I am over the top happy that the Nobel Prize for medicine went to Robert G. Edwards. I smiled a lot on Monday after I heard, and am so pleased that there was so much media coverage of the positive impact that IVF has made on the western world. Over one million children are the result of his amazing success in the laboratory, and my little one is one of them! Thank you Dr. Edwards.
I am also very happy that the Nobel committee decided, whether intentionally or not, to validate infertility as a disease by awarding the prize in medicine to IVF. This is a major step in the right direction.
I am not grateful that the NYTimes decided to interview this doctor as the expert on infertility. He says the main problem is that women are waiting too long before having children, and that the solution is for women to have babies in their 20s. I wonder if he had children in his 20s, or did he marry a 20 year old when he was 50 with an established career and financial security?
The reason so many women delay child bearing is financial career stability. Had I had significant resources to help with childcare I just might have had a kid earlier in my life. I seriously day dreamed about having a baby before graduate school, but the financial reality of my $18,000 a year job made that seem very irresponsible. If people want fertility trends to change in this country, the country needs to prioritize childcare subsidies. Otherwise, stop criticizing women for waiting until they can afford children before having them. Nothing quite like a little financial security to make sure that child won't end up on being a paycheck away from living on the streets.
I am grateful for the Heartbeats at Home people. I tried to have faith that all was going ok with my pregnancy, but when my ob appointment was delayed for more than a week, I decided I couldn't take it anymore. I rented one of Heartbeats at Home's dopplers. It came last night and I got to hear her heartbeat... it was really sweet.
That is fabulous news about the nobel peace prize!!! Just wonderful, we are making steps i the right direction.
ReplyDeleteI love how they always blame women as being the problem with IF!!! How come men get to reproduce until they die and we don't?! I don't get it.
Yay on the Doppler, man women love them! No girl should have to wait to hear her babies HB. xoxoxox
Yeah, I didn't much like this guy's critical tone, either. Who is he to say when people should have kids? Let's just get this IVF thing streamlined and covered by insurance, and then everyone wins. Right???? It's like he's bitching about his patients (publicly! I know they all do it in private). Dude, why didn't you become a sports physical therapist instead of an infertility doctor, if you're so into working with 20-somethings!
ReplyDelete(Note my singleminded focus on the monitor)I'm so jealous you got a monitor!! I really wanted one and the Boy nixed it, because of a relatively well-founded belief that we would't use it properly/ wouldn't hear a HB and then would go rushing to the hospital. (Yep, we're both crazy.)
ReplyDeleteOn IF in the news -- I don't think I'm ever going to be 100% satisfied with how it's portrayed in the media. There are just too many things that are touchy to me and piss me off. So I'll take the Nobel and the validation from that and try not to let the other stuff bug me. (Which it does, but I only said I'd try.)
I respectfully disagree. I don't think he is impressing his opinions on people, I get more that he is trying to help people become aware that age matters, that is the science. The reproductive window for women ends before men. It's not fair but it's biology.
ReplyDeleteIt's unfortunate that most people(myself included) are (were) not finacially secure, have a stable relationship, emotionally ready, etc in thier early-mid twenties. But biology doesn't really care about these factors.
I think it is a dis-service for people to get the idea that they can have thier own biological children at any age.
ART is wonderful, and can do many many things and we are fortunate to have it. But it isn't the cure all for age.
Many of our IF sisters have tried so hard and done everything they can and still not gotten thier dream.
Forget about biology ... some people simply can't have children the "natural" way, at ANY age. I think he missed the point by making it an age issue.
ReplyDeleteAnd I, too, am having doppler-envy.
Very deserving of the Nobel Prize. I knew that it would be harder to get pregnant with increasing age, but some things are beyond my control (e.g., no partner). I am thankful for the advanced technology in infertility.. it's giving single women like myself an opportunity to have a baby.
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