ParentDishhttp://www.parentdish.comParentDishhttp://www.parentdish.com/media/feedlogo.gifParentDishhttp://www.parentdish.comen-usCopyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Trying to Get Pregnant? Start Flossinghttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/07/06/trying-to-get-pregnant/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/07/06/trying-to-get-pregnant/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/07/06/trying-to-get-pregnant/#commentsFiled under: , ,

dental floss

Credit: Getty Images

Trying to get pregnant? Be sure to floss.

BBC News reports an Australian study presented at a fertility meeting in Sweden this week says bad oral health is just as bad as obesity when it comes to fertility and flossing regularly can help a woman get pregnant faster.

Experts reported that women who had gum disease too more than seven months to get pregnant -- that's two months longer than the average five months, according to the network.

Periodontal disease doesn't just affect the ability to conceive -- it also has been shown as a factor in heart disease, type 2 diabetes, miscarriage and plus poor sperm quality.

"Until now, there have been no published studies that investigate whether gum disease can affect a woman's chance of conceiving, so this is the first report to suggest that gum disease might be one of several factors that could be modified to improve the chances of a pregnancy," Roger Hart, the study's lead researcher and professor at the University of Western Australia, tells the BBC.

Hart says women trying to conceive should schedule a dentist appointment.

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]]>conceptionfertilityflossingFlossingAndPregnancypregnancyLesley KennedyWed, 06 Jul 2011 13:00:00 ESTResearchers Say Caffeine May Cause Infertilityhttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/31/caffeine-may-cause-infertility/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/31/caffeine-may-cause-infertility/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/31/caffeine-may-cause-infertility/#commentsFiled under: ,

caffeine and infertility

Caffeine or baby, caffeine or baby? Credit: Getty Images

Caffeine can not only make you jumpy, it can make you infertile.

MSNBC reports researchers have discovered caffeine reduces activity of the muscles in the fallopian tubes, which carry a woman's eggs from her ovaries to her womb.

The result? No babies.

"Caffeine inhibits the contractions of the muscles in the fallopian tube, so the egg stops getting transported," lead researcher Sean Ward of the University of Nevada School of Medicine tells MSNBC.

If the eggs aren't delivered to the womb, a woman will either have an unsuccessful pregnancy or be at risk for an ectopic pregnancy (when the embryo gets stuck and develops in the woman's fallopian tube), he adds.

MSNBC reports researchers studied the effect of caffeine on the fallopian tubes of mice, who have reproductive systems similar to humans. (That explains why Mickey and Minnie Mouse have been together for 83 years but don't have any children.)

Ward tells MSNBC the mice got the amount of caffeine equivalent to a couple of cups of coffee. Still, much more research is needed to determine how much caffeine is necessary to impair fertility in humans, he adds.

Caffeine affects everybody in different ways, and therefore may affect people's fertility differently, Ward tells the network.

"It depends on the person -- how long caffeine affects you, and then the downstream effects as well," he says.

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]]>caffeinecaffeine and infertilitycaffeine and infirtilityinfertilitypregnancyTom HendersonTue, 31 May 2011 10:00:00 ESTIllinois a Hotbed for Europeans Seeking Surrogateshttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/04/15/surrogate-laws/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/04/15/surrogate-laws/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/04/15/surrogate-laws/#commentsFiled under: ,

surrogates in illinois

Looking for a surrogate? Illinois is the place to be. Credit: Getty Images


Having a baby is taking on a new twist for U.S. women who are outsourcing their wombs to European couples and others across the globe where surrogacy is illegal.

Some call it global fertility tourism. But "people helping other people" is how Laurie Thompson of McHenry, Ill., describes the 14-week-old twins she is carrying for a same sex couple from Spain, conceived with a donor's eggs, according to the Chicago Tribune.

"There's such pride in knowing that I did this for somebody," Thompson tells the newspaper about her two experiences as surrogate, which also have included a pregnancy for a married couple from Serbia.

Thompson, who is married and paid in the $20,000 to $25,000 range, plus expenses, tells the Tribune surrogacy works for her because she avoids emotional attachment to the babies growing in her belly.

"This is something that is probably hard for most people to do -- with the emotional connection and everything -- and I was able to do it," she tells the Tribune.

During the last five years, Illinois adoption and fertility organizations say they have seen a growing number of local women carrying babies for women in as far away as Istanbul and Uruguay, the Tribune reports. And, throughout the United States, there are an estimated 1,400 babies who have European parents and are being carried by U.S. moms, the newspaper adds.

The babies are born U.S. citizens, surrogacy agency officials say, but that's not a primary motivation for the parents, who typically come from European and Latin American countries where surrogacy is illegal or unavailable. The parents have exhausted other options and are willing to pay about $50,000 to $100,000 -- part of which goes to the surrogate -- to have biological children, the Tribune reports.

There is no formal tracking system, but one of the larger U.S. agencies, the Center for Surrogate Parenting in Encino, Calif., estimates that about half of its 104 births in 2010 were for international parents.

Illinois is one of the centers for this practice because it has one of the most surrogacy-friendly laws in the nation -- at least two dozen international babies were born to surrogates in 2010, according to a Tribune survey of major agencies. The only other states that explicitly allow contracts for paid surrogacy are Arkansas, California and Massachusetts.

"We're getting inquires from international parents constantly. Because of the referral process, it's skyrocketed," Zara Griswold, director of Family Source Consultants in Hinsdale, Ill., tells the Tribune. "We recently got an inquiry from somebody in China."

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]]>surrogacysurrogatesMary Beth SammonsFri, 15 Apr 2011 14:30:00 ESTFrozen Donor Eggs Could Give Women More Pregnancy Optionshttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/04/08/frozen-donor-eggs/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/04/08/frozen-donor-eggs/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/04/08/frozen-donor-eggs/#commentsFiled under: , ,

freezing donor eggs a fertility option

Freezing donor eggs -- or your own -- could be a viable option for young women who want to postpone pregnancy. Credit: Getty Images

Good news on the infertility front: New research confirms frozen donor eggs may work just as well as fresh ones, increasing options and possibly driving down costs for women hoping to get pregnant, Reuters reports.

The findings also suggest freezing donor eggs -- or your own -- could be a viable option for young women hoping to postpone baby-making for the future, according to the news service.

Researchers at a fertility clinic in Cyprus studied 77 women who had received donor eggs from other women that had been frozen, and discovered they were just as likely to have a baby as women given fresh frozen donor eggs, Reuters reports.

The results were almost equal. Forty-seven percent of the women gave birth, versus 41.5 percent of the fresh-egg group -- a difference that could have been due just to chance, the researchers report in the journal Fertility and Sterility.

The findings support growing evidence that egg-freezing, a relatively new technology, can work whether it's a woman's own eggs or a donor's eggs, Dr. Nicole Noyes, who co-directs the egg-cryopreservation program at the New York University Fertility Center, tells Reuters.

"This is more positive reinforcement that egg-freezing is here," Noyes tells the news service.

Another goal is to allow women to freeze their own eggs.

