The Infertility & IVF Crisis
Posted on February 18, 2008
It seems the news in Europe discusses the topic of infertility, and IVF, more frequently than our news sources in the USA. Two articles talk about the long-term consequences of IVF specifically. Article one talks about the infertility Time Bomb. According to this article, the rate of infertility is going to increase from 1 in 8 to 1 in 3 – although it doesn’t give a time line for this increase. Some of the reasons given are STDs, obesity, and women deferring childbearing. Will my children and the children of my friends make the same decisions we did to delay starting a family? If not, how does this impact the occurrence of infertility in the future?
I have a feeling that my children will start their families sooner than I did. I have a feeling they are going to think that I was too old to be a mom and they’ll want to reverse the cycle. They’ll get married sooner than I did, I was 28. They’ll have children before they turn 30, I was 33. Since they’ll build their families earlier, they’ll have fewer issues with infertility. Or will they?
Of course, since my girls were conceived via IVF it’s possible they’ll be cursed with some form of infertility. Although we experienced male factor infertility, studies show that infertility can be genetically passed. Is this really anything new? I think my husband’s infertility was genetic although we have no proof as his parent’s were never tested, but it took his parent’s 6 years to conceive their 2nd child. Let’s keep in mind though, that the first test tube baby was able to naturally conceive and bear a healthy child.
However, IVF babies have other issues too. According to the second article babies conceived via IVF are more likely to have long-term health issues than a naturally conceived baby. The largest risks of an IVF pregnancy are consequences such as miscarriages, pre-eclampsia, and premature birth. In addition, IVF children/adults visit the doctor/hospital more often as compared to their naturally conceived counterparts.
These two articles hit on topics that are important to me. I hope that my daughters will not have to endure the pain of infertility. I also hope that my girls won’t experience the premature birth of their babies. It’s very possible that Kaley won’t be able to conceive a child naturally. She had many x-rays of her belly while she was in the NICU. Since they needed to get her whole stomach in the x-ray, she wasn’t provided with any protection of her ovaries. The doctors don’t know if any long-term damage was done by the radiation. She probably had more than 20 x-rays – my hope is that no damage was done, but my heart and my mind believe it’s more likely than not.
If one or both of my daughters do end up experiencing infertility or pregnancy complications, I’ll be there to support them in a way that only someone who has ‘been there, done that’ can.
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