Rachel's Infertility Blog

Today, Sunday May 4th, is National Infertility Survival Day. What does that mean? Well, it’s a day to celebrate!

I hear you over there. You’re saying, “Um, celebrate what?”

Well, our strength. Our perseverance. All the efforts we’ve put towards getting a child of our own. To learn more about National Infertility Survival Day -- what it is, why it is, and how to celebrate -- read my new article:

• National Infertility Survival Day: A Day for Self-Care and Celebration

Will you be doing something for National Infertility Survival Day? I'd love to hear it! Please share with us your plans in the comments section below, or in our forums. Maybe your ideas will inspire someone else.

PS. Reading this after National Infertility Survival Day is over? For next year, you’ll know it’s the first Sunday of the month of May. But for this year, why not pick any day this week to celebrate? This is your day – celebrate it when you want.

Ok, I admit, it sounds a little icky. But by checking your cervical mucus, you may be able to predict when you’re about to ovulate.

To get pregnant, you want to time sex for the days leading up to the day of ovulation. Your cervical mucus changes as ovulation approaches. By checking your cervical mucus, you may be able to predict ovulation and make time for some baby-making sex.

Checking your cervical mucus is easier than many other methods of predicting ovulation, and costs nothing (unlike ovulation predictor kits (OPKs), which over time can really eat away at your budget.)

In How to Check Your Cervical Mucus to Predict Ovulation, learn how to check your cervical mucus, what to look for, and what to do if you don’t find much mucus to check. Also, discover some special situations when checking your cervical mucus may not be as helpful.

Have you ever tried tracking your cervical mucus? I’d love to hear from you about your experience, plus any tips or insights. Don’t be shy! Please post in our comment section below, or come visit our forums to share your thoughts with me and others.

P.S. Still grimacing at the thought? Learning to read your body’s signals can really be an empowering way to cope with infertility. We may not be able to force our bodies to get and stay pregnant, but by learning more about our bodies, and the signals our bodies send, we can gain some sense of control over an out-of-our-control situation.

You may have heard or read about it in The Wall Street Journal – Canada is considering a ban against food product containers containing the chemical bisphenol A, also known as BPA. The ban has also put pressure on Wal-Mart chains, leading them to eliminate the baby bottles with this chemical from their shelves within the next year.

Bisphenol A is used in some plastics, and can be found in common household items, including some can linings, water bottles, and baby bottles. The chemical does get into the food and drink of products packaged in these plastics, but the amount is extremely tiny.

I agree that this chemical, and others like it, should be eliminated as much as possible from our food and water packages. What I don't agree with is the hype being put out there in the media, linking the use of bisphenol A with a number of health problems, including infertility and miscarriage.

An article in the British Telegraph newspaper, Infertility: Handle With Care, implies that these chemicals are the cause of a number of health problems, including infertility. While the article itself makes clear that the scientists are "suspicious" but can't prove its effect, the chart at the end of the article makes it seem like there's no doubt these chemicals are to blame.

So far, studies of the bisphenol A have been linked to a number of heath problems, including infertility and miscarriage, in mice... mice -- not people. Plus, the mice were given a steady diet, so to speak, of the chemical. Our intake of these chemicals is far below what the mice were purposely fed, in large quantities.

Do I think these chemicals should be removed from our food and water containers? Yes, absolutely. Is there reason to panic? I don't think so.

But the big question for infertility suffers -- will avoiding these chemicals, once infertility is diagnosed, make much difference? I doubt it. But who can say?

If you want to avoid these chemicals in your plastic water bottles, look for and avoid the number 7, usually found within the recycle symbol. The "number 7" plastics contain BPA.

What do you think? Do you think the hype is, well, hype, or legitimate concern? Do you plan on avoiding products with BPA? Share your thoughts, either in the comments section below, or on our forums.

Photo © User Clix from Stock.xchng

The Health Minute column at CNN.com published an article of interest recently, titled "Delaying Pregnancy Can Carry Consequences." I have a few issues with the article, one technical, one nit-picky, and one philosophical.

My technical beef with the article is regarding Dr. Michael Randell's advice on ovulation. Dr. Randell is quoted as saying he’s shocked that many couples don’t know that, and I quote, "The optimal time of the month for ovulation is 14 days after the first day of your last menstrual period."

Well, Dr. Randell, I’m shocked that you’d advise women that day 14 is the best day, since many women do not ovulate on day 14. It's one of those fertility misnomers, one that can prevent people from timing intercourse right. The day 14 for ovulation is based on the textbook menstrual cycle, with a 28 day cycle, and a 14 day luteal phase (time between ovulation and menstruation).

However, I have met few women with textbook cycles, even "fertile" women. Many women ovulate later, and sometimes earlier, than day 14. Taking a personal example, if I hedged my bets on ovulation occurring on day 14, timing intercourse for every other day for the five days prior, I may never get pregnant, since I almost always ovulate after day 20.

My nit-picky beef with the article is the implication that infertility applies mainly to the over 35 camp. While women are more likely to have trouble conceiving after age 35, there are plenty of women with infertility under age 35. All this emphasis in the news on age seems to have created an unspoken belief that young women don’t suffer from infertility. That’s simply not true.

And my philosophical problem with the article is that it seems like a "warning" to women. I picture a giant, wagging its finger in disapproval, saying, "Beware waiting until you’re ready, for once that time comes, it may be too late."

Well, yes, women should know that as they age, their risk for infertility goes up. But implying that this risk should persuade women to have children before they are ready just doesn't make sense.

