Breastfeeding for Adoptive Mother

It is intriguing that non-human bottled milk and adoption gained wide popularity around the same period. It’s now known that nothing can substitute for breast milk, and there’s no escaping that, but lots of people are still loathing acknowledging that the same applies to the child’s natural mother. Mothers are still perceived as disposable, replaceable, in regard to their children. That is a fundamental aspect of adoption.

We are nothing to our children as whole people; the myth goes, even though our body parts and our primal ‘birth’ role (and our ‘social and medical histories’ of course, at the convenience of others) appear to be quite valued. Our maternal instincts of love and self-sacrifice are also highly valued traits, because these ensure that despite our pain and missing our children we remain invisible ’for the good of the child.’ Few people even think of the emotional cost to us of all this, or wonder if a mother who would make such an inhuman sacrifice for the sake of a child might be a MORE loving, committed mother than most. Few think, period, when it comes to adoption.

This adoptive breastfeeding may be and probably is well-intended, but most birth mothers I know see it as a symptom of adoptions institutionalized denial of the natural mother’s importance to her child. It tells me a lot that while I can easily envision a sister or good friend wet nursing my baby, the thought of a total stranger putting my infant to her non-lactating nipple makes me ill it seems so unnatural. This is not natural lactation; it is using the child to stimulate lactation.  I’m sorry, the connection between adoption as an ‘infertility cure’ and using others, in this case children, as a means one’s own ends is only reinforced by this.

CHINESE TEA FOR INFERTILITY CURE

Chinese tea is a combo of several different herbs that do help with infertility. There are a lot of herbs that could help and that you might want to try.  I’ll tell you the ones I know of or can think of right off hand. False Unicorn (Chamailirum Luteum) It has been used for both male and female infertility. It seems to help strengthen the mucous membranes and stabilizes a sensitive stomach. Scullcap (scutellaria Lateriflora)

Black Cohosh, Blessed Thistle, Burdock, Cramp Bark, Dong Quai, Feverfew, Horsetail, Red Clover, Red Raspberry, Sarsaparilla, Wild Yam, and Yellow dock. These are a few of the herbs that could help infertilitiy you should be able to find a combonation of these or some of these in a tea or pill form.  I hope this helped.  Mhat green tea is good for infertility, but I think you must drink several cups a day.  Arizona brand tea makes a good green tea with genseng and honey which boosts fertility.

Senate Bill 52 — Establishing Insurance Coverage for Infertility

Senate Bill 52 has come to an abrupt and unexpected halt in the Senate. On May 3rd, the Senate Insurance Committee voted favorably (7-1) on the passage of the bill. On May 6th, the bill went before the full Senate for a vote. At this time, some questions were raised regarding costs associated with this coverage. Sen. Gary Francoeur of Hudson (the one dissenting vote on the Insurance Committee) asked for a roll call on the bill. The roll call ended with a 12-12 tie. Senator Trombly requested that the bill be “laid on the table” … this means that the bill is still alive but needs to gain several more favorable votes in order to pass.

This is a very serious situation and we need everyone’s help to try and change the minds of the dissenting Senators.  We are making personal phone calls to try and make some headway, but the Senators need to hear from as many people as possible!

Currently, many insurance plans arbitrarily deny coverage for infertility, even though it is a recognized medical disease which can be effectively treated in most cases. Senate Bill 52 will remedy this unfair practice ith insurance coverage that has specific limits and restrictions. These parameters will provide appropriate treatment for infertile couples at a cost estimated to be less than $3.00 per subscriber per year.  This bill will give people like the opportunity to build a family here in New Hampshire without putting an undue burden on others.

In states where there is no mandated coverage, individuals have been forced to turn to the court system to secure coverage for this medical condition. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently ruled in support of employer-provided infertility coverage. The EEOC ruled that a company violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act when it refused to pay for an employee’s infertility treatment. In New Hampshire, we think it better to work through our legislature to provide an appropriate response to the inequities that exist under the current coverage schemes.