"If you're 36, and you know you won't have a baby before you're 38 because you're in med school, then it might be a good idea," Noyes tells Reuters.

The findings support the growth of "egg banks," akin to sperm banks, where one donor's eggs can be frozen and given to multiple recipients, according to the news service.

Frozen eggs improve the number of options for women, because there are some drawbacks to fresh egg donations, Dr. Xiao Zhang, scientific director of the Cork Fertility Center in Ireland and the senior researcher for the study, tells Reuters.

One is coordination, Zhang tells the news service. That is, the recipient's uterus must be ready to receive the eggs at the same time the donor is ready to have her eggs harvested.

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]]>donor eggsfreezing eggsfrozen donor eggsMary Beth SammonsFri, 08 Apr 2011 11:35:00 ESTDoctors Try to Save Fertility of Children With Cancerhttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/07/fertility-cancer/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/07/fertility-cancer/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/07/fertility-cancer/#commentsFiled under: , ,

fertility cancer picture

Young adults too often aren't told in time about fertility preservation options. Credit: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) - The treatment beating back 9-year-old Dylan Hanlon's cancer may also be destroying his chances of fathering his own children when he grows up.

Upset that doctors didn't make that risk clear, his mother, Christine, tracked down an experiment that just might salvage Dylan's future fertility. Between chemo sessions, the pair flew hundreds of miles from their Florida home to try it.

Many of the cancer treatments that can save patients' lives also may cost their ability to have babies later in life. Young adults have options - bank some sperm, freeze embryos or eggs. Children diagnosed before puberty don't.

With childhood cancer survival reaching 80 percent, there's a growing need to find ways to preserve these youngsters' fertility - and patients like Dylan are on the front edge of research that's banking testicular cells and ovarian tissue to try.

"There are viable options, and they are on the doorstep," says Dr. Kyle Orwig of the University of Pittsburgh. He leads the study Dylan joined to store the stem cells boys harbor that later on will produce their sperm. The idea is to eventually transplant the cells back.

It may sound odd to discuss fertility issues still decades away even as parents agonize over whether a child will live or die.

Yet it can be hopeful: "We expect they'll live that long," says Dr. Teresa Woodruff of Northwestern University's Oncofertility Consortium, who works with girls' ovarian tissue. "If we protect their fertility now as a 9-year-old, we hope ... that tissue we've guarded can be used" when they're grown.

Researchers say several dozen boys and girls, including some babies, so far are part of these early-stage experiments at a handful of medical centers.

And while there are no guarantees, Dylan's mother rests easier knowing "that I'm doing all I can do" for his future.

About 10 percent of the 1.5 million people diagnosed with cancer last year were younger than 45, more than 15,000 of them under 20. Woodruff says perhaps half of younger patients risk either some immediate fertility damage, or for girls the prospect of menopause in their 20s or 30s. It depends on the type of cancer and treatment. Numerous forms of chemotherapy, high-dose body-wide radiation, radiation aimed at the pelvis and some surgeries can leave patients unable to procreate.

Even young adults too often aren't told in time about fertility preservation options, despite guidelines issued in 2006 urging doctors to discuss them upfront.

Where does that leave the youngest patients? Boys don't produce sperm before puberty, ruling out sperm banking. Girls are born with all the eggs they'll ever have but those are in an immature state, so egg-freezing isn't an option.

Enter the new research.

In Holiday, Fla., a lump in Dylan Hanlon's chest turned out to be Ewing's sarcoma, a rare cancer, fortunately caught early. The prescribed nine months of chemotherapy began in September, turning fourth grade into home-schooling. Dylan has struggled with side effects and infections during every-other-week hospitalizations for the chemo. But it seems to be working; his mother was told the prognosis is good.

Then in December, Christine Hanlon stumbled across information from the patient advocacy group Fertile Hope that revealed Dylan's chemo bears a high risk of infertility. She began hunting options. The first study she found accepts only the newly diagnosed.

An only child, Dylan "loves babies. He told me one day he was going to have 10 kids," Hanlon says. Learning the risk late "broke my heart. ... He might have lost an opportunity."

Finally she tracked down Orwig, who oversees a multi-hospital program called Fertility Preservation in Pittsburgh that offers services to men, women, boys and girls.

Orwig and other researchers have restored fertility in a range of male animals - mice, rats, pigs, dogs - by storing and reimplanting sperm-producing stem cells.

Testing the technique in boys requires biopsy-style removal of a small amount of testicular tissue. No one knows how many stem cells are floating among the millions of other cells frozen from that sample, or how many are necessary. But Orwig says the more tissue collected, the better.

Dylan joked, "So Ma, I'll be a guinea pig?" Hanlon says he easily agreed.

Most of his sample was frozen, for Dylan's later use if he wants it. The rest went to Orwig's lab for research - and two weeks later came the good news that Dylan's tissue indeed harbored stem cells despite a few months of chemo.

Key to this approach will be multiplying stored stem cells so that many more can be injected back, adds Dr. Jill Ginsberg of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who has banked cells from more than 25 boys in her own study. Her research partner at the University of Pennsylvania is working on that step.

Girls pose a different challenge.

Some young women have had strips of their ovaries removed and frozen before cancer treatment, and then transplanted back a few years later. It's considered experimental even for adults, with 13 births reported worldwide so far, says Northwestern's Woodruff.

Now researchers are banking the same tissue from girls. It requires laparoscopic surgery. Storing enough isn't the issue: Egg follicles are progressively lost through life, so a girl harbors more than even a 20-something, Woodruff says. A bigger unknown is how long they can be frozen.

Also, there's a possibility cancer cells could lurk in frozen tissue. So Woodruff is going the next step, researching ways to force those stored follicles to ripen into pure eggs in a lab dish.

However the different experiments pan out, Hanlon says more families should be told about them: "Doctors should have this information, have it there to give to the parents. Let the parents decide."

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, rewritten, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. This article was written by LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

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]]>Associated PressMon, 07 Mar 2011 16:50:00 ESTStringent Policy Puts Sperm in Short Supply in Melbourne, Australiahttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/02/23/stringent-policy-puts-sperm-is-in-short-supply-in-melbourne-aus/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/02/23/stringent-policy-puts-sperm-is-in-short-supply-in-melbourne-aus/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/02/23/stringent-policy-puts-sperm-is-in-short-supply-in-melbourne-aus/#commentsFiled under: ,

sperm bank

A medical worker works on a dish ready for intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Credit: Georges Gobet, AFP/Getty Images

If you're living in Melbourne, Australia and want to conceive using a sperm bank, you may want to get in line.

The state of Victoria -- where Melbourne is the capital and around 5.5 million people reside -- is experiencing a severe shortage of sperm donors, The Age reports.

There are several reasons for the dearth of sperm. Last year, according to the Australian newspaper, laws were enacted allowing single women and lesbians access to IVF programs, which are partially covered by insurance.

Also, men are no longer allowed to remain anonymous when donating sperm, and are only permitted to give sperm to 10 families, The Age reports, adding that federal law prohibits payment for sperm, although the donor can receive reimbursement costs. Donors are also required to undergo counseling.

