#The Chances for IVF Pregnancy Success

[wosoamazing]

Pregnant

Summary: Katie and Caitlin are pregnant.

Warnings: Morning Sickness (throwing up), negative tests, pregnancy.

A/N: This is the first fic in the new McFoord Baby Series, its not the best, in my opinion (but they do get better). I hope you like it, I have some other stories in the works for this, but if there is anything you would like to see in this series let me know.

“Katie, are you sure you want to do this?” Caitlin asked her as they stood in the kitchen preparing for their first step to being Mums. Katie just nodded, keeping her eyes closed, she hated needles like really hated needles. Caitlin gave the injection to Katie and then wrapped her arms around her.

“That’s it, that's the first step, we might get to be Mum’s” She said, placing a kiss on Katie's lips. “I’m so excited”

_____

The next month Katie was moody, getting mad more often than usual, receiving a yellow card in almost every game. Jonas pulled Katie into a meeting about her behaviour and that's when he found out they were trying for a baby, he forgave Katie but told her to try and control her temper.

_____

Egg Retrieval Day and Transfer Day had been successful, which is what had led them here, standing in the bathroom, waiting for the timer to go off, to see if they were pregnant or not.

“This is so painful, why do they take so long,” almost as if the universe had heard Katie the timer went off, the two giddy women quickly flipped over the three pregnancy tests, immediately the mood in the room dropped, all three were negative. 

“I’m sorry,” Katie said before she burst into tears, Caitlin quickly wrapped her arms around her and held her tight.

“There is nothing to be sorry for, this isn’t your fault, and anyway, it's rare for it to work on the first try, Mini told us that remember, we can try again, but only if you want to.”

Try again was exactly what they did, which is how they found themselves sitting in the Kitchen, of Mini’s apartment, Katie had been feeling unwell for the past few days but she couldn’t bring herself to do a test, especially considering when the IVF clinic did the blood test two weeks after the transfer it was negative, they decided to not start another cycle straight away, deciding to go on international break and then talk about how they felt and the steps forward. There was not really any chance at all that Katie could be pregnant, and even though they both knew the pregnancy tests would be negative. They both still couldn't bear to flip another set of pregnancy tests for them to be negative, joining the other four negative sets. However Mini told them to just do one, that mistakes can happen sometimes and sometimes the blood tests are too early and that it would be better to know for sure rather than just assuming Katie wasn’t pregnant. She even offered to be there for them and find out herself to then tell them, which was an offer they took up, hence why they were in her kitchen. They brought Kyra with them to make it seem less weird as to why they were both visiting. Kyra, Harper and Clara were sitting in the living room.

“You ready?” Mini asked the pair who sat in front of her, they both tentatively nodded. She flipped over the tests and a small smile appeared on her face. “You’re going to be Mum’s” “Wait what,” “Really?” She nodded showing the pair the tests.

“Oh my God, we’re going to be Mum’s Cait,” Katie exclaimed as she pulled Caitlin in for a hug.

The three of them walked out into the living room. “Sad” Harper said as she pointed to the pair, “They’re not sad Harper,” “But crying”

“These are happy tears, Harps,” Caitlin said as she went to sit on the floor with Harper and Kyra.

_____

A few mornings after finding out she was pregnant, Katie found herself feeling very sick, as the pair of them sat on the couch eating breakfast.

“Cait, I’m just going to go to the bathroom real quick,” Katie said as she stood up, walking to the bathroom, Caitlin was a little concerned for Katie as she had been acting differently that morning, she also had been blinking hard which Caitlin had discovered Katie did when she was in pain or unwell, so the Australian decided to follow her into the bathroom. She found Katie leant against the wall next to the toilet, she had her arms wrapped around her stomach, and her knees were pulled into her chest.

“Katie, Babe, it’s just me,” the Australian said before sitting down next to her, Katie’s eyes were shut and she didn't want to startle her, Katie moved closer to Caitlin so that their sides were touching, resting her head on Caitlin’s shoulder, who moved to put one arm around Katie, “What’s going on?”

“I feel like I’m going to throw up. I hate throwing up, I don’t want to be sick, Cait.” Caitlin started to move her thumb against Katie’s arm, in a gesture of comfort, placing a kiss to the top of her head.

“It’s okay, I know you don’t like it, but I’m here, and if you ever feel this way please tell me, I’ll come and just sit here with you. We’re going to get through this together okay.”

The pair sat there for ten minutes before Caitlin spoke again, “How bout we get ready for training and head off, maybe some fresh air will help.”

They were standing in the locker room talking to their friends when Caitlin saw Katie's demeanour change, it was ever so subtle and no one else would have noticed but it was something Caitlin could’ve spotted from a mile away. She walked up to Katie and wrapped her arms around her waist giving her a hug from behind before whispering in her ear “Let’s go to the bathroom.” 

Katie followed Caitlin into the bathroom, they both walked into a stall and locked the door before finding themselves in essentially the same positions as they were in at home, except the only difference was this time after a few minutes Katie threw up, Caitlin rubbed her back as she did, saying encouraging words to her whilst she also messaged someone on her phone.

Katie stopped throwing up, and returned to her previous position, “Do you feel any better?” “A little bit”

They both heard footsteps as someone entered the toilets “Cait you messaged?” It was Steph, Katie’s eyes grew in panic, Caitlin held her tighter as she explained “It’s okay, it's just Steph, she knew we were trying, she found me one day after a negative and I was having a moment, I explained to her. She won't tell anyone, and she doesn't know about this yet. I just need to go and talk to Jonas quickly, she will stay with you, she is good, don’t worry”

Caitlin stood up and walked out of the cubical, “Can you just look after Katie for me quickly? I’m just going to go talk to Jonas, I’ll explain later.” 

Caitlin came back from talking to Jonas to find Steph and Katie sitting in the locker room.

“Sorry, I didn’t realise the girls had gone out, thank you for looking after her though, but you can go out now, it's all good”

“No its no problem I’ll wait for you”

“Katie, Babe, I spoke to Jonas and we both agree that you shouldn’t do any training today, he said we could go home if we needed but I didn't think you would want to go home, so he suggested that you could lie down for a bit on one of the physio beds or that you could sit off to the side and watch training. It’s up to you, but if you do want to go home I can take you home, that isn’t a problem”

“No, I want to stay, could I maybe go lie down?” “That sounds like a good idea, do you want me to take you down, or-” “No it's all good, I’ll go myself, love you.” “Love you too babe.”

“So I hear congratulations are in order” Steph said as she sat next to Caitlin who was tying her boots, “wait did she tell you?” “No, I kind of figured, but I asked and she said yeah. But seriously congratulations, you are both going to be fantastic Mum’s” “Thanks Steph, you ready to head out?” “Yeah. But why don’t you want to talk about it? Is everything okay? You guys have wanted this for so long, I thought you would be more excited” Caitlin let out a heavy sigh, and looked down at her feet.

“Yeah, it's just that, it's been hitting Katie hard, and I just feel so bad. I mean we both wanted this but like-” “Caitlin, its okay to not feel 100% sure about this, it's a big change.” Steph said cutting her fellow Aussie off before pulling her in for a hug.

_____

“Um, so we just had something to tell you all, um well….” Katie said, prompting Caitlin to pull out a mini Arsenal shirt, which had Little Teammate printed on it.

“Oh my god are you having a baby?” “Yeah, expected mid November”

“Congratulations you guys, I didn't know you were trying,” “Thank you, but yeah we didn't tell many people.”

“Oh that's why.” Kyra said a little louder than intended to Alessia causing everyone to look at Kyra who looked like a deer in the headlights, not wanting to reveal what this announcement had just answered.

“Um well….” Kyra stammered.

“Kyra thought Katie was looking fatter than usual.” Alessia threw Kyra under the bus, which caused the Irish women to cry. Kim and Leah directed the team out quickly, to give the two women some space.

“I’m sorry,” Katie said as Caitlin pulled her in for a hug, this was a symptom of her pregnancy Katie hated, maybe even more than the morning sickness, she was so emotional and kept crying.

“You have nothing to apologise for, after all you are growing our daughter.” The two women sent each other beaming smiles, they were going to have a little girl soon.

[topguncortez]

A Gift To Remember || Whumptober Day 10 - B. Floyd

whumptober masterlist

synopsis: you and bob had been trying for a long time to start a family of your own. and right when you start to see the light at the end of the tunnel, it gets snuffed out

@ailesswhumptober prompt: abandoned

word count: 2.4k

warnings: mentions of pregnancy, mentions of miscarriages, failed IVF, mentions of female anatomy, cursing, grammar errors.

You wanted to cry. The hot tears behind your eyes held both the excitement and fear you had been holding in for the past three minutes. You tried your best to not look at the ticking black dots on the small screens as you waited. It was only driving you crazier, but you couldn’t look away either. Everything that you had been waiting and praying for was about to be determined in a matter of seconds.

It had been three years of being treated like a human science experiment. Three years of being told your chances of conceiving were slim to none. Three years of doctor’s appointments, spreading your legs so some doctor could take a swab of your uterus to test the thickness of the lining. You didn’t even know that was something that had to be done. The lining of your interior organ was too thin apparently, not suitable for an embryo to latch itself onto. Three years of being treated like a pincushion, dropping your pants for Bob to inject you at the same time, in the same spot, every day. Three years of tears and failed transfers because your body decided to not do the one thing you were put on this planet to do.

Bob never blamed you. He had supported you, holding your hand through all the procedures and tears shed. He was right by your side, making sure you took your meds, that you were mentally okay, and injecting your thigh with hormones. Bob was your rock, always staying strong as you were broken after every “failed” appointment.

But your most recent transfer had been a success. Your lining was thick enough and your doctor went ahead with the transfer, transferring one of the three fertilized embryos. Bob held your hand tightly, watching the screen as the doctor implanted the egg into you. He had stayed up for hours, talking to your belly, encouraging them to grow, as if they could hear him, or if they had even stuck. It had been over two months since the transfer when you had started noticing the small changes. The constant headaches, the nausea, and the achy breasts were all signs you normally got but the one that stood out to you was the lack of a menstrual cycle. You had sprinted to the drug store, buying a 3 pack of Clearblue pregnancy tests and a bottle of water.

The small screens were haunting you as the words read back. The wording ingraining into your eyes: POSITIVE. All you could do was grab onto the sink to stop you from collapsing. They had never said that before, they were always negative. Not once did you ever get back a positive pregnancy test. You let out a squeal of excitement, covering your mouth as you cried.

