Touched by the Stork - Fertility Information

Australia is currently in the process of taking a close look at the surrogacy laws that exist in various parts of the country. There are some parts of the country where surrogacy is illegal in various forms.

For example, altruistic surrogacy (in which a woman carries the child for no monetary compensation) is a criminal offense in Queensland. People who do this there can be fined up to $7500 or may spend up to three years in prison for the act.

In some cases, people will travel between different parts of Australia to complete the surrogacy in places where it is illegal. Some areas allow for the surrogacy to be finished in hospitals in the area once it's been started somewhere that allows for it.

For those people who don't want to deal with the complicated laws of Australia, there is always the option of coming to the United States to get a surrogate. These people are willing to pay upwards of $75000 to gain a child through the assistance of a U.S. surrogate. This practice may change as the laws in Australia are currently under review.

Question of the Day: Should Australia legalize or decriminalize surrogacy throughout the country?

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Dealing with infertility is difficult for all couples but it may be even more difficult for couples who are coping with male factor infertility in comparison with couples that are dealing with infertility related to an issue with the female's fertility levels. Men may consider themselves to be failures if they perceive themselves to be "at fault" for the infertility issues in the relationship. This can cause them to have higher stress levels and it can severely compromise the couple's relationship.

A recent study suggests that infertility of all types is stressful for both the individuals in a relationship and the couple as a unit. Findings of the study indicate that the problem may not be worse for male factor infertility but the study isn't definitive and some continue to believe that male factor infertility causes greater rates of stress and problems for the couple. More research is necessary to determine for sure what the impact of male factor infertility is on the couple's relationship as compared to when the problem is perceived to be a female problem.

Question of the Day: Does male factor infertility cause more problems for the relationship than female factor infertility?

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An in-depth report published recently by the New York Times took a close look at the fact that fertility rates are declining in much of Europe. This isn't due to the fact that infertility rates are going up there but is instead due to cultural and social issues that aer causing people to opt to have fewer children.

The reasons that Europeans are having less children than before varies depending on the specific location of the population being studied. Some of the reasons for declining fertility rates include:

- Increased cost of living which decreases ability to afford large families.

- Increased use of birth control to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

- Social problems that caused people to delay childbearing in some areas.

- Trends towards having children later in life which decreases the overall number of children a person will have.

- Changing role of women which allows for greater options for different roles and decreases interest by some women in having many children.

These reasons tend to be common reasons that we have seen in other parts of the world; women are delaying having children into later years which causes issues with fertility that decreases the number of children they can have. In countries where infertility medicine is advanced, this issue may be mitigated as women have more children later into life.

Question of the Day: Will infertility advances decrease the low fertility rates in Europe?

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It has long been known that aging causes women to have serious problems with infertility, culminating in the inability to get pregnant after going through menopause. This has been a big issue in the infertility medicine community because of the fact that so many modern women delay having children into their later years and then find themselves struggling with fertility issues. However, research indicates that it isn't just the ladies who have this problem.

A new report suggests that men have more problems with infertility as they get older as well. Over 12,000 couples were studied over the course of a four-year research project completed in 2006. The results of the study show that the sperm from men in their late thirties was significantly less likely to result in a healthy pregnancy than the sperm from younger men.

It is not clear that this time what causes men to contribute to infertility issues as they age. However, it is believed that the DNA in the sperm may be damaged over time. Like with women, the younger male body is more capable of producing healthy offspring.

Question of the Day: How does aging affect male fertility?

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Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) is a process which is often used during infertility treatments to assist the parents in having a healthy baby. In the past, some parents have expressed concerns that the health of the baby could be compromised when using embryo biopsy for PGD. New research indicates that this is not the case and that PGD is indeed a safe procedure that leads to the healthy growth and development of the baby.

PGD is considered to be an invasive procedure because it goes into the embryo and removes cells to test for genetic problems. This has been the reason that people have been concerned about the impact of the testing. The new research indicates that the early growth of the PGD baby as well as the risk for congenital malformations are not increased at all in comparison to babies that aren't born with the help of PGD.

Question of the Day: Should more research regarding PGD and normal growth of IVF babies be undertaken?

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Itati Cantoral is a Mexican actress who is particularly well known for the work that she's done in television shows since the time that she was young. She is also a woman who has had concerns about fertility over the years due to the fact that she has only one ovary.

Despite those concerns, Itati Cantoral recently announced that she is pregnant with her third child; she has seven-year-old twin boys. She apparently didn't end up having to have any sort of fertility treatment in order to get pregnant despite the concerns that were present as the result of the missing ovary.