"The guiding principles of the act are that the welfare of persons born as a result of treatment is paramount, and they have a right to information about their genetic parents," Louise Johnson, chief executive of the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority tells The Age.

Just 184 registered sperm donors are left in the state, according to the newspaper, which means patients face up to a nine-month wait. Some people have resorted to flying North to Queensland to obtain sperm.

Victoria prohibits the import of sperm unless approval is granted by the state's Reproductive Treatment Authority, which only granted permission in three cases last year, The Age says. Queensland does not have such a stringent policy and routinely imports sperm from the United States.

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]]>australiain vitroin vitro fertilizationInVitroInVitroFertilizationivfspermsperm donorsSpermDonorsNicki GostinWed, 23 Feb 2011 15:00:00 ESTExperts Debating Whether Insurance Should Cover Infertility Treatments Under New Lawhttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/27/insurance-coverage-for-infertility-treatment-under-question-new/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/27/insurance-coverage-for-infertility-treatment-under-question-new/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/27/insurance-coverage-for-infertility-treatment-under-question-new/#commentsFiled under: ,

Should health insurance cover infertility treatments? Credit: Getty

Today, most couples undergoing infertility treatments are paying out of their own pockets, but experts at the Institute of Medicine are taking a closer look at the new health care law to determine if these treatments are essential benefits that should be covered, Kaiser Health News reports.

Infertility is a painful reality for 6 million women and men across the country -- that's one in eight couples, according to the Centers for Disease Control -- so it's significant that experts are wrestling with the issue of whether or not infertility treatments should be included in health insurance policies available through state-based insurance exchanges where individuals and small businesses may buy coverage starting in 2014.

The IOM will deliver its recommendations to the Department of Health and Human Services, Kaiser reports.

Infertility coverage is slim. Only about 20 percent of employers cover assisted reproductive therapies such as in vitro fertilization, according to a 2006 survey of almost 1,000 employers, conducted for Resolve: The National Infertility Association, Kaiser reports.

Most of the employers that didn't offer coverage cited cost concerns, but 91 percent of those that did offer it said it hadn't significantly increased their costs.

Existing coverage for infertility varies dramatically. Some plans offer fertility drugs to stimulate ovulation or intrauterine insemination (IUI, often called artificial insemination), but don't cover pricier assisted reproductive technology (ART) procedures, such as in vitro fertilization, according to Kaiser.

And, even if a plan does cover IVF, it may cover only a certain number of cycles -- or attempts -- or cap the dollar amount it will pay for services.

So far, 15 states require medical insurance coverage for infertility treatment, according to research compiled by Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute, Kaiser reports.

But mandates often promise more than they deliver, Sean Tipton, a spokesman for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, tells Kaiser, noting that small employers are generally exempt from such rules, as are large employers that self-insure or pay employee health claims directly.
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Experts say it's too soon to know how the coverage issue will be resolved in the health insurance exchanges. But it's worth noting that when employers in the Resolve survey were asked why they covered infertility benefits, 65 percent said it was because employees asked them to.

"We were shocked" that it was so easy to get coverage added, Barbara Collura, executive director of the infertility group, tells Kaiser.

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]]>fertilityhealth care reformhealth insuranceHealthCareReformHealthInsuranceinfertilityMary Beth SammonsThu, 27 Jan 2011 12:50:00 ESTIt's Complicated: Mom Freezes Her Eggs So Daughter Can Create Future Familyhttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/12/its-complicated-mom-freezes-her-eggs-so-daughter-can-create-fu/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/12/its-complicated-mom-freezes-her-eggs-so-daughter-can-create-fu/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/12/its-complicated-mom-freezes-her-eggs-so-daughter-can-create-fu/#commentsFiled under: ,

Penny Jarvis and Mackenzie Stephens picture

Penny Jarvis is freezing her eggs for her daughter, Mackenzie, to use. Credit: Caters News/310pix.com

Granny or Mom?

That's a question that may be asked in the case of an English woman who is freezing her eggs so that, when her 2-year-old daughter grows up, she can have kids of her own.

Translation: If, one day, the girl chooses, she could give birth to her own half-sibling. The future baby's father? He would be fertilizing his mother-in-law's egg. And the baby's aunts and uncles? They'd be half-brothers and sisters, too.

Welcome to the complicated world of fertility science.

Mackenzie Stephens, 2, was born without ovaries, but her mom, Penny Jarvis, 25, plans to donate her own eggs to help her daughter have children of her own, London's Daily Mail reports.

Mackenzie was born with Turner Syndrome, a potentially devastating chromosomal abnormality affecting about one in every 2,000 female births, that, in addition to ovarian failure, can cause neck, skin and heart abnormalities, along with mild hearing loss, according to the Turner Syndrome Society of the United States website.

Mackenzie, who needs a daily growth hormone, suffers severe mood swings and sees a psychologist. She is partially deaf and uses sign language, the Daily Mail reports.

Jarvis, of Sheffield, England, is "mum" to four other young kids, as well: Morgan, 6, twins William and Abigail, 3, and 5-month-old Jaymie-Leigh. She and her partner, Karl Stephens, 42, care for the children, according to the newspaper.

Jarvis tells the Daily Mail she will do anything to give her daughter the chance to have kids of her own one day.

"You could look at it as her giving birth to her own brother or sister, but I choose not to see it like that," she tells the Daily Mail. "You do the best for your children and Mackenzie's daughter or son would be her own. "

This is not the first case of a mother trying to ensure the chances of her child having a family.

In an unrelated story, in 2007, a Montreal mom froze her eggs so they could be used by her then 7-year-old daughter who could not have children because of a genetic condition, according to Reuters. If the girl chooses to become pregnant using her mother's eggs, she will be giving birth to her biological half-sister.

Jarvis says she hopes her other three daughters will donate eggs for their sister, as well.

"It's a comfort to know that if she did have a child they would still have part of her own genetic make-up as well, so it would still be a part of her," Jarvis tells the Daily Mail. "Hopefully, it won't just be me doing it. I'd like to think her three sisters would offer their eggs, too. But if they didn't, at least the option would be there for her."

But medical ethicists warn that Mackenzie's potential children could face psychological problems stemming from their relationships with their mother, who will also be their sister, and with their grandmother, who will also be their biological mother.

"It is important that account has been taken of the welfare of any child who may be born as a result of the treatment and of any other child who may be affected by the birth," a spokesman for the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority tells the Daily Mail.

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]]>FertilityTreatmentsfrozen eggsFrozenEggsInfertilityTreatmentsturner syndromeTurnerSyndromeMary Beth SammonsWed, 12 Jan 2011 15:51:00 ESTWant to Make a Baby? Check Out the Latest Apphttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/05/want-to-make-a-baby-check-out-the-latest-app/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/05/want-to-make-a-baby-check-out-the-latest-app/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/05/want-to-make-a-baby-check-out-the-latest-app/#commentsFiled under: ,

pregnancy test picture

A new IVF app may help predict the potential for pregnancy. Credit: Getty


Before heading down the sometimes emotionally traumatic, often dignity-gobbling and not to mention way expensive road to conception through in vitro fertilization, potential parents might want to check out the latest app.