The sound of a car door slamming shut, had you turning your head to the closed bathroom door. You could hear Bob greet your dog: Bosco as he came in. You quickly grabbed all three pregnancy tests and ran down the hall. Bob smiled as he kneeled down to pet his dogs and noticed your frantic running down the stairs.

“Whoa babe where’s the. . . “ All you could do was hold the pregnancy tests up, as Bob’s eyes did his best to read them, “. . . fire. Are those positive?”

“They’re positive!” You smiled big. Bob stood up from the ground and ran over to you on the stairs, taking all three in his hand.

“Oh my god. . . oh my god! They’re positive! Oh my god!” Bob yelled and threw his arms around your middle hugging you tightly. He kissed your cheek and nuzzled his head into your neck, letting his own tears fall down his face.

He had been waiting for this moment just as much as you had. He had never shown you his emotions throughout this process, to him, it was important he was the strong one. He wasn’t the one who was being injected and examined and their body was failing them constantly. Bob hid his emotions well, locking himself in the bathroom at night while you were sleeping, putting a towel underneath the door jam, and breaking down. Silent sobs would leave his mouth and he prayed that you wouldn’t wake up and hear him. He cried almost every night, feeling like a failure too. He didn’t understand, it was so easy for the people around him to get pregnant without trying, but for some reason, it was mission impossible for you guys.

Bob let you go, setting you back down on the step carefully. He leaned his forehead against yours, cradling your face in his hands, “I love you, so fucking much.” He whispered against your lips.

“I love you too, Bob,” You whispered back, your hands finding their way to his face. You two stood there in silence, in each other’s embrace, soaking in the moment. The moment that you had wanted since day one. Bob always wanted to be a dad, and you always wanted to be a mom.

------------------------

You and Bob had been on cloud nine for a week after finding out you were pregnant. Bob had told the dagger squad. The boys had known about your guys’ fertility issues, they had also been a rock to help you and Bob stand tall after failures. Bob had confided in each of them, Jake more than his own brothers. They had gotten close after the Uranium Mission, Jake considering Bob to be one of his brothers. 

They were beyond ecstatic that you and Bob were pregnant. They all had their own little families, and could see the painful looks on your guys' faces anytime they would come visit. Jake and his wife did their best to give you time with their babies, but you had started to gently decline, your own pain becoming too much to bear, and didn’t want their pity.

Bob held your hand tightly as his knee was bouncing quickly. You guys were at your first doctor's appointment, the first time you will be able to see your baby. Bob’s hands were shaking and your heart was pounding in your chest. Usually, these appointments were disappointing, telling you guys that the transfer process was being halted or had failed because of you. But for once you were optimistic. The hardest part was over, and now you just wanted to see your growing little baby.

“Knock, knock,” The doctor said, poking her head inside the exam room. You smiled up at her as she walked in, “Y/N, Bob, let’s take a look at that baby, shall we?”

“Oh fuck yeah,” Bob breathed out. You smiled at him as he kissed your hand. He stood up from the chair he was sitting in, standing by your head, his eyes trained on the ultrasound machine screen.

“This is going to be cold,” The doctor said, picking up the gel and squirting it on your belly. You were used to the feeling by now, once a month you had an ultrasound to get lining measurements.

The doctor placed the transducer on your belly, and moved it around, getting the view of the inside of your body. You looked up at Bob with a smile, who shot one back down at you, before his coffee colored eyes went back to the screen. Your eyes went to the doctor, who had a puzzled look on her face. She clicked on several keys on the keyboard, while moving the transducer around to get a better look. She moved it around several times, pressing harder as she moved along. She glanced over at you, a grimm look on her face as she took a picture of the inside of your uterus, and put the transducer down.

“I’m sorry, Y/N, Bob, but I’m not seeing anything,” She said softly.

“What?” You asked, your voice light and confused, “B-But I’m pregnant. I took three fucking tests and they were all positive.”

“I’m sorry, it was a false positive. Your blood work sent up a flag, but there’s nothing on the ultrasound. I’m afraid you're not pregnant,” The doctor said. You bit your lip and shook your head, not wanting to believe anything she was saying. Bob’s grip on your hand loosened as he was absorbing the words the doctor had just said.

“T-this doesn’t make fucking sense!” Bob yelled and you flinched at the sound of his voice, “H-How can three fucking tests be wrong!?”

“I don’t know,” The doctor answered honestly, “But I do see some good signs, your lining looks within good measurements, your hormone levels do too. I know this transfer had failed, but things look optimistic for the next one.”

You nodded and looked away from her. She handed you a cloth to wipe up your belly, and you took it, mumbling a thanks. She apologized once again before leaving you and Bob alone in the room. The feeling of dread falling over the both of you. You were back to the beginning. The feeling of heartbreak and misery filling the room. Neither of you two spoke as you walked out of the room and back into the main waiting room, which was filled with expecting mothers. You felt like they were all mocking you with their protruding stomachs and bright smiles on their faces.

You two also didn’t say a word as you drove home. You didn’t even touch each other, being as far away in his car as you could possibly get. Bob pushed past the dogs, not greeting them like he usually would as he walked into the kitchen, grabbing the kettle and filling it up. You greeted the dogs and slowly walked into the kitchen as Bob had his back to you, looking out into the backyard. You sat at the kitchen island and put your head in your hands.

“At Least there was some good out of that,” You sighed. Bob scoffed, still looking out the window, “My lining is still thick and my hormone levels are good. That’s something is positive.”

Bob pushed off from his spot as the kettle started to whistle, opening up the cupboard and slamming it shut, mumbling something under his breath. You squinted at him, feeling the anger rolling off his body.

“What was that? I couldn’t hear you.”

“It’s nothing,” Bob grumbled. He still had his back to you as he poured water into two mugs, placing tea bags in both.

“No, what is it.” You demanded from him.

He sighed and finally turned around to face you, “I can’t keep doing this. The false positives, the tears, the appointments, the ounce of fucking happiness for it to get stripped away in a matter of seconds.”

You stood up from your spot, and walked over to him, placing a hand on his bicep, rubbing your hand up and down it slowly, “I’m sorry. But when it’s our time, it’ll be our time. We still have frozen eggs and you heard the doctor, things are looking really good right now.”

Bob looked you in the eye, his face unreadable, as he shoved past you, “Your optimism makes me sick.”

Your jaw dropped. He had never said anything like this to you before. Usually Bob was the one picking up the pieces after disappointing appointments like todays. You followed Bob into the living room, as he set his mug down on the mantle, and ran his hands through his hair. His body language looked like he was ready for an argument, but his head and heart were telling him to just let it go.

“What the fuck!” You sneered, “Why would you say something like that?”

“Because you don’t realize this shit is fucking with me too!” Bob’s voice cracked as he yelled, turning around to face you. Tears were running down his face, leaving red streaks down his cheeks, “I am here too! I go through this pain too! I lost a child too!”

“I’m not saying you fucking didn’t, Bob! Or you’re not in pain too!”

“You don’t fucking acknowledge it!” Bob yelled, and stepped back, running a hand over his face, “I told my brothers and my best friend. I told my mother. Now I’m supposed to say ‘sike! It was all a lie! Y/N’s still not pregnant, again.'”

“You’re not the one who’s walking around like a constant fucking failure!” You screamed, “You’re not the one who is constantly getting asked when we are having kids! Everyone around me has kids and everyone looks at me like I’m fucking broken!”

“That’s not my fucking fault,” Bob said back, shaking his head and pointing to himself, “I have done everything I can to help you, Y/N!”

“I never said it fucking was, Bob!”

“You’re fucking acting like it!”

You screamed and stormed back into the kitchen. Bob hot on your heels. You two had never fought like this before. You both had a mutual understanding that this was hard on both of you. It took two to make a baby, no matter how that baby was made. Bob had felt just as guilty and sad about the failures along the way as you did. Bob had promised you time and time again that he never blamed you for what couldn’t happen.

“Real fucking mature, Y/N! Throw a fucking tantrum!” Bob yelled, as you gripped the counter, your back to him to hide the tears running down your face now too.

“I’m immature!?” You yelled turning around, “You’re fucking immature Bob!”

“It’s not my fucking fault your body can’t do the one thing it’s supposed to fucking do! I’m not the fucking defective one!”

As soon as the words left his mouth he regretted it. The look in your eyes said everything you were feeling. Bob had felt like he had just punched you in the chest, and that’s what it felt like. You covered your mouth as you let out a sob. Bob said what you had been feeling all along, defective. From the moment the doctor had told you about your fertility issues you had internally labeled yourself as defective. You had even broken down to Bob, calling yourself out loud defective and broken. Bob assured you that you were neither of those things and that your time to be a mother would come one way or another.

You shook your head, digging deep to find your voice, “If I’m so fucking defective, how about you just leave.”

“Fine,” Bob scoffed, “I will.” Bob turned on his heel and walked out of the kitchen to the front door.

“If you walk out that door. . . don’t plan on ever coming back.”

Bob froze his hand on the knob. His mind couldn’t even think clearly, as he pulled the door open and walked out, letting it slam shut. The only sound in the house was the sound of your sobs as you fell to the kitchen floor in tears.

taglist: @els-marvelvsp @sarahsmi13s @topgun-imagines @cassiemitchell @xoxabs88xox @seitmai @a-reader-and-a-writer @bradleybeachbabe @kmc1989 @senawashere @beautifulandvoid @ohtobeleah @rogersbarnesxx @oatmealisweird @dempy @devil-angel-winchester @gillybear17

[nicoline1998enilocin]

Love is in the air | Part 1

PAIRING | Fiancé!Robert Downey Jr. x Fiancée!Pregnant!Fem!Reader

WORD COUNT | 3.4K

SUMMARY | Valentine's Day has been incredible since you met Robert, but this time, he plans on making it extra special because this will be the last one where it is just the two of you. From breakfast in bed to a fancy dinner cooked by a private chef and a calming bubble bath, he is pulling out all the stops to make this a very romantic and relaxing day for you both.

