Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with pregnancy and infertility

Least expensive source for Follistim?

roxie110 — Sun, 29 May 2011 10:13:44 -0800

Where can I find Follistim at the lowest possible price? I'm paying out of pocket for Follistim & Ganirelix for an egg retrieval cycle... frighteningly expensive, so I'm wondering if others could share their (reliable) sources for these fertility medications. The Follistim will be 300 IU pens and Ganirelix 250mcg.

Thanks so much for any advice! Also, if you were on this protocol and care to share any side effects or experiences you had, I'd be grateful.

Is my 7 year plan for quiet married life posing a risk to my 10 year plan for having kids?

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:04:45 -0800

I want to wait until I'm at least 35 to have a baby. But answers on Ask.Metafilter like this and information like this make me really really scared I'll be messing up my chances of having a healthy family. How paranoid am I? Okay, first: I know I can (or could) get pregnant, because I had an abortion when I was 7 weeks along at age 22 (condom broke, wasn't on birth control, was a poor college student with few options). My mother never had trouble getting pregnant, even when she remarried at 38 and had my brother a year later. She had one miscarriage when she was around 30, I think. My aunt had some fertility issues, however, and it took her many years to have two healthy children. As far as I know she didn't use IVF, though. My husband and I got genetics testing before we married and were cleared of any shared traits that might pose a problem.

I very much want to be a mother, and I know my husband wants to be a father. We both live in New York City, where most women consider my age, 28, a little early to have kids, so it's easy to not feel as culturally pressured to pop out a brood in my twenties. We just got married a few months ago and we're very much enjoying the quiet of married life and don't really want to add another person to the mix yet!

There are two others reasons I want to wait. First, I've seen how much children have changed my friends' lives. We no longer see them much at all, and when we do, all they talk about is diapers and spit-up. My female friends openly lament their dwindling sex lives, sleep deprivation, and how they feel like they devolved from interesting, aware individuals into parents who slave and worry about their babies. I absolutely recognize that this is normal, especially when someone has a tiny baby, and I know I'll probably be just like this when I'm a mother. I also know it's possible to be a mother and also read the newspaper. But I don't want to feel that identity crisis just yet. Also, I just started my own business, so career-wise it would be really stressful if I had to take off time for pregnancy and maternity leave.

I know parenting is so, so much more than spit-up and tantrums, but I want to enjoy my independence and married life for several more years before my husband and I forgo traveling, going out for drinks, and worrying about public school rankings. I think I would be a better mother if I was psychologically ready to make many sacrifices for a kid's well-being.

The reason I am worried is that many of my older friends in the city are trying to start families after 35 and having many difficulties. One friend has gone through two rounds of IVF treatments with no success, and another has miscarried three times when she tried to conceive at 39.

Right now, I'm spooked either way! If I have kids at 28, I'm pretty sure I won't have any more difficulty conceiving a healthy baby than any other woman, but I don't think I'm ready to commit to a child. If I start around 35+, I worry that I'm slipping down the same slope as many of my friends.

Am I letting a couple anecdotes about infertility spook me? How conscious should I be of my body's ability to have children in regards to my age? I'm not (yet) scared enough to actually think about getting pregnant right now, but it's a nagging fear in the back of my head. Is it valid?

How much sharing is too much?

Anonymous — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 20:42:51 -0800

Should I tell my dear friend, who is currently undergoing fertility treatments, that I'm trying to get pregnant too? How? My beloved college roommate recently confided to me that she's gone to a fertility specialist after trying to get pregnant for a year. We are both 31. We live on opposite ends of the country.

I'm a terrible waffler about life decisions and have talked to her (before she told me about her fertility troubles) about my mixed feelings about babies and spawning and whatnot. However, shortly before she told me about her troubles, my husband and I had decided that it's rapidly nearing the right time for us to start trying to get pregnant.

I hadn't planned to tell anyone that we were trying, but I will tell her if that's the right thing to do. (She is, after all, sharing with me many of the sordid details of her treatments, as girlfriends do.) I almost want to delay our trying till she conceives. (I know that's insane ... right? but it does speak to my intense fondness for her.)

Now that I know that she's undergoing fertility treatments, should I tell her that we're trying? What should I say? Should I just try to conceive and tell her when I've hit the magical three-month mark when people usually start announcing?

Have you grown your family through surrogacy?

bunnycup — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:27:39 -0800

Calling all experiences with surrogate pregnancy - on any side of the equation. I am considering having a child through a surrogate mother, and wondered if anyone had any anecdotes, experience, advice, warnings, etc. I (very) recently lost a child and am physically unable to become pregnant again. In considering whether to adopt or to pursue surrogacy, I am in search of any Mefiverse collective thoughts or experiences on surrogacy. I have read some online resources and will be shortly pursuing a meeting with a lawyer who handles surrogacy, but in the short term, your anecdotes may be helpful. I am particularly concerned about what the experience is REALLY like (for both sides, for Moms, for Dads, etc.), and the ways in which I might be manipulated (emotionally, financially, etc.) by surrogacy and conception clinics. As an example, one promises to match a carrying mother and intended family within 14 days - that seems ridiculously short and somewhat suspect. The issue is not so much the time, but that seems like a "hook" promise designed to prey on me, somehow.

PLEASE: The loss of my child is recent. I AM seeing a grief and family support counselor, weekly. I do NOT intend on rushing through this process too quickly, but see no reason to delay getting educated. I am also considering adoption, but this question is NOT "adoption versus surrogacy". I appreciate that surrogacy is medically and legally complicated, all will of course be pursuing the appropriate channels of guidance, should I take this path. Thank you.

What can I expect from Clomid?

echolalia67 — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 23:01:32 -0800

I am considering taking Clomid to help me get pregnant. What kind of side effects can I expect? I am 41 years old and reasonably healthy, with a two year old son. My husband and I have been unsuccessfully trying to conceive another child for the past 8 months. We conceived our son within two months of trying, so the lack of success this time around is upsetting, needless to say.

I visited a Reproductive Endocrinologist last week to get checked out. They looked at my blood work and did a transvaginal ultrasound. The results: my FHS levels are good (6.5), my estradiol levels are normal, my uterus has no physical defects that might interfere with implantation, my uterine lining is thick, I have 9 follicles. Translation - there is no obvious impediment to getting pregnant the old fashioned way. However, given that I am 41 and it's not going to get any easier, why not help things along? Their first suggestion was Clomid/IUI, but we're a little strapped for cash so we're opting for just Clomid alone.

I've hear horror stories about Clomid - nausea, headache, weight gain, and generally feeling like you having the worst PMS-from-hell you have ever experienced in your life. Is it really all that bad?