IVPpredict promises to predict the potential for IVF treatments. Parents are led through a series of nine questions including "For how many years have you been trying to get pregnant?" and "Are you planning on using your own eggs or donor eggs?" The answers help calculate the odds of having a baby.

British researchers devised the formula, which they claim gives a highly accurate prediction of success for fertility treatment, Time magazine's health site reports.

Scientists from the Universities of Glasgow and Bristol analyzed the details of more than 144,000 IVF cycles to produce a statistical model that can give a prediction of live birth, which is up to 99 percent accurate, according to a University of Glasgow press release.

"Essentially, these findings indicate that treatment-specific factors can be used to provide infertile couples with a very accurate assessment of their chance of a successful outcome following IVF," Professor Scott Nelson, Muirhead Chair of Reproductive and Maternal Medicine at the University of Glasgow, says in the release. "It provides critical information on the likely outcome for couples deciding whether to undergo IVF -- up until now, estimates of success have not been reliable. The result of this study is a tool which can be used to make incredibly accurate predictions."

Currently, IVF is successful in about a third of women younger than 35, but in only five to 10 percent of women older than 40, Nelson says.

"However, there are many other factors in addition to age which can alter your chance of success and clinics don't usually take these into account when counseling couples or women," he says in the release.

The findings, published recently in PLOS Medicine, suggest the chances of a baby arriving are decreased by a woman's more advanced age, the length of the infertility and the use of the woman's own eggs, but increased by a previous successful IVF-generated birth and use of Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection, Time reports.

The app, which is already online, becomes available for iPhones soon, Time says.

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]]>appsin vitro fertilizationInVitroFertilizationiphone appIphoneAppivfpregnancyMary Beth SammonsWed, 05 Jan 2011 12:45:00 ESTLooking for Mr. Dad? Find the Right Sperm Donor With a Dossierhttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/20/looking-for-mr-dad-find-the-right-sperm-donor-with-a-dossier/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/20/looking-for-mr-dad-find-the-right-sperm-donor-with-a-dossier/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/20/looking-for-mr-dad-find-the-right-sperm-donor-with-a-dossier/#commentsFiled under: ,

Want your baby to look like Brad Pitt? Pick your sperm donor wisely. Credit: Corbis


Parents who are making babies -- in vitro style -- don't want to hook up with just any old sperm donor. Not when there are celebrity lookalikes available, or they can choose blue eyes, tall and handsome with just a click of a mouse.

Consider it Match.com for infertile couples. California Cryobank takes the confusion out of the donor insemination process by helping prospective parents select just the right sperm for the baby they want to create. Parents-to-be can even look for common interests with the donor through the use of keywords that describe who he is and what he's like, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Check out these scenarios: Donor 11736 has a slight cleft chin, medium-sized lower lip, round nose with an average nostril flare and thick brows, according to the newspaper. Or, there's Donor 12310, who believes life is "about being bold, going out there on an adventure."

California Cryobank sells donor information packages, on top of free information such as medical histories and personal essays, for fees beginning at $145. That allows customers to buy three months of access to detailed profiles, childhood photos and a feature called "Express Yourself," which allows the donor to write anything from a letter to poetry, the Journal reports.

But the service also takes it to the next level, where prospective parents can select "CCB Donor Look-a-Likes," that allows them to zero in on the look of actors, athletes, musicians or anyone else famous, the company's website reports.

CCB Donor Look-a-Likes links directly to photos of the two to three celebrities the staff has deemed each donor most closely resembles.

A $250 subscription offers additional access to descriptions of facial features, audio interviews with the donors and personality tests. California Cryobank asks customers to keep the information they purchase confidential, and donors get paid extra for some items -- think $50 to $100 for baby photos, the newspaper reports.

"Our attempt is to provide a three-dimensional version of this donor beyond just how tall he is," Scott Brown, communications director for California Cryobank, tells the Journal. Still, "there are guys who drop out because they don't want to do it."

The reason for the expanding profiles is a drastic change in sperm bank customers over the past decade. When California Cryobank started 33 years ago, most of its clients were couples who had infertility issues. A couple often chose a sperm donor based on how closely his looks matched the husband's, and the child was raised as the couple's own.

Now, 60 percent of the bank's clients are single women or lesbian couples. These clients will be "faced with discussing the donor in an open and direct way with their child because there's obviously no father involved," Brown tells the Journal.

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]]>california cryobankCaliforniaCryobankin vitroInVitrosperm banksperm donorSpermBankSpermDonorMary Beth SammonsMon, 20 Dec 2010 18:05:00 ESTSperm Banks Offer Last-Minute Holiday Saleshttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/17/sperm-bank-offers-last-minute-holiday-sale/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/17/sperm-bank-offers-last-minute-holiday-sale/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/17/sperm-bank-offers-last-minute-holiday-sale/#commentsFiled under: ,

gift picture

Talk about giving a personal gift. Credit: Getty

Here's a not-so-subtle gift that brings families together -- or at least tries to create them -- this holiday season: Now, for the couple aspiring to get pregnant, friends and families can send vials of sperm.

Two of the top branches of the world's largest sperm banks put out sales alerts earlier this week, marketing that the gift of sperm "could at least help reduce one of the costs involved in creating a family," Time magazine reports.

Fairfax Cryobank and Cryogenic Laboratories Inc., both divisions of the Genetics and IVF Institute, based in Fairfax, Va., held one-day sales earlier this week, offering 50 percent off a second vial of sperm with the full-price purchase of one, according to Time's health site.

Discounts ranged from $300 to $600 per vial, depending on preparation techniques, which translates into which kind of fertility treatment the sperm is intended to be used for, Time reports.

"I've seen friends go through (infertility)," Michelle Ottey, a geneticist and director of operations for Fairfax and CLI, tells Time. "Yes, it's a business, but when it comes down to it, we're allowing people the freedom to build their families. If we can do that with a sale or a special, we're glad to help."

Earlier this year, another major sperm bank also held a sperm sale, marketing it as "a stimulus package," according to Time. Xytex offered customers up to $200 off vials of sperm from its select donors to clear out an oversupply.

The sale packages from the two sperm banks together included samples from approximately 300 donors. Donors are paid between $150 and $200 per sample, and are asked to make a commitment to give one sample per week for six months, Time reports. The samples were limited to 25 to 30 "family units" -- meaning only 25 to 30 families are allowed to use samples from any single donor.

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]]>fertilityinfertilityspermsperm donorSpermDonorMary Beth SammonsFri, 17 Dec 2010 13:00:00 ESTSurrogacy Goes Global With Concierge-Like Ordering Servicehttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/13/surrogacy/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/13/surrogacy/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/13/surrogacy/#commentsFiled under: ,

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Where in the world would you like your surrogate to be from? An online service lets you pick and choose. Credit: Getty


Remember when nesting for baby meant selecting the nursery decor, layette and cutesy crib mobile, and meticulously following the directions for assembling the stroller?