RATING | Explicit (E)

WARNINGS/TAGS | Established relationship, referenced pregnancy, difficulty with conceiving, referenced IVF treatments, drawing blood/needles (non-descriptive), jealousy,

SMUT | Dirty talk, daddy kink, pregnancy kink, nipple play, oral (F receiving), fingering, handjob, light edging, unprotected sex, cream pie, cockwarming

A/N | Happy Valentine's Day everyone! 💜 This is proofread by the lovely @ccbsrmsf1, who I love dearly! Thank you for everything you do for me and my blog, I can not even begin to thank you enough for all your support! I love you 3000 💜

EVENTS Masterlist | @fluffbruary Fluffbruary '24 | Bubble bath Masterlist | @marvel-smash-bingo | Picking a name Masterlist | @seasonaldelightsbingo | "There's no place like home." Masterlist | @slumberpartybingo | Truth: What is the most heart-felt gift you've ever given? Masterlist | @sweetspicybingo Sweethearts | Sweet pea

Banners: Yours truly | Divider: @firefly-graphics | GIF: @ccbsrmsf1

Main Masterlist | Robert Downey Jr. Masterlist | Part 2

Today promises to be a special day because it is Valentine's Day and the seventh anniversary of the day Robert asked you to become his girlfriend, which you happily accepted. Now, you're only a few short weeks away from the day you're saying yes to him, and even though the nerves are starting to settle in, he will try his hardest to make today very special.

The morning started with a slow, lazy round of lovemaking after he woke you up with his face buried between your thighs, your first orgasm of the day already washing over you before you even got the chance to wake up properly. It was followed by the most delicious breakfast in bed as he fed you your waffles and fruit.

Now, you're getting ready to go out to run some errands, standing in front of your closet, trying to decide your outfit for the day. Lately, all your clothes have been getting tighter, but that isn't a surprise, seeing as you're six and a half months pregnant. The day you told him about your pregnancy is still engraved into his brain, and it is one of the most memorable moments of his life.

You and Robert have had many talks about getting children, as it has always been a dream of his to have many of them. However, the path to this has been proven more difficult than either of you envisioned. After nearly three years of trying and failing, you and Robert entered an IVF cycle, as the dream of a little one running around was still present, even after the countless negative tests.

It has been about a week and a half since your second treatment, the first sadly being unsuccessful. Despite this, you will remain positive, and today will be the moment you will take a pregnancy test to see if, this time, you have been successful and you are indeed pregnant.

"Are you ready?" the nurse asks you before poking you with more needles, and you have lost count of how many times you have been poked and prodded at this point.

"Yeah, I'm ready," you sigh, looking at Robert as he holds your hand in both hands, encasing yours completely. You can see a sprinkle of enthusiasm and curiosity as you look into his deep, dark brown eyes. He is not even close to giving up, and the hope he is feeling is mutual.

"And we're all done! You can stay seated here, and your doctor will be here with your results soon," she tells both of you with a reassuring smile. Now, the actual waiting game has begun, which becomes longer and longer each time you're here.

After what seems like an eternity, your fertility doctor walks in, this time bringing the best news you could have wished for. You are officially pregnant, and even though you will be under close watch for the first few months, you can officially start celebrating the little life beginning to form inside you.

"I-I can't believe it, we did it, Gorgeous! We're pregnant!" Robert exclaims as he grabs your face, tears running over your face and a proud smile adorning his features. Despite all the negative tests, despite all the waiting and all the hardships, you're pregnant. You will finally start the family with the man you love more than anyone.

"How's my beautiful baby mama doing in here?" Robert asks as he stands behind you, wearing only a pair of sweatpants low on his hips, his muscular body on display. You sigh as you lean into his touch, Robert's arms wrapping around you to lay on your belly.

"I'm okay, just a little indecisive today on what to wear," you tell him, turning your head to look at him with a small smile. He always seems to make you feel like the most beautiful and loved woman on earth, which you are to him. You're his queen and the center of his universe, and there's nothing he wouldn't do for you, especially now that you're carrying his little princess in your belly.

"I think I have something you might enjoy. Just wait here for a moment, and I'll get it for you!" he tells you before pecking your lips, leaving you behind with a big smile and piqued curiosity. It doesn't take long for Robert to return with a white shopping bag, handing it to you, followed by another kiss.

As you open the bag, you're greeted by a bright yellow floral fabric, a shriek of excitement leaving your chest as you know it's the sundress you've been eyeing for a while but never gotten as you don't really like to buy nice things for yourself - instead choosing to spend it on your little princess and your fiancé.

The bag finds its way onto the floor as you take out the dress, holding it in front of you with a broad smile and turning to the mirror to look at it. You feel a pair of eyes burning into the back of your head as Robert looks at you with nothing but love, your eyes meeting in the mirror before you put it on. The soft fabric glides over your skin like silk, your pregnant belly beautifully displayed.

"So? How do I look?" "Like the absolute queen you are," Robert responds, and a flood of warmth spreads through your body when you turn to face him, your arms wrapping around his neck before you stand on your tiptoes to kiss him softly, the butterflies in your chest going into overdrive.

"I love you, Robert," you tell him before giving a few more kisses, happily allowing yourself to get lost in them.

"I love you too, sweet pea," he whispers against your lips, his plump pink ones finding yours for one last breathtaking kiss, the feeling of his hands roaming over your sides giving you goosebumps. With each passing second, he shows you how special you are to him, and you fall increasingly in love with him daily.

You've gone out the door not too long ago, and Robert is now home alone, getting ready for the rest of the celebrations today. After getting dressed in a pair of black slacks and a navy blue button-up shirt, he's heading out the door to go and get your Valentine's Day present.

For the past few months, you and Robert have been discussing adding a cat to the family, which you've wanted since childhood. Now that you have found a secure job, too, where you'll be working from home three days a week, it is the perfect moment to add them. And now, Robert is on his way to pick up your two little angels.

After a drive of about 30 minutes, he arrives at the breeder he landed on after having done countless hours of research. He wants nothing but the best for you, and now it's time to officially pick up the surprise that will surely make today unforgettable.

"Hi, I have an appointment with Anne," Robert says as he gives a friendly smile to the receptionist.

"Okay, if you wait right here, I'll get her," she tells him, and he nods before pulling his phone out of his pocket and looking at the time. His gaze falls on the photo he has on his background, a press photo of you together on the red carpet for the Oscars not too long ago.

He was dressed in an all-black outfit, and you were wearing a bright red evening gown that showed your pregnant belly off to the world, letting everyone know that you would be parents in a few months. Up to that point, you had managed to keep it under wraps from the world, and as soon as the news was out, every tabloid and every newspaper was talking about the pregnancy, stirring up a lot of attention from all over the world.

A smile tugs at the corners of his mouth as he admires the way you look, your face looking like it's glowing as you look right into the camera, standing close to Robert as his hand is wrapped around your back, pulling you into his side. You two are the definition of a power couple, and he couldn't be more proud of you.

He's so lost in his thoughts that he doesn't notice the two women walking into the waiting area where he is standing until one of them clears their throat.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I was looking at this photo of my fiancée," Robert says with a proud look as he shows off the photo. His smile grows wider as the realization dawns on the two women he's sadly taken. You and Robert are pretty private about your relationship, not often out in public together to maintain the privacy of your love life.

"You two are beautiful together, Robert," Anne says with a hint of jealousy, the corners of her mouth turning into a not-so-convincing smile before she turns on her heel, showing him the way to the back where the two kittens are. As soon as he sees the little feline babies, it's all he has eyes for, and his heart is beating faster at the sight of them.

They are cuddled in a corner, sitting close to each other as they look up at Robert curiously. Tiny meows leave their mouths, and that's when he knows he has made the right choice.

"They're all ready to go home with you, Robert; we have a carrying case for you to take both these little girls home and give them the luxurious life they deserve," Anne says as she crouches down, ready to say goodbye. Not long after, Robert is on his way home, excited to share this surprise with you.

You have been gone for the past few hours, and the tiredness is starting to kick in. All you have left to do now is relax as you get a manicure, which Robert gifted you as a Valentine's Day surprise. What you don't know, however, is that he is busy preparing the house for your two little angels and putting rose petals in your bed- and bathroom while the private chef he hired is busy cooking the most amazing meal for the two of you.

The set you're going for is a green and white floral design, which is perfect for the beautiful weather outside. The appointment itself is over all too soon for your liking, though you're also happy to be going home again to your wonderful fiancé and to the surprises he has planned for your evening.

The second you put the key in the lock of your house, you're greeted by a delicious smell that you can only describe as the most delicious food you've ever smelled: Italian. Your belly immediately starts rumbling, and you chuckle with a shake of your head. As the door swings open, you're met with a sight you would have never expected in a hundred years.

Robert is standing in the hallway of your house with the two cutest little kittens you've ever seen - one black and one orange. You start tearing up at the sight as you realize they're his present for you. Ever since you were a little girl, you dreamt of having a black cat named Boo and an orange cat named Angel, and he remembered.

"R-Robert... are they-'' "These beautiful girls are all yours, Gorgeous; happy Valentine's Day," he says as he takes in your features, admiring how your face lights up at the sight of the kittens. You give him a small kiss before taking the black one from him and holding her close to your body.

"Hi, little girl," you whisper to little Boo, and she purrs happily as you scratch her head, and Robert is still holding Angel, who's sleeping in his hold. It takes little time for the chef to finish with the appetizer of the evening and Robert to guide you to your dining room. As you look around, you see the room is dark, apart from a few candles lit here and there and rose petals strewn across the floor and on the table.

"It's beautiful in here," you whisper as you walk over to Robert, wrapping your arms around his waist as you pull him closer for a much-needed embrace, your head snuggling in against his chest as the scent of his cologne makes you feel like you've officially come home.

Robert nuzzles his face into your hair, giving a soft kiss on your head as he enjoys your closeness, his heart beating faster as he thinks about how much he loves you and how lucky he is to call you his.

"Shall we sit down for dinner, Gorgeous? After I am planning on taking this party to the bubble bath," he whispers, and you nod in response, wanting nothing more than to share a bath with the man you love. You lean back to capture his lips with yours, letting the kiss take its natural course until you're both breathless.

"Thank you for everything, Robert; thank you for being there for me when I needed you most, and thank you for being there for me when I was feeling the best I've ever felt," you tell him, your heart rate picking up as you look into his eyes, a large smile spreading on your features.

"There's no need to thank me, Gorgeous; I'd do it all over again without a second thought and no doubt in my mind," he tells you, sealing his promise with one last kiss before he lets you go and you take your seat at the table. During the three-course dinner, you're savoring every bite of the dishes prepared, the conversation between you and Robert light, with a comfortable silence here and there, too.