This celebrity's story reminds us of a few things. First, it's yet another reminder that famous people have the same problems as the rest of us include the emotionally difficult issues surrounding problems with infertility. And second, it's a reminder that those issues can be overcome by anyone!

Question of the Day: What caused Itati Cantoral to be able to conceive without fertility treatments despite the fact that she has only one ovary?

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There are an increasing number of infertility studies being done these days which are specifically related to male-factor infertility. One recent study has shown that men suffering from diabetes are more likely than non-diabatic men to have problems with fertility. The reason for this is that diabetes causes damage to sperm DNA.

The study is the first of its kind in the sense that no other researchers have been able to prove that male fertility can be affected at a molecular level. This research indicates that this could be a serious area of infertility medicine to be looked at more closely by additional studies in the future.

Read all of the details of the study from this report.

Question of the Day: What can be done to mitigate the problem of infertility in males suffering from diabetes?

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One of the things that we would all likely to see happen in the world of infertiity treatment is an increase in the number of successful treatments. It's difficult enough to have to go through the process of using IVF to conceive; the difficulty is exacerbated greatly when the results of the procedure are unsuccessful. Of course, we'll never reach a one hundred percent success rate but it's important to strive towards getting as close to that as possible to reduce the stress and strain of IVF for families.

It is believed that a new "fitness test" for embryos could significantly increase the success rate of IVF. Surprisingly, it is a simple one-minute long test that can be done during the rest of IVF testing. It allows doctors to select only the healthiest embryos for use in the procedure. Studies indicate that this simple test may increase IVF success rates by as much as fifteen percent. It is expected to start being used in the UK next year.

Read the whole story about this from The Guardian.

Question of the Day: What else should we do to increase IVF success rates?

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Researchers who study infertility medicine and the effects of in vitro fertilization almost always study the results of successful in vitro fertilization. Alternatively, they may look at unsuccessful IVF with an eye towards what can be done to make the treatment more successful. They look at things like the rate of effectiveness of the treatment, the health of those babies born after fertility treatments and other factors that are ultimately based on the eventual success of IVF treatments.

But what about those women who go through the whole process of IVF and never conceive?

A ground-breaking new study has taken a look at what happens to women after unsuccessful IVF. Rather than focusing on what went wrong with the treatment in order to improve treatment rates for others, this study looked at the emotional impact that unsuccessful treatments have on women. The study suggests that this can be an astoundingly difficult time for the woman and that fertility doctors must make sure that the patient has adequate emotional, psychological and social resources to get through this time period.

Question of the Day: What is the effect of unsuccessful in vitro fertilization on the women who go through it?

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One of the hottest topics in infertility medicine is the topic of medical tourism. People from countries all over the nation are choosing to leave their home countries and to travel to places where fertility treatment is more widely available and / or less expensive. A study of people undergoing fertility treatments in the UK reveals the shocking fact that three out of every four of them would consider medical tourism for their treatment.

There are a variety of factors which are causing people in the UK to consider going out of the country to get their infertility treatment completed. The two most compelling factors are the extremely high cost of infertility treatment in the UK as compared to elsewhere and the very long waiting lists that are required before treatment can be begun.

Only one out of four people said that they would not go out of the country to get their infertility treatment. Those people cited the major concern as being unsure about the conditions of the medical facilities in other countries. If they could be guaranteed that the standards of those countries were the same as those in the UK, they would likely leave the UK to get fertility treatments.

Question of the Day: What should be done to reduce the need for medical tourism among infertility treatment patients in the UK?

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There is an entire sector of business which is referred to as "reproductive management". This sector comprises all of the different tools that are used be people to either prevent or achieve pregnancy. As such, it includes the techniques that are used in infertility treatment. If you've ever wondered just how big of a business this is - try counting to three billion because that's the number of dollars that the business was worth in 2007.

What's more interesting is the fact that this sector of business is growing rapidly. It is expected to reach $3.5 billion by 2010. This is nearly a five percent increase over the span of just three years. This reflects the fact that more and more people are using infertility treatment as well as treatments to prevent pregnancy.

Ultimately what these numbers mean is that people are paying a lot of money to be able to have control over their reproduction. People don't want to get pregnant before they are ready to have children and they don't want to be unable to have children just because their bodies are having some difficulty conceiving.

Learn more about this business sector here.

Question of the Day: How much of the reproductive management business is made up by infertility treatment?