What do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts, either in the comment section below, or on this thread in our infertility forums.

Photo © User Wilhei66 from Stock.xchng

Everyone copes with the stress of infertility in different ways, and one of my main ways of coping is through music. I’m always looking for songs that express my feelings. Some think listening to music on a topic that’s painful is self-defeating, but I disagree. I find it cathartic.

A few weeks ago, I posted in the blog about a song I find inspirational, Kelly Coffie’s “I Would Die for That”. In the comments, reader MadCityKaren shared a song that she finds inspirational, "No Less Than a Woman”, by Jamaican reggae singer Lady Saw.

This is a great song. I love that she sings about the shame of infertility, an emotion that is often misunderstood by those not personally affected by infertility. Feeling “less than a woman”, or less manly, when struck by infertility is a feeling many coping with infertility experience.

A big thank you to MadCityKaren for sharing this song with us.

What do you think about the song? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please share with us either here in the comments, or in our infertility support forums.

Part of dealing with infertility is dealing with the questions that people invariably ask – like, “When are you going to have kids?” (Or when are you going to have more kids?)

I live in a community where having five kids is an “average to small sized” family. When my younger son got to the age when people started to assume we should have another one (and we were trying, but you know how that goes), people would ask me things like, “So, are these all your kids? Leave the baby at home?”

My favorite uncomfortable situation was when I was visiting a family that my husband and I were close to. They had not seen us in a long time. I walked in with my two boys, and the woman asked, completely innocently, “So, are these all your boys?”

“Yes,” I said.

“The girls are at home?”

“Nope, don’t have any girls.”

“Ah. The younger boys are at home?”

“Nope.”

“Older boys at home?”

“Nope. These two are it.”

Oh, that conversation felt like it lasted forever. It helps that I know she meant no harm by her questions, but inside, I was hurting.

How do you deal with sticky questions? Have any stories to share? Please share with us any stories or tips in our infertility forums, or here in the comments.

Also, be sure to check out my article, with advice on how to answer people when they ask, “When are you going to have kids?”

As you already know, women are encouraged to take folic acid supplements while trying to get pregnant, primarily to protect against birth defects. But should men also take folic acid? A new study shows a possible link between folate-rich diets and healthier sperm in men.

In this study, they looked at healthy men, who were not dealing with infertility or reproductive problems. Through questionnaires, they looked at the men’s diets, including vitamin taking habits. About a week after the men completed the questionnaires, the researchers took sperm samples.

In the study, men with diets including the highest intake of folate tended to have lower rates of sperm with abnormal chromosomes -- 19% lower than men with moderate folate intake and 20% lower compared to men with a low folate diet.

But does this mean that folic acid, or a folate-rich diet, will lead to fewer birth defects, or improved fertility, for men? Researchers say not necessarily. The researchers did not show a cause-and-effect relationship, but only a link.

Does your partner take a daily vitamin? Does he eat folate-rich foods, like citrus fruits, green leafy veggies, and whole grains? Will this new study make any difference in your eating habits? Share your thoughts here in the comments, or in our forums.

Conceive Magazine has published its Top 50 Companies list for 2008. They ranked companies based on fertility treatment coverage and adoption benefits. The top ranked company on their list was Abbott Laboratories (a pharmaceutical and medical product manufacture), who according to their report offers a $35,000 lifetime cap on fertility treatment, plus an additional $15,000 for fertility drugs.

Looking through the list, it’s difficult not to feel a little jealous of the employees of these top companies. I don’t know if anyone would get a job just for the fertility benefits (or maybe you would?), but it’s definitely eye-opening to see what’s out there.

How does your employer stack up? Do you get amazing benefits with your company, or were you shocked to see what kind of help these top 50 companies offer? Share your thoughts in the forums, or here in the comments.

You’ve probably heard this before – acupuncture may improve the chances of pregnancy when used with IVF treatment. There have been many studies done in the past, with contradictory results. Some studies said acupuncture did make a difference, while others didn’t show any increased success rate.

But a new study sought to look at several studies together. (This is called a meta-analysis.) The pooled results looked at seven smaller studies, and combined their data.

In studies like these however, drawing a conclusion is tricky. Some media outlets reported in the headlines that use of acupuncture was shown to improve the chances of pregnancy by 65%. That sounds amazing, but it’s really not an accurate way of explaining the research.

What the study actually said was that for every ten women treated with acupuncture and IVF, one additional pregnancy may be achieved.

Given the cost of IVF, adding in some acupuncture treatments might not be a bad idea. The studies have piqued my curiosity, though I’m not sure if I could personally handle the idea of having tiny needles inserted into my body voluntarily. Call me squeamish.

Have you tried acupuncture? What was it like? I’m curious to hear about your experiences with this alternative medicine treatment, and I’m sure others are interested, too. Please share with us your experience in the comment area here, or leave a post in the forums.

Infertility costs add up quickly. Especially if you need IVF treatments, the costs can get ridiculously high fast. One IVF cycle costs anywhere between $8,000 up to $15,000, depending on how technical your treatment is.

Considering that some couples may need up to three IVF cycles to get pregnant, plus the unfortunate fact that even high-tech IVF is no guarantee -- it’s enough to make your head spin.

Just how can you afford infertility costs like these? In my article, I share five tips on affording the high costs of fertility treatments.

Plus, here are more articles on infertility treatments, which you may be interested in reading:

• Basics on the Treatment of Infertility
• What is IUI?
• What is Clomid?