After dinner, it is finally time for Robert to treat you to the bubble bath he promised you, all while the private chef cleans up before taking the dirty dishes with him again, leaving the kitchen and dining room spotless.

"Shall we get you out of these clothes, Gorgeous? I would love to see you all bare for me," he whispers in your ear, his hot breath against your ear giving you goosebumps, his hands gliding down your sides and hips to the hem of your dress. His long fingers gently grip it before pulling it up and over your head, exposing your pregnant belly to him before he sinks onto his knees in front of you.

You take a small step back until you lean against the counter while Robert takes his time to let his fingers and lips glide over every inch of exposed skin that he's just revealed. When his fingers hook behind the edge of your lace panties, he rips them apart, exposing your dripping pussy to him in one go, making you gasp loudly.

"Look at you, so wet for me already," he says with a smirk as he lifts your leg, placing a trail of soft kisses before hooking it over his shoulder, soft giggles escaping as you feel his facial hair tickling the sensitive skin of your thigh. He can't help but groan as his tongue makes contact with your dripping flesh, the taste of your juices coating his tongue.

Moans tumble out of your mouth as he wraps his lips around your clit, sucking softly before introducing his fingers to your entrance. Starting carefully with one of them, he slides it in and out of you leisurely, his tongue alternating between pleasuring your clit and lapping up the juices flowing out of you.

"D-Daddy, 'm close!" you gasp as Robert works a second finger into you, scissoring them as he sets a faster pace, your fingers grabbing the edge of the counter as your orgasm creeps closer. His cock stirs in his pants as you call him that, his mind going into overdrive as he adds a third finger too, and you're falling over the edge with a scream of his name, your back arching as he keeps sucking and licking, working you carefully through it.

"You're the sweetest thing I've ever tasted, Gorgeous. I can be buried between these heavenly thighs forever," he tells you as you're coming down from your high, his lips placing soft kisses on your belly on his way up. It doesn't take long for both of you to be completely bare, his cock standing at attention against his abdomen, pre-cum leaking from the tip.

The bathtub is slowly filling up as you stand on your toes, capturing Robert's lips with yours as your hand wraps around the base of his cock, a shuddering breath leaving his mouth as he closes his eyes, basking in the pleasure as you slowly work him up and down.

"So hard for me already, Daddy, can't wait to feel this cock deep inside me as you stretch my tight little pussy with this fleshy, veiny monster cock of yours," you whisper, a mischievous smile tugging at the corners of your mouth before you let him go, a desperate whine coming from Robert.

Once the tub is full of bubbles and warm water, Robert helps you into it before you straddle his thighs, the tip of his cock nudging your clit already. You're still sensitive from your orgasm as it happens, and your nails dig into his shoulders, a hiss coming from Robert at the feeling, only adding to his pleasure right now.

"C'mon Gorgeous, sit on Daddy's cock like you want to, can't wait to be buried deep inside you again," he whispers as if he didn't pump you full of his cum twice this morning. The two of you were already insatiable for one another, but now that you're pregnant, your sex drive has increased even more.

You lift yourself slightly before grabbing Robert again at the base of his cock, lining him up and sinking slowly as you stretch around him. Even with his stretching you out earlier, it's a tight fit, and broken moans leave your lips as Robert has his fingers digging into your hips to make sure he doesn't cum before he's buried inside your warmth.

"Fuck, you're so beautiful, with this round belly of yours carrying our daughter. I love your stretchmarks, Baby, and these beautiful breasts of yours-" emphasizing his point by gently playing with your sensitive nipples "- have to be my favorite part of all. Full of milk, God, I can't wait to taste your sweet milk Gorgeous, are you going to let me drink from them whenever I want?" he asks, his pupils blown with lust as he looks at you as you bite your lip.

"Y-yes Daddy, 's all yours," you tell him as you start to work yourself over his length, the bubbles all around you swaying with the waves you're creating with your movements, the sound of the water hitting the sides of the bath and your combined moans filling the room. As he keeps up a slow, gentle pace, you can already feel your orgasm creeping closer, though it's not enough quite yet.

You look up at him with pleading eyes, and he instantly gets the hint as he looks at you before he holds your body still, fucking up into you with a brutal pace that has the water splashing over the edges. With this rhythm he's created, you're both on the edges of your release and with one last bruising kiss, you swallow each other's moans as you fall over the edge together.

Your walls squeeze his cock, milking him dry for all it's worth, and a deep groan leaves Robert's throat as he spills his cum inside you, panting as you're both enjoying the post-orgasmic bliss.

"Y'know, out of all the places we could have celebrated our anniversary and Valentine's Day, you have officially chosen the best one. There's no place like home, after all," you tell him, and he agrees with a content hum. The two of you are staying like this for a while, and at some point, the conversation steered to baby names.

"What do you think of the name Carolina Camryn Downey? Carol for short?" you offer, and Robert lets the name sink in before nodding.

"Carol Downey, I think that sounds perfect," he tells you before leaning in, his lips meeting yours in a gentle and soft yet sensual and passionate kiss. It is official: your baby's name has been picked out, and all you can do now is welcome her into this world.

[phoenixyfriend]

Big news of the morning, which I first heard on NPR's Up First (2/21/24), but here's a text version from APNews:

The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law, a decision critics said could have sweeping implications for fertility treatment in the state.

Alabama already outlaws abortion at any point in the pregnancy with no exceptions save for life of the mother, but this goes a step further, and introduces the term "extrauterine children."

Ironically, this came from a lawsuit about destroyed embryos at a fertility clinic, but rather than just ensuring the prospective parents can sue for wrongful death that the embryos were killed (someone broke in, the clinic was not at fault), this law may actually result in mass closures of fertility clinics across Alabama.

Current standards for IVF involve harvesting as many eggs at once as possible, and fertilizing them all to raise the chances of implantation with successive rounds of IVF (in case it doesn't take the first time), and then remaining embryos are frozen for if/when the couple wants their next child, and once the couple decides they're done, the embryos are destroyed to free up space for more clients. The new ruling would force them to keep embryos frozen forever, or be sued for wrongful death, which they can't afford, so many are saying they may close their doors instead.

[kaiyonohime]

Embryo transfer was an expensive failure.

To transfer an embryo, they use ultrasound to guide a wire to the uterus to insert the embryo. Internationally there is between a 1 and 8 percent failure rate where the embryo does not leave the tube and has to be inserted a second time. This damages the embryo, and there is a less than 10 percent chance of a successful pregnancy after this occurs.

The normal pregnancy success rate is 46 percent.

At this hospital, the only hospital in my area that performs ivf treatment, the occurrence of needing to attempt an embryo transfer is 75 percent. Out of the four embryo transfers I've had, three have had the doctor need to attempt the transfer a second time.

Including today.

So, unfortunately, the chances of this embryo transfer working is nill.

I wish I could go to another hospital, but the nearest is a three hour journey by train. And a lot of the treatment in Japan requires coming in daily for injections.

My husband and I have agreed to try for another cycle, which means another month of daily injections for me, followed by a second month of near daily injections. But it's honestly looking like tiny tot will be an only child.

All I can say is fuck the Japanese medical system and fuck poorly trained doctors that apparently got their degrees from a fucking candy box and are so bad at their jobs I don't know why they're even allowed to fucking practice.

Fuck you Japan. Fuck. You.

[mariacallous]

In October, Melissa began an in vitro fertilization cycle. A resident of Birmingham, Alabama, her fertility journey to that point had been not just difficult, but harrowing—earlier that year, she had nearly bled to death during a procedure to resolve a second-trimester miscarriage. When the IVF process yielded just a single viable embryo, she had it frozen, and a few months later started another cycle. “It’s very easy to lose an embryo,” she says. “This is such a delicate process.”

Melissa has a daughter, born when she was younger, but IVF represents her best and last chance to grow her family. After the Alabama Supreme Court ruled last week that embryos are children, all of that is now on hold.

WIRED spoke with three women directly affected by the Alabama Supreme Court’s February 16 ruling, which stated that embryos are “unborn children … without exception based on developmental stage, physical location, or any other ancillary characteristics.” Fearing legal liability given the broad scope of the language, several of the state’s most prominent IVF providers—including the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama Fertility, and the Center for Reproductive Medicine at Mobile Infirmary—have paused treatments. That means patients like Melissa, who is going by a pseudonym given the sensitivity of the topic, are stuck in limbo, and in some cases running out of options.

“I’m rapidly losing time,” says Melissa. The 37-year-old has an autoimmune disorder that she needs to plan IVF cycles around; her ovarian reserves are low enough that her doctors say she has a window of a month, maybe two, to try again. If the ruling holds for much longer, she may not have another chance.

During IVF, patients take hormone-stimulating medications to trigger their ovaries to release mature eggs. The eggs are then retrieved with a small needle and fertilized with sperm in a lab to form embryos. Sometimes a successful IVF cycle can result in several embryos, but doctors typically transfer just one or two into the uterus at a time. Success isn’t promised; about one in three embryo transfers results in pregnancy.

That makes Melissa’s situation especially urgent. There’s no guarantee that her one embryo will result in a birth. But the ruling has disrupted the lives of women at every stage of treatment.

Lochrane Chase started IVF in August, after nearly a year of trying to get pregnant and using less intrusive fertility treatments, such as ovarian stimulation. The 36-year-old Birmingham native was able to freeze and store over two dozen embryos, of which several appeared viable after genetic screening. An embryo transfer in October resulted in a pregnancy, but Lochrane miscarried a few days later. “It was the saddest I’ve ever been in my life,” she says. She tried again in December; again, she miscarried.

Before another scheduled transfer in January, her doctor noticed fluid in her uterine lining; Lochrane underwent surgery in mid-February to address the issue, and scheduled another embryo transfer for March 18. Despite the uncertainty caused by the ruling, she has started taking the necessary hormones anyway in hopes that the situation resolves by then. If not, the medications would have been for nothing, and she’ll be left with no way forward.

That’s due in part to the severity of the new restrictions on embryos in Alabama. Both Melissa and Lochrane looked into getting treatment out of state as soon as the ruling came down, but quickly found that was an unworkable solution. Companies that transport embryos have paused shipping out of the state while assessing the legal risks associated with the ruling. In a statement emailed to WIRED, a representative from the University of Alabama at Birmingham said the health system is working to identify a company that is willing and able to transport their embryos to another facility as soon as possible: “It is our goal to help patients who are interested in this option do so safely, but—at this time—there are no options available.”

