Fertility Road Issue 03

EUROPE'S NO.1 FERTILITY MAGAZINE
ISSUE 03 | NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010 £3.95/€4.95
YOUR PATH TO PARENTHOOD
WWW.FERTILITYROAD.COM
FERTILITY ON ICE
Social egg freezing
- exclusive report
ZITA
WEST
EXCLUSIVE
READER
Q&A
IT'S MY LIFE
Pregnancy,
prying eyes and
snooping glances
Think
Twice
Celine Dion's IVF twin elation
ISSUE 03
WWW.FERTILITYROAD.COM
TONI WESCHLER FERTILITY ON THE WEB CHINESE MEDICINE

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FERTILITY ROAD
CONTENTS
In this issue...
42
18
30
24
13 THINK TWICE
The story of Celine Dion's IVF success
18 IT'S MY LIFE
Pregnancy, prying eyes and snooping glances
24 UNCHARTED TERRITORY
Celebrated author and renowned expert Toni Weschler
speaks exclusively about the changing face of fertility
30 FERTILITY ON ICE
Social egg freezing – the legal, emotional and
sociological boundaries explored
34 MAN ALIVE
The growing voice of male same-sex couples
looking to fulfil their family ambitions
42 WORLDWIDE WEB OF FERTILITY
How the internet has altered our emotional
understanding of pregnancy and fertility
54 EXPERT WITNESS: ZITA WEST
The UK's leading fertility expert answers your
questions in her regular Fertility Road Q&A
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
FERTILITY ROAD GUIDES:
Law, Finance, Reflexology
SCIENCE:
Sperm DNA Fragmentation – latest research
EXTRAS:
Fertility Finds, Books, Letter From The Heart
www.fertilityroad.com
03

The Zita West
Clinic
The The Zita West Clinic is is the the
UK’s largest integrated
clinic for for reproductive
health, combining
the the latest medical
thinking with expert
complementary treatments.
Each year, our our specialist team of of doctors,
midwives, nutritional therapists and and
complementary practitioners help help hundreds
of of couples to to get get pregnant, both both naturally and and
through assisted means - - most of of whom have tried
previously for for months and and years without success.
We We also also help help many more, who who are are going through IVF, IVF, to to
improve their chances of of success through expert preparation
and and support.
Fertility, conception, pregnancy and and birth are are whole-body
events and and an an integrated approach to to preparing for for them can, can,
we we believe, pay pay dividends, helping to to improve not not just just your your
fertility, but but your your pregnancy and and the the long long term health and and
potential of of your your baby too. too.
How we can help:
• • Just Just decided to to try? try?
Boost your your fertility and and improve your your pregnancy
• • Want to to know how how fertile you you are? are?
Take Take our our tailor-made fertility MOT MOT
• • Finding it it difficult to to get get pregnant?
Identify and and help help resolve your your problem
• • Planning on on having IVF? IVF?
Help Help increase your your chances of of success
• • If If IVF IVF fails fails
Help Help with with next next steps. How How to to move on on
• • Suffering from recurrent miscarriage?
Help Help to to find find a way a way through
Services we we offer:
• • Gynaecology • • Nutrition • • Counselling
• • Midwifery • • Acupuncture • • Massage
• • Embryology • • Hypnotherapy • • Fitness
Zita Zita West Clinics Ltd Ltd
37 37 Manchester Street, London W1U W1U 7LJ 7LJ
Tel Tel 0207 0207 224 224 0017 0017 Fax Fax 0207 0207 224 224 0062
www.zitawest.com
TO TO MAKE AN AN APPOINTMENT: 020 7224 0017
Top foods to eat to
boost your fertility!
A healthy weight and well-balanced diet for both
men and women before you conceive will boost
your fertility, ensure you are at the best of your
health during pregnancy and make sure that you
have the energy you will need when your baby
finally arrives.
Laura McLoughlin,
Tesco Diets Nutritionist
What’s important?
Folate
Why? Helps prevent neural tube defects in your developing
baby. Foods: A 400mcg daily folic acid supplement, leafy
green veg, beans and citrus fruits.
Iron
Why? Boots your iron stores to prepare for increased iron
needs during pregnancy. Foods: Red meat, pulses, dried
fruits and leafy green vegetables.
Vitamin C
Why? Improves iron absorption in your stomach and boosts
immunity. Foods: Citrus fruits, kiwi fruits, berries, peppers
and leafy green vegetables.
Calcium
Why? Essential for your baby’s development and helps to
protects mother’s bones. Foods: Dairy, leafy green veg, dried
fruit, sesame seeds, beans and chickpeas.
Alcohol
Cutting it out will boost fertility, remove any alcohol related
risks when you do get pregnant and limit your intake of
“empty” calories for a healthy weight.
Special Offer for Fertility Readers! 2 weeks
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If you are looking to follow a healthy, balanced diet, we offer 16
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you every step of the way. To find out more and get 2 weeks
extra free go to www.tescodiets.com/fertility today.
*10 weeks for the price of 8 at a cost of £2.99 per week. To avail of this offer you must go
through www.tescodiets.com/fertility
A
2
D
w

ISSUE 03 | NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010 £3.95/€4.95
ISSUE 03
WWW.FERTILITYROAD.COM
FERTILITY ROAD
CONTRIBUTORS
Introducing the Fertility Road panel of journalists and experts…
EUROPE'S NO.1 FERTILITY MAGAZINE
YOUR PATH TO PARENTHOOD
ZITA
WEST
EXCLUSIVE
READER
Q&A
Think
Twice
Celine Dion's IVF twin elation
WWW.FERTILITYROAD.COM
FERTILITY ON ICE
Social egg freezing
- exclusive report
IT'S MY LIFE
Pregnancy,
prying eyes and
snooping glances
Welcome to the new issue of Fertility Road, Europe's number one
fertility magazine. It's about that time again when we begin to think
of what we want the year ahead to provide, and for many of us the
gift of bringing a new face into the world is undoubtedly the greatest
of them all. For some, the journey is straightforward; for others,
drawn out, plus physically and emotionally taxing. But at whatever
point you are at, there is advice, assistance, knowledge and, more
than that, genuine empathy... in the pages of this magazine and
across thousands of other sources. The subject of fertility pools
compassion and belief like nothing else, and we hope the coming
months bring for you happiness, contentment and optimism.
In the meantime, enjoy the magazine... James Evans, Managing Editor
TONI WESCHLER FERTILITY ON THE WEB CHINESE MEDICINE
ISSUE 03 - NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010
Group Publishers:
Jeff Crockett, Giorgio Severi
Business Advisor:
Alessandro Severi
Managing Editor:
James Evans
Contributors:
Kelly Rose Bradford, Hazel Davis,
Carrie Dunn, Olivia Gordon, Andy Greeves,
Siobhan O’Neill, Johanna Payton, Zita West
Art Editor:
Damian Browning
Interim Sales Manager:
Ms. J Watson
European Sales:
Susan Calatayud, Pier Minole
Public Relations:
Edith Collins
Legal Advisor:
W Burson & Co.
Client Liason Officer:
Debbie Hanson
Printed by:
ACORN printing
Advertising Enquiries:
sales@fertilityroad.com
Contact details:
Fertility Road Magazine
Suite 318, Building 50,
Argyll Road, London SE18 6PP
Tel: 020 8316 8923
Email: info@fertilityroad.com
www.fertility-road.com
Follow us on Twitter
www.twitter.com/fertilityroad
OUR WRITERS...
OUR EXPERT...
Zita West is a renowned expert in her field, having successfully assisted
thousands of couples through the trials and challenges of conception.
Zita writes exclusively for Fertility Road, answering an array of reader
questions and concerns, imparting the kind of knowledge that sees her
regarded as the UK’s leading light in pregnancy and fertility.
Hazel Davis lives with her partner and two dogs in West Yorkshire. She writes
on a variety of topics for The Guardian, The Independent, Daily Mail, Financial
Times, Practical Parenting, Early Years and the music press. She has a particular
interest in lesbian and gay parenting and fertility issues and sings in a choir.
Andy Greeves is based in Dorset and works as Marketing & PR Officer for
the Bournemouth-based Anglo-European College of Chiropractic. His interest
in fertility issues stems from his mother Janet, who is alternative medicine
practitioner, so Andy has heard many happy pregnancy stories as a result!
Siobhan O’Neill is a mum to five-year-old Una and 11-month Aoife. As a writer
she specialises in features about parenting, health and nutrition. As a mum she
specialises in cuddles, snotty noses and messy dinner times. She has written on
the rollercoaster that is parenthood and pre-parenthood for a variety of titles.
Johanna Payton is a journalist, author and broadcaster who has been writing
about fertility, pregnancy and parenting since her son, Eliott, was born six years
ago. Her features have been published everywhere from Grazia to Maternity &
Infant magazines. She has conducted interviews whilst changing nappies!
Kelly Rose Bradford is a writer for the Daily Mail and Daily Express, and a
specialist in parenting and family matters. A huge fan of babies, home-birthing
and cloth nappies, she does not however weave lentils or hug trees. Kelly is
mum to seven-year-old William.
Carrie Dunn is a freelance journalist who has written for publications including
The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, Cosmopolitan and Pregnancy Baby
and You. When she’s not writing, she will be found at the theatre, at the
cricket, or playing World of Warcraft!
Olivia Gordon is a freelance journalist writing regularly on issues that affect
women. A fertility charting obsessive and self-confessed POAS-aholic who is
in awe of the amazing facts of life, she and her husband (and their two cats)
are currently expecting their first baby.
www.fertilityroad.com
05

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about
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amino acids to help maintain
male reproductive health.

FERTILITY ROAD
NEWS
The latest developments from the fertility world
£5.5m FERTILITY CENTRE
OPENS IN LIVERPOOL
The biggest fertility centre in the UK has
unveiled a new, state-of-the-art extension.
The Hewitt Centre for Reproductive Medicine at Liverpool Women’s
Hospital opened the new £5.5million unit in October, which includes
a laboratory, sperm bank, egg freezing equipment and dedicated
recovery services. The new facility is good news for both NHS and
private patients, both of whom are able to use its facilities.
The family of the centre’s founder – pioneering fertility doctor
Jon Hewitt – were present at the launch of the new extension. Hewitt
established the specialist clinic in 1989 but sadly died of lung cancer
aged 47 in 2002. Jon’s wife Jenny said she was delighted that the
new extension would “allow his good work changing lives to continue.”
Jon had previously worked at the UK’s first ever fertility clinic – Bourn Hall in Cambridgeshire. It was on moving to Liverpool in
1985 to work as a consultant at the Royal Liverpool Hospital that Hewitt realised there was the need for designated fertility clinics
to be set up across the UK and went about creating the first in the North West of England. The pioneering Hewitt Centre has
come a long way since its formation. Back in 1989, a team of three doctors carried out 100 cycles of IVF every year at the Royal
Liverpool Hospital. Now over 2,000 treatments are performed and the Hewitt Centre employs over 75 members of staff.
The new extension cements the Hewitt Centre’s status as the busiest provider of NHS fertility services in the country, and speaking at
its launch, Director of Clinic Charles Kingsland commented: “I am delighted with the outcome and the work done over the last three
years to deliver such a magnificent facility. It is such a relaxed, comfortable atmosphere, and that is what we wanted to create.”
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA)
has produced a guide for men, focused on addressing a
dramatic fall in male fertility over recent years.
COOL
IT
BOYS!
It reveals that as many as one in five healthy young men aged between 18 and
25 in the UK have an abnormal sperm count and in ‘primary infertility’, namely
failure to achieve pregnancy after at least a year of unprotected sex. It also
details how 40% of infertility cases result through problems with the man.
Scientists agree that the testes should be a couple of degrees cooler than
the rest of the body to help boost sperm production. Simple recommendations
outlined in the guide include avoiding excessively hot showers, and saunas,
whilst avoiding tight fitting underwear that may risk damaging sperm.
HFEA also say that men should drink no more than the national alcohol
recommended limit – 21 units a week – to avoid compromising their reproductive
health. It is clinically proven that excessive alcohol consumption (and
the use of illicit drugs) damages sperm production.
The causes of male fertility problems are vast and include obstructive
problems (blockage in sperm-carrying tubes), testicular injury and disease,
varicocele, medical disorders which reduce fertility, not to mention environmental
toxins/radiation and genetic disorders. Research has even shown
that too many hours of cycling can have a detrimental effect on sperm levels
– so men may want to consider ‘saddling up’ less often!
At a recent European fertility conference, Professor Niels Skakkebaek of
the University of Copenhagen, likened declining levels of male fertility to the
rise of global warming in terms of its threat to the future global population.
www.fertilityroad.com
07