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There is a topic that tends to come up a lot in two very different circles of people - the topic of celebrity infertility. There is one group of people who discusses this that may or may not be interested in fertility issues in general but which is comprised of people interested in celebrity gossip. There is another group of people who discusses this that is interested specifically in issues of infertility and that includes celebrity infertility. What is interesting is that the same stories may be of interest to each of these two groups for strikingly different reasons.

People who are interested in celebrity gossip are typically interested in learning about the problems that celebrities are having. They want to know that celebrities are human just like the rest of us. To learn about a celebrity getting arrested or making a stupid choice in a relationship or struggling with issues of infertility helps this group of people feel a little better about themselves. Therefore, it is the fact that infertility is a sad thing for celebrities that makes celebrity infertility an interesting topic.

In contrast, people who are interested in infertility issues specifically will look a celebrities with infertility problems as role models for overcoming something difficult. Rather than feeling that these stars are reduced to being human, these people are held up as icons of the ability to struggle through difficult things and to survive in spite of being in the public eye.

Question of the Day: What compels people to be interested in celebrity infertility issues?

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The Baltimore Sun recently published an interesting article about the large percentage of infertile couples who have started blogging about their experiences in recent years. There are pros and cons to communicating with others through a blog, of course, but overall it seems that the medium of the blog can be a great tool for infertile couples.

Some of the benefits to couples who blog or read blogs about infertility issues include:

- A sense of community. It's important not to feel isolated and alone when dealing with issues of infertility. The blog has a community of readers and people who comment on the site.

- A way of venting. Infertility raises a lot of serious emotional issues for people. Sometimes it's difficult to constantly talk to a spouse or well-intentioned family member. Being able to vent through a blog can help release those feelings without damaging your personal relationships.

- The exchange of information. People who have gone through infertility issues before can assist those new to the problem with the exchange of information on blogs. It's important to remember that all advice should be confirmed with a qualified doctor, though, as there is a lot of misinformation printed on the web.

Although there are benefits to the blog for infertile couples, there are also drawbacks (including the display of your personal life around the world). Read the full article to get a better sense of these pros and cons.

Question of the Day: How can blogs be useful to infertile couples?

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This coming Friday, July 25th, marks the thirty year anniversary of what was then dubbed the world's first "test tube baby". The first baby to be born successfully through IVF will be celebrating a thirtieth birthday on this day and the world of infertility medicine should take a moment to pause and think about how far things have come in the field since that time.

Thirty years ago, no one was sure if the process of IVF was going to be successful. Many questions were raised about the ethics and the science and the risks and rewards of this procedure. Today, it is a common procedure designed to assist families who are haveing difficulty with conceiving a child due to either medical reasons or life choices.

There are certainly still many advances to be made in infertility medicine but the world has come a long way in this area in just thirty years. Learn more about the differences between then and now from this article reflecting on the issue.

Question of the Day: What changes have occurred in IVF in the last thirty years?

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Louise Redknapp is an English singer and the wife of a fairly well known UK footballer. She is also an expecting mother. And she's a woman who stands as an example of the fact that problems with infertility in the past do not necessarily mean problems of the same nature will crop up in the future.

Three and a half years ago, she gave birth to her first child after an arduous struggle with infertility brought on by endometriosis. Although the child is healthy and doing fine, the difficulty of conceiving the child was not forgotten.

When it came time to add to the family, Redknapp assumed that she would have the same problems with infertility that she had the first time around. She was surprised, of course, when she got pregnant just one month after starting to try for another child.

Infertility is a funny thing in the sense that it's not really something that we fully understand yet. We have come a long way towards better understanding of this problem in recent years but that doesn't mean that we know everything. Usually that's bad but sometimes it works out - like when you expect to have continued fertility problems and you don't!

Question of the Day: Why did Louise Redknapp suffer from celebrity infertility for so long and then have no problems getting pregnant with her second child?

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In the majority of cases where couples are having trouble with conceiving a child, the problem is not both halves of the couple but instead is either an issue with the woman or an issue with the man. It may be possible to significantly reduce the number of couples who are having trouble conceiving due to male infertility - at least that's what's indicated by the positive results of a new study regarding a simple vein treatment given to men who are having fertility issues.

The study found that a significant portion of men who are having trouble getting a woman pregnant are suffering from blockages in the veins of the scrotom. A simple non-invasive procedure can be used to essentially loosen up those blockages and get everything flowing again. In twenty-five percent of these cases, nothing else needed to be done for the woman in the partnership to get pregnant after this procedure.

Question of the Day: What percentage of male infertility is caused by blockages in the veins?

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The issue of whether or not infertility treatments should be covered by health insurance is an issue which has caused intense debate over the years. Most states have determined that health insurance must cover some types of infertility treatment but not other types, a solution which isn't ideal but is at least a step.