Even if patients could transport their embryos, IVF treatment often requires close proximity with the health care provider, making it infeasible for many.

“You have to do blood work every three days. You have to do ultrasounds. To travel to go do that, it’s almost impossible,” says Melissa. Within 24 hours of finding out that her treatment would be affected, Lochrane had made contact with clinics in Boston, Atlanta, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina—conversations that ended when embryo transportation shut down.

The impact is one of lost time and opportunity, but also of cost. Lochrane says she and her husband have spent $50,000 on fertility treatments so far. Each transfer costs $3,500; each round of medication another $500 or so. For Paula, a 38-year-old Birmingham resident, the bulk of her expenses are carried by Progyny, a fertility insurance company that she has access to through her husband’s job.

Paula, who also asked to use a pseudonym, has already undergone one embryo transfer, in April of last year. It resulted in a miscarriage. She now has three frozen embryos left, and had gotten authorization from Progyny earlier this year to attempt another transfer. That authorization has a three-month window, which expires on March 28. “The concern is, if we don’t do it before March 28, will our insurance do another authorization for us, because we live in Alabama?” she says. “It’s been very stressful. My blood pressure has been through the roof.”

In an emailed statement to WIRED, Progyny CEO Pete Anevski said that health care providers “can shift the authorization as needed,” and that the company “will continue to support its member patients and its network providers in Alabama.”

That support can only go so far, though, as long as the Alabama Supreme Court ruling persists. While all three women have frozen embryos, even that practice may be at risk. One of the many uncertainties of the ruling is whether freezing of embryos will be able to continue. “The cryopreservation of fertilized eggs is an essential component of infertility care at this point, and that whole enterprise is very much threatened,” says Sean Tipton, chief advocacy and policy officer at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, a professional organization that represents fertility specialists. Using frozen embryos for IVF is not only safe but has a higher success rate than fresh embryos.

It’s also unclear how the ruling will impact the egg retrieval process. About five to six days after fertilization, an early-stage embryo, called a blastocyst, forms. But not every fertilized egg goes on to develop into an embryo. This happens naturally, as well as in IVF labs. Under the Alabama ruling, this scenario could also open up a clinic to a potential lawsuit. “With this legal ruling, the question is, if an embryo fails to develop, will these health care providers be found liable for wrongful death or murder or manslaughter?” says Betsy Campbell, chief engagement officer at Resolve, an infertility nonprofit association based in McLean, Virginia.

In a Facebook post, Alabama Fertility Specialists said it is putting new IVF treatments on hold “due to the legal risk to our clinic and our embryologists,” and is contacting affected patients.

In a statement emailed to WIRED, the University of Alabama at Birmingham said its Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility is pausing egg fertilization and embryo development because of “the potential that our patients and our physicians could be prosecuted criminally or face punitive damages for following the standard of care for IVF treatments.”

The patients whom WIRED spoke with all shared a sense of crushing uncertainty and anger.

“People don’t understand that when you’re put in a position to make decisions like [IVF treatment], you don’t make it lightly,” says Melissa. “That it sticks with you forever. That it changes you. To have laws that prevent you from making decisions that—as gut-wrenching as they are, as hard as they are—that you can’t make them for the health of your family, it’s an indescribable feeling.”

Even Lochrane, a lifelong Alabama resident, says that the ruling has made her seriously consider leaving. “I feel so powerless in this state,” she says. Lochrane is on the board of local nonprofits, serves as a deacon in her church, and is deeply involved with numerous civic organizations. Her family is here, as are her friends. Still, she says, the last week has dramatically shifted her perspective. “If I could move to Boston and have an opportunity to have a family there but not in Birmingham,” she says, “I would be at the airport now.”

IVF providers, patients, and advocates are hoping that the Alabama legislature could allow IVF to continue in the state. Last week, Alabama House minority leader Anthony Daniels, a Democrat, introduced a bill that would establish that a “fertilized human egg or human embryo that exists outside of a human uterus is not considered an unborn child or human being” under state law. Republican lawmakers are also expected to introduce similar legislation soon.

“We’re hopeful that there will be a legislative fix,” Campbell says. How long that fix takes, though, will have life-altering consequences for many Alabama IVF patients. And if it doesn’t materialize, most will be left with no options at all.

“We have healthy embryos,” says Lochrane. “We just want to be able to have children.”

[weezly14]

so i used to use this more as a blog where i talked about my life and my feelings and there's been both a lot and nothing happening in my life lately but i sure do have feelings! so i'm gonna write it down and send vibes into the universe because why not. what else do i have to do today?

i've been a little MIA in terms of working on my fics. i've barely written. first it was a rough fucking winter; then summer kicked my ass just as bad. i hate summer.

"but why has it been rough?"

well, because i'm not fucking pregnant yet.

we've been trying for a baby (i hate this phrase) for ten months? ish? and nothing has happened. in school they made it sound like you skip protection once and you'll get knocked up; my mom got accidentally pregnant twice. and here i am, charting dates and peeing on ovulation predictor sticks and tracking symptoms and the whole nine yards, timing sex and taking fucking prenatals and vitamins and not eating sushi or steak during the two week wait and not drinking at all, and all i've gotten to show for it is my fucking period, every month like clockwork.

the studies say, it can take up to a year. yes, most couples get pregnant within six months, but sometimes it takes longer. sure, fine, whatever.

so it's been hard enough trying to get pregnant and then failing (because it does feel like failing, every time), but then two things happened in quick succession:

my best friend got pregnant, sort of accidentally;

i got sent for bloodwork and the results caused my doctor to refer me straight to a fertility clinic.

when i saw the results i cried, but i thought i was just spiraling and being over dramatic. sure, my AMH is really low, but it's technically still in range, and that's not everything, right? my other tests were mostly fine, not totally out of the normal range. then i called my doctor's office, only to be told "we're referring you to a clinic, your ob/gyn doesn't think you'll get pregnant without treatment."

it's a hell of a thing to be told while standing in the pasta aisle of a grocery store.

in the midst of being referred to the clinic, i of course googled. read articles and papers. cried to my husband, my mom, my friends. of course the clinic was booking weeks out; in three weeks i'll go for my first appointment. my mom said, well maybe now you'll get pregnant. it happens, you know - people struggle and then as soon as they get booked to see a specialist, or start IVF, they get pregnant.

my period started over the weekend. it was not a good time.

the thing about trying for a baby is that every month is the same fucking rollercoaster, only you can't get off, and despite knowing exactly how it'll go, it's still somehow traumatic every time. every cycle there's the devastation when your period starts, followed by the hopeful/planning mode of "let me now track ovulation, let's chart out when we need to have sex." then there's the actual sex - trying to still have fun with it as opposed to the clinical "literally all we need is for you to finish," though sometimes it is just the quickie before work or after dinner because it's Fertile Week and we need to optimize our chances so it doesn't matter if it's not very romantic, we can have romantic sex later. after that it's the waiting game, the two weeks of overanalyzing every ache, every twinge, of looking up expected due dates and thinking about how to announce to family and friends, of hoping and thinking that maybe you are actually pregnant - all followed by the two, three days leading up to your period where every trip to the bathroom has the potential to devastate. where every pms symptom is enough to set off a fresh round of tears until your period actually starts. i've stopped taking pregnancy tests early. the stark white negatives (or rude NO - on the digital tests) was too much for me to handle in my already hormonal, pms state.

it hasn't been a year, which makes me feel like i shouldn't be so upset already. on the other hand, my egg reserve is apparently incredibly low - that is, i'm rapidly running out of eggs, and who knows if the ones i've got are even any good. in three weeks we'll see a fertility specialist, and based on my extensive research and trolling on reddit and listening to podcasts, i'm fairly confident they're going to tell us it's IVF or bust.

because i'm running out of eggs, for reasons that might not exist, or might just be "sometimes things just suck for certain people." some people get a diagnosis of "unexplained infertility," which basically means the doctors have run every test and there's no reason you can't get pregnant. we aren't in that camp, we're likely in the "diminished ovarian reserve" camp. for reasons that are unexplained.

meanwhile, my best friend is pregnant, and i can't talk to her without crying.

we moved into a bigger house a year ago in preparation for kids. we got our finances in order, we made sure our marriage was solid, we planned - and now? we've always wanted two, maybe three. at this point i think we'll be lucky to get one. maybe i'm being pessimistic. i'm trying to be confident but also realistic. IVF doesn't work for everyone. even my clinic, which has the best numbers in the state, has a 63% success rate. sounds great, and it is - but that's 37% of couples who don't go home with a baby. nationally, the outcomes are something like 50ish% of IVF cycles will result in a live birth (they measure by both pregnancy and live birth, because even if you've managed to get pregnant, there's no guarantee you'll stay pregnant.)

today is a good day, by the way. today i can talk to my mom, i can call up our insurance, i can write this and be factual and calm and not crying. today i feel like we have a good chance, like we will end up with a take home baby. today i'm cleaning my house and looking up meal plans to increase my fertility. exercise regimens to help me get in shape to increase my fertility. tomorrow might be a bad day. bad days are when i can barely get off the couch, where i cry at the thought or mention of my fertility. where a tiktok of a dad and baby sends me spiraling. when it all feels fucking useless and unfair.

today is a good day. i don't know what tomorrow's going to be yet.

i've been isolating all summer, which isn't hard to do when most of my friends aren't local. but i find i don't want to be around anyone, really. i don't want to talk to people. i don't want to be asked how i'm doing, i don't want to be asked what's new or what i've been up to.