FERTILITY ROAD
NEWS
The latest developments from the fertility world
IVF
VERSE
SOME
INSPIRATIONAL
QUOTES...
“OBESITY DOUBLES
RISK OF MISCARRIAGE”
A recent study has found that women who are overweight or obese are more
likely to experience a miscarriage following IVF treatment than those with a
healthy BMI (Body Mass Index).
The medical records of 318 women who had been patients at the assisted
conception unit of Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London between January
2006 and December 2009 were examined. The women were divided into two
groups – those who have a healthy BMI of between 18.5 and 24.9, and those who
were 25 and above.
The report, delivered at a recent European fertility conference, stated that there
was a miscarriage rate of 22% among women with a healthy BMI compared with
a 33% miscarriage rate for overweight women. The findings echo the results of
research carried out at London’s St Mary’s Hospital two years ago. The general
risk of miscarriage was found to be raised by a staggering 73% in women with a
BMI of 30 or above in the St Mary’s study.
Obesity has long been proven to cause or exacerbate health conditions including
heart disease, hypertension and diabetes. Strong evidence also exists that women
who are overweight or obese are far more likely to experience fertility problems.
Obesity results in the increased production of oestrogen, and this hormonal
imbalance in turn interferes with ovulation, which is the basis of successful conception.
Women who are overweight are also less likely to respond to fertility treatment
because excess weight can prevent proper absorption of drugs used in IVF.
One of the world’s leading medical journals, The Lancet, reported in 2007 that
the number of couples seeking IVF treatment could double in the next decade if
obesity levels in the Western World continue to rise. The report pointed to the
rise of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which affects one in 15 women
worldwide and occurs commonly in overweight women, as being ‘the tip of the
iceberg’ in terms of future infertility problems.
Adult obesity rates have nearly quadrupled in the UK over the past 25 years
and two-thirds of adults are now overweight, of which nearly a quarter are ‘obese’.
“There will always be a
next step, you just have
to be willing to take it!”
– Danni Hutt
“When you feel like giving up,
remember why you held on
for so long in the first place.”
– Unknown
“IVF makes you take a deep
breath and say: ‘Let’s get
through the next couple of
weeks, let’s hope it all sticks.’”
– Jo Joyner
“If one dream should fall
and break into a thousand
pieces, never be afraid to
pick one of those pieces
up and begin again.”
– Flavia Weedn
“Forget about all the reasons
why something may not
work. You only need to find
one good reason why it will.”
– Dr. Robert Anthony
“Staying calm through IVF
is the most important thing.”
– Nancy Sorrell
“Hope sees the invisible,
feels the intangible and
achieves the impossible.”
– Unknown
“We’d use IVF. It’s not
a big deal any more.
Children are such a joy.”
– John Travolta
08 fertility road | november - december

FERTILITY ROAD
NEWS
The latest developments from the fertility world
TOP HONOUR
FOR IVF PIONEER
Professor Robert Edwards has been awarded the
2010 Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking work in
the field of reproductive medicine.
Professor Edwards has been at the forefront of developments
into overcoming infertility for over six decades
and played a key role in the realisation of IVF treatment.
It was Edwards and the late Patrick Steptoe, a gynaecologic
surgeon, who created IVF technology in which egg cells are
fertilised outside the body and then implanted in the womb. The
efforts of Edwards and Steptoe famously led to the birth of the world’s
first ‘test tube’ baby – Louise Brown (pictured with Edwards) in 1978.
Professor Edwards, who is a Cambridge-based physiologist, once
said that “the most important thing in life is having a child” and
that “nothing is more special that a child.” Since the birth of
Brown, over three million babies have come into the world as
a result of IVF and other assisted reproductive techniques.
Edward’s Nobel citation says his work into infertility has made
it possible to treat a medical condition which affects more than
10% of couples worldwide. The Nobel committee added that IVF
is a safe and effective therapy which sees 20-30% of fertilised eggs
through the technique resulting in the birth of a child. Long-term
studies have also shown that IVF children are as healthy as
children born through natural conception.
Robert Edwards was born in Manchester in 1925 and served
his country during the Second World War. He later went on to
study biology at the University of Wales, Bangor, and Edinburgh
University. Edwards obtained a PhD in
1955, producing a thesis on embryonal
development in mice before becoming a
staff scientist at the National Institute for
Medical Research in London in 1958. It
was here that he began his research into
the human fertility process.
From 1963, Edwards worked as a
lecturer and researcher at Cambridge
University, where he is currently professor
emeritus. It was also in the early 1960s
that he and Patrick Steptoe founded
Bourn Hall Clinic – the world’s very first
dedicated fertility clinic. He served as
the clinic’s Research Director for much of
his professional career. In later life,
Edwards also edited several leading
scientific journals in the area of fertility.
Mike McNamee, Chief Executive at
Bourn Hall, Cambridge, paid tribute to
Edwards on the award of the prestigious
Nobel Prize, commenting:
“Bob Edwards is one of our greatest
scientists. His inspirational work in the
early 1960s led to a breakthrough that
has enhanced the lives of millions of
people worldwide.
‘”He is held in great affection by
everyone who has worked with him and
was treated by him. I am really pleased
that my great mentor, colleague and
friend has been recognised in this way.”
McNamee’s views were shared by Martin Johnson, Professor of
Reproductive Sciences at the University of Cambridge, who told
The Daily Telegraph:
“I am absolutely delighted. This is long overdue. Bob’s work
has always been controversial but he has never shrunk from
confronting that controversy.
“He was a real visionary, and always ahead of his time on
so many issues – not just IVF – also on pre-implantation genetic
diagnosis in the 1960s, stem cells in the 1970s, and the whole
process of thinking ethically.
“He is also an amazing human being – warm and generous. He
was shocked when the MRC accused him of behaving unethically
because everything he has done was based on a very clear set of
humanist and ethical principles. It has taken 20 or 30 years for
some people to catch up with him.”
Louise Brown, who owes her very existence to Edwards, released
a statement which read:
“It’s fantastic news. Myself and my mother are so glad that one
of the pioneers of IVF has been given the recognition he deserves.
We hold Bob in great affection and are delighted to send our
personal congratulations to him and his family.”
Over 1,000 IVF babies have been born at Bourn Hall since Louise.
10 fertility road | november - december

FERTILITY ROAD
NEWS
POLLUTION
THREAT TO
FERTILITY
Bourn Hall
Clinic
first choice
for IVF
Often described as a sanctuary for people with
difficulties conceiving, Bourn Hall Clinic made history
by being the first in the world to offer IVF. In the last
30 years more than 10,000 babies have been born as
a result of our pioneering fertility treatment.
Research in the USA has found a link between air
pollutants and IVF failures.
The case results of over 7,000 women who underwent
IVF in various hospitals across the States between
2000 and 2007 were recently analysed and published in the journal
Human Reproduction. The findings were that women exposed to
greater air pollution had a lower chance of IVF success.
High levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), produced mainly by
vehicle exhaust fumes, were constantly linked to lower odds of
IVF success. Where NO2 levels were higher than average, either
at the patients’ house or IVF clinic, chances of having a baby
dipped. Of the whole study group, 36% of the women had a baby
following their first round of IVF treatment. Of those women,
only 20% from the group where high NO2 levels were found had
a successful course of IVF.
Dr Duanping Liao, a Professor of Epidemiology at Penn State
College of Medicine, Pennsylvania, and who pioneered the study,
commented:
“Numerous studies have consistently shown a relationship
between air pollution and human health, ranging from mortality,
cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions.
“In the process of searching for the mechanisms responsible for
the above associations, we, and others, have reported significant
links between air pollution and inflammation and increased
blood clotting... These intermediate factors are also associated
with reproductive health.”
Despite the findings, Dr Liao stressed that women who are
pregnant or planning on becoming pregnant either naturally
or through IVF “shouldn’t panic”. While the study points to an
association between air pollution and IVF outcomes, it does not
prove cause and effect. Liao also reported the effects of air
pollution on IVF failures to be “subtle”.
Individual Treatment
Today we offer bespoke fertility treatment to both NHS and
private patients. Our success rates and individual care are second
to none and we have a reputation for treating particularly difficult
fertility issues, achieving excellent results against the odds. At
Bourn Hall every patient’s journey is unique and you can be
confident we will put you first at every step.
Egg and Sperm Donation and Sharing
We’re one of the few clinics with our own banks of donated
sperm and embryos and we encourage healthy men and
women to consider altruistic sperm and egg donation for which
we reimburse expenses. We also run highly successful egg
sharing and sperm sharing programmes where eligible patients
can have a free cycle of IVF treatment in return for their
participation.
We have two dedicated fertility clinics in Bourn,
only 20 minutes from Cambridge, and in
Colchester in Essex.
www.bourn-hall-clinic.co.uk

FERTILITY ROAD
NEWS
The latest developments from the fertility world
PCOS POLL REVEALED
A poll on specialist PCOS website Verity has provided some interesting
findings into what women really fear about the disorder. PCOS (short for
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) is one of the most common female endocrine
disorders affecting approximately 5-10% of women of reproductive age,
and is thought to be one of the leading causes of female infertility.
And whilst it would be assumed that the greatest worry resulting out
of PCOS would be an inability to conceive, the poll threw up some startling
results, with only 58% of women listing that as their first concern.
For a further 30%, the worries were of a more cosmetic nature, with
11% concerned about facial hair growth and 19% worried about permanent
weight gain. A further 5% listed their hair falling out as the leading fear.
PCOS is treatable, but cannot be cured. It affects women in the
UK and worldwide, and if not properly managed can lead to health
problems in later life.
For more information on the poll and PCOS in general, head to
www.verity-pcos.org.uk
THE
FERTILITY
SHOW
Remember to catch The Fertility
Show at London Olympia on
November 5 and 6. Backed
by Infertility Network UK, the
show provides a dedicated and
discrete environment in which
to learn about fertility, explore
your options with experienced
and sympathetic professionals,
as well as finding out how to
give yourself the best chance
of conceiving.
For more information, head to
www.thefertilityshow.co.uk
SOUTH AFRICA’S
DONATION BOOM
Egg donation is truly a global phenomena,
with the realisation of this rarely seen better
than in South Africa.
A country whose society has so frequently struggled with the
less savoury elements of human interaction has reinvented
itself as a dedicated and devoted base for those looking to
conceive with the help of others.
The speed of the country’s ascent into the top rankings of
global egg donators has been incredible, and in a year when
South Africa has been heralded for their hosting of the world’s
largest football tournament, it’s clear that in the agencies and
clinics there is a similar legacy of success being created.
Jenny Currie, founder of the baby2mom Egg Donation
Agency, believes South Africa’s interest is in line with the new
values of community that the country stands for in 2010.
“Benefits of pursuing egg donation services in South Africa
are many and include the top quality affordable fertility
treatments in South Africa. The absence of any egg donor
registry and legislative restrictions empowers recipients with
the decision of whether to disclose the egg donation aspect
of conception. That anonymity aspect ensures that the rights
and responsibilities of egg donors end with the egg retrieval.
“In addition, the scenic beauty encourages a relaxed
atmosphere and opportunity to explore and enjoy whilst
having egg donor fertility treatment. And because of the
advantageous exchange rate for foreigners to South Africa,
egg donation offers a highly affordable effective option to
conception through anonymous egg donation.”
Jenny, who founded baby2mom in 2007 in response to
a community of growing infertility-requiring third parties to
aid conception, is personally involved in every egg donation
program. She believes that egg donation is a fundamentally
personal initiation, and that the decision to accept a specific
egg donor profile is a hugely intimate one.
“We offer immediate access to an extensive live online
egg donor database, the largest in South Africa. It has enabled
us to gather vast experience in the facilitation of hundreds
of egg donation treatments, with an unbiased assistance that
is never held back by waiting lists or non-availability of donors,
no matter what race groups are requested.
“It is important for service to be
at the forefront, so we also offer
immediate response to queries, and
assist with travel arrangements
and excursions. We feel it is this
and more that is guiding people
to South Africa.”
For more information, head to
www.baby2mom.co.za
12 fertility road | november - december

