CONTENTS
Foreword by Pamela Madsen
Introduction
Acknowledgments
1 ARE YOU INFERTILE?
What Is Infertility?
Why Is Infertility So Common?
What Has to Happen for Fertilization to Occur?
How Many Eggs Do You Have?
What Can We Do?
Worrying about Infertility
What Kind of Doctor Should You See?
Doctors Who Can Help
When Should You Seek a Subspecialist?
Communicating with Your Practitioner
Shopping for a Practice
Trusting Online Sources
Finding the Right Match
What Questions Should You Ask?
In an Eggshell
2 YOUR FERTILITY WORKUP
Discovering the Truth
The Male Evaluation
Semen Analysis
The Female Evaluation
Confirming Ovulation
Ovarian Reserve Testing
The Clomiphene Citrate Challenge Test (CCCT)
Miscarriages and Abortions
When Everything Looks Normal
When You’ve “Made the Cut”
Your Fertility Regimen
Fertility Myths
What about Financing?
Does Insurance Cover Anything?
Are Fertility Treatments Tax Deductible?
What Questions Should You Ask?
In an Eggshell
3 WHAT YOUR DOCTOR MIGHT FIND IN MEN
Understanding Your Partner
Varicocele
Varicocele Repair Is Effective
Idiopathic Infertility
Considering Vasectomy Reversal
Collecting Sperm
Considering Freezing Sperm
Supplements That May Increase Male Fertility
What Questions Should You Ask?
In an Eggshell
4 WHAT YOUR DOCTOR MIGHT FIND IN WOMEN
Ovarian Factors
Cervical Factors
Tubal Factors
Uterine Factors
Peritoneal Factors
What Questions Should You Ask?
In an Eggshell
5 TWELVE WEEKS TO MAXIMIZE YOUR FERTILITY
Optimize Your Chances
Twelve-Week Fertility Program
Living a Fertile Lifestyle
Fertility Foods: Are They Real?
Fit Foods
Shrinking Your Waistline
What to Know about Exercise
Why Supplements Matter
Ideal Weight for Pregnancy
How Does BMI Affect Fertility?
Can Obesity Keep You Infertile?
Finding a Balance
Making the Commitment
Drugs that Decrease Fertility
Lifestyle Choices
Counteracting Stress
Why Do You Feel Like Everything Is Falling Apart?
Stress Management
Complementary Therapies
What If Nothing Seems to Work?
What Questions Should You Ask?
In an Eggshell
6 DIY OR IUI?
Tossing the Pill
What about Natural Techniques?
Are You Ovulating?
Natural Fertility Forecasting
Gauging Your Cervical Mucous
Ovulation Predictor Kits
Fertility Monitors
Saliva Fertility Monitor
In-Home Sperm Tests
Intrauterine Insemination (IUI)
What to Know Before Going Low or High Tech
What Questions Should You Ask?
In an Eggshell
7 SUPERSIZING YOUR CHANCES (INDUCING OVULATION)
Natural Ovulation
What Is Ovulation Induction?
Superovulation
Risks of Ovarian Hyperstimulation
Multiple Births
Multifetal Pregnancy Reduction
Do Fertility Drugs Cause Cancer?
Fertility Medications
Administering Injections
Injections Made Simple
What Questions Should You Ask?
In an Eggshell
8 THE ART OF ART
What Is ART?
IVF
Your IVF Protocol
Preparing for Egg Retrieval
Retrieval Day
Fertilization: Creating an Embryo
ICSI: Reversing Male-Factor Infertility
Assisted Hatching: Cracking the Shell
Transfer Day
Picking Your Team
It’s Time
Baby Rest
The Call
What If Your Cycle Fails?
What Questions Should You Ask?
In an Eggshell
9 SOMETIMES IT TAKES FOUR
What to Know about Third-Party Reproduction
When to Consider Sperm Donation
When to Consider Egg Donation
What You Need to Know about Egg Donation
Why Egg Donors Do What They Do
Selecting Your Egg Donor
Personalizing Your Donor
When to Consider Embryo Donation
When to Consider Surrogacy
What You Need to Know about Surrogacy
Why Do You Need Professional Guidance?
Your Professional Team
Why Do You Need a Contract?
What Screening Applies to Donors and Surrogates?
Why Use a Large Agency?
Why Surrogates Do What They Do
Why Is Matching So Important?
Selecting Your Surrogate
Understanding Everyone’s Perspective
Does Your State Permit Surrogacy?
When to Reconsider Third-Party Reproduction
What Questions Should You Ask?
In an Eggshell
10 PREVENTING RELATIONSHIP MELTDOWNS
Smoothing Out Relationship Kinks
Infertility Stressors
Understanding Your Emotional Realities
Avoid Playing the Blame Game
Know Your Comfort Quotient
Baby or Bust?
Avoiding Holiday Headaches
Communicating What Matters
Spicing Up Your Relationship
What Questions Should You Ask?
In an Eggshell
11 WHEN TO CONSIDER MOVING ON
When Is It Time to Stop Trying?
Owning Your Decision
Devising a Game Plan
Closing the Door
Considering Adoption
Foster Parents
Child-Free Living
What Questions Should You Ask?
In an Eggshell
12 BUYING MORE TIME
A Frozen Morula Hatching Timeline
A Game Changer
A New Kind of Insurance
Stopping Your Biological Clock
Embryos on Ice
Reasons You May Want to Freeze Your Embryos
Frozen Embryo Transfer
Hormone Replacement Cycle
Stimulated Cycle
Natural Cycle
Freezing Sperm
Situations That May Require Sperm Freezing
What Questions Should You Ask?
In an Eggshell
13 SAFEGUARDING YOUR CHILD
Family Balancing
Spotting an Imperfect Embryo
Genetics and Disease: A Brief Overview
Meeting Your Genetic Counselor
Does Genetic Testing Affect Embryos?
PGS: Counting Chromosomes—and More
What Are the Advantages of PGS?
Who Needs PGS?
PGD: Digging into the Genes
Who Needs PGD?
What Questions Should You Ask?
In an Eggshell
14 DESIGNER BABIES
Can You Trust Online Donor Websites?
Science Is Technology: A Historical Account
What Is a Designer Baby?
Kids À La Carte?
Bioengineered Babies
Blurring Origins
Treatment of Last Resort
Making Your Own Choice
What Questions Should You Ask?
In an Eggshell
15 TO TELL OR NOT TO TELL?
Conceived with Love
Truth or Consequences?
Making It Okay
Are There Benefits to Disclosure?
What Is the Appropriate Age to Tell Your Child?
Don’t Give Blow-by-Blow Accounts
What to Say to Your Preschooler: Ages Three to Five
Interacting with Curious Minds: Ages Six to Ten
Discussions with Your Adolescent
What If You Want to Bring God into the Conversation?
What If My Child Finds Out by Accident?
Knowing When to Not Make a Big Deal
Making the Right Decision for Your Family
When to Withhold the Truth?
What Do Experts Recommend?
What Questions Should You Ask?
In an Eggshell
16 WHERE IS REPRODUCTIVE MEDICINE HEADING?
Probable
Possible
Plausible
Ever-Changing Insurance Laws
Can We Police a Future Society?
Where Do We Draw the Line?
What Questions Should You Ask?
In an Eggshell
Appendix: A Fertility Forecasting Chart
Glossary
Resources
Index
About the Authors