Self-sample kit may boost cervical screening

Even without dealing with infertility going into the ob/gyn isn't my favorite activity. I don't really know anyone who enjoys going in for their yearly appointment. And I also know that this aversion keeps some women away from the office more times than they should. This article shows an interesting take on raising the percentages of women who get tested for HPV.

Here is what happened:

As reported in ... more

A Letter To My Baby Beginnings

The above post is from blog writer, Serenity Now! Whose title is hysterical and whose writing is amazing and true. While clicking onto her blog today, I found this beautiful letter that she wrote to her beautiful embryos that she lost about a year ago. The whole letter is so touching, yet, this one section went straight into my heart.

In my hope that you were right around the corner, I didn't realise that my body was broken. That no amount of yoga or acupuncture or meditation was going to give you a place in which to thrive. I lost ... more

Study describes new type of "semi-identical" twins by Will Dunham

I have a brother and a sister that are fraternal twins that were born over 18 years ago. But even before this family association, I have been very interested in multiples. Through my mom's child care center, I've know 2 sets of triplets, many sets of twins. And with the increase of fertility enhancement procedures, the percentage of multiples continues to rise. I was very intrigued when this article came up on my ... more

When Courtney B. Vance and Angela Basset were married I was so happy for the both of them. Mostly I was a fan of hers, but now that Courtney is on Law and Order Criminal Intent, I've become a fan of his as well.

While searching through the Oprah.com archives for articles on infertility, their story popped up. I had no idea that they were having difficulties for as long as they were, and I really had no idea about them becoming parents of twins. Here is the article: Courtney and ... more

Baby Born From Frozen Sperm, Frozen Egg As found from Happy News. Here is some of the story, which describes possibly the first baby born in the US, using these procedures together.

''When they told me my tubes were blocked, I was naturally devastated,'' she said. ''Here I was, ready to finally have the baby of my dreams and I couldn't.''

Egg freezing traditionally has been reserved for women who suffered from illnesses that might leave them infertile and has a low success rate. But there has been recent demand for the procedure by women in their 30s who want to have ... more

Trying To Conceive Slang Terms

I stumbled upon this extensive list of fertility slang terms to keep in mind while reading blogs, or writing your own. Although I'm only going to reprint the ABC's the list goes all the way through Z. With a ton of terms that I hadn't ever heard of, it sure give me ideas for new posts to research!

The provided list A-C

ACA Anti-Cardiolipin Antibodies
ACTH Adrenal Corticotropic Hormone
AF Aunt Flo (Menstruation)
AFNW Aunt Flo Not Wanted
AH Assisted Hatching
AZH Assisted Hatching
AI Artificial Insemination
ANA ... more

When Infertility Strikes After You are a Mom from the Chicago Sun-Times

Reading part of this article, I was surprised that the doctor interviewed was so blunt about age and fertility. I know that in my experience, my gp was very laid back about my questions about infertility. At the time I was in my early 30s, and very informed about the rates of fertility, but her and my midwife were very unconcerned. Which, at times, I wonder is a good thing or a bad thing.

Here is the section that got me thinking:

FREDERICK, LICCIARDI, MD: Most people who have a child and then can't get pregnant ... more

Time for some (color) therapy

In this tip from the MomSpa team, they suggest wearing pink sweats. You'll have to read the full tip to get the idea of what they are talking about and it makes a lot of sense. The part of this tip that I found most helpful is their color list and the feelings that can be invoked by seeing a certain color. Periwinkle blue is my favorite color and not listed with their suggestions, but I'm sure with a little research that I could figure out why I enjoy it so much. Here is their list:

Pink Pink soothes and nurtures the wearer and those around her. It disolves anger and encourages unconditional ... more

Women with Sickle Cell Need Special Prenatal Care

While I'm always on the lookout for current news on the fertility front, I'm also looking out for news about any type of condition that my family and I have, or in my dad's case, had before he passed away. One of my nephews was diagnosed with sickle cell trait in the early months after he was born. And talk about scary in the way we found out!

He had had some ... more

How Stressed Are You?

Again, with the Beliefnet! I am addicted to quizzes. But only self-awareness type quizzes that I like the results to. I really don't care to much for pop quizzes of the scholarly type, but anything about self-learning will get me to clicking away at the keyboard.

This quiz is about how stressed you are. Now, there is research that suggests that being stressed isn't beneficial to becoming pregnant, so lowering our stress can only be a good thing. Let's try to get these levels down!