Well, now wannabe parents are assembling the actual baby through a smorgasbord of global surrogacy options that read like a restaurant menu: Surrogate mom from Bulgaria. European egg donor. Italian sperm donor. Assembly takes place in Los Angeles. Packages start at $32,000. Say what?

Turns out, as more infertile and gay couples and single women turn to surrogate mothers and egg and sperm donors to make a baby, a new international industry is emerging to produce kids on the cheap and outside of restrictive laws, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The newspaper tells the story of birth mother Katia Antonova, a surrogate who immigrated to Greece from Bulgaria, who is a waitress with a husband and three children of her own. She will use the money from her surrogacy to send at least one of her own children to college.

The baby's parents-to-be -- an infertile Italian woman and her husband (who provided the sperm) -- will take custody of the child this summer, on the day of birth, the newspaper reports.

The wizard behind the curtain orchestrating all this is Rudy Rupak, chief executive of PlanetHospital, a California company that calls itself a "the leading pioneer in medical tourism," meaning, it searches the globe to find doctors who will perform medical procedures ranging from breast augmentations to sex changes to surrogacy, according to the company's website. The site adds that the service helps individuals, corporations and insurers save time and money on the cost of health care through its vast network of "high caliber overseas surgeons and hospitals."

The costs for surrogacy start at $32,000 and range to around $68,000, versus up to $200,000 for a U.S. surrogate, PlanetHospital's site reports.

A sample birthing package from the PlanetHospital: "Four Transfer Attempts and Indian Donor Egg: $35,600."

Rupak is a pioneer in a controversial field at the crossroads of reproductive technology and international adoption, the Journal reports. Prospective parents put off by the rigor of traditional adoptions are bypassing that system by producing babies of their own, often using an egg donor from one country, a sperm donor from another and a surrogate who will deliver in a third country to make what some industry participants call "a world baby," the newspaper says.

"We take care of all aspects of the process, like a concierge service," Rupak, a 41-year-old Canadian, tells the newspaper.

Clients tend to be people who want children, but can't do it themselves, including families suffering from infertility and gay male couples. They may also have trouble adopting because of age or other obstacles, Rupak tells the Journal.

Overseas surrogacy has other advantages, the Journal reports. Surrogates in some poorer countries have little or no legal right to the baby. In Greece, a surrogate can be prosecuted for trying to keep a child. By contrast, some U.S. surrogates have tried to legally claim the children they've carried.

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]]>infertilitypregnancysurrogacysurrogatesMary Beth SammonsMon, 13 Dec 2010 14:15:00 EST'Desperate Housewives' Actress Uses Yoga to Help Women Facing Fertility Issueshttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/29/desperate-housewives-actress-uses-yoga-to-help-women-facing-fe/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/29/desperate-housewives-actress-uses-yoga-to-help-women-facing-fe/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/29/desperate-housewives-actress-uses-yoga-to-help-women-facing-fe/#commentsFiled under: ,

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Brenda Strong, with her son, Zak, uses yoga to help women with fertility issues. Credit: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin.com

There isn't a neighbor residing on Wisteria Lane who is safe from the insightful observations and intimate knowledge of Mary Alice Young.

The narrating character, voiced and played by award-winning actress Brenda Strong, has been waxing poetic on the not-so-perfect lives of her former friends on "Desperate Housewives" since the ABC show's inception in 2004.

Viewers know Mary Alice as the ghostly neighbor who spills secrets from beyond the grave, after struggling with infertility, adopting a child and committing suicide.

Ironically, infertility has played a pivotal role in Strong's off-screen life, as well. It was through her own struggles with trying to conceive a second child that she discovered yoga and its capacity to help women heal from within. Studies, including recent research from the University of Oxford, suggest yoga, meditation and other practices that help ease high levels of stress can significantly help couples struggling with infertility.

In 2005, Strong launched Yoga4Fertility.com. She teaches at the Mind Body Institute at UCLA, and is the first national spokesperson for the American Fertility Association, serving on its board. She also is a co-founder of ProjectBaby.com, for which she writes a regular blog on infertility.

Strong lives with her husband, Tom Henri, and 16-year-old son, Zak Henri, in Los Angeles.

ParentDish caught up with the actress recently to discuss her role in bringing hope and healing to women and men facing fertility challenges. In the United States, one out of every 10 couples is infertile, according to the American Fertility Association.

ParentDish: Your own struggle trying to conceive inspired your unique yoga fertility program. Can you tell us a little bit about your personal experience and why you felt compelled to help other couples?
Brenda Strong: My unique yoga program developed when I underwent secondary infertility. I had lost a lot of weight for a film role and found I had stopped ovulating. My son was about 2 at the time, and I began to use the yoga postures I knew as a yoga teacher to bring my hormones back into balance.

As I began to do research on myself, I developed a series of poses that stimulated healthy blood flow to my reproductive organs, nourished my endocrine glands for hormonal balancing and worked with lowering my own stress. I discovered many other women were going through unexplained infertility, as well, but no one was talking about it out in the open.

There was a stigma of shame and failure that I and many others were experiencing and I began to realize that not only would the physical postures and breathing help women on their journey to conception, but yogic philosophy was a perfect companion to help women heal themselves emotionally, as well. I began shortly after that to teach at the Mind Body Institute at UCLA and developed a following.

PD: Describe the benefits of yoga for infertility treatment.
BS: Actually, I prefer to refer to it as "Yoga4Fertility," because that states it in the positive. When you are going through reproductive difficulties, you are constantly faced with what's wrong, so it's nice to focus on the positive. In addition, I found regular yoga classes, while good for overall health, relaxation and toning, didn't target a woman's particular needs for healthy conception, and, in some cases, could actually be detrimental to her chances to conceive. (For example: hot yoga, power yoga, etc.) I wanted to create a program that women could trust that would help them get their bodies ready and support them on their journey.

PD: As one of the pioneers in helping couples with fertility challenges, tell us about the women/couples who come to you.
BS: By the time women find me, they are usually desperate and emotionally distraught. They often times have undergone several failed cycles with their doctor or had multiple miscarriages and are in a lot of physical and emotional pain. On occasion, I will get a few who are only interested in working with their bodies naturally with yoga and acupuncture and aren't up against the biological clock, but they are not the norm. By the time my students have found me, they are in need of a lifesaver.

PD: What are some of the unique challenges for couples facing fertility issues during the holidays?
BS: The holidays are filled with family events, and often times family, even though they love us, can be unknowingly insensitive. We are exposed to our sibling's children or friend's babies and feel the ache and pull of what is missing when we have these encounters. Being nurturing to one another and being grateful for what is working can often get us through this stressful period.

PD: What happens through Yoga4fertility?
BS: Women are able to achieve a sense of empowerment over their process. They establish a cooperative and conscious relationship with their bodies and they seem to release emotional angst, stress and anxiety and find a deeper sense of peace with the process. They also are able to retain a connection to their partners through the partner yoga, which establishes a level of support and intimacy that isn't about sex, but connection and relationship. Whatever the outcome is, they are able to find a healthier mindset and their bodies are stronger and more balanced in preparation for pregnancy.