FERTILITY ROAD
CELEB NEWS
Fertility news amongst the flashbulbs
THINK
TWICE
After many gruelling rounds of IVF, singer Celine
Dion has given birth to twins, and declared
herself “thrilled” at adding to her family.
The two boys, Nelson and
Eddy, were born prematurely
by Caesarean section in Florida
on October 23.
The singer, 42, already had a nine-yearold
son, Rene-Charles, with husband and
manager Rene Angelil, but the couple
have been trying to add to their family
for many years.
She had been admitted to hospital earlier
in the week so that the pregnancy could be
monitored more closely by her doctors.
Her husband was there during the birth,
and told reporters shortly after announcing
the news: “I cut the cord, it was instant
love. I would do anything for them. I love
them so much.”
Celine has recently had six rounds of IVF,
having frozen embryos inserted into her
womb and miscarrying three times before
this successful pregnancy, but the couple
began IVF in 1999 to conceive their first
child after Angelil’s treatment for throat
cancer. Doctors say they were “extremely
lucky” to become pregnant with Rene
Charles on their first IVF try 10 years ago,
leading Dion to refer to her eldest son as
“our miracle baby”.
Celine has previously spoken openly about
her experience of the procedures, and her
struggles to administer the necessary daily
hormone injections to her thighs - “I give
the shots (of fertility drugs) to myself. My
thighs are bruised and numb and full of
lumps from the long needles that go deep
into the muscle. I don’t want people saying,
‘Oh, poor Celine,’ but it does take a lot
out of me.”
The recurrent miscarriages have also
taken their toll, with the singer saying: “I
feel like I’ve been pregnant more than a
year. I never gave up. But I can tell you that
it was physically and mentally exhausting.”
She has also been very aware of the
potential risks to her as an older mother,
saying: “We believed in trying one more
time. If the doctor had told me that my
body was too tired, I would have given up.”
The couple have talked about their
worries waiting for news of whether a cycle
of IVF has worked, with Angelil saying:
“We go crazy waiting for the results. It’s like
waiting for the lotto, but it’s bigger than that
- imagine. It’s the biggest news you can get.”
As one of 13 children, Celine has always
wanted a big family, and has found the
successive disappointments tough to cope
with. She said: “Sometimes I just suddenly
burst into tears for no reason. Rene and I
want this so much and we go crazy waiting
for the results. As a girl who grew up with
13 siblings, I found it hard.”
Last August it was reported that Celine
was pregnant, but it was confirmed in
November 2009 that the pregnancy had
resulted in a miscarriage.
She later said that she had not wanted
to announce the miscarriage immediately,
explaining: “They said that I was pregnant,
and a couple of days after, we were not
pregnant again.
“We didn’t want to feel like we were
playing yo-yo – ‘I’m pregnant. I’m not pregnant.
I’m pregnant. I’m not pregnant.’ So
we didn’t want to do this thing. But we did
have a miscarriage.”
Since then, she has also talked about
receiving the news that the cycle had failed,
recalling: “Rene answered the phone and
when I saw the tears running down his
face, I knew it wasn’t the news we have
been longing for. You do everything right
and you’re careful and you rest and then...
the disappointment hits you like a wave.
But I swear, I’ll keep trying until it works.”
On announcing the news this time round,
Angelil declared: “We’re ecstatic. Celine is
just hoping for a healthy pregnancy. She
was hoping for one baby and the news that
we are having two is a double blessing.”
Unsurprisingly, the couple were concerned
about this pregnancy too, and looked
forward to the regular medical check-ups.
“My doctor had to constantly reassure me,”
Celine admitted. “Each week I had sonograms.
I heard their heartbeats.”
She relaxed as much as possible, reducing
her heavy concert workload. “I do almost
nothing,” she said. “If you tell me I have
to stay in bed, I will stay in bed until the babies
are born. To bring them into the world,
there’s nothing more important than that.”
Thankfully, she now has her wish...
www.fertilityroad.com
13

FERTILITY ROAD
CELEB NEWS
Fertility news amongst the flashbulbs
TURNING
TEARS INTO
DREAMS
COME TRUE
When your body refuses to
cooperate, and no matter
how many fertility treatments
or IVF attempts
you try you simply cannot fall pregnant, it
can be devastating. The realisation that you
will never bear children no matter how
desperately you want to is extremely hard to
come to terms with. Inevitably there will be a
period of grieving, a sense of loss, followed
by a gradual grudging acceptance.
But it’s important to remember that
being unable to carry a baby yourself does
not mean the end to your dreams of having a
family, because other options like adoption
or surrogacy can be just as rewarding.
Regular readers of Fertility Road will
remember our celebrity interview with
Sinitta in the last issue, when she recounted
the terrible ordeal she endured in a bid to
have her own children. And she described
how quickly and easily she bonded with
her adopted children and how much she
adores them. She said, “My path through
fertility didn’t end the way I expected it
to, but this will be the case for millions of
other people out there. We all go in with
hopes and dreams, and sometimes our
wishes aren’t granted. But I am proof
enough that there is another way if, at the
end of the long road, you haven’t reached
the destination you expected.”
Celebrity adoption has been much in
the headlines of late, thanks to stars like
Angelina and Madonna’s widely publicised
adoption of children from third world
countries. But, as admirable as that is, less
well known are the stories of celebrities
who adopted or chose surrogacy because
of their own fertility issues.
Hugh Jackman, the Australian star of
Wolverine and The X-Men, and his wife
Deborra-Lee Furness, adopted two children
when their plans for natural conception
didn’t turn out the way they’d hoped.
Hugh said they’d always planned to adopt
a child, but only after the two children they
expected Deborra-Lee would carry. In an
interview he said, “We still wanted to adopt.
That was our plan: we’ll have two and
we’ll adopt one. Anyway we didn’t have
children. We tried and that was tough. But
Jamie Lee Curtis
the moment Oscar arrived, it just felt like
he was always meant to come that way.
I forget he’s adopted; he’s just my son.”
Hugh and Deborra-Lee were present at
Oscar’s birth in 2000, having formed a
good relationship with his American birth
mother. “It was exhilarating. I remember
tears running out of my eyes in the
happiest possible fashion,” said Jackman.
The couple later adopted Ava in 2005,
also from America, mainly because Australian
adoption is so difficult. This was
after their own share of heartbreak over
failed IVF attempts and miscarriages.
Jackman said, “We’d been told by a
naturopath that you’ve got to make love
every day for a 10-day period. I never
thought I’d get to the point where I was
like, ‘Deb, can I have a break?’ It’s very hard
with IVF, there are a lot of emotions. We did
have a couple of miscarriages as well and
those are very tough. When we adopted, all
that seemed to melt away instantly.”
The pair now campaign for a change to
the Australian adoption laws to make it
easier for couples to undertake the process.
Jamie Lee Curtis and husband Christopher
Guest also chose to adopt following fertility
issues. Although she is private about her
life, Jamie Lee has spoken a few times
about it saying, “Adoption was the only
way for us to have a family. It becomes the
only viable option for you. If you want to
be a family, that’s how you’re going to be it.
I don’t think you feel like a family until the
child is born.”
Jamie Lee has been anxious to break
down some of the barriers and taboos that
sometimes accompany adoption. She and
Christopher opted for an open adoption
with each of their children – Annie and
Tom – and she has written a story book for
young children about adoption, called Tell
Me Again About The Night I Was Born.
But she is keen to keep her children’s
lives out of the public eye and says she will
not campaign around adoption until
they’re much older. But she has admitted,
“The only disappointment I’ll talk about
publicly in terms of not going through
childbirth was missing the unbelievable
love and affection you get from the world
around you, and the delicacy with which
people treat women who are about to give
birth. I have participated in this lovefest
14 fertility road | november - december

WORDS | SIOBHAN O’NEILL
with many, many women. But when you’re
an adoptive mother, no-one knows that
you’re about to become a mother. No-one
understands that you’re going through the
exact same fears about the health of the
child, about your ability to be a parent, about
the changes in your life and marriage, the
changes with your other child, the financial
restraints, the ‘Do I have enough room in
my house?’.
“While every pregnant woman has nine
months to deal with that, adoptive mothers
often have no time. That’s a small price
to pay for the joy of being a mother, but it
is a significant one, and one I’ve never
talked about.”
Whilst apparently less frequently observed
in this country – perhaps because the laws
were changed only as recently as 2009 – in
the United States surrogacy seems a more
popular choice for those struggling to
conceive or carry a baby themselves, and
many celebrity couples have gone down
this route.
There can be complicated legal issues, and
some states – like New York – do not permit
hiring a surrogate mother. Nevertheless
Kelsey Grammer, of Frasier fame, and his
wife Camille, became successful parents
via surrogacy, as did Grammer’s co-star
Peri Gilpin who now has two daughters by
surrogate following seven years trying to
conceive, including failed IVF attempts.
There are two options for surrogacy. One,
where the surrogate is the genetic mother
of the child, but more preferred by celebrities
seems to be where the surrogate is implanted
with the parents’ own embryo. Actress
Angela Bassett and her husband Courtney
B Vance became parents to their own twins
following seven years of failed IVF, thanks
to a surrogate mother.
Angela said, “I was devastated when it
didn’t happen. I had to remain hopeful and
resilient and say, ‘Okay, let’s do it again.’”
When a friend told her about her surrogate
pregnancy Angela’s ears pricked. “She
began to tell me about the idea of surrogacy.
The more we learned about it, the
more we began to think that perhaps
this was an answer for us,” she said.
The birth was a dream come true for
Angela who described the moment
saying, “Just standing there together,
holding each other, with the
Angela Bassett and Courtney B.
Vance with children Bronwyn
Golden and Slater Josiah
Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick
with son James Wilkie and daughters
Marion Loretta Elwell and Tabitha Hodge
realisation that this is the moment that
we’ve been working toward, praying for.”
Most recently, Sex and the City actress
Sarah Jessica Parker and her husband Matthew
Broderick welcomed their new twins
to the world thanks to a surrogate mum.
Speaking before the birth Sarah Jessica
said, “I’m excited, I’m really grateful. I feel
really fortunate.”
Admitting they’d had fertility problems
and had considered adoption as well as
surrogacy, Sarah Jessica said, “We’ve been
trying to expand our family for a number
of years and we actually have explored a
variety of ways of doing so. I tried and tried
and tried to get pregnant, but it just was not
meant to be, the conventional way. I would
give birth as often as I could, if I could. I
couldn’t pretend otherwise. It would be odd
to have made this choice if I was able to have
successful pregnancies since my son’s birth.”
And anyone in any doubt about how
special a surrogate birth can be need only
listen to Sarah Jessica’s description of it.
“It’s as if everything else disappears for a
moment, and the world goes silent and – I
can’t explain it except to say that nothing
else existed. The notion of meeting your
children instead of giving birth to them is
something best described as suspended
animation. I don’t remember anything but
the blanket on the bed that they were lying
on and my husband’s face and their faces
and my son’s. It’s literally as if sound is
sucked from the room. It’s so different, and
equally extraordinary.”
www.fertilityroad.com
15

