Having Multiples
By bmuchler
@bmuchler (441)
United States
August 19, 2009 8:49pm CST
My husband came home today and told me he heard on the radio today that a woman from Africa, that is living in England, underwent In-Vitro Fertilization. The radio said she is pregnant with 12 babies. I'm not even sure what the term is for 12. I also can't believe Dr's are implanting that many embryos at one time. Obviously people find them. They must be only interested in the money than the health and well being of the babies.
More and more you hear on the news of people having 4 or more babies. I don't think they think things through very well. Such as how do they afford essentials, who is going to take care of them, etc.
I'm sure most people have heard of the Octuplet mom in California. Is this a game to some people? Are they competing to say who can have the most and what offers they will get? The media feeds into this too much. Do they compete who is going to have TV shows or free supplies.
These stories make me angry. I understand that some woman cannot get pregnant without fertility methods. The Octuplet mom had 6 other kids, so you know she didn't have any trouble. I think she just wanted the attention from the media. She will have a reality show and make lots of money. Is that why she did this? To make money off of her kids?
I am infertile. My husband had to seek help with conceiving all of our three kids. I had to undergo tests/painful procedures. We could only do what our insurance would pay for. We had to go through the ups and dows. Are we pregnant? Not pregnant?
I had to use clomid to conceive our first child. He is now 7. My last pregnancy was metformin and femara. I had twins. the are now 14 months.
I don't think these woman think about the babies at all. Multiples have a high risk of health issues. My twins came 2 months early. They had to stay in a NICU for some time. One came home on an apnea monitor. I am very happy and lucky that they are now healthy. The more you have the more risk for developmental disorders. They have no idea.
1 person likes this
4 responses
@taraelocin (1138)
•
4 Oct 09
In the UK there are legal limits on how many embryos doctors can implant - two embryos is the legal limit. A pregnancy with multiples creates an increased risk for the health of both the mother and the children.
Uusally doctors will only implant one embryo during IVF treatment, in some cases two. This usually depends on the age of the woman.
1 person likes this
@meandmy3 (2227)
• United States
20 Aug 09
First the story of the lady in Africa has been proven to be false, not true, she made it up for attention, that was released almost as soon as the story was released
The Octomom had issues getting pregnant with all of her children, they were all conceived via IVF.
I agree that there needs to be better guidelines in place as to what can be done, how many eggs can be put back in etc. However this is a very touch topic, no one has a right to tell me what procedures I can and can not do, no one has a right to tell anyone that, at least not in the states.
Like you I am infertile. I was lucky enough to get pregnant with IUI, artificial insimination, and yes I had High order multiples, triplets, they were early and spent a month in the hospital.
I think that if laws would be past so that insurance is required to pay for treatments we would have better control over what is going on. Insurance companies after all would look out for their best interest and not allow six, seven and eight to be put back in.
But even if you only put three in you are risking sextuplets, you have a higher risk of eggs splitting when you are on that many medications
I had my treatments done in a state that requires insurance pay for treatments. As a result you can not do treatments unless you have been proven to be infertile, if you make it to IVF you can not put back more than two at a time, any doctor found not following the guidelines are dropped by the insurance companies as approved doctors to go to. In addition the doctors are required by law to have their previous six months stats posted in the main waiting room. How many singleton pregnancies, how may twins, and how many failures, (anything over a twin is a failure)
I became pregnant in September,. I was my doctors first set of triplets that year. She did good work.
Okay I am going to step off my soap box now
@velveteenbunny0 (13)
• United States
20 Aug 09
What the process of taking clomid? Is it a one time or long dreadful process?
@polo_princess (803)
•
20 Aug 09
Doctors usual precribe it over a 6 month period, sometimes up to 12 depending on the patient. Its not a terribly long and drawn out process but its not very nice.
@bmuchler (441)
• United States
20 Aug 09
Clomid is prescribed for you to take on certain day throughout your cycle. Yoy take it for five days. It has some side effects though. I would get aweful hot flashes and sweating issues. My Dr would up the dose after three months if I wasn't pregnant. Which made the side effects worse.
I did not have any side effects when my Dr gave me Metformin and Femara.
@polo_princess (803)
•
20 Aug 09
I think the lady with 12 babies you were initally referring to has been found out to be a fake and isnt even pregnant.
With regards to multiples i know that most places in the UK will only implant a maximum of three embryo's at any one time. I think this is the ideal really as like you say multiples are high risk anyway, and obviously the more that you have the higher the risk.