In keeping with enforcing these rules, the state of New York has recently fined one health insurance provider for failure to cover the infertility treatments of women who shoudl have been covered. This is important because it shows that the state takes this issue seriously as a medical condition in spite of the debates about whether or not it should be covered by insurance.

The details of the case can be learned here.

Question of the Day: Should infertility treatment be covered by medical insurance?

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One of the major problems associated with male factor infertility is a low sperm count. The fewer sperm you have, the less likely it is that one of them is going to reach the egg and impregnate your female partner. And a new study indicates that you may be exacerbating this problem if you regularly consume soy products.

The study found that men who consume soy products on a regular basis are significantly more likely to have a low sperm count. This could mean that soy consumption reduces sperm count and contributes to male factor infertility.

It should be noted, however, that a lot of questions can be raised about this study. For example, seventy five percent of the men in the study were overweight which could mean that there is a link between being overweight and having a low sperm count. It did seem that men who had high soy consumption and who were also obese suffered from a particularly low count of sperm.

Additional studies would need to be completed to determine if there truly is a link between soy consumption and the decrease of sperm count.

Question of the Day: Does soy reduce sperm count and therefore impact male fertility?

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A survey of doctors in the UK has taken a look at some of the issues and concerns surrounding IVF in this country. The issue of primary concern is whether or not the national health care system should cover IVF as a medical treatment; the majority of doctors seem to think that this is indeed something that should be covered.

Once the issue of coverage is addressed, there are several other things to be taken into consideration. For example, over one third of the people answering the survey believe that patients should be denied for IVF because of certain lifestyle choices such as the choice to smoke cigarettes. However, the other two thirds say that health concerns should be impressed upon the patient but shouldn't be a cause for denial of IVF treatment or medical coverage for IVF.

The people in this study also seek that more education be made available about some of the procedures used in IVF such as sex selection and PGD. They want more information for doctors about the true value of using these procedures and they want to make sure patients are educated about them in a way that is not confusing.

Question of the Day: Are the IVF issues facing doctors in the UK the same as those facing doctors in the US?

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The women from the band The Dixie Chicks have not been shy about sharing their struggles with infertility with the world around them. They have also stood as examples of the fact that infertility can be overcome since two of the three women have had successful pregnancies as the result of IVF treatments.

Last fall Dixie Chick Martie Maguire announced that she had a round of successful IVF treatments and that she was pregnant again. She has already successfully had twins through the use of IVF. The announcement has come that Maguire gave birth (at age 38) to a healthy baby. She is feeling great despite the fact that she had to deal with the issues of infertility to get to this point.

Question of the Day: Are there are other celebrity infertility stories that make you feel as inspired as the success stories of the Dixie Chicks?

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One of the risks that we take when we use in vitro fertilization to get pregnant is the risk that more than one of the embroys transferred during the procedure is going to become a child. There is a higher likelihood of having twins or triplets with IVF than with natural conception as a result of the way that the procedure is done. There is also the risk that these children will be born premature. A new study indicates that a test looking at the size of the uterus may be able to help predict whether premie twins developed through IVF will be likely to result in a premature birth.

The study shows that a woman with a smaller than average uterus is going to have a greater chance of having a premature baby. This fact increases the likelihood that the baby will be born with health complications or that it may not survive the birth. A doctor can use a transvaginal ultrasound before IVF in order to determine the size of the uterus. This could allow the patient to choose to implant less embryos. While this will increase the likelihood that the IVF may be unsuccessful, it will also make it less likely than successful IVF will result in multiple births that may end up premature.

Question of the Day: Would you choose to implant less embryos in IVF if told that you had a small uterus?

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There are some people who believe that it is a good idea to use acupuncture in conjunction with in vitro fertilization to increase the likelihood that the fertility treatment will be successful. A recent study indicates that there is a good chance that adding acupuncture to your IVF treatments has no effect on improving success rates. However there is probably no harm in using acupuncture either so there's not necessarily a reason not to try it "just in case".

Basically there were a series of studies done that used IVF alone, IVF with acupuncture and IVF with placebo acupuncture to try to determine whether the IVF was more successful when acupuncture was used. These studes were inconclusive but basically indicated that there is no reason to believe at this time that IVF is improved by acupuncture. This means that doctors shouldn't recommend acupuncture as a way to improve IVF results. However, it doesn't mean that you can't try using acupuncture to improve fertility.

Question of the Day: Is there anything good or bad about using acupuncture with IVF?

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