FERTILITY ROAD
FERTILITY FINDS
The latest gadgets, gismos, applications and supplements…
Conceive Plus
Conceive Plus is a unique and scientifically formulated gel designed to help you conceive.
Its exclusive formulation creates a conception friendly environment that assists your
path to pregnancy by maintaining and facilitating male sperm viability and motility.
It is the only lubricant that includes calcium and magnesium ions that help keep
cells as healthy as possible. These ions are present in all bodily fluids and are essential
for cell viability and the process of fertilisation.
And it’s really easy to use as well. Just apply a small amount prior to or during
intercourse and re-apply as required.
Scientifically designed to be free of harmful inhibitors such as EDTA,
Conceive Plus does not contain certain complex sugars that may
potentially interfere with the fertilisation process.
Price £14.99 - available exclusively at Boots stores nationwide
and www.boots.com. To find out more information regarding
the science behind Conceive Plus, visit www.conceiveplus.co.uk.
PRODUCT
OF THE
MONTH
Sanatogen
- Mother To Be Omega 3
Vitamin experts Sanatogen continue
to produce supplements that are
expertly tailored to meeting the
needs of prospective parents, and in
Sanatogen Mother To Be they have
created a formula that can be taken
right from the first day you decide
you want to start a family. A Father To
Be version is available also, and both
options are suitable to continue taking
throughout your pregnancy making it
easy to look after yourself.
FitFlop
FitFlop footwear is biomechanically
engineered to help tone and tighten
your leg muscles while you walk.
They can provide relief from plantar
fasciitis, heel spurs, chronic back pain,
sciatica, osteoarthritis, RLS, scoliosis
and degenerative disc disease. And in
terms of fertility, we all know that losing
weight, staying in shape and exercising
more is the single best thing when it
comes to reproductive health.
FitFlop footwear is approved by the
American Podiatric Medical Association.
Cyclotest Baby
- RDO Medical
RDO Medical are now taking orders for
their amazing symptom-thermal fertility
monitor, Cyclotest Baby.
By just making a few observations
regarding waking temperature (BBT)
and menstruation dates, Cyclotest Baby
can reliably identify ovulation, and with
it, the optimum time to have intercourse
for conception. It learns about your cycle
and shows the whole fertility window
for the coming month, and all data can
be downloaded and shared with your
doctor or fertility specialist.
RRP £10.99 – from all good chemists
Prices start from £30.00 – www.fitflop.com
Price £169 – www.buycyclotestbaby.co.uk
16 fertility road | november - december

FERTILITY ROAD | Origin International Fertility Centre
INTELLIGENT PROFILE
ORIGINAL
AND
INDIA’S
FINEST...
There are many clinics around the world offering low
cost, high quality treatment with good success rates,
but a major part of travelling abroad so as to breathe
life into your fertility dreams is about connecting with
those you will trust and confide in on such an emotional journey.
The Origin International Fertility Centre, based near Mumbai,
already has a reputation for clinical excellence, offering a vast
range of services from IVF, egg donation, surrogacy and sperm
banking, through to embryo donation, laser hatching, blastocyst
transfer and vasectomy/tubectomy reversal. But outside of the
scientific achievements that have led Origin to be rated in the top
15 clinics worldwide, this family-based operation prides itself on
a quality of care that far outperforms the norm.
It’s a benefit aided by using the expertise and experience of
British doctors within the practice, but additionally through the
knowledge of leading specialists such as Dr Sandeep Mane.
“When I completed my training at the Royal College in London
I realised I was equipped with skills that would find use 7,000
miles away in my homeland. It was then I decided to return to
India to set up The Origin International Fertility Centre. I had the
drive and the qualifications to realise this ambition, and I have
trained over 15,000 doctors across the world.”
Having trained in the UK, the irony of Dr Mane returning to
Mumbai to treat British patients is not one that is lost, but the
simple facts are that treatment abroad has become a fantastically
cost-effective way for couples to realise their ambitions of starting
or extending their family.
And a family operation The Origin International Fertility Centre
is with Sandeep’s wife, Dr Rajashree Mane, a key figure and pillar
of strength at the centre. Her feminine insight, communication
and counselling skills and specialist knowledge provide the
perfect backdrop that transforms a medical research centre into a
friendly, caring treatment facility.
And the vision of the practice has always been clear – to offer
quality care to patients, to impart professional and communication
skills to doctors, to conduct research to improve healthcare for
women and, in general, to create opportunities to serve society.
It is a thorough blueprint that spells out a passion for expert
diagnosis and treatment, combined with a backdrop of stress
management sessions and relaxation therapies such as meditation
and yoga. It means that those who visit the 10,000-sq ft Origin
Fertility do so to undertake treatment that offers an overall body
and mind cleansing process.
The jewel in Dr Sandeep Mane’s crown of achievements is his
nomination for the Bharat Jyoti Award in 2008, which places him
on a pedestal as other luminaries in his field such as Mother
Theresa, while the clinic has also been profiled on BBC world
news as one of the fastest growing clinic in surrogacy services.
But at their heart, the aims remain simple, even with over
1,000 operations having been performed in the first two years
since the clinic opened.
“Our work is different to that of others, because we are always
looking to treat the mind along with the body,” Sandeep Mane
continues. “We have many unhappy couples arrive having gone
through various stages of what can be a painful process. Some
come with a very defeatist attitude and having lost all confidence
that their childlessness is something that can be cured. But with
care, understanding, sensitivity, and some of the world’s leading
technology, The Origin International Fertility Centre really is
making dreams come true.”
For more information email info@theoriginfertility.com or
head for The Origin International Fertility Centre’s website at
www.theoriginfertility.com
www.fertilityroad.com
17

FEATURE | it’s my life
WORDS | KELLY ROSE BRADFORD
IT’S MY
LIFE
Why the most intimate and private of life
experiences can often result in being the most
public, and with traumatic consequences...
For some couples, it can barely seem like the ink is
dry on the wedding certificate, or the emulsion is
put on the walls of their first home, before people
start asking those questions:
“When are we going to hear the patter of tiny feet?”
“Ooh, you’ll be making a baby announcement soon, no doubt!”
And, for those who already have a baby, the constant ‘so
when are you going to try for number two’ comments.
A woman’s fertility and baby-making prowess is, it seems,
of great interest – and not only to family and friends, but
complete strangers too.
“I was sitting in the doctors’ surgery, ironically waiting to
have a chat about the fact I hadn’t fallen pregnant after six
months of trying,” says Katie, 34, “and there was a screaming
baby wriggling and arching its back in a pushchair opposite
me. An old lady who lives in my road who happened to be
sitting next to me nudged me in the ribs and said ‘You’ve got
the right idea, not having babies! Bet you’re glad, aren’t you?’
“I found myself welling up – obviously she wasn’t to know
why I was there, but it made me so angry that people just
say what they like to women about pregnancy and children
– you’d never say to someone, ‘Oh I bet you’re glad you
haven’t got cancer’ or something. It’s just so rude.”
“It’s insensitive and intrusive,” says Michelle, 30. “I’d only
been with my partner for 18 months when people started
quizzing us about starting a family – I thought it was really
overstepping the mark – not only given that the relationship
was fairly new, but also because I’ve got PCOS (Polycystic
Ovary Syndrome) and didn’t even know if I could conceive. I
hate the fact that women’s fertility seems to be public property.”
Mum of one Laura, now 40, agrees. Having eventually
gained a son after years of trying, she found people’s constant
questions about ‘number two’ hard to take:
“It took five years to have our son, Jacob. In that time I had
load of tests, but they never found anything actually wrong. It
just wasn’t happening. And then, after Jacob was born, number
two didn’t happen either. We tried for a couple of years, but
didn’t really put our hearts into it as it had just been too draining
going through years of negative tests before having Jacob.”
This did not stop friends and family’s incessant questioning
though, something that Laura and her husband Nick found
very difficult to cope with.
18 fertility road | november - december

“I think the worst one was the mother, who I did not
know, turning to my son when he was about four-anda-half
and saying ‘Tell your mummy to give you a
brother or sister’. I was livid. Even now I can’t believe
she did that. It was so utterly appalling. I just turned
to her and said, rather coldly but calmly, that really I
would love to have another child but since it took five
years to have Jacob, it was highly unlikely I would.”
Mel, 38, and her partner Paul, 40, decided to keep
their second attempt at IVF a secret after enduring endless comments
from people the first time round:
“I actually had some older family members telling me they
‘didn’t believe in IVF’,” Mel recalls. “That they thought it was
playing God. Then there were those who questioned the amount
of money we were spending. People were actually pretty awful
throughout the whole procedure. What really annoyed me though
was the fact my cousin announced her pregnancy whilst we were
in the midst of treatment and I constantly had to hear every last
detail of her antenatal appointments and scans – no-one showed
any kind of tact or diplomacy despite knowing I was injecting
every day and waiting to have eggs harvested. It was horrible.”
No-one showed any kind of tact
or diplomacy despite knowing I was
injecting every day and waiting to
have eggs harvested. It was horrible.
For Sophie, 25, the constant questioning about babies so soon
after her wedding became too much to bear that she and her
husband decided to stop trying for a family:
“I would say we actually faced criticism, more than just questioning,”
she says, “Firstly, directly after the wedding, we were
under enormous pressure. Then, when we finally had to say, well
actually, we’re not going to have any, another barrage of questions
and opinions.”
Sophie and her husband reached the heartbreaking decision to
stop trying for a baby after they failed to conceive.
“Literally as soon as we were married our family and friends
began asking when the kids would come along - how many »
www.fertilityroad.com
19

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FEATURE | it’s my life
we were going to be trying for, when
we were going to start. At that point
we didn’t even have anywhere to
live, so the idea of children was the
last thing on our minds. To their
faces we laughed off their constant
questions, but deep down it did annoy me that they expected
such a personal decision to be discussed in the same breath as
what we were having for dinner. Even if we decided to have
children, we certainly wouldn’t discuss it with anyone else.
“When we did start trying for a family we didn’t tell anyone.
We continued to laugh off all the questions, without actually
confirming that we were trying. We attempted to conceive for
a year but nothing happened. Before this we had decided that
we would only give it a year - if we didn’t fall pregnant in that
time, then it was not a big deal. And when nothing did happen
we made the decision not to have children at all.”
When Sophie went on to admit to curious relations and pals
that she and Dan had decided not to have children, she faced a
further barrage of questions and comments:
“When people found out we’d tried for a year most of them
immediately said – and these are their exact words - ‘Is Dan
a Jaffa?’. That infuriated me so much. We didn’t have any
fertility problems that we knew of, but if we had been told that
for some reason we couldn’t have children it would have been
very hurtful. It was made worse when one friend suggested I
make an appointment with a fertility doctor and considered
IVF. I was only 22 at the time!”
Once you make the decision to conceive,
it’s so exciting that you want to get going right
away. When I stopped using contraception
a year ago I was actually expecting to get
pregnant within the week!
Sophie has also found people are critical to the point of
rudeness about her decision to stop trying:
“We regularly receive comments like ‘you’re not being what a
woman should be [as in be a wife and mother]’ and ‘you’ll get
to 35 and want children. Then what happens if you still can’t?’
“Our choice about children is a decision that we made
together, yet I feel for people who can’t have babies for one
reason or another and don’t want the whole world knowing
their fertility issues, as they receive unfair judgement. I feel
children and fertility is such an emotive subject, yet people
believe that questioning others’ decisions relentlessly is okay
and the norm.”
Hannah, 33, also despairs of other people’s insensitive
comments. She and her husband Rodney have been trying for
a baby for a year. She feels people do not understand the pure
heartbreak women go through when they realise yet another
month of ‘trying’ has not resulted in pregnancy:
“Once you make the decision to conceive, it’s so exciting that
you want to get going right away,” she says. “When I stopped
using contraception a year ago I was actually expecting to get
pregnant within the week! It was a complete shock to get my
period at the end of that month. I even felt pregnant before »
www.fertilityroad.com
21