I did notice a mistake in the wording of one of the ... more

I have been reading Alternadad by Neal Pollack for the past couple of days and I've been loving it. I have laughed out loud and absolutely cannot put it down. His idea of parenting, and his reality are so far off of the mark, he reminds me of myself.

Before I encountered infertility, I thought that I would be like these parents that Pollack describes here:

In Rogers Park, it seemed impossible to be any kind of parent other than an eccentric one. One couple I got to know owned the No Exit Cafe, a place that had existed in several shades of brown since 1958 and practically screamed Leo Kottke Slept Here. They raised three kids in a world of folk music, ... more

Yesterday, after my post, I kept thinking about lockets and how they have come into my life. And here is a biggie.

My dad decided that he wanted to be cremated. His ashes were to be put into an urn while each one of us kids were able to have some ashes as well.

The funeral home that we used had a selection of urns that we could order, or we could find our own. They also had a collection of jewelry urns that we could order as well. The jewelry urns are advertised as "lockets" and I believe that this was because the jewelry has an opening to put the ashes into.

Two of my sisters decided to order from the company, and I really wish that I would have done that. ... more

Today in my inbox, I had an offer to "Remember My Loved One With a Memorial Locket". I didn't click on it, but it reminded me of something.

After I lost our first pregnancy, I wanted to somehow have something to memorialize and tangible for me to hold on to. I really wanted a locket. But what would I put in it? I had thought about taking a photo of the positive pregnancy test and putting it in one of the slots, with a printed due date or loss date on the other. And then I thought about leaving it empty, but that just felt way too empty. Just like the emptiness that I had ... more

Mooring from Stirrup Queens and Court Palace Jesters

The above post was up on the Stirrup Queens site this morning. She writes about the nesting that occurs when women go through fertility treatments. And the mooring that she has went through, which she describes as this:

It's nesting when you believe that you need to prepare for a real baby. The cleaning--it's all a grasp for control when you don't believe you will ever have an actual baby (or another baby in the case of secondary IF). It's mooring--a desperation to attach yourself to something more stable so you don't float away. An ... more

Miscarriage Coping Guide for Men on SharedJourney

I typed men miscarriage into the google search engine tonight and came across this list for men and how to cope with a miscarriage.

Now, I'll tell you. Being through a miscarriage more than once, I'm not too sympathetic to men in that situation. In fact, when it came to Chris, I was downright resentful and irritated that I was shouldering the majority of the recovery, while he seemed to have all of the faith in the world that things would work out for us, just because. No rhyme or reason behind his line of thinking. He just knew that we would carry a ... more

A New Fertility Factor by Alice D. Domar Ph.D.

Although the above article isn't new as the title would suggest, I read a statistic that I hadn't seen before that made so much sense. The article was written in 2004.

What do we really know about fertility and the mind? For starters, we know that infertility is stressful. Women who have difficulty conceiving suffer as much anxiety and depression as women with heart disease or cancer. A recent study found that 40 percent of them were anxious or depressed. This shouldn't be surprising. Procreation is one of the strongest instincts in ... more

It is crucial to know when it is appropriate to withdraw our attention from things that disturb our mind. However, if the only way we know how to deal with certain objects is to avoid them, there will be a severe limit as to how far our spiritual practice can take us.

-Lama Thubten Yeshe, "Introduction to Tantra"

I read this above quote and my mind started to give attention to all of the things that I probably shouldn't give attention to. Just like when someone tells you to "Don't look" and then you immediately turn to see what they are talking about.

I have admitted before that I am a worrier by birth, genetics and circumstance. It has ... more

Miscarriage Coping Guide for Men

Another item that made me feel very comfortable in referring this site to the readers was this:

Take the opportunity during this tragic event to invest extra energy into your relationship-spend quality time together, grieving the loss of your baby, as well as allowing yourselves time and space to grow and change as you experience pregnancy loss and as you recommence your journey towards pregnancy together.

I know that in our situation, I reached out a lot more than Chris did. I reached out to him, and to my friends, and to my family, and ... more

I found the following quote in the April 10-11 Self Improvement Newsletter put out by SelfGrowth

It is excerpted from Magical Beginnings, Enchanted Lives: A Holistic Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth by Deepak Chopra, M.D., David Siman, M.D. and Vicki Abrams, C.C.E., I.B.L.C.