Acupuncture for Infertility

Following a complete gynecologic–endocrinologic workup, 45 infertile women suffering from oligoamenorrhea (n = 27) or luteal insufficiency (n = 18) were treated with auricular acupuncture. Results were compared to those of 45 women who received hormone treatment. Both groups were matched for age, duration of infertility, body mass index, previous pregnancies, menstrual cycle and tubal patency. Women treated with acupuncture had 22 pregnancies, 11 after acupuncture, four spontaneously, and seven after appropriate medication. Women treated with hormones had 20 pregnancies, five spontaneously, and 15 in response to therapy. Four women of each group had abortions.

Endometriosis (normal menstrual cycles) was seen in 35% (38%) of the women of each group who failed to respond to therapy with pregnancy. Only 4% of the women who responded to acupuncture or hormone treatment with a pregnancy had endometriosis, and 7% had normal cycles. In addition, women who continued to be infertile after hormone therapy had higher body mass indices and testosterone values than the therapy responders from this group. Women who became pregnant after acupuncture suffered more often from menstrual abnormalities and luteal insufficiency with lower estrogen, thyrotropin (TSH) and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) concentrations than the women who achieved pregnancy after hormone treatment.

 Although the pregnancy rate was similar for both groups, eumenorrheic women treated with acupuncture had adnexitis, endometriosis, out-of-phase endometria and reduced postcoital tests more often than those receiving hormones. Twelve of the 27 women (44%) with menstrual irregularities remained infertile after therapy with acupuncture compared to 15 of the 27 (56%) controls treated with hormones, even though hormone disorders were more pronounced in the acupuncture group. Side-effects were observed only during hormone treatment. Various disorders of the autonomic nervous system normalized during acupuncture. Based on our data, auricular acupuncture seems to offer a valuable alternative therapy for female infertility due to hormone disorders.

Infertility Insurance Coverage for Lifetime

There any insurance available for infertile people who aren’t covered with their jobs. So many policies have exclusions specifically NOT covering infertility procedures. I have talked to a number of perky customer service agents, everyone in the yellow pages in my state; they pretty much have the same answer: Some insurance don’t cover infertility treatments, it’s too expensive. But abortions are covered.

Studies have shown an additional $2.37 premium will cover infertility costs. Most infertile couples don’t need the most expensive procedures, several inexpensive options exist.  Technology has done quite a bit since the first test-tube baby, so most procedures are NOT experimental and know that most employers are the ones who choose what benefits to purchase, so the insurance industry is not totally at fault. I got an email from one agent who represents several companies;

The Supreme Court has declared reproduction as a major life activity, therefore protection under the ADA is warranted.  Things move at the speed of law though, and fertility is for a limited time in a woman’s life. By the time Congress passes federal legislation that would make coverage mandatory, IF they ever do, most infertile women today would not be young enough to conceive anymore.

Y Chromosome Testing…A Simple Genetic Blood Test

Many women being treated for infertility and or Ovarian Failure such as Clomid and Human Menopausal Gonadatropins are not responding by producing mature follicles or eggs as detected by Ultrasound and Estradiol levels.  A simple Genetic blood test or a sperm Genetic Test is now available to detect a region of the Males Y chromosome that is responsible for either the total non-production (spermatogenesis) of sperm or presence of defective sperm that will not fertilize unassisted. If ICSI is preformed this Gene may be passed to the male offspring due to by passing natural fertilization via sperm to egg injection.

Be aware that the male partner with a 0 sperm count could be tested for deletion.  It has recently been shown that if the test results in a specific deleted location of the Y chromosome (AZF), it will predict that the Testicular Sperm Extraction procedure (TESE) will totally fail to extract a single sperm. This results in unnecessary surgery and expense for the couple seeking infertility treatment for male factor.