FEATURE | it’s my life
SO WHAT
CAN BE
DONE?
How can you best fend off well-meaning
(or otherwise) comments from friends
(and strangers). Parenting expert Sue
Atkins, who has counselled many mums
and dads through fertility treatment and
pregnancy, offers the following advice:
I am determined to be a
mum again, I am 37, not 57, and
there are options open to me.
And frankly, whether it upsets
people or not, I have totally come
to the conclusion that I don’t
need a relationship or a man
in my life full-time to do it.
then. The next one was even worse. The awful thing is when you
have friends who know you’re trying and you say you have period
pains and they say ‘oh but it could be pregnancy cramps’ it makes
it so much worse. You start to treat period symptoms as pregnancy
symptoms and that exacerbates the shock.”
And sometimes the attitudes go further than the pure
biological side of getting pregnant. Sarah is 37 and mum to a
seven-year-old daughter. When her relationship broke up last year,
she confided in her mum that she would love to have another child.
“I was furious when she said to me ‘well, you’ve closed the
door on that part of your life now, haven’t you?’! It seemed such
a heartless thing to say. I was close to tears and said I was
considering using donor sperm or even adopting if I didn’t meet
a new partner very soon. She was absolutely horrified and just
sat there looking at me as if I were mad! She actually said ‘I’ve
never heard anything so ridiculous in my life’.
“In the end I had to pretend I was joking, else we would have
fallen out over it. It’s so sad though that I can’t discuss with
my own mum my need and desire to have another baby, but
she really does see me as being too old and indeed, too single
now, and so the subject, as far as she’s concerned, is closed. It
most certainly isn’t for me though. I am determined to be a mum
again, I am 37, not 57, and there are options open to me. And
frankly, whether it upsets people or not, I have totally come to the
conclusion that I don’t need a relationship or a man in my life
full-time to do it.’
• 1. Why aren’t you starting a family yet?
People presume things all the time in life and rarely mean to hurt
when they ask this question. I think it helps to spend a little time
just pondering your reply and I encourage the people I work with
to jot down their ‘stock answer’. It can be different for different
people – one response for work colleagues and general acquaintances;
a different, deeper answer for family and friends and people who
really know you. From clarity you get confidence.
• 2. Wild Confidence – You’ll be FINE!
It’s very helpful to stay relaxed and positive during this process
and to learn to be in a balanced emotional state. You can achieve
this through meditating, gentle exercise or saying a positive
affirmation – like “I am grounded, centred and positive.”
The emotional rollercoaster of IVF and fertility treatment is
tough enough without wildly exaggerated hopes or fears. So it
helps to stay grounded, positive, relaxed and focussed on being
happy throughout the process whilst also learning to adopt the
attitude of gratitude for all the good things in your life. This helps
you to filter life through the positive and will help you to feel more
balanced and in control of your life.
• 3. “You can always adopt”... “Not meant to be”
It helps to see life from the perspective of other well-meaning
friends and family. One simple exercise I do is to stand on a piece
of paper with your friend/family/partner’s name on it and assess
what you see from there, hear what you hear and feel how you
feel from your friend/family/partner’s perspective.
This helps you to see life from your friend’s, mother-in-law’s,
or sister’s point of view. This exercise helps you to focus on their
intention in this remark; usually it is to help you cope with the
possibility of disappointment.
• 4. It’s my life
The journey of fertility is a very private and individual experience
for each person, as well as for each couple. I think it’s helpful to
remember that one size really doesn’t fit all during this process,
and people only have to be confided in on a ‘need to know’ basis.
You choose who you give a ‘stock’ answer to, and who you share
your inner most thoughts with.
For more information and advice from Sue Atkins please visit
www.positive-parents.com
22 fertility road | november - december

INTERVIEW | Toni Weschler
words | Olivia Gordon
© Annie Marie Musselman / www.anniemusselman.com
24 fertility road | november - december

She is a fertility expert who has transformed the way millions of
Americans think about their bodies. Across a generation’s span,
where science and technology has left remarkable, dazzling
imprints on fertility, Toni Weschler’s impact has been profound.
Profiled now alongside the modern greats of reproductive
communication, she gives an exclusive interview to
Fertility Road magazine...
TEACHER:
TONI
Sadly, a modern education still leaves women
in the dark about their own bodies. We now
have a generation of women in their 30s and
40s who were taught nothing whatsoever
about their fertility and have not the slightest clue
about how the female reproductive system works.
Essential facts every woman should know - for example
that it’s possible to predict your next period if you know
when you ovulated because the luteal (post-ovulation)
phase has a consistent length in each woman, while
the follicular (pre-ovulation) phase varies each cycle; or
that cervical mucus with an ‘egg white’ appearance is a
healthy sign of high fertility - were simply not included
in our school ‘sex education’ lessons.
Women today have left conceiving much later, and
when we finally stop taking the pill to get pregnant, we
suddenly realise we know nothing about our natural
cycles. Tragically, we usually only come to understand
our own biology at a late stage - when often, the time
pressures are starting to become unbearable.
In this era when women want to know as much as
possible about their bodies, the new science of fertility
awareness, made available with the advent of the
digital thermometer in the 1970s, is more popular than
ever. Our mothers are mystified to see our carefully
plotted graphs. “It was so different in the 70s,” Suzanne,
a 69-year-old writer, recalls. “We were vaguely aware
the middle of the month was fertile, but getting pregnant
just happened; we didn’t try.”
But women trying to conceive today are older than ever
before, desperate for knowledge so we can understand our
natural cycles and maximise our chances of conceiving,
fast - which is why modern women are getting hooked
on the fertility awareness movement, the bible of which
is the super-selling book Taking Charge of Your Fertility
by American Toni Weschler. Published in 1995, the book
was the first to explain - in amazing detail - how to get
pregnant by monitoring and recording on a chart the
body’s daily fertility signs, including waking temperature,
which rises after ovulation; cervical fluid (dry in infertile
times of the month, increasingly creamy and then like egg
white as you approach ovulation); and cervical position.
And although these facts are now all over the internet
and other fertility books, the fact remains that TCOYF
explains them in the most comprehensive and authoritative
detail - it’s still the biggest and the best manual for understanding
your fertility. The book is currently ranked at
number three out of the nearly 19 million published
books sold on Amazon.com when it comes to customer
ratings (trumped only by two Harry Potter novels). But
that’s not down to marketing or publicity - TCOYF remains
an underground, word-of-mouth fertility phenomenon. »
www.fertilityroad.com
25

INTERVIEW | Toni Weschler
Women who read TCOYF
felt cheated to discover that they
had been taking the pill with all
its side effects for years without
knowing that, by charting, they
could reasonably safely have sex
at infertile times of the month.
© Chris Scredon / iStockphoto.com
Usually what happens is that when a woman starts ‘trying’, a
clued-up friend who’s been trying for a while shows her some
fertility charts, and asks incredulously if she’s never heard of
‘Toni’. That’s Toni Weschler, she explains, a cult figure to women
trying to conceive.
As an undergraduate studying Psychology, Weschler found
herself running to the gynaecologist every month - like many
women, she felt ashamed and concerned about the white
discharge that returned again and again and wondered what
was wrong with her. “It wasn’t until years later, in the mid-
1980s, when I was told this was a normal fertility sign that
occurs before ovulation, that I had my light-bulb moment,”
Weschler, now 54, recalls.
“Oh my God - all those years I thought I was dirty, when I was
completely healthy and my body was doing exactly what it was
meant to do and showing me signs telling me what was going on
inside. And this made me so mad. I thought, it is unacceptable that
in today’s times, women have no clue how their bodies work.
I wanted to yell it out to every woman: there is a world of
knowledge in your body.”
Weschler achieved a Master’s degree in Public Health and tried
to raise awareness among doctors - but, she recalls, they wrongly
equated fertility awareness with the entirely discredited rhythm
method, with which it has nothing in common – “it was humiliating
and made me even angrier”, Weschler says. With no other options,
she set up fertility awareness seminars for couples in her living
room in the late 1980s, then wrote TCOYF.
A tidal wave of responses came from thousands of women from
all over the world, who flooded (and still flood) Weschler’s PO
Box with letters – “I can’t even count how many”, she says, “all of
them saying ‘This book has changed my life - why wasn’t I taught
this stuff as a teenager, instead of whether to wear sanitary pads
with wings or not?’’’.
Women who read the book felt cheated to discover that they
had been taking the pill with all its side effects for years without
knowing that, by charting, they could reasonably safely have sex
at infertile times of the month. And that they had been trying to
get pregnant without taking into account, for instance, that they
had an abnormally short luteal phase which didn’t allow for implantation.
Thus, that they weren’t producing enough fertile cervical
mucus to allow semen to travel towards the egg. Or that
they weren’t ovulating at all - facts which charting clearly shows.
Yet in both the UK and US, many doctors still don’t take
fertility awareness seriously - or are even uneducated enough to
believe that every woman ovulates on day 14 of her cycle. The
official advice for conception from the NHS website, indeed, is
to have sex throughout the month, with no need to time intercourse
to ovulation (which, it says, ‘usually happens about 14
days after the first day of your last period’). Given that many
women ovulate early or late, and know thanks to charting »
www.fertilityroad.com
27

INTERVIEW | Toni Weschler
or ovulation tests when they are fertile, this advice
seems dismissive and dumbed down.
“Doctors insult women who chart to get pregnant by
rolling their eyes,” notes Weschler. “Yet no doctor can
know a woman’s body better than she does.”
The charting pioneer, who lives in Seattle, believes that
it’s still the case that not enough of us are fertility-aware,
and this could well be at the root of struggles to conceive,
ironically despite all the high-tech options now on offer. The
low-tech, DIY methods of fertility charting are, Weschler
feels, by contrast a simple and reliable knowledge base.
“Of all of the fertility treatments developed in the past
few decades, IVF has undoubtedly helped more couples
than any other, which is extraordinary. But its appeal as
the end-all, be-all, is also insidious,” she says.
“I have major concerns about women being put through
this incredibly expensive and invasive procedure when they
have not been taught the most fundamental information
necessary to achieve pregnancy: the Fertility Awareness
Method. By charting their cycles, they may be able to conceive
on their own by simply learning how to identify their
most fertile phase, or potential problems that can be easily
rectified before moving onto something as invasive as IVF.”
So at what point should fertility charting take second
place to medical treatment like IVF? “If a couple is officially
diagnosed with a physical problem such as blocked tubes,
then no amount of charting is going to help them to conceive,”
says Weschler. “But in most other cases, charting
works beautifully in conjunction with fertility treatments
to help the couple take control of their medical management,
rather than feeling like it is all being done to them.
“Ultimately, if a couple has actively timed intercourse
perfectly for at least 4-6 cycles (for women 35 and over)
or 6-8 cycles (for women younger than 35), then it is
time to seek medical treatment. But the operative phrase
here is ‘timed perfectly’. That means that they know her
cycle so well that they know if she is ovulating altogether
and they have consistently timed intercourse around ovulation.”
Some women can’t be bothered with charting (“It just makes
me think ‘maths’’’, says Sophie, a 32-year-old photographer, in
horror), and the average man would rather eat his own fist than
check out his wife’s chart. But the practice appeals enormously to
women who like to have a plan.
Still, taking your temperature can too easily become the focal
point of each day. You irrationally find yourself looking at
your chart every few hours in case it tells you you’re pregnant, or
worrying over signs and symptoms.
Weschler stresses that charting should be about seeing “the
big picture, not obsessing over one single temperature or letting
your life get consumed by minutiae.” Still merrily ovulating, and
charting on paper, she sees charting, when done right, as a worthy
object of one’s attention and pride. “I’ve been charting 28 years and
my charts are a thing of beauty - I love showing them to people! Seeing
the patterns of what a woman’s body does is a fascinating privilege.
Still, at a certain point, you do have to get on with everyday life.”
So if she could give one piece of advice to a couple wanting a
baby, what would it be? “It would be to focus on her cervical
fluid,” says Weschler. “She should try to have intercourse every
Doctors insult women who chart
to get pregnant by rolling their eyes,
yet no doctor can know a woman’s
body better than she does.
day that she has wet, slippery cervical fluid at her vaginal
opening - or every other day if the man’s sperm count is low.”
Of course, fertility awareness doesn’t end with pregnancy
achievement. It is an invaluable tool for women dealing with troublesome
or irregular periods, PMS or menopause, and can be used
as a form of natural birth control. Weschler’s second book, Cycle
Savvy, educates teenage girls about the female reproductive system.
Hopefully, with her influence, the next generation of women
will grow up with a greater understanding of their bodies.
Taking Charge of Your Fertility by
Toni Weschler is published by Vermilion
at £20; however this British edition
of 2003 has not been revised like
the American one over the years,
and Weschler, who is currently busy
revising another American edition due
in 2012, recommends British readers
buy the more up-to-date American
version published by Collins in 2006
(available from Amazon.com from $8).
28 fertility road | november - december