PD: What is Project Baby?
BS: Project Baby is a website that I have a blog on. It was established by a couple that successfully had two children after a horrific battle, in which Amy almost lost her life. She realized that all the websites she would go on at the time she was dealing with infertility contributed to her fear and anxiety and she wanted to create a site for women that was positive, peaceful and had a sense of humor so that women could laugh and not be so devastated by the process like she was.

PD: Any experiences where women in your yoga classes have recognized Mary Alice's voice?
BS: Early on, when I was teaching yoga after I got the role of Mary Alice, certain people would show up at my yoga studio just to hear my voice. But, at the time, I think my class was hard enough that the novelty wore off, and if they weren't really serious or in it for the right reason, they wouldn't come back. It was my loyal students who had the hard time adjusting after they saw the show because they would be in final resting pose with their eyes closed and I would be leading them into relaxation and they couldn't help but hear Mary Alice.

PD: What's next?
BS: I am developing more products like the Fertility Ball to support women. And I'm looking to be involved with a women's wellness television program and get the word out through the American Fertility Association to college campuses to young men and women to plan earlier than later for the family they want "down the road" so they can make empowered and informed choices about their future.

PD: If you could tell women facing fertility issues one thing to help them, what advice/inspiration would you give them?
BS: Get checked by a reproductive endocrinologist. Get your partner checked and make sure you know exactly what is happening so that you aren't racing against the biological clock.

PD: Tell us about some of the women who have gone through the program.
BS: I have been blessed with some of the most courageous and compassionate students. They teach me daily about what is important and, when they are successful, I am incredibly moved by how grateful and appreciative they are of the work that they have done with me. I truly feel honored to help these women and couples rise from their greatest pain to the most joyful moment when their journey to becoming parents is complete.

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]]>brenda strongBrendaStrongdesperate housewivesDesperateHousewivesfertilityinfertilityyogaMary Beth SammonsMon, 29 Nov 2010 14:00:00 ESTTips for Facing Infertility During the Holidayshttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/23/tips-for-facing-infertility-during-the-holidays/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/23/tips-for-facing-infertility-during-the-holidays/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/23/tips-for-facing-infertility-during-the-holidays/#commentsFiled under: ,

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As a person dealing with fertility issues, Lori LeRoy finds the holidays especially difficult. Credit: Kevin Foster

Every bit as much as she embraces sharing the holidays with family and friends, Lori LeRoy says staring at the cards already arriving in her mailbox featuring the faces of smiling babies delivers a gripping sadness.

It is a silent grief, she tells ParentDish, and one she will wear just beneath the smile she brings to the holiday table.

For six years, the Indianapolis public relations director and her husband, Nick, have been through the grueling process of infertility treatments. Despite being able to belt out a whooping 22 eggs, oral hormones, in vitro fertilization and myriad treatments, which she ticks off like they were items on a menu, the couple has hit a fertility wall.

"I was strolling around Target last weekend, wiping away tears after seeing the cutest Santa onesies, stocking and toys," the 30-something LeRoy tells Parent Dish. "I think this season, I'll shop online to avoid a lot of potential heartache."

This year, even though LeRoy began her day running in a 5K Turkey Trot with close friends and will be surrounded at the table by her parents, aunt and uncle, nieces and nephews, her sister's family and her husband at her side, she says she feels utterly alone.

"We're calling them the 'hellidays,' " LeRoy says, referring to a pact with a friend who also is facing the holidays without a child.

Lori and her husband Nick have been dealing with fertility treatments for six years. Credit: Darren Ho

Infertility is a painful reality for 6 million women and men across the country, who find themselves in the midst of a holiday season that signals a time of celebration when their own uncertain futures seem sad, says Kristen Lohman Burris, an Idaho acupuncturist who treats hundreds of women facing infertility at her center.

Burris, who struggled with her own fertility issues for years, now has twins, and tells ParentDish she wants to send a message of hope to infertile couples: "You are not alone."

One out of every 10 couples in the United States is infertile, according to the American Fertility Association.

"One of the most painful experiences of one's life is the inability to conceive or stay pregnant," Burris tells ParentDish. "During the holidays people love to tell stories about their children -- what their children are doing in school, athletic achievements and funny anecdotal stories."

To help ease the heartbreak and tensions throughout the holiday season, Burris and other experts offer key survival strategies:

Smooth talk: Find a subtle way to let family members know that, yes, you are trying, but you'd rather focus on enjoying the holiday instead of talking about it right now, Elan Simckes, M.D., for Fertility Partnership of St. Peters, Mo., tells ParentDish.

"If your relatives don't get the message -- we all have that sweet-but-a-little-obtuse aunt, right? -- think of a short answer to the question before heading to the party, so you won't be put on the spot with nothing to say," Simckes says. "Be armed with other interesting news or information to share with your relatives, so you can give your answer to the baby question and then quickly turn the conversation in another direction."

Ban the baby department: During shopping treks to the mall, steer clear of the baby section, Burris advises.

Home alone: Staying in is not always a bad option, as holiday gatherings typically revolve around children, says Iris Waichler, author of "Riding the Infertility Roller Coaster: A Guide to Educate and Inspire."

"Give yourself a break from the ongoing parties and celebrations that you are not ready to participate in," she tells ParentDish.

Start new traditions. Create a new or different holiday ritual with your partner or close friends or family members as a way of acknowledging the holidays in a lower key, comfortable manner, Waichler says.

Create mantras: Burris suggests couples struggling with fertility should create an arsenal of internal mantras: "I will not be childless forever." "I will have stories to share like this one day, too."

Cry, baby: If all else fails, Burris recommends fleeing to the bathroom "for a good cry."

Like many couples, LeRoy has employed her sense of humor as a secret survival weapon. On behalf of other couples facing infertility this holiday season, she is launching her own Internet campaign: "National Don't Send Me Christmas Cards with Photos of Your Kids on Them Month," on her blog, "Fertility Foibles."

There, she chronicles the lighter side of infertility, "trying to find funny or awkward moments throughout the process of trying to get pregnant and pointing out the absurdity of some of it," she says.

"Getting cards with kids playing in the snow or dressed in matching sweaters is usually enough to send me and many other 'infertiles' over the edge," LeRoy tells ParentDish. "So, this year, snarky and bitter though it is, I am hoping to save some friends 44 cents by asking them not to send me a card. If that doesn't work, I'd advise people to just throw them away before they open them."

In an effort to tap into their parenting instincts, LeRoy and her husband have four rescued pets (three cats and a Labrador) and are adopting a second English Lab this Thanksgiving. They've also been mired in red tape in an effort to adopt a 3-year-old boy from an orphanage in Vietnam.

She says that sometimes what helps most "is to know that I am not alone."