When does life begin? Some spiritual tradtions see the origin of life as the moment a soul intends to enter into human form. Others see the beginning as a sparkle in the eye of a potential parent who wants to have a child. While biologists and religious clergy may argue about whether or not life starts at the moment of conception, ... more

A Quiet Refuge

I know that I have linked to A Quiet Refuge before, but I knew that I had mentioned writing about their journal, but haven't had a chance to yet.

The couple that created the Quiet Refuge cite are Russ and June Gordon. These two have experienced a full range on parenting dreams come true and nightmares. Their story is filled with expectation and dread, just like all of us who experience infertility, or just day to day life. They have had conception troubles, miscarriages, ... more

Counting Your Eggs: Can a New Test Predict Your Future Fertility? by Karen Barrow This article was published a year ago this spring.

Plan Ahead consists of a simple blood test -done by a doctor- on the third day of a woman's period. The blood sample is then sent to a lab where particular hormone levels are measured and compared to levels in the average woman of the same age. This allows the lab to estimate the number of eggs left in a woman's ovaries and predict her fertility for the next two ... more

My Many Blessings

I was doing a search through technorati, trying to find some more blogs to do some reading and to get some ideas to use over here. There were about 300 or so blogs that listed some sort of infertility link. I randomly picked a few to check out. One of the first ones that I clicked on is the above blog written by Tina. Here is her blog description:

This blog is dedicated to my journey through miscarriage and infertility. I am 34, happily married for almost 9 years to my high school sweetheart, with a precious almost 3 year old son. I am currently a working mommy, but I long to be home ... more

Early Morning In The Garden

I had a very busy and exciting weekend planned. I had planned a large birthday party/fundraiser for our adoption agency. I have been working and prepping for months now and the day was finally here on Saturday. The entire weekend was hectic and fun. But, being me, I kind of focused on the hectic.

We set up the hall on Friday night for four and a half hours. We continued the errands and decorating for another five hours on Saturday. And then clean up, including stacking hundreds of chairs and fifteen tables. Sweeping and mopping. And ... more

As I mentioned in my previous post, the bibliography listed in Inconceivable by Julia Indichova peaked my interest in many ways.

I have a friend, KW, that affectionately calls me a "throw back". I take this as one of the best compliments that I've ever received. I think that sometimes people would refer to my interests as New Age, but I don't think so. I'd describe my tastes as varied or open minded. While reading through Indichova's book, she mentions many texts that she refered to while researching her natural treatment for secondary infertility and FSH levels. I'm very interested in requesting these books from my local library and possibly checking my used book ... more

I finished reading Inconceivable: Winning the Fertility Game by Julia Indichova this weekend. It is about a woman who gradually decides to change her eating habits and lifestyle to a healthy way of living in order to conceive her second daughter. The book was published in 1997, so any of the information that she shares isn't too alternative in this day and age, but I loved reading her story and especially loved her book recommendations, that I will pass along, and her sharing of stories of other women she has met through her alternative quest.

And as an added bonus to me, since reading her book, I have begun to use my home juicer again and have sought out our local ... more

I got a phone call from my friend this morning. I knew that she was in for her other ultra sound yesterday, so while she was speaking, I tried to discern if she had good news or bad news to share.

She began the conversation with some details about some plans that we had this weekend and some other family involvements that she has going. And then she said, "Now you know I had my ultra sound yesterday." And her voice sounded happy!

Well, according to the report results that she got this morning everything looks GREAT!! Totally normal for a pregnancy of this length. She is over the moon and giggling.

So, of course, I'm wondering. What was all of this for? ... more

Over on yahoo health they offer a list of supplements that can be helpful in relieving some types of factors of infertility. The complete article is here.

First of all, here is the disclaimer:

This condition requires supervision by a medical practitioner. Always consult your Doctor for a diagnosis and advice. This information is in no way intended to replace the advice of a medical practitioner. A complete medical examination should be performed on the male and the female partner. Hormone drugs or other medication may be prescribed depending on the cause of the infertility. Structural ... more

Celebrity Depression, Spiritual Lessons by Therese J. Borchard

I was finally reading the above article this morning after I have been saving it for about a week. It is about how blog author, Therese Borchard handles hearing about celebrity depression while handling depression herself. Here is what she had to say:

When it comes to depression, I search everywhere for guides--people who can teach me how to live with it, or at least how to give it meaning. And when a celebrity--some Hollywood type or important politician--joins the crusade to end discrimination against the ... more

My friend is still waiting on answers about her pregnancy. And keeps getting dragged back onto the roller coaster ride after she thinks that the ride has finally ended.

Here is an update on her story.