FERTILITY ROAD | RDO Medical
CYCLOTEST
BABY ARRIVES
IN THE UK
New and yet proven – Cyclotest fertility
monitors come to the UK after 25 years of
service to German want-to-be mothers.
Naturally good – the symptothermal fertility monitors
from Cyclotest can now offer health-conscious couples
a fulfilling love life in the UK and Ireland. Approach
your future together and plan your own happiness.
Whether as an alternative to hormonal contraception methods or
as an effective aid to fulfilling your desire to have a baby – with
Cyclotest Baby you can enjoy your love life to the full – without
having to fear health complications.
For 25 years these fertility monitors have been a great success
on the European market: in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and
Italy these small and easy-to-use devices are popular everyday
objects on the bedside tables of satisfied women. In a report by the
independent German consumer organisation ‘Stiftung Warentest’,
Cyclotest fertility monitors were judged to be the most reliable
and effective fertility monitors available in a very competitive
German marketplace.
The sharp rise in the numbers of people suffering from infertility
or reduced fertility is leading more and more of them to return to
the practice of observing the natural symptoms of fertility of the
female body.
That both contraception and pregnancies can be planned is based
on the fact that the monitors analyse a woman’s cycle data and pinpoint
her fertility window, her ovulation and infertile phases. This is
achieved using a combination of the classic temperature method to
identify subtle changes of Basal Body Temperature (BBT) associated
with ovulation and additional observations of fertility symptoms.
This process of determining the cycle data – known as the
symptothermal method – is safe, natural and effective. The fertility
monitor is extremely easy to use: directly upon waking, you take
your temperature inside your mouth with the integrated thermometer.
The highly sensitive sensor picks up even the slightest
INTELLIGENT PROFILE
temperature fluctuations. To increase the monitor’s
effectiveness, you can input a further
indicator of fertility once a month. Different
options are available, varying depending on
the time they take and the complexity of the
procedure involved.
Firstly, you can use the values of the ovulation
hormone LH (luteinising hormone), which
can be detected with additional ovulation tests.
Or you can use observation of the cervical
mucus consistency and the extent to which the
neck of the uterus is open as an indicator of
the body’s readiness to facilitate or prevent
pregnancy. It is extremely easy to input these
observations using buttons on the monitor.
Cyclotest Baby has a very clear LCD display
which shows your current cycle and its fertility
window. Knowing the 6-8 days every month
when intercourse could result in pregnancy
makes Cyclotest Baby a great natural contraceptive
choice. By abstaining or using barrier
contraceptives during their fertility window,
women avoid having to take the pill and all of
the risks and problems which accompany it.
What works for contraception can be turned
around and also applied to pregnancy planning.
When it’s time to plan for a baby there’s
no need to wait months on end for the pill to
be flushed from the body and hormone levels to stabilize. In fact
Cyclotest Baby already knows when you’re fertile and when you’re
ovulating so you can get to work straight away!
It should be remembered that intercourse during a woman’s
fertility window still isn’t a guarantee for conception as there are
many other factors, some which are completely out of your control.
Cyclotest Baby is recording your Basal Body Temperature (BBT),
your menstruation dates, any LH hormone or cervical mucus observations
which you make and charting it all in its software. In the
case of needing to consult a fertility specialist this data is a goldmine
which can speed up diagnosis of a huge range of fertility issues in a
woman even during IVF treatment. Cyclotest Baby comes with a CD
and USB cable for downloading all of that data and printing it out in
a fertility chart which any fertility specialist will be familiar with. It
has been scientifically proven that, by using Cyclotest Baby, couples
who have been trying unsuccessfully to have a baby succeed in getting
pregnant much faster and more safely than if they were to take
highly burdensome hormone treatments.
Getting pregnant with Cyclotest Baby is child’s play – and
healthy too!
Cyclotest Baby is available for
£169 exclusively from RDO Medical
in the UK and Ireland. For more
information about Cyclotest Baby
call 0208 1331 700 or visit
www.get-pregnant-cyclotest.co.uk
www.fertilityroad.com
29

FEATURE | fertility on ice
FERTILITY
ON
Three years ago, two major UK fertility clinics launched a ‘social egg freezing
service’, creating widespread controversy. Johanna Payton investigates
whether women who ‘invest their eggs in the bank’ are still causing a stir.
Healthy women putting their biological clocks on hold
has polarised opinion. When the Bridge Fertility
Centre and Care Fertility launched their social egg
freezing programmes in 2007, they were hailed
as liberating independent women - and simultaneously vilified
for facilitating the ethically reprehensible whim of middle class
careerists with money to burn.
Historically, the process had been undertaken for medical
reasons; women who were undergoing chemotherapy, which can
temporarily or permanently damage fertility, were most likely
to freeze their eggs. Healthy women who wanted children, but
wished to pursue a career or stable relationship first, did not have
access to the service. The success rates of the technology were
deemed too low; doctors worried that fertile women could allow
their chance of natural conception to slip away, then discover
that their ‘defrosted’ eggs were not viable.
But new freezing techniques with higher success rates emerged.
Vitrification, where water from the eggs is removed and they are
flash-frozen, was introduced. Clinics claimed that vitrified eggs
could emerge from years in storage in almost the same condition
as when they were released from the ovaries. In Japan, where
vitrification techniques were developed, scientists showed that
90-95% of eggs could survive the freezing method, compared
with 50-60% using conventional methods.
As a result, HFEA figures showed that 78 UK women chose to
freeze their eggs for non-medical reasons in 2007, up from 33
in 2006. Today, over 40 UK clinics offer egg freezing services for
lifestyle rather than medical reasons and several hundred British
women have put their eggs on ice to date. Eggs can remain frozen
for a maximum of 55 years subject to the patient’s consent and
maintaining a financial agreement with the clinic for storage.
Although the procedure is becoming widespread, the ethical
and medical debate rages on. In 2009, the Royal College of
Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the British Fertility Society
released a joint statement expressing serious concerns about
freezing eggs for non-medical reasons. They said the success rate
for pregnancies involving frozen eggs was low, and that the
babies may be less healthy than those from fresh eggs.
Quoted in The Guardian at the time of the statement, Bill Ledger,
professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Sheffield University
and a member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology
Authority, said: “We should be very careful about performing
30 fertility road | november - december

words | Johanna Payton
medical procedures on healthy people. The
group I worry about are women who are
healthy and want to have kids, but do it
later. The image that’s portrayed [of egg
freezing] is that a woman in her late 20s or
early 30s can establish a relationship 10 or
15 years later and then take the eggs out of
the freezer, fertilise them with the partner’s
sperm and have the baby. That’s the dream.
“The central issue is that it doesn’t work very well. By egg
freezing for social reasons, they are taking a huge gamble for
their future.”
But in spite of the warnings, and the cost - around £5,000
- women continue to seek the procedure. Dr. Alan Thornhill,
scientific director at the London Bridge Fertility, Gynaecology and
Genetics Centre, says “people are grown-ups and should make
their own decisions”, but adds that egg freezing technology is still
developing and there are drawbacks to consider. “Most laboratories
can offer this service,” he says, “but women should be aware
that apart from embryo transfer, the process is the same as IVF,
including ovarian stimulation. No punches should be pulled from
explaining this.”
Although any risks to a woman’s health are minimal, Thornhill
agrees that the effectiveness of egg freezing is still debatable. He
says that while success rates are primarily governed by the age of
the woman (the average age of social egg freezers in 2007 was
37), there is also some manipulation of the egg involved.
I doubt that most of these women
will ever return. In many cases, social
freezing really is an insurance policy and
these women find their own solution.
“When we collect eggs, they’re coated in granulosa cells, which
are beneficial to the egg,” he explains. “We strip off those cells to
access the egg and determine whether or not it will mature. It
could be detrimental to the egg not to have those cells around for
longer and, in the future, we may store eggs in their cumulous
cells, so they’re more natural.
“Another issue is the number of eggs we can freeze,” he adds.
“At the moment, the standard is to freeze eggs at the second
metaphase, when they’re ready for fertilisation. How many eggs
are at this stage depends on an individual body’s response to the
stimulation. It can be disappointing for clients to discover that,
from a good haul of eggs, only a handful can actually be frozen.”
Dr. Thornhill agrees that conceiving a baby naturally is always
preferable to IVF, when a woman has a choice, because there is
a higher chance of success.
He also says that freezing embryos rather than eggs, if a woman
has a partner but is trying to store her fertility for the future,
is advisable - but there may be additional legal and ethical »
www.fertilityroad.com
31

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FEATURE | fertility on ice
of their fertility potential, including ovarian
reserve.”
Dr. Thornhill agrees that a fertility
assessment can be a major factor in helping
women decide if social egg freezing is
right for them. “Fertility screening gives
women a clear idea of where their fertility
is right now. We had a patient in her 20s
who had her life mapped out - but finding
out she had a low ovarian reserve changed
her plans. She opted for immediate IVF
and had a baby. It was a very positive
outcome for her.
“More women talk to us about egg
freezing than actually go through with it.
Some get a clean bill of health and
because their mind has been put at rest,
they no longer feel the need to freeze their
eggs. Even if they don’t have the freezing
done, they leave with an awareness of
their fertility, which is a gap in most
people’s knowledge.”
While some women stop at a fertility
screening, Thornhill says that over 100
women have had their eggs frozen at Bridge
for social reasons. As yet, none have come
back to use them. “I doubt that most of these
dilemmas to face. “If either partner doesn’t
want the embryos to be used, there is a
cooling off period, but after that, they
can’t be transferred,” he says. “People may
also find it harder to throw embryos away
if they can’t use them. However, they’ve
still made a big investment, financially
and emotionally, by freezing their eggs.”
Gosia Heeley is resident counsellor at
the London Fertility Centre (LFC). She says
that social egg freezers are increasingly
informed and have undertaken a huge
amount of research prior to making their
decision. “Most women I meet are either
delaying motherhood because of their
career or they haven’t found the right
partner and are concerned about their age
and the quality of their eggs,” she says.
“It’s important to have choices open to you
throughout life, and I’m behind social egg
freezing as a treatment option. However, it’s
crucial that the implications are fully considered
prior to treatment being undertaken.
“Patients wishing to invest in egg freezing
at LFC, whether social or medical, receive
counselling. We look at the implications
of the patient’s decision, which includes
motivation, understanding the process and
legalities, and the implications relevant to
their personal life and future.”
The image that’s portrayed [of egg
freezing] is that a woman in her late 20s
or early 30s can establish a relationship
10 or 15 years later. That’s the dream.
Heeley says that different clinics follow
different protocols and counselling sessions
vary, but presses home the reality that
every woman interested in freezing her
eggs needs to consider how they will feel
if their eggs do not prove to be viable
when they are ready to try for a child.
“The worry is that women put all of their
fertility hope and aspirations into the
frozen eggs,” she says. “Women need clear,
realistic boundaries and limits when
considering whether to proceed with this as
an insurance policy. If the eggs do not result
in a viable pregnancy, the women will have
to face a multi-layered grieving process.
“Social egg freezing can be a realistic
and successful treatment option for some,
but not all, women,” she adds. “Before
they make their decision, they should
have a consultation with a clinician who
will discuss their options and inform them
women will ever return. In many cases,
social freezing really is an insurance policy
and these women find their own solution.
“But women who make the decision to
freeze their eggs are driven in a different
way to other patients, and that’s interesting
in itself. Studies may be done, and it would
be fascinating to know more about the
motivations of social egg freezers and
whether they really consider it to be a
guarantee – which it isn’t. In my experience,
they want to do everything they can to
protect their fertility and they don’t want
to have any regrets. The balancing act for
us is to respect their right to treatment,
whilst being honest about their chances
of success.
“These women may still cause controversy,
but investing so much time, money
and energy for the future certainly shows
how seriously they take their fertility.”
www.fertilityroad.com
33

FEATURE | same-sex parenting

WORDS | HAZEL DAVIS
Our series of features on same-sex
parenting this time looks at the industry
from the perspective of gay couples.
Are men really afforded the same
privileges as women, and what are
the attitudes surrounding fathers?
MAN
ALIVE
© BananaStock
It’s every woman’s right to have a child, correct? But
what about when you’ve dreamed of being a father
ever since you can remember?
Back in April, the law changed to allow gay male
couples to have both their names on a child’s birth certificate.
Prior to this, only heterosexual couples were allowed to do
this. The law change meant that same-sex couples could
finally be recognised as official parents.
So you’re finally allowed. Hurrah. But how do you get to
that joyous day?
The landscape for gay men and child-rearing is muddy
as you might expect. Society accepts that women have
‘the right’ to have children but does it hold the same view
for men? And what are the options for men who want to
reproduce without being in a relationship with a woman?
You can, of course, pass on your genes by donating
sperm without taking any parental responsibility, or you
could opt to co-parent with a single woman, gay woman or
consenting couple.
You can also donate to an unknown person through a
fertility clinic but the law change in 2005 means that your
biological child can trace its biological father when it’s 18.
Some gay men donate to friends or through a connection
service such as Pride Angel or Gay Family Web. Gay Family
Web was set up to provide couples with connections to
suitable donors, to offer access to equipment and testing, as
well as providing a discussion forum. There are 500 women
registered and just under 200 donors in the UK, though
there are plans to go international.
Pride Angels is a site dedicated to connecting sperm
donors, egg donors and co-parents. The free-registration
site also specialises in health screening advice, fertility law
support, artificial insemination and fertility products.
Same-sex couples have been allowed to legally adopt in
the UK since 2002, but surrogacy is usually the preferable
option for gay men who wish to become full-time parents.
In surrogacy, a woman carries the baby using her own eggs
or those of another egg donor.
The new law states that provided a court is satisfied that
two men are in a stable relationship, that no fees – beyond
expenses – are paid to the surrogate mother and that it is in
the child’s best interest, then it will award a parental order
for a birth certificate to be drawn up with both men named as
parents and therefore legal guardians. This makes it much
easier for gay men to father their own children naturally,
meaning that adoption is not the only option.
Special provision was also made for gay couples who could
not previously apply so that those with existing surrogate
children born before April 6, 2010, were given until October 5,
2010 to apply.
Though surrogacy in the UK is legal, the UK system
means that if the surrogate decides that they have »
www.fertilityroad.com
35