"i've been cleaning my house and trying to get pregnant and failing. last week i made a new recipe, and today i cried."

it's not an exciting life i'm leading these days. and anyway, no one wants to hear about fertility struggles.

it's not that i'm too stressed. i don't need to go on vacation, or get drunk and have sex, or relax and then i'll get pregnant. sure, i could use a vacation, but that's not the magic ticket. the problem isn't lack of sex. i have depression; the stress is always there, but that's why i see my therapist and my psychiatrist. that's why i take my meds and do my self-soothing shit.

i'm not pregnant because i'm just not. and hopefully the specialist will have a plan and hopefully that plan has a more than 30% chance of succeeding, and hopefully we get to bring a baby home - but today? today i'm not pregnant, and it's not a guarantee that i ever will be.

so even though today is a good day, i'm still really fucking sad.

but, you know. i'm trying to have hope.

that, too, is a cycle.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Megan Messerly at Politico:

INDIANAPOLIS — The Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest and most politically powerful Protestant denomination, voted Wednesday to oppose in vitro fertilization. The move may signal the beginning of a broad turn on the right against IVF, an issue that many evangelicals, anti-abortion advocates and other social conservatives see as the “pro-life” movement’s next frontier — one they hope will eventually lead to restrictions, or outright bans, on IVF at the state and federal levels. The vote comes as Democrats in Washington, hoping to drive a wedge among Republicans, prepare to hold a vote on legislation to protect IVF, while former President Donald Trump struggles with how to message to evangelicals on abortion and other reproductive health issues that they would like to see him take stronger positions on in the post-Roe era. IVF has come under increasing scrutiny since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision two years ago. Many on the right have begun to question whether the practice, which often discards fertilized eggs, is at odds with their beliefs on when life begins, even as it is relied upon by millions of Americans to grow their families and is supported by the overwhelming majority of evangelicals.

“It’s going to be a long process. It took us 50 years to take down Roe,” said Brent Leatherwood, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the public policy arm of the SBC. “It may take us a similarly long time frame to get people to a place where they are thinking more deeply about something like this. It’s okay. It takes time. We have to be patient.” The resolution, which was passed by nearly 11,000 so-called messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting, declares that IVF “most often participates in the destruction of embryonic human life” and calls on Southern Baptists to adopt and “only utilize reproductive technologies” that affirm “the unconditional value and right to life of every human being.” Though the resolution is nonbinding, nearly 13 million Southern Baptists across 45,000 churches may now face pressure from the pulpit or in individual conversations with pastors to eschew IVF.

[...] The Southern Baptists’ Wednesday vote could encourage other evangelical denominations and churches to follow suit in declaring — or at least teaching about — their ethical concerns with IVF. [...] The Alabama high court’s decision forced many evangelicals to for the first time think deeply about the ethical implications of the procedure, which as commonly practiced in the U.S. results in the destruction of excess embryos. Doctors create extra embryos to ensure the best chance of a successful pregnancy. The leftover embryos are frozen, destroyed or donated to medical research. Many evangelicals are now coming around to the fact that their conviction that life begins at conception must be applied to IVF, too. If abortion is murder, the destruction of viable embryos created during the IVF process is as well.

[...] As evangelicals become more educated on the issue, they are largely falling into two camps: those who believe that IVF can be practiced ethically if no embryos are destroyed, and those who like Mohler and Walker believe IVF is inherently unethical because it separates conception from the act of sex between husband and wife. Walker, acknowledging the former view, noted the resolution was “drafted to pass.”

A last-minute amendment sought to make clear that IVF is permissible in some circumstances, but failed.

A sad day for common sense at the SBC Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, as a majority of the messengers shamefully voted to oppose In Vitro Fertilization (IVF).

This vote could signal a broader shift to anti-IVF sentiments among Christian conservatives (especially evangelicals). #SBC24#IVF

See Also:

NBC News: Southern Baptists formally oppose in vitro fertilization

HuffPost: Southern Baptist Convention Votes To Oppose IVF As Not 'God-Honoring'

[lemonsharks]

The thing that gets me is that, functionally, Alabama's IVF law just defined embryonic personhood as, "an embryo is a person if and only if the pregnancy and the baby it may grow to become is wanted by its gestating parent," because ivf embryos are by definition wanted, and because the process of IVF goes with the assumption that not all embryos will reach the desired end point of "baby."

That embryos will be implanted and fail to result in pregnancy is part and parcel with using IVF to get pregnant.

There's a 2/3 chance of miscarriage with each implantation in normal circumstances. a 1/3 chance in ideal circumstances. Those miscarriages are explicitly protected—if this law were really about embryonic life, the IVF practice and clients would both be criminally liable for child neglect and endangerment for attempting to gestate themselves, or with their own genetic material, rather than making choices (young healthy surrogate, young healthy sperm/egg donor) to maximize the chance of successful pregnancy.

You certainly don't see the Right clamouring to bestow citizenship and it's attendant entitlements upon the pregnancies of undocumented immigrants.

I really, really want this to go before a better Supreme Court than we have. Because "the gestating parent of a wanted pregnancy receives special and unique protections under the law, while fertilized eggs, blastocysts, zygoats, embryos and fetuses are not by definition people until their successfully completed birth" is, I think, one of the best possible compromises we could come to in the current political climate.

Though don't get me wrong, what I really want is an abortion decision based in bodily autonomy, bestowing upon every living person the bare minimum rights of a cadaver. (I.e. to not be used for a purpose you do not consent to or no longer consent to.)

[shesay]

I'm 💯 anti IVF and will die on that hill idc it's a predatory industry that lashes on the desperation of women and their need 2 reproduce and be pregnant and it's twisted how many of these clinics cover up the risks and downplay them and the often low chances of success. Our neighbors literally payed more than 50k on IVF rounds and none of the pregnancies were quite viable,the woman ended up getting pregnant after that naturally which's ironic lol. It's a total trap and these clinics keep these poor women's hopes up telling them "next round it'll work and you'll have your unicorn baby" whatever BS also the health risks on the woman's body. My opinion will 4ever be if you can't get pregnant naturally then it's God's/nature whatever u believe way of telling you ur not meant 2 reproduce

[shamrock313]

Emma Roberts and Cody John

This reading is for entertainment purposes only. Please take everything you read with a grain of salt. Enjoy!

EMMA POV: 6 of Wands + 3 of Cups (rev) + Empress = 6oW indicates a bright future for her and Cody. Success in love. Chance to fulfill relationship goal. So, we're all aware she's engaged and she has been before, so there's a chance for her to actually go down the aisle. Very happy w/ relationship.

3oC (R) asks if she really wants to be married especially if its to him. "ensure that you are not masking your feelings w/ superficial cheer". Basically, be honest with yourself and don't put yourself in a place where you feel you're not truly happy.

Empress is of course about motherhood, so I cannot confirm if she will have a child for Cody, but she might have a chance to whether it's natural or with a surrogate/IVF. Stable, serious, committed relationship. Again, this card represents marriage / pregnancy.

CODY POV: 4 of Swords + 7 of Cups (rev) = 4oS means that he takes time away from her to reset himself. Alone time. Taking a break. Puts a lot into this relationship. Tired / burnout. Often disagreeing with one another that he has to walk away, be with his thoughts, and ask himself if this is what he wants.

7oC (R) Chaotic and confusing love life. Lacks clarity about relationship. Constantly 2nd guesses himself. I think he also may be wondering if they're really going to go down the aisle too.

Dynamic: Knight of Cups + Page of Swords (side) = KoC Romance, attraction, being in love with love, and unrealistic expectations on love. PoS (U) Emotional needs not being met. Small / petty disputes may turn into bigger conflicts. Again, they really need to see if being married is the right choice for them. (Rev) Argumentative / communication issues. Lack of honesty / there is a liar within this relationship.

Cody as a Person: The Magician (rev) - So, I don't know anything about Cody. I know he's an actor, he's with Emma, and that's it. I've never seen any of his work. Anyways, tarot says he's indecisive and insecure. "May swing from overconfidence to self-doubt". People probably don't even know about this side to him. "He's a pretty face that is insecure with himself".

Okay, pause. What you're about to read next is Emma as a person. Now, ya'll may not believe in tarot and some may read this for entertainment, but when I tell you I had to stop and laugh. OMG. This hit every nail on the head. Get your snack and drink ready.

If you are a fan of this woman, don't read this. Just go ahead and scroll pass this and find some other content.

Emma as a Person: Knight of Swords (rev) + Death (rev) + Temperance (rev) + Queen of Wands (rev) = KoS (R) she is reckless and acts before she thinks. Impatient and aggressive. Mood swings / outburst are what makes her relationships hard to remain stable. Being around her makes people feel nervous and uneasy of what she may do or say next.

Death (R) indicates that she's living in the past. Caught in a loop of negative thoughts. I did wonder if she recreates Evan moments with Cody. Does that make sense? Like does she take Cody to places or do activities that her and Evan use to do? Most of y'all have been in the fandom longer than I have so, if you know let me know.

Temp (R) - Erratic behavior. Brings an air of chaos. "Emotions can be seen as unpredictable as a roller coaster. She's always up and down. Beware of her presence and keep your distance". Again, makes you feel uncomfortable. Things she may say, makes you feel unworthy and she only does it to better herself. If she ruins your day, that means to her she's gonna have a great day knowing she upset you.

QoW (R) she is overbearing and manipulative. Only cares about herself. Domineering, insecure, and emotionally draining.

[get-pregnant]

Transforming Dreams into Reality: The Test Tube Baby Journey in Nashik

Are you yearning to hear the pitter-patter of tiny feet echoing in your home? The journey to parenthood can be strewn with challenges, leaving couples feeling disheartened and isolated. However, amidst this struggle, hope gleams brighter than ever with advancements in reproductive technologies, particularly the Test Tube Baby Process, also known as In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). Let’s delve into how this revolutionary procedure is turning the dreams of countless couples in Nashik into tangible realities.

Meet Shreya and Rahul, a couple who epitomize the journey many embark upon in their quest for parenthood. Despite leading healthy lifestyles and consulting medical experts, traditional methods failed to bear fruit for them. Their longing for a complete family seemed like an elusive dream until they discovered the Test Tube Baby Process at AKPI’s clinic in Nashik.

Initially apprehensive, Shreya and Rahul found solace in the clinic's compassionate and professional approach. From comprehensive evaluations to detailed explanations of the IVF process, the team at AKPI provided unwavering support at every step. As they nervously awaited the pregnancy test after the embryo transfer, hope intertwined with anxiety, making each moment feel like an eternity.

Today, their precious daughter, Tara, fills their lives with boundless joy and love, a testament to the success of IVF. Their story mirrors that of numerous couples in Nashik who have realized their dream of parenthood through this groundbreaking procedure.

Before and After: The Test Tube Baby Journey

The journey towards parenthood through IVF entails meticulous pre-treatment evaluations to diagnose infertility causes and determine the suitability of IVF. Post-treatment, diligent monitoring ensures the success of implantation and a healthy pregnancy.

The Four Steps of the Test Tube Baby Process

For couples in Nashik, the Test Tube Baby Process offers a ray of hope in their fertility journey. Let's delve into the intricacies of this procedure:

Egg Production Stimulation: Hormone therapy stimulates the woman's ovaries to produce multiple follicles, preparing them for egg retrieval.

