(no subject)

[ste_noni]

I read this article this morning while waiting for Frisco to fall back asleep. Basically, it says that IVF is now so "successful" that many doctors are encouraging women to transfer less embryos in order to reduce the rate of multiple births. It got me thinking - I read a lot of infertility blogs (leftover from my own struggle to have a child) although I think everyone of them now has a child. I think all those children were conceived through IVF. Sadly, of the 5-6 blogs I read regularly, two women lost a set of twins each, one woman came close to dying and losing her baby due to a placental abruption, and another woman lost multiple pregnancies. Of the babies who did survive, all spent time in the NICU (some longer than others). All these women now have children at home (and actually only one had a singleton) but those children came at a very high cost - both emotionally and financially. Of course, I haven't asked them, but I'm not sure they would agree that IVF is now "too successful." (Although now that I think about it, I guess that's what the article is saying - that transfer rates are successful and this actually causes complications.) Still, if it were me, I can't imagine going through all the stress, injections, and expense, only to transfer one embryo.

Comments

[mearagrrl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was about to say--it's one thing to be all for single transfer, but the COSTS.....