNN a couple ways to help dogs and babies get along, and knowing how to prepare your dog for a new baby is the first step to protecting the child, and keeping the dog!  Here is a quick summary:

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, approximately 800,000 people are treated for dog bites every year, most of them children.

Conflict between dogs and babies or children is a common problem that only leads to unhappy endings:

The Humane Society of the United States says hundreds of pets end up at the pound every year because parents are faced with a dilemma: Get rid of an angry, jealous animal or the new baby. It's obvious who wins.

So, if you want to avoid a situation of conflict between your dogs and babies, take some precautions, and take them early!  Dogs are most comfortable with routine.  Beginning around two months before the baby arrives, make gradual changes to the dog's routine.  If the mother-to-be is the primary caregiver (walker, feeder, etc) for the dog, begin letting someone else take on that role.

Dogs and babies shouldn't get too close in situations you cannot control, so train the dog to stay off the furniture before the baby arrives. Punishing the dog for getting too close to the baby can create a negative association for the dog. On this note, take care of any negative behaviors, such as nipping, jumping, or barking, before they become a threat to the baby. Always train your pet safely and humanely, or you could make the problems worse.

Once the baby is born, introduce the dog to the baby's scent by bringing home a blanket that the baby has slept on.  Introduce baby sounds, toys, etc to the dog to let it become acclimated to the changes.

As baby and pet grow together, teach your child to respect an animal. Don't let the baby pull its tail or rush at it.

A relationship of mutual respect will keep the dog from lashing out at the child.  Don't let your baby walk all over the pet, so to speak, so that it never feels the need to retaliate, or even play rough, with the child.  With a little work, gradual changes, and good training, dogs and babies can get along, but never leave them unsupervised together!

For more info on introducing cats and dogs to babies, check out this article on the Humane Society's website.

Getting Pregnant - Tips on Cervical Mucus

I'm sure you've heard of cervical mucus - its the gooey stuff that a woman produces around the peak of her fertility cycle. It is through this medium that the little sperm will (hopefully) swim through to reach its happy little goal.  When you're ovulating (at the most fertile time of your cycle), your cervical mucus should have the consistency of raw egg whites. But what if your cervical mucus never gets that gooey? Well, here are some tips for ladies trying to get pregnant that don't have optimal cervical mucus.

1) Take a supplement.  There is a vitamin/herbal supplement called FertileCM specifically designed to improve the quality of cervical mucus. (The web site is also another great resource to read more about healthy cervical mucus properties.)

2) Going for raw egg white consistency in your cervical mucus? Why not just use raw egg whites? The blog Fertility-Over-40 posted an article called Using Egg Whites to Get Pregnant.  It's all about warming up a good old fashion chicken egg to room temperature, cracking it open, separating the yolk from the whites ...And then you put the whites exactly where you think you put them... It sounds a little weird to me, but if it works -  it works!  It seems like there are a lot of success stories using egg whites, and a few infection stories.

Proceed with caution, I suppose.

3) Try a sperm friendly lubricant.  Beware, most lubes do not have the right consistency to conduct sperm, even if they're not labeled as "spermicidal".  As far as I know, the only sperm friendly lubricant on the market is Pre~Seed which comes in one use pouches and reusable tubes. If you buy from www.Early-pregnancy-tests.com they'll give you free shipping and send you a could pregnancy tests with your purchase!

So that's today's tips on getting pregnant! Best of luck!