Retrieval of Eggs: Mature eggs are delicately retrieved from the ovaries using a fine needle under sedation or anesthesia.

Fertilization: The retrieved eggs are fertilized with sperm from the male partner, and the resulting embryos are monitored for viability.

Embryo Transfer: Healthy embryos are transferred into the woman's uterus using a catheter, offering the potential for pregnancy.

Addressing Concerns: Frequently Asked Questions

Are IVF injections painful? While minimal discomfort may be experienced during IVF hormonal injections, expert guidance can alleviate concerns and ensure a smoother journey towards parenthood.

Unlocking Success: Understanding IVF Success Rates

The success of IVF hinges on various factors, including age and underlying fertility issues. Couples can maximize their chances of success through lifestyle modifications and informed decision-making.

Navigating the Emotional Terrain of IVF

The emotional journey of IVF is as significant as its medical aspect. With evolving technologies and unwavering support, couples find renewed hope and happiness amidst the challenges of infertility.

In conclusion, the Test Tube Baby Process stands as a beacon of hope for couples in Nashik, transcending barriers and turning dreams into reality. With compassionate care and cutting-edge technology, parenthood becomes an achievable aspiration for all.

If you're ready to embark on your journey towards parenthood, reach out to us today. Together, we can transform your dreams into a beautiful reality.

Learn more

By sharing your experiences and insights, you can empower others on their fertility journey. Together, let's spread hope and awareness about the transformative power of the Test Tube Baby Process.

[coochiequeens]

After a couple find a woman to buy eggs from for up to $250,000 they have to “find a surrogate, the uterus-bearing person who will carry your baby.” Meaning a Woman to build a baby in her womb for 9 months then give birth to it.

By NICK WOLNY

MAY 20 2023 10:04 AM EST

Let’s have a baby together. It’ll only set you back $250,000.

To become a gay dad with a biological child, you’ll first need some eggs (human ones). You can buy some from an egg bank or try to find a donor who will cycle just for you. If doing the latter, it’s good to have contracts, so you’ll need a lawyer too.

Then you need to get your eggs to a fertility clinic. If you have a donor, you’ll be paying for their travel and appointments. If you’ve got the eggs, a freezer truck transportation service will do. Embryologists at the clinic do their thing with the eggs and your sperm, and voilà — you have embryos on ice. If embryologists sound expensive, it’s because they are.

We’re done with the “less hard” part. Now you need to find a surrogate, the uterus-bearing person who will carry your baby. You’ll either pay a surrogacy agency, which can be pricey, or find a surrogate of your own, which “sounds hard because it is,” says Janene Oleaga, attorney and founder of Oleaga Law, a family formation law firm. “Then there’s the actual embryo transfer, which may or may not be covered by insurance. You’ve also been paying this whole time to keep the embryos cryogenically preserved,” Oleaga says.

Feeling the cash crunch yet? There’s another cost to consider. The stigma against gay parenthood runs deeper than rhetoric alone. It’s woven into the very fabric of our health care system. 

As LGBTQ+ acceptance makes hard-fought progress, today’s young people are coming out earlier than previous generations. In a 2018 survey conducted by the Family Planning Council, respondents over the age of 60 said they came out at an average age of 37; for respondents in their 30s, the average age was 21, and for respondents ages 18 to 24, the average age was 17.

When Obergefell v. Hodges granted federal marriage equality protections in 2015, LGBTQ+ interest in family planning spiked, with solutions like assisted reproductive technology (ART), foster parenthood, and private adoption leading the way. Nearly half of LGBTQ+ millennials are actively planning to grow their families, a difference of just 7 percentage points from non-LGBTQ+ millennials, and a marked difference from previous generations.

If queer intended parents (IPs) take the ART route, financial challenges loom. The average cost of in vitro fertilization (IVF) hovers around $12,400 per cycle, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. But the chances of success are less than 50 percent, according to ART data from the CDC, adding considerably to the financial pressure. Subsequently, an entire boutique industry has emerged to help intended parents navigate the medical, legal, and emotional terrain of the process.

“To be very frank and honest with you, a lot of this is a mega, mega business,” says Harout Cracchiolo, who together with his husband became a first-time father last year. “We went with a friend who donated her eggs and paid for all her treatments. Then we went with a family member who ended up carrying the baby for us and got a separate surrogacy insurance for her. We still had to pay all the hospital bills, anesthesia, and doctor’s visits [out of pocket], because insurance wouldn’t cover it. We ended up at around $175,000.”

(In other words they had a baby by taking eggs from one woman then exposing another women to the dangers of a pregnancy with heightened risks just to create a baby that neither the egg donor or the woman who gave birth will feel a connection to and will have a harder time in court if they sue for custody or visitation)

Cracchiolo says he and his husband were lucky, “because we did our IVF and got pregnant the first time.” He partially attributed this success to the care he and his husband received from their chosen fertility center, and he called some agencies “a scam.”

“One quote included a $60,000 agency fee,” Cracchiolo says. “Then it’s about another 20 or 30 grand for the egg donor, another 70 or 80 grand for the surrogate, and all the attorney’s fees.” Cracchiolo also says he and his husband calculated another quote’s projected total cost to be over $250,000, with the agency wanting most of that money in escrow upfront.

Family planning professionals said the $60,000 agency fee figure sounded high and noted that every industry has its bad actors. For many intended parents, finding and working with a good agency to mitigate the risks of surrogacy will be worth the investment. “There are a number of reputable agencies protecting both intended parents and surrogates alike,” Oleaga says in a follow-up email. “An ethical, knowledgeable agency provides valuable guidance and support throughout the surrogacy journey.”

Oleaga adds that many lawyers offer to review agency agreements with both intended parents and surrogates to ensure individuals understand what they are agreeing to, along with what services the agency will and will not provide.

Nevertheless, for gay male couples, the fertility financial benefits that come with health insurance are often stunted, since they may only apply when policy holders themselves are the ones who are pregnant. “The majority of gay men,” says Oleaga, “should expect a six-figure bill.”

(So it’s gay males and egg donors and uterus bearing persons)

The unpredictable costs of fertility have led some intended parents to seek out agencies whose financial safeguards help keep their family planning hopes alive, says Taylor Frey, who with his husband Kyle Dean Massey opened Elevate, an egg donation and surrogacy agency, after their own decade-long fatherhood journey.

“When Kyle and I went through the process, we were both working in Broadway shows, and we started a savings account to create embryos with an egg donor,” Frey says. “I was 25 at the time. We created embryos, then put them on ice for eight years so we could replenish funds.”

Frey and Massey say they founded Elevate to innovate on industry setback and cancellation policies. “If you do not end up with what you need to transfer to a surrogate, your recycle fees are on us,” says Frey, referring to fertility fees incurred when eggs turn out to be unviable.

“The reason why [surrogacy] is so expensive is that, from deciding you want to be a parent to having a baby, hundreds of people will touch your case,” Massey says. “All the attorneys, and psychologists, and counselors, and lab technicians, and nurses, and physicians, and monitoring clinics, and labs — it’s a lot of people.”

Oleaga agreed with the idea of meeting with several prospective fertility service providers as a best practice. “I always advise intended parents and potential surrogates to meet with multiple agencies and review their agency agreements before signing on,” she says.

For female same-sex couples, the dynamics are different, albeit no less demeaning.

“We knew we wanted to have kids. My only stipulation was that we be married first because we’re gay,” says Samantha Davis, who with her wife Leni had their son via intrauterine insemination (IUI) on their second attempt in 2019. “I just didn’t want the government to feel like we weren’t both equally the parent.”

If heterosexual couples have unexplained infertility, they need to have been trying to conceive for at least a year (or six months if over the age of 35) before a doctor will make the diagnosis official, a declaration that unlocks health insurance benefits for some fertility services. But for same-sex couples, the waiting period is waived. “Because we’re gay, I wanted to make sure that I was automatically considered infertile [from the start] so that the insurance would cover some of the stuff we would be going through,” Samantha says.

The couple’s infertile status unlocked an allowance of $16,000. “That’s not per child, or per year,” Leni says. “That’s for life.” The Davises’ expenses included storage for sperm and paying to have embryos created and tested, all of which quickly burned through the stipend. They also say they had to pay out of pocket for psychiatric evaluations and blood work.

“The first time, we weren’t in a great financial place,” Samantha says. “We were scraping every time we needed to pay for something.” Samantha touched her belly. She’s pregnant again, this time through IVF.

“After our son, I really wanted to have a girl,” she says. The couple decided to do IVF to produce a female embryo, but after two attempts, the only remaining healthy embryos were males. “We could have tried again to see if we could get that girl, but financially it wasn’t feasible.”

(And there it is once enough money is spent it’s not just about having a baby, it’s about having a certain type of baby)

The path to biological parenthood shouldn’t be this expensive for anyone. For LGBTQ+ people, however, the journey remains especially taxing as we navigate systems ill-suited to our family planning interests.

“A lot of LGBTQ+ people don’t have children, so it’s not such a big movement,” Cracchiolo notes. “But it needs to be. You want to feel included. You’re having a baby — you don’t want to feel strange when you go to the hospital.”

Horror stories aside, the parents agree their journey was worth every step.

“It’s the coolest thing to wake up and know that every day you’re working towards making this child’s life something you didn’t have,” Cracchiolo says. “It’s just the best thing ever.”

The Davises echo this sentiment. “It’s rewarding in so many ways,” Samantha says. “I think I’ve learned so much about myself, my upbringing, things that I hope to do differently.”

Queer people deserve to become biological parents regardless of socioeconomic status. But reform is needed to make LGBTQ+ parenthood more financially accessible.

(No one is entitled to biological offspring. And how do they reform it to make it “financially accessible” without fairly compensating the women going through the egg donation process or the birth mother who will be carrying a pregnancy with a greater risk of complications?)

In the interim, anticipating the future cost of parenthood might influence how you spend and save your money today. 

Oh, and if people start to give you shit for tightening the budget to fund your legacy — “Fuck ‘em,” Samantha says. “Don’t worry about what anyone says. Find what works for you and your family.”

Leni laughs. “You can quote her on that.”

Nick Wolny is a journalist, speaker, and entrepreneur. He writes about the intersection of LGBTQ+ life and personal finance, and has previously contributed to CNET, Entrepreneur, and Business Insider. Join his newsletter at NickWolny.com.