Yesterday she went in for another blood draw in the morning, then had an appt with her doc in the afternoon. During her appointment the doctor told her that their wasn't anything to be seen on the ultrasound. And that her HCG numbers were going down. So, my friend called me crying and left me a message about the pregnancy loss.

I immediately went to the liquor store and purchased the ingredients for Cosmos which are her favorite. I dropped the gift off at her ... more

Male Offspring of Assisted Reproduction Less Fertile

I was born in the wake of the DES prescriptions. My mom was certain that she did not take this pills while pregnant with me, though she says that she was taking many pills a day to try to prevent from miscarrying me. As I got older the studies came out about ... more

I spoke with a girlfriend today that may be having a miscarriage. And what we agreed about the most is the worst part of it is the may be. It was exactly a week ago today that she told me that she was expecting. She began experiencing light bleeding on Thursday and of course with the weekend now she is in the dark about everything. She had an ultrasound on Friday, and since the techs can't say anything, she is waiting for scan to be read. Her blood draw was taken on Thursday as well, but she can't go in for the second one until Monday. Let's just say that it is going to be a rough weekend. And did I mention that it is also Easter?

As we were talking the memories ... more

4. Treat each day like the precious gift that it is

This may be helpful in not losing your hope all of the way, but I know from experience that when hope is gone, this is the hardest suggestion to accomplish. Each day is not a precious gift while you are in the hopeless mindset, it is more like a punishment. But if you can get into this practice beforehand, you might be able to hang on to it longer.

5 Every morning, afternoon and night, take a 30 second break to look at the sky, breathe deeply and offer thanks

This really would have been helpful to me to have some sort of reminder to get out and observe and or experience the outside world. There were ... more

"Don't Lose Hope"by Naomi Drew

There are only two times in my life, so far, that I have lost hope. Those times were when I was dealing with infertility and when we received my dad's terminal cancer diagnosis. Both times I was devastated. Both times it was like the world had grown dark and would not be light again. Many people will tell you to not lose hope. But not many will tell you how to not lose hope. In fact, in that instance, you are hopeless already so what can you do? According to the article above, there are ways to hang on to hope. Or, in some cases, to try to get it ... more

The Cycle of Wisdom

I have just read an article that brought to mind a totally different experience than one that I have experienced in my life. Here is what I'm talking about. And this is how the article opens.

How might it have been different for you if, on your first menstrual day, your mother had given you a bouquet of flowers and taken you to lunch, and then the two of you had gone to meet your father at the jeweler, where your ears were pierced, and your father bought you your first pair of earrings, and then you went with a few of your friends and your mother's friends ... more

Eating A lot of Beef May Affect Son's Sperm

"In sons of 'high beef consumers' (more than seven beef meals/week), sperm concentration was 24.3 percent lower," the researchers wrote in their report, published in the journal Human Reproduction.

The team at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York studied data on the partners of 387 pregnant women in five U.S. cities between 2000 and 2005, and on the mothers of the fathers-to-be. ... more

7. Embrace the thought, "It's all happening perfectly." Here is another affirmation that Jeffers uses frequently, but in the same case as the other one, I don't think that it would have helped my state of mind during the "trying to get pregnant" phase of my life. It's hard to really feel this way when the one thing that you really want seems easily attainable by everyone else, except yourself.

8. Focus on the blessings This was one thing that I did do while trying to get pregnant. I was lucky enough to have many nephews and one niece of varying ages that I was able to be grateful for and to focus on while I was trying to become a mother. ... more

3. Choose the path of trust This one is hard for me to take in relating to infertility, especially when I was in the thick of dealing with it. Jeffers suggests that instead of seing yourself as the "victim" you trust that your life is exactly how it is supposed to be. Well, this advice is hard to swallow when you want a child so badly. But when I look back now at the children that I do have, I'm glad that things worked out like they did. But I am not thankful for my infertility. I know that it doesn't make sense, but this is how I feel. I wouldn't wish the emotions that I went through on anyone.

4. Increase your sense of power In this ... more

Nine Ways To Find Peace of Mind by Susan Jeffers

Susan Jeffers has written a book titled, Embracing Uncertainty that speaks about how we are as a nation of Americans. First of all, we are worriers. Worried about all sorts of stuff. Wanting peace in all situations. (But, who doesn't?) In her book she gives 9 ways to help to calm our minds. As I was reading through her list, I felt that a lot of these are given as advice to dealing with infertility. Many of these would be useful in a lot of situations.

1. "Un-set" Your Heart These are the words that she uses to describe ... more