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a centre of excellence for IVF located on the tranquil and beautiful Caribbean island of Barbados. The natural beauty of the island forces you to unwind
while the experts handle your treatment. Barbados Fertility Centre has been awarded the gold seal of approval from JCI International, the US based
health care accreditation body so you can rest assured that our patient safety standards and operating procedures have passed stringent tests. You
will also be pleased to learn that our treatment costs are a lot lower than private treatment in the UK and we can start scheduling your treatment straight
away with no waiting lists. If you still need convincing that you need to talk to Barbados Fertility Centre then you you will be delighted to know that we
achieved 71% pregnancy rate using Blastocyst on women under 35 in 2009. We pride ourselves on individualised patient care and use the latest in
cutting edge technology that is not widelyavailable in the UK to give every patient their best possible chance of success. So stop going round in circles
and let the international team at Barbados Fertility Centre take over.
For further information please call our IVF Nurse Co-ordinator on 001 246 435 7467 or go to our website www.barbadosivf.org
Organization Accredited
by Joint Commission International

FEATURE | same-sex parenting
changed their mind, they can keep the baby after
it is born. Therefore it’s imperative to seek legal
advice if you’re planning on going down the
surrogacy route.
Barrie and Tony Drewett-Barlow are probably the world’s most
famous gay fathers. They made history in July this year when they
were jointly registered as fathers at the christening of their fourth
and fifth children.
The couple now have the family they always dreamed of
together. But getting there has been no cakewalk. The process
started at a young age for Barrie. He told his parents he was gay at
the age of 14. His mother was not upset at his sexuality, but more
that his life wouldn’t involve children. He met Tony at 19 and when
one of their friends entered into a co-parenting situation with a
lesbian friend they started thinking about having children.
“It was always there in the background,” he says, “but we didn’t
really want to co-parent. We didn’t want to be part-time parents.”
And because of that there was a financial pressure. “As a gay man
you have to be in a position to be a father,” says Barrie, “you don’t
suddenly get a girl pregnant when you’re a gay man. You have to
prepare and plan.”
In 1994 the couple made an application to their local council to
adopt a child. They went through the whole process, interviewing the
couple’s relatives. In the end the council refused their application
As a gay man you have to be in a
position to be a father, you don’t suddenly
get a girl pregnant when you’re a gay
man. You have to prepare and plan.
but said they would consider an application for a child with
severe learning difficulties. Says Barrie, “They made it so hard for
us but we said, ‘yes, ok’ and played their game.”
The couple were offered, says Barrie, the worst cases possible:
“They were finding severely disabled children just to try and put us
off but we went back to the panel with glowing reports.” And still they
said no. At the time explains Barrie, there was no real recourse to this
so they went through what Barrie calls a period of mourning: “We
just thought there was no way we could have children of our own.”
But one day Barrie was messing around on the internet and
came across some surrogacy sites and it snowballed from there.
“In those days it was quite new,” he says, “and many of the agencies
I found (in the US) explicitly said they wouldn’t help homosexuals.”
At this time Barrie and Tony had sold a couple of businesses and
were doing well financially and, “after weeks of nagging Tony”
they went to LA. They found an agency which catered for gay men
and they set about choosing an egg donor and surrogate.
It was quite a straightforward process says Barrie. “The director
showed a catalogue of egg donors and we pulled out eight or so
that we liked from around 50.” The second one they saw they »
www.fertilityroad.com
37

FEATURE | same-sex parenting
The application for a parental order must be made within six months
of the birth. There are no extensions on this and taking legal advice
late could make the process lengthier. If the parental application
is not made, then it might be possible to get a residence order,
though obviously this is less desirable. The intended parents also
need to satisfy the court that the child’s home is with both parents.
One of the partners needs to be domiciled in the UK.
Commercial surrogacy is illegal so the expenses process must be
navigated carefully. The court has to authorise all expenses paid
and these include things like medical bills and insurance and
nothing which implies the buying of a child. This is authorised at
the end of the case so the intended parents need to make sure they
handle the process correctly from the start or risk losing the
parental order. There is always the risk that the expenses could be
unauthorised and this is particularly worrisome if the parents have
gone to a country (India, for example) where what’s construed as
an excessive amount may differ. And in these cases, the court has
to be happy that it’s not sanctioning something illegal.
And once you’ve sorted the above, you’re faced with the possibility
that the surrogate can change her mind. Under English family law,
the surrogate remains the mother until the parental order is
obtained. She can change her mind at any point up to this. Moreover, if
she is married, her husband has to give consent as he is legally the
father. However, the surrogate’s consent is invalid unless it’s given
within six weeks after the birth. Pre-natal consent is disregarded.
This is, of course, very stressful for the intended parents as
the birth mother could changed her mind at any time. “It doesn’t
fell in love with and she ended up being the
biological mother of three of their five children. Barrie
explains, “We picked her for her personality and her
views on life. She was very in tune with us.”
But the second time round it was a different matter.
Says Barrie, candidly, “We just found someone amazingly
good looking. The first time we went into it we
wanted to study people and suss them out but then
we realised that our children are a product of us and
the egg donor and surrogate are only responsible for
their living and breathing.”
Barrie and Tony’s children know all about their egg
donors and surrogate mothers and they are in touch on a weekly
basis. “We have always been honest,” he says, “we’re so high-profile,
how could we not be?”
Tony and Barrie now have the family they always wanted but
it’s not always easy. “We had no responsibilities and loads of cash,”
he says. “Because of that, it was easy for us, but I get letters from
people all the time who’ve been refused treatment. It can be heartbreaking.”
Even while the couple were going through their first
failed IVF attempts, both of Barrie’s sisters announced they were
pregnant. He says, “It’s just devastating.”
The surrogacy process can be a legal minefield, says John Randle
of law firm Lester Aldridge, which specialises in fertility cases.
Now gay men can apply for a parental order, says Randle,
it’s crucial to get legal advice early on. “There are quite a lot of
conditions the intended parents have to satisfy before they are
granted the parental order.”
Firstly, they have to prove a biological link to the child, which is
easy enough. Then they have to satisfy the court that they are either
civil partners or two people living in an “enduring family relationship”.
Surrogacy is definitely now more
open to more people, and things are
changing, in fact the whole dynamic
has changed. There are hundreds
of same-sex families in the UK and
thousands around the world now.
happen a lot”, says Randle, “but I did come across a case the other
day where the surrogate appeared to be having second thoughts.”
Barrie and Tony were trailblazers, though he says they never
set out to be. “Surrogacy is definitely now more open to more
people,” says Barrie, “and things are changing, in fact the whole
dynamic has changed. There are hundreds of same-sex families
in the UK and thousands around the world now.”
For qualified information and advice on same-sex parenting why
not head to www.prideangel.com. Founded by scientists Erika
and Karen, Pride Angel is an independent connection service,
committed to helping single, lesbian, gay and infertile couples
become parents through donor conception and co-parenting.
GayFamilyWeb.co.uk link to donors from all over the UK, whilst
also giving sperm donors access to people who need them. The site
has only been online for a couple of years, but using the creators’
personal experience as a guide, aims to provide a straightforward
and easy-to-follow service with support and advice at its heart.
38 fertility road | november - december

FERTILITY ROAD | California Fertility Partners
INTELLIGENT PROFILE
A PARTNERSHIP
THAT COUNTS...
For many, the prospect of travelling abroad to combine the
promise of raising a family with the opportunity to relax
is an exciting one. And with the first considerations
always being quality, care and professionalism, many
believe that the US offers something that cannot be found elsewhere.
Certainly, when you have a clinic that boasts 25 years experience
yet is based in the sun-drenched, fashionable and fantastically
cultural city of Los Angeles, it is a combination that is really
quite unique.
To enable a couple to truly envelop themselves in a life-changing
trip means slipping into an environment that heightens the senses,
offers a distraction from the scientific and emotional stresses, and
provides an experience that is truly one to remember.
With that in mind, California Fertility Partners firmly believe that
they have cracked the combination code. It’s a clinic that undertakes
extensive surrogacy and egg donor options, and one that has
always focused attention on the lesbian and gay parenting market,
calling upon experience at the highest level of family planning.
For Dr. Guy Ringler, one of the co-partners of the practice, and
recipient of the American Fertility Association’s Visionary Award
for 2010, believes the clinic’s Los Angeles base represents something
rather special.
“Patients arriving in Los Angeles from around the globe will find
an exciting cosmopolitan city with something to offer everyone.
From the mountains to the seashore, the area provides a physically
beautiful landscape, the finest in art, music, shopping, restaurants,
and a creative community filled with passionate people from many
diverse backgrounds.
“But it’s our longstanding reputation for excellence and a
commitment to providing high quality care in a personalised and
caring environment that makes us stand out. In short, it’s important
to work with people who care about you and
your success. We do that, always.”
Dr. Ringler’s attention to detail and commitment
to providing the highest quality of care possible
results in some of the highest pregnancy rates
possible today. Factors such as the young age of
egg donors, closely monitored ovarian stimulation,
thorough screening of gestational carriers,
excellent culture conditions, and meticulously
conducted embryo transfers all contribute to his
high level of success.
It’s thanks to this that Dr. Ringler has been
able to help gay patients from around the world
achieve their dream of having children through
his care.
“The acceptance of gay parenting in our society
continues to improve,” he continues. “Twenty
years ago the path to parenthood for gay men
was uncharted and there were few resources
available to help individuals find their way.
“Today, thanks to the work of many dedicated
professionals in the fields of reproductive law,
reproductive medicine, and support organisations,
there are established treatment protocols and
legal foundations to allow all individuals the
opportunity to build families.”
Dr. Ringler and his colleagues work with
some of the finest egg donor, sperm donor, and
surrogacy agencies in the United States. All candidates undergo
extensive medical, psychological and genetic screenings before
treatment calendars are planned.
That’s why California Fertility Partners has been one of the
leading centres for reproductive medical care in the United States
for over 25 years. And it explains too why the base’s physicians
and scientists are internationally recognised for their expertise,
not to mention a reputation for providing the highest quality and
personalised care.
Guy continues, “As societal acceptance evolves, the demand for
high quality reproductive care by gay men and women increases in
the United States and around the world. All patients at California
Fertility Partners find an atmosphere of warmth and caring from
their initial visit until graduation to their obstetrician.
“Each patient is assigned to their own specially trained nurse to
help guide them through the treatment process and to assist in
communication between all parties. An organised team of caring
professionals at all levels helps to ensure the finest care and the
best treatment outcome.
“At California Fertility Partners all exams and procedures are performed
by your physician, not a technician or someone unfamiliar
with your case. This sets us apart from other centres and allows for
greater attention to detail and continuity of care. It’s this edge,
along with a fantastic outer environment, that really makes us a
perfect choice for couples.”
To find out more, call California Fertility Partners on 001 310 828
4008, contact Dr. Ringler directly at GRingler@aol.com or head to
www.californiafertilitypartners.com
www.fertilityroad.com
39

EGG DONOR PROGRAM
no waiting lists
wide variety top quality donors
world class fertility centers
affordable treatment
largest donor program in the
southern hemisphere
nurture
egg donor program
www.nurture.co.za