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]]>fertilityinfertile couplesInfertileCouplesinfertilityMary Beth SammonsTue, 23 Nov 2010 15:32:00 ESTFat Would-Be Dads Lower Chance of Pregnancyhttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/01/fat-would-be-dads-lower-chance-of-pregnancy/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/01/fat-would-be-dads-lower-chance-of-pregnancy/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/01/fat-would-be-dads-lower-chance-of-pregnancy/#commentsFiled under: , ,

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Gentlemen, you have to lose the baby weight before getting pregnant. Credit: Getty Images

Guys, it's not just that those beer bellies and extra poundage are a turnoff. Your refusal to fight off that flab is keeping prospective moms' bellies from blossoming.

An overweight partner may lower the chances of in vitro pregnancies, according to a new study reported in MedPageToday.com.

That means if you're out of shape and want to be a dad, your best bet is to hop on a bike or dive into the pool before thinking baby, as every ounce of fat matters. According to the findings, every five-unit increase in the man's BMI (a measurement of body fat based on height and weight) was associated with a 28 percent decrease in the likelihood of pregnancy, Zaher Merhi M.D., of Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, tells the site.

As there were no differences in the quality or concentration of sperm or day-three embryo quality (the third day after fertilization) between couples with an overweight male partner and those with a normal-weight male, some unknown factor must explain the association, Merhi says in the report.

If further research confirms the findings of this study, clinicians may need to start counseling men as well as women about losing weight before undergoing in vitro fertilization, rather than focusing on female BMI, Merhi says in the report.

To evaluate the association between an overweight male partner and the success of assisted reproductive technology, Merhi and his colleagues analyzed data from cycles performed at their center from 2007 to 2008.

The analysis was limited to 251 fresh in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection embryo transfer cycles using a woman's own oocytes and her partner's sperm, according to the report.

Overall, 37.5 percent of the cycles resulted in clinical pregnancy, with a lower rate in couples with an overweight male partner (BMI of at least 25) compared with those with a normal-weight man, the report states.

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]]>in vitro fertilizationInVitroFertilizationmen and weightMenAndWeightpregnancyMary Beth SammonsMon, 01 Nov 2010 16:30:00 ESTIn Vitro Pioneer Wins Medicine Nobelhttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/10/04/in-vitro-pioneer-wins-medicine-nobel/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/10/04/in-vitro-pioneer-wins-medicine-nobel/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/10/04/in-vitro-pioneer-wins-medicine-nobel/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Louise Joy Brown test tube baby picture

British physiologist Robert Edwards, left, attends the 30th anniversary of the world's first "test tube" fertilization baby Louise Joy Brown, right, holding her son Cameron, in 2008. At center left is her mother, Lesley Brown. Credit: Chris Radburn, PA/AP

STOCKHOLM (AP) - Robert Edwards of Britain won the 2010 Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for developing in vitro fertilization, a breakthrough that has helped millions of infertile couples have children but also ignited an enduring controversy with religious groups.

Edwards, an 85-year-old professor emeritus at the University of Cambridge, started working on IVF as early as the 1950s. He developed the technique - in which eggs are removed from a woman, fertilized outside her body and then implanted into the womb - together with British gynecologist surgeon Patrick Steptoe, who died in 1988.

On July 25, 1978, Louise Brown in Britain became the first baby born through the groundbreaking procedure, marking a revolution in fertility treatment.

Since then, some 4 million people have been born using the technique, the Nobel medicine prize committee said - a rate that is up to about 300,000 babies worldwide a year, according to the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.

Today, the probability that an infertile couple will take home a baby after a cycle of IVF is 1 in 5, about the same odds that healthy couples have of conceiving naturally.

"His achievements have made it possible to treat infertility, a medical condition afflicting a large proportion of humanity, including more than 10 percent of all couples worldwide," the committee in Stockholm said in its citation. "Today, Robert Edwards' vision is a reality and brings joy to infertile people all over the world."

Despite facing resistance from Britain's medical establishment, Steptoe and Edwards spent years developing IVF from early beginning experiments into a practical course of medicine. In 1980, they founded the world's first IVF clinic, at Bourn Hall in Cambridge, England.

Prize committee secretary Goran Hansson said Edwards was not in good health Monday when the committee tried to reach him. Bourn Hall said Edwards was too ill to give interviews.

"I spoke to his wife and she was delighted and she was sure he would be delighted too," Hansson told reporters in Stockholm after announcing the 10 million kronor ($1.5 million) award.

Brown, now 32, gave birth to her first child in 2007, a boy named Cameron who she said was conceived naturally.

"Louise's birth signified so much," Edwards said at Brown's 25th birthday celebration in 2003. "We had to fight a lot of opposition but we had concepts that we thought would work and they worked."

Brown paid tribute Monday to the man who gave her life.

"It's fantastic news, me and mum are so glad that one of the pioneers of IVF has been given the recognition he deserves. We hold Bob in great affection and are delighted to send our personal congratulations," Brown, a postal worker living in Bristol, England, said in a statement released by Bourn Hall.

The work by Edwards and Steptoe stirred a "lively ethical debate," the Nobel citation said, with the Vatican, other religious leaders and some scientists demanding the project be stopped. The British Medical Research Council in 1971 declined funding for Steptoe and Edwards, but the two found a private donation that allowed them to continue their research.

The Vatican is opposed to IVF because it involves separating conception from the "conjugal act" - sexual intercourse between a husband and wife - and often results in the destruction of eggs that are taken from a woman but not used.

There was no immediate comment from the Vatican's top bioethics officials Monday to word of the Nobel.

It was not immediately clear why it took the Nobel committee so long to honor Edwards. Nobel rules were amended in 1974 to prohibit posthumous prizes, which ruled out a shared award with Steptoe. However, Hansson said Edwards "deserves a Nobel Prize on his own" because he made the fundamental discoveries that made IVF therapy possible.

Initially there was also concern about the health of test-tube babies, "so it was of course very, very important that Louise Brown was healthy and that subsequent babies also were healthy," prize committee member Christer Hoog said.

Aleksander Giwercman, head of reproduction research at the University of Lund in Sweden, said Edwards' achievements also provided tools for other areas of research, including cancer and stem cells.

"Many of the illnesses that develop when we are adults have their origin early on in life, during conception," Giwercman said.

The controversy over in vitro fertilization has not dimmed despite its increasing popularity, and debate centers now on who should be able to use the technology. Some experts have questioned whether an age limit should be set on would-be parents, whether women and men who donate their eggs and sperm should be paid, and if gay couples should be eligible.

In France, for instance, lesbians are not allowed to use donor sperm, and in Britain, women cannot be paid more than 250 pounds ($384) for donating their eggs. Germany and Italy both forbid the freezing of embryos.

In 2006, a 67-year-old Spanish woman made headlines around the world when she became a mother after using IVF technology to conceive twins. The uproar continued when she herself died only two years later.

In a statement, Bourn Hall said one of Edwards' proudest moments was discovering that 1,000 IVF babies had been born at the clinic since Brown, and relaying that information to a seriously ill Steptoe shortly before his death.

"I'll never forget the look of joy in his eyes," Edwards said.