Sex Testing for Female Athletes

Sex testing was first performed at the Olympics in the early 60′s. Women were made to strip down in front of a panel of gynecologists who would verify an athlete’s eligibility. Men were not subjected to this test. In 1968 the International Olympic Committee replaced this test with a chromosome test. This test is the buccal smear – a test of the sex chromosome pattern found in cells scraped from the inside of the cheek.

As we all remember from our biology classes. XX means female, XY means male. But it really isn’t that simple. one in 500 men have XXY chromosomes, a condition known as Klinefelter’s Syndrome, which causes sterility. Some people are born with XY chromosomes and testes, but none of the male hormonal messages get through, so they develop and are raised as females. And there are men who are unambiguously masculine who are XX. Frequently, neither physician, patient nor spouse were aware of this kind of abnormality, unless it’s discovered while investigating the concominant infertility.

No Infertility Cost for Human Longevity

The purpose of this study is to test the prediction of the evolutionary theory of aging that human longevity comes with the cost of impaired reproductive success (higher infertility rates). Does Exceptional Human Longevity Come With High Cost of Infertility? Testing the Evolutionary Theories of Aging will provide answer for this question.

Our validation study is based on the analysis of particularly reliable genealogical records for European aristocratic families using a logistic regression model with childlessness as a dependent (outcome) variable, and woman’s life span, year of birth, age at marriage, husband’s age at marriage, and husband’s life span as independent (predictor) variables.

We found that the woman’s exceptional longevity did not increase her chances of being infertile. It appears that the previous reports by other authors of high infertility among long-lived women (up to 50% infertility) are related to incomplete data, that is, births of children not reported. Thus, the concept of the high cost of infertility for human longevity is not supported by the data when these data are carefully cross-checked, cleaned, and reanalyzed.

Freezing Human Eggs

Quite a few people have mentioned the possibility of freezing eggs (either the childs, or some of the mothers for use as donor eggs in the future), but it does seem as though this type of infertility treatment is at a very early stage in its development. Many have also mentioned potential problems with the eggs of people with TS resulting in abnormalities, although this may also be counteracted in the future by improved screening methods.  All this obviously depends on Olivia having at least one good ovary and some eggs of course.

Scientists are doing this successfully for women before they undergo chemotherapy and it seems to me the technology could apply to TS girls. The big cavaet tho is that there seems to be some information that women with TS who give birth to their own babies have more abnormality problems than the general population.  I wonder how much research has really borne this out because of the small number of women with TS who have their own kids.

Treatment Options Available

If you think that you are having difficulty becoming pregnant, you should seek the assistance of your physician. There are several types of treatment. Appropriate treatment depends on your particular situation or underlying medical or surgical condition largely depends on the reason thought to be responsible for difficulty in becoming pregnant.

These treatments may range from the simple like appropriate timing of intercourse to the complex, high-tech therapies like in vitro fertilization (IVF) in which medications are given to induce the production of eggs that can be collected and then put together with sperm in the laboratory so that fertilization occurs. The fertilized eggs can then be cultured for 3 to 5 days followed by embryo transfer to the uterus.

IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) has been used safely and effectively for more than two decades. In a typical IVF procedure, a woman is treated with fertility drugs to regulate her menstrual cycle and stimulate the development of higher-quality eggs. This process helps to ensure that a sufficient number of healthy eggs are available for fertilization. Eggs are then ”retrieved” or collected and prepared for insemination using sperm from the male partner or a donor. Fertilization occurs in a laboratory dish specially prepared with a culture medium that supports and nourishes the fertilized eggs. Within about 72 hours after fertilization, embryos are transferred into the woman’s uterus.

Since the introduction of IVF, there have been many other important developments that have ade infertility treatment even more effective for both men and women: In vitro fertilization with endometrial cell co-culture is a special technique for couples with poor embryo quality where cells from the woman’s uterus are used to enhance development of fertilized eggs. CRMI refined this procedure using the woman’s own endometrial cells rather than cells from animals.