FERTILITY ROAD | Oregon Reproductive Medicine
INTELLIGENT PROFILE
UNITED
STATES
OF
DONORS
One of the most eminent infertility centres in the United
States is experiencing a new following - European
gay couples wanting to have a baby.
Oregon Reproductive Medicine, located on the
West coast in Portland, has nearly unmatched pregnancy success
rates, likely the reason that same sex couples are choosing to start
or grow their families at the Northwest centre.
Oregon Reproductive Medicine’s four physicians, all specialists
in reproductive endocrinology, work with patients from all over
the globe in their well-known donor egg programme.
“About half of our patients who want to have a baby via
donor egg are from outside Portland,” Brandon J. Bankowski,
MD, MPH, says.
While Oregon is a popular tourist destination for international
travellers, Bankowski believes that patients are coming to Portland
for one reason, and it isn’t to see the Pacific Ocean!
“They want success. That’s patients’ number one priority
regardless of where they live in the world. And in their research
about success rates, IVF, donor egg and gestational surrogacy
programmes, they find Oregon Reproductive Medicine,” John S.
Hesla, MD, says.
The most recent data available from the US government shows
that donor egg pregnancy success rates at Oregon Reproductive
Medicine are nearly 80%, placing them near the top of all US
infertility centres.
European gay couples, often unable to proceed with using a
donor’s eggs and surrogate in their home countries, are more and
more looking to the United States for options. In the past, many
patients selected centres in New York City and Boston because of
their proximity to Europe. But today it’s common for these future
dads to look closer at the data available through www.SART.com and
base their selection on where they are most likely to have success.
“It is a big decision to proceed with using a donor and working
with a surrogate in the United States. So it’s imperative that patients
do their homework and select a practice that is most likely to make
their dream come true, and at a cost they can afford,” Jonathan
Kipp, marketing director at Oregon Reproductive Medicine, says.
Oregon Reproductive Medicine’s costs are often appealing to gay
and straight European patients. The centre’s price plans are typically
lower than infertility centres in larger US cities. Compensation for
egg donors and surrogates also tends to be more affordable in
smaller US cities, Kipp says.
Some gay couples visiting Portland to become parents are
nervous at first. After all, they are not only about to become
parents but they are in a foreign country.
“But they soon realise that being at Oregon Reproductive
Medicine in Portland, Oregon, is about the best place they could be
to move forward with their dream of a baby,” Kipp says. “We are
confident that they’ll fall in love with Portland while they experience
our unmatched personalised care.”
Portland, home to a sizeable gay population including many
couples with children, is considered one of the most gay-friendly
cities in the US.
“We are always happy to welcome our European patients,” Hesla
says. “We not only have the opportunity to introduce them to an
amazing part of the United States, but we get to watch their
biggest dream come true. It doesn’t get better than that.”
If you would like additional information about Oregon
Reproductive Medicine’s services, or are interested in
scheduling an appointment, contact:
2222 NW Lovejoy. St., Suite 304, Portland, Oregon USA 97210
Phone: 877-567-4994 or 503-274-4994
www.oregonreproductivemedicine.com
www.fertilityroad.com
41

FEATURE | worldwide web of fertility
WORLDWIDE
WEB OF
How the greatest communication tool ever invented is helping
strangers fulfil the farthest reaching fertility ambitions...
OMG, DH and I DTD last night cos my I
POAS and CBFM was on PK - the LH
surge was super-strong - but I don’t think
I’ve O’d - this AM my temp’s still 97.3 and
I’ve still got tons of EWCM. How’m I gonna get DH to
BD again tonight? And I’m so worried about my LP
only being 8 days last cycle - do you think I have a
chance of a BFP this month? Babydust!’*
If you know exactly what this means - and perhaps
you’ve even got a response in mind - chances are
you’ve spent time on an online fertility forum.
From fertilityfriend.com to peeonastick.com, twoweekwait.com,
babyandbump.com and of course fertilityroad.com,
the rise of fertility discussion forums on
the internet has created a vast new world in which
women trying for a baby are charting their fertility
signs online, sharing information and trying to support
one another, all talking in the language of fertility. As
any poster on a fertility chatroom knows, nothing is ever
‘TMI’. Posters tell one another things their partners
and closest friends don’t know.
Take, for instance, in-gender.com, a site for women
aiming to ‘sway’ for a girl or boy, who use the forum to
debate DIY techniques. On the ‘extreme swaying’
board, a woman asked recently: “Can I add a calcium
citrate tab to lime douche? Has anyone ever tried
this?” Half-an-hour later, the first of 16 replies came:
“I was doing this but you have to let it sit in the lime
until it is completely dissolved. Also the pH of the
solution will go up after adding the calcium so you
have to adjust it accordingly. I found using the liquid
calcium was much better though.”
We’re living through an information revolution when
it comes to fertility. This means that women trying
to conceive are increasingly like walking, talking
reproductive biology textbooks, sharing in-depthknowledge
gleaned from the internet on, for example,
the signs of low and high oestrogen and progesterone.
After all, with GP appointments lasting just 10 minutes
and long waiting lists or high costs to see specialists,
who wouldn’t turn to the internet?
“Trying to conceive can be an extreme emotional rollercoaster,
with the highs each month of ‘this could be it’
and the lows of ‘it didn’t work,’” says 44-year-old publicist
Katrina Power of her struggle to conceive her second
child. “Talking on a forum with other people in similar
circumstances can be a sanity saver, as you support one
another, provide advice, share tips and delight in »
*Translation: “Oh my God, my darling husband and I did the deed last night because when I peed on a test
stick, my Clearblue Fertility Monitor told me I was at the peak of my fertility - the luteinising hormone surge was
super strong, but I don’t think I’ve ovulated - this morning I’m still at a typical pre-ovulation temperature of 97.3F
and I’ve still got tons of highly fertile egg white cervical mucus. How am I going to get my husband to have sex
again tonight? And I’m so worried about my luteal [post-ovulatory] phase being so short last cycle - do you think
I have a chance of a big fat positive pregnancy test this month? Good luck with the baby-making, everyone!”
42 fertility road | november - december

WORDS | OLIVIA GORDON
We’re living through an
information revolution when it
comes to fertility. This means that
women trying to conceive are
increasingly like walking, talking
reproductive biology textbooks,
sharing in-depth knowledge
gleaned from the internet.
www.fertilityroad.com
43

FEATURE | worldwide web of fertility
In real life, these women reveal themselves
to be lawyers, doctors, army wives, teachers,
engineers, policewomen and stay at home
mothers, living in America, England, Europe,
Africa, the Middle East - all of them sharing
an insatiable hunger for knowledge about
their own reproductive abilities and pregnancy
chances. It’s a fascinating all-female world, and
close friendships often arise.
And frequently, the advice on fertility sites
goes much further than that given by scientists.
Take the legendary site peeonastick.com. A
‘comprehensive collection of home pregnancy
test and ovulation predictor test information
and images’, this die-hard site catalogues the
sensitivity of tests (officially versus anecdotally),
has a wealth of unbelievably detailed information
on how tests work scientifically, which goes far
beyond what manufacturers think women need
to know, and even publishes random experiments
the author has done, for example, using breast
milk instead of urine on a pregnancy test.
It’s surely the best of times for any woman
wanting to know more about fertility, but could
there also be a risk of information overload and
each other’s success stories. It has the
advantage of being anonymous, and means
you can be completely honest about what
you’re going through, without sharing too
much with real life friends.”
Justine Roberts, co-founder of mumsnet.
com, agrees. “Our TTC (trying to conceive)
discussion boards are one of the busiest
parts of Mumsnet. Out there in the real
world, it can be hard to find people who are in the same situation
as you but, each month on Mumsnet, a new load of people
aiming for a BFP (big fat positive) join a discussion thread
together and find somewhere safe and supportive to vent
their frustrations, sharing at the same time information about
what’s worked for them during the ups and downs of trying to
have a baby.”
On fertility site message boards, women have posted signatures
which express their desperation to conceive, perhaps even at a
certain time and a certain gender (‘swaying for blue in September
2011’) or their memories of babies lost in miscarriage (‘Jay: 10
weeks in my womb; forever in my heart’). They have cartoon
‘tickers’ which show other posters where they are in their cycle:
the 30 days might be illustrated by a long, winding road, and the
point they are at by an egg hatching, or a cradle.
It’s a strange new world, light years away from the whispered
conversations women had only a generation ago when, without
the internet, infertility was something discussed discretely with
your doctor and closest friends, and there were only a few books
to guide you. On fertilityfriend.com, each woman’s cycle graphs
are added to a vast ‘chart gallery’ where women can ‘overlay’
their own chart with others’, or search for others who have
similar charts to them (right down to intercourse pattern and pre
and post ovulatory temperatures) and got pregnant.
It’s surely the best of times for any
woman wanting to know more about
fertility, but could there also be a risk of
information overload and old wives’ tales?
old wives’ tales? Online posters hotly debate the possible fertility
benefits of everything from drinking grapefruit juice to increase
cervical mucus, to using an ‘instead cup’ to hold semen close to
the cervix. But who can you trust? There’s very little advice
available online from appropriately qualified doctors, and even
when you do take the trouble to sift through all the sites written
by amateurs to find those written by medical professionals, the
information you find often conflicts with that from another site.
Too much ‘fertility surfing’ can also lead to an unhelpful level
of preoccupation that takes over hours of the day, every day.
Surrounded by online friends who are equally obsessed, it’s easy
to lose your sense of perspective to a point where if someone
asks you what day it is, your first thought is ‘seven dpo [days post
ovulation]’.
Jane’s story (not her real name) illustrates both sides of the
coin. She and her partner were trying artificial insemination at
home. “It didn’t cross my mind at first to ask my GP how to do it,”
she says – “I was too embarrassed!”
It was much easier to search for information online - she found
some encouraging success stories and bought a kit containing
some syringes, sample pots and instructions. It was only after three
months of unsuccessfully following the instructions that Jane
found the courage to ask her GP if this could really work - and
he explained that the instructions in the kit were incorrect. »
© Yuri Arcurs / iStockphoto.com
44 fertility road | november - december

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FEATURE | worldwide web of fertility
FERTILITY
ON THE
WEB
We’ve toured around the virtual
world to showcase some of the
best websites out there offering
advice on all matters of fertility:
• www.fertilityroad.com
Our online supplement to the magazine you
have in front of you. With additional features,
comment pieces, forums, and up-to-theminute
news.
• www.fertilityfriend.com
The internet can give us in-depth
fertility education from others who have
been there - often far more practical than
impersonal advice in a book, and with an
eye-opening international perspective.
Renowned for its charting software
that enables prospective mothers to plot
accurately their fertile point in the month.
Ad free, and free to join.
• www.peeonastick.com
A comprehensive collection of home pregnancy
test and ovulation predictor kit information
and images. The perfect back-up for home
scientists!
© Yuri Arcurs / iStockphoto.com
“The kit had advised us to leave the
semen to liquefy for 20 minutes in a
sample pot before inserting it, but the
GP stressed that as sperm die quickly, it
should be kept warm and inserted as
quickly as possible. He was completely
matter of fact and supportive and even
demonstrated how to release the syringe
properly”, says Jane.
Following the doctor’s advice, she and
her partner conceived on her next fertile
cycle. But the internet did also prove
invaluable to her. At the last minute, she
asked some fellow posters on a home
insemination board who had conceived
that way some questions: how long to
leave the syringe in for, whether to orgasm
after insemination, whether to lie on her
back or turn over? Their candid answers,
Jane feels, also helped her achieve success
- and precisely what had worked for
others was something her GP could not
have told her.
The internet can give us in-depth
fertility education from others who have
been there - often far more practical than
impersonal advice in a book, and with
an eye-opening international perspective.
But equally, when we take advice from
a site on the worldwide web, we are
entrusting our health to strangers, many
of whom are completely misinformed,
and none of whom know our health or
bear any responsibility towards us.
The consequences, if you are desperate
enough to follow a medically unqualified
person’s advice to try a certain pill or
potion, for example, can potentially be
extremely dangerous.
On balance, it is always advisable to
take professional, personalised medical
advice over that on any website, which is
likely to be overly generalised, out-ofdate,
or simply inaccurate. The information
and opinions on websites suggest
certain things are ‘normal’ and others
not, which can be very frightening,