This article is part of the Out May/June issue, available on newsstands May 30. Support queer media and subscribe -- or download the issue through Amazon, Kindle, Nook, or Apple News.

I wonder how many women have received requests to be surrogates for family members and the rest of the family piled on over the hope of more grandkids for the family? Women need to learn the side effects and risks associated with egg donation and surrogacy so they can back up their “NO”.

[aurawomen]

What role does ovulation play in the process of child conception?

Ovulation plays a crucial role in the process of child conception. Here's how it works:

Ovulation: Ovulation is the release of a mature egg (ovum) from a woman's ovary. It typically occurs in the middle of her menstrual cycle, around day 14 in a 28-day cycle. The egg is released into the fallopian tube.

Fertilization Window: Ovulation marks the most fertile period in a woman's menstrual cycle. Sperm can survive in the female reproductive tract for several days, so having intercourse in the days leading up to and during ovulation increases the chances of sperm meeting the egg.

Fertilization: If a sperm successfully reaches the egg in the fallopian tube and fertilizes it, it forms a zygote. This is the beginning of a potential pregnancy.

Embryo Development: The zygote starts dividing and developing into an embryo. It travels down the fallopian tube towards the uterus.

Implantation: Once the embryo reaches the uterus, it may implant into the uterine lining. If successful, this results in pregnancy.

Without ovulation and the release of an egg, conception cannot occur. Understanding one's menstrual cycle and pinpointing ovulation is crucial for couples trying to conceive naturally. For those with fertility issues, assisted reproductive technologies like IVF can be used to facilitate conception, even without natural ovulation. Connect with the Best IVF Centre in India |Aurawomen for the best infertility treatment.

[asiya2000]

IVF Treatment: Pros and Cons of Multiple Embryo Transfer

IVF (in vitro fertilization) is a form of assisted reproductive technology that involves retrieving eggs from a woman's ovaries and fertilizing them with sperm in a laboratory. The fertilized eggs (embryos) are then transferred to the woman's uterus to establish a pregnancy. Multiple embryo transfer is a technique used in IVF where more than one embryo is transferred to increase the chances of pregnancy. In this blog, we will discuss the pros and cons of multiple embryo transfer in IVF treatment.

Multiple embryo transfer is a complex issue and requires a thorough understanding of the risks and benefits. As such, it is important for couples considering IVF to have an open discussion with their fertility specialist about the pros and cons of multiple embryo transfer. This will help them make an informed decision about the number of embryos to transfer during IVF treatment.

What is IVF Treatment?

IVF is a fertility treatment in which eggs are extracted from a woman's ovaries and fertilized with sperm in a laboratory. The resulting embryos are then transferred into the woman's uterus in hopes of achieving a pregnancy. IVF treatment is often recommended for couples who have been trying to conceive for a long time with no success, have a history of infertility, or have certain medical conditions that make it difficult to conceive naturally.

Multiple Embryo Transfer in IVF Treatment

Multiple embryo transfer in IVF treatment refers to the transfer of more than one embryo into the woman's uterus during the IVF cycle. This is usually done to increase the chances of a successful pregnancy, especially for couples who have had unsuccessful IVF cycles in the past. However, the decision to transfer multiple embryos should be carefully considered, as it can lead to multiple pregnancies, which come with their own set of risks.

The Pros of Multiple Embryo Transfer:

Increased Chances of Pregnancy

One of the main advantages of multiple embryo transfer in IVF treatment is the increased chances of achieving a pregnancy. Since not all embryos that are transferred will result in a successful pregnancy, transferring more embryos increases the chances of at least one embryo implanting and developing into a fetus. This is particularly beneficial for couples who have had unsuccessful IVF cycles in the past and are looking to increase their chances of success.

Reduced Need for Repeat Cycles

Another advantage of multiple embryo transfer is that it reduces the need for repeat IVF cycles. Since transferring more embryos increases the chances of achieving a pregnancy, couples are less likely to need to undergo additional IVF cycles, which can be time-consuming, emotionally draining, and expensive.

No need for freezing and storage

When only one embryo is transferred during IVF treatment, any additional embryos are frozen and stored for future use. This can be expensive and may not be feasible for some couples. With multiple embryo transfer, there is no need for freezing and storage, which can simplify the process and reduce costs.

Reduced cost and time

Another advantage of multiple embryo transfer is that it can reduce the cost and time of IVF treatment. Since multiple embryos are transferred, there is no need for repeated IVF cycles, which can be expensive and time-consuming. Additionally, the cost of IVF treatment can be a significant barrier for some couples, and multiple embryo transfer can be a cost-effective option.

Cost-Effective

Transferring multiple embryos can also be cost-effective for couples undergoing IVF treatment. Since each cycle of IVF can be expensive, transferring more embryos in a single cycle can reduce the overall cost of treatment by reducing the need for repeat cycles.

The Cons of Multiple Embryo Transfer:

Higher Risk of Multiple Pregnancy

One of the main disadvantages of multiple embryo transfer is the higher risk of multiple pregnancy. Multiple pregnancy occurs when more than one fetus develops in the uterus, and it is a major risk associated with IVF treatment. Multiple pregnancies can increase the risk of complications such as premature birth, low birth weight, and other health problems for both the mother and the babies.

Increased Risk of Premature Birth and Low Birth Weight

Multiple pregnancy also increases the risk of premature birth and low birth weight. Premature birth can result in a range of health problems for the babies, such as developmental delays, vision and hearing problems, and respiratory distress syndrome. Low birth weight, which is common in multiple pregnancies, can also lead to a range of health problems, including developmental delays, infections, and neurological problems.

Emotional and Physical Stress

Multiple embryo transfer can also be emotionally and physically stressful for couples undergoing IVF treatment. The process can be emotionally draining, and the uncertainty of whether or not the transfer will be successful can take a toll on the mental health of both partners. Physically, multiple embryo transfer can lead to discomfort, bloating, and other side effects that can make the IVF process even more challenging.

The Ethical Debate Surrounding Multiple Embryo Transfer

The use of multiple embryo transfer in IVF treatment has sparked a heated ethical debate in the medical community. While the practice can increase the chances of a successful pregnancy, it also carries significant risks for both the mother and the babies. Additionally, transferring multiple embryos can lead to unused embryos, which raises questions about what should be done with these embryos.

Alternatives to Multiple Embryo Transfer

For couples who are concerned about the risks of multiple embryo transfer, there are alternatives available. One option is to transfer a single embryo during IVF treatment, which can reduce the risk of multiple pregnancy while still providing a chance for a successful pregnancy. Another option is to freeze unused embryos for future use, which can reduce the need for repeat IVF cycles and increase the chances of success in the future.

Ethical concerns

Multiple embryo transfer raises ethical concerns, particularly around the number of embryos to transfer. Transferring too many embryos can increase the risk of multiple pregnancies, while transferring too few embryos can reduce the chances of pregnancy. Additionally, couples may be faced with difficult decisions around selective reduction, which involves reducing the number of fetuses in a multiple pregnancy to improve the chances of a healthy pregnancy.

Mitigating the Risks of Multiple Embryo Transfer:

A. Elective single embryo transfer (eSET)

One way to mitigate the risks of multiple embryo transfer is to consider elective single embryo transfer (eSET). eSET involves transferring only one embryo during IVF treatment, which can reduce the risk of multiple pregnancies. eSET is particularly recommended for couples who have a good chance of success with IVF treatment and who are at risk of multiple pregnancies.

B. Embryo screening

Another way to mitigate the risks of multiple embryo transfer is to consider embryo screening. Embryo screening involves testing the embryos for genetic abnormalities before transfer. This can help identify the healthiest embryos for transfer and reduce the risk of multiple pregnancies.

C. Counselling and support

Couples considering multiple embryo transfer should receive counselling and support to help them make an informed decision. This includes discussing the risks and benefits of multiple embryo transfer, as well as the emotional and financial implications of caring for multiple babies. Couples may also benefit from support groups and counselling services to help them cope with the stress and emotional challenges of IVF treatment.

https://healthtrip.com/

[sahyadrihospitals]

Understanding Low AMH and Your Fertility Journey

First and foremost, we understand that the journey to parenthood can be filled with uncertainty and concerns, especially when faced with challenges like low AMH levels. 

In this answer, we will help you understand the implications of low AMH on your fertility and explore the available treatment options.

What is AMH and Why Does it Matter?

Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is a protein produced by the ovarian follicles, which are the small sacs containing immature eggs in a woman's ovaries. 

AMH levels in the blood can provide an indication of a woman's ovarian reserve, or the number of eggs remaining in her ovaries. A low AMH level suggests a diminished ovarian reserve, which can impact fertility.

How Low AMH Affects Your Chances of Pregnancy

It's important to note that low AMH levels do not necessarily mean you cannot get pregnant. A diminished ovarian reserve may reduce the chances of conception, but it doesn't entirely rule out the possibility. 

Factors such as age, overall health, and the quality of the remaining eggs all play a role in determining your fertility potential.

Treatment Options for Low AMH

There are several treatment options available for women with low AMH levels, each with varying success rates:

Natural conception: Some women with low AMH levels may still be able to conceive naturally. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle, monitoring ovulation, and timing intercourse around your fertile window can increase your chances of getting pregnant.

Oral medications: Fertility drugs, such as clomiphene citrate or letrozole, can be prescribed to stimulate ovulation and improve your chances of conception.

Intrauterine insemination (IUI): This procedure involves placing sperm directly into the uterus during ovulation, increasing the chances of fertilization.

In-vitro fertilization (IVF): IVF is a more advanced fertility treatment, where eggs are retrieved from the ovaries, fertilized in a laboratory, and then transferred back into the uterus.

The success rates of these treatments can vary depending on factors such as age, overall health, and the severity of the diminished ovarian reserve.

Tips for Improving Your Chances of Pregnancy with Low AMH

Here are some helpful tips for women with low AMH levels:

Maintain a healthy lifestyle, including a balanced diet, regular exercise, and stress management techniques.

Consider taking supplements, such as Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), which have been shown to improve egg quality in some studies.

Consult with a fertility specialist to discuss your options and develop a tailored treatment plan.

Remember, every fertility journey is unique, and the path to parenthood may look different for each individual. 

Sahyadri is a Multi-speciality hospital and the best ivf center in pune. We are committed to helping you achieve your dream of starting or expanding your family.