William Ledger, head of reproductive and developmental medicine at Sheffield University, called the award "an appropriate recognition" for Edwards.

"The only sadness is that Patrick Steptoe has not lived to see this day because it was always a joint team effort," Ledger said.

Other experts criticized Britain for not honoring Edwards earlier with a knighthood.

"It's a shame Britain hasn't recognized him in a more explicit fashion," said Francoise Shenfield, infertility expert with the European Society of Human Reproduction and lecturer in medical ethics at University College London.

Edwards himself told The Times of London in 2003 said he was "not terribly bothered" about not getting a knighthood.

"I'm a very left-wing socialist and I won't shed a tear. But if you can organize a Nobel, please go ahead," he joked.

Leif and Anna Karin Theelke, a Swedish couple living outside Uppsala, tried for several years to have children before turning to IVF treatment. Both their children, ages 6 and 2, were born using the procedure.

"When we were finally informed that it had worked we felt an incredible relief," Leif Theelke recalled Monday. "Without it we wouldn't have any children."

The medicine award was the first of the 2010 Nobel Prizes to be announced. It will be followed by physics on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday, literature on Thursday, the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday and economics on Monday Oct. 11.

The prestigious awards were created by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel and first given out in 1901. The prizes are always handed out on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.

Famous Nobel winners include President Barack Obama, who received last year's peace prize; Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and Winston Churchill. But most winners are relatively anonymous outside their disciplines until they suddenly are catapulted into the global spotlight by the prize announcement.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. This article was written by KARL RITTER and MALIN RISING, Associated Press Writers.

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]]>Associated PressMon, 04 Oct 2010 17:02:00 ESTNo Need to Delay Getting Pregnant Soon After Miscarriage, Study Sayshttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/08/10/no-need-to-delay-getting-pregnant-soon-after-miscarriage-study/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/08/10/no-need-to-delay-getting-pregnant-soon-after-miscarriage-study/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/08/10/no-need-to-delay-getting-pregnant-soon-after-miscarriage-study/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Study shows there's no need to wait Credit: Getty Images


Having a miscarriage can be emotionally devastating -- perhaps even more so for women who don't already have children -- and many doctors recommend taking a break before trying to conceive again.

However, a new study published in the British Medical Journal suggests getting pregnant again quickly -- within six months of an initial miscarriage -- may improve a woman's odds of having a healthy pregnancy.

About 20 percent of pregnancies end in miscarriage before 24 weeks, and women who have one miscarriage are at an increased risk not only of miscarrying again, but also of having complications in a subsequent pregnancy.

But doctors and medical organizations differ on how long a woman should wait before conceiving again. The World Health Organization recommends waiting at least six months, and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists simply recommends allowing enough time for physical and emotional healing.

Continue reading No Need to Delay Getting Pregnant Soon After Miscarriage, Study Says

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]]>miscarriagepregnancyMonique El-FaizyTue, 10 Aug 2010 08:00:00 ESTHow Do You Help a Friend After a Miscarriage?http://www.parentdish.com/2010/04/15/how-do-you-help-a-friend-after-a-miscarriage/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/04/15/how-do-you-help-a-friend-after-a-miscarriage/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/04/15/how-do-you-help-a-friend-after-a-miscarriage/#commentsFiled under: , ,


Dear AdviceMama,

A couple close to our family was thrilled to find out they were finally pregnant. We just found out that the mother had a miscarriage.

What should we do or say? Is it better to avoid the subject altogether, out of respect for their feelings? My husband and I feel it would be very awkward to bring it up.

Signed,
Wondering Friend

Dear Wondering,

Pregnancy loss has a significant impact on couples and families. Of course we know this, in the same way that we know that any stressful situation challenges the stability of a marriage.

Continue reading How Do You Help a Friend After a Miscarriage?

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]]>Susan Stiffelman, MFTThu, 15 Apr 2010 11:00:00 ESTTo Do List: Pick Up Milk, Bread, Sperm Testhttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/03/02/to-do-list-pick-up-milk-bread-sperm-test/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/03/02/to-do-list-pick-up-milk-bread-sperm-test/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/03/02/to-do-list-pick-up-milk-bread-sperm-test/#commentsFiled under: ,

Men may soon be able to check their sperm count in the comfort of their own homes. Credit: Jung Yeon-Je, AFP / Getty Images

Cold exam rooms and Playboy magazines may not be the only route to male fertility testing for long. A new home test that checks a man's sperm count soon will be available in Europe, and is currently awaiting approval by the Food and Drug Administration that would allow it to be sold in the United States.

The test, SpermCheck Fertility, targets couples who have been trying to conceive for a few months, and is recommended as a first step for men looking to evaluate their fertility status, to help determine if professional medical attention is needed.

According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, infertility affects about 7.3 million women and their partners in the United States -- about 12 percent of the reproduction-age population -- yet fertility testing can be timely, costly and take an emotional toll on both partners. For these reasons, a low-cost, in-home test could be a breakthrough solution for many couples.

Continue reading To Do List: Pick Up Milk, Bread, Sperm Test

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]]>fertilityinfertilitypregnancysperm countsperm testingspermcheck fertilitySpermcheckFertilitySpermCountSpermTestingHoney BerkTue, 02 Mar 2010 17:00:00 ESTMany Frozen Embryos Go Unused, Study Sayshttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/02/22/many-frozen-embryos-go-unused-study-says/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/02/22/many-frozen-embryos-go-unused-study-says/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/02/22/many-frozen-embryos-go-unused-study-says/#commentsFiled under: ,

A researcher handles frozen embryonic stem cells in a laboratory at the Univestiry of Sao Paulo's human genome research center, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Credit: Mauricio Lima, AFP / Getty Images

Many women who successfully have a baby using donated eggs do not try to get pregnant a second time using extra embryos they have stored, according to a study completed at one fertility clinic. The researchers say that the findings suggest that more fertility treatment centers should consider offering "shared donor" programs, in which eggs from a single donor are given to two women seeking in-vitro fertilization (IVF), rather than one.

Since fewer eggs go to each patient, shared donor programs can be an important option for women seeking IVF, as it means lower overall costs. The average cost in the U.S. for one IVF treatment cycle is $12,400, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, and is higher when a woman must use donor eggs instead of her own. Lower costs could allow more women to take advantage of IVF. In addition, the study suggests that there would then be fewer unused embryos.

Published last month in the journal Fertility and Sterility, the study looked at 829 women who underwent IVF using donor embryos at the New York University Fertility Clinic between January 2000 and December 2004. Researchers found that more than half -- 54 percent -- of the women had a baby, or multiples, after that 40 percent of those women elected to freeze and store any extra embryos that were not implanted. However, by August 2009, only 21percent of the women who had their embryos stored actually returned to the clinic to try for a second pregnancy using the stored embryos. For women whose initial attempt at IVF failed and had their extra embryos frozen, 87 percent returned for a second attempt.

Continue reading Many Frozen Embryos Go Unused, Study Says

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]]>infertilityinvitrofertilizationivfresearchHoney BerkMon, 22 Feb 2010 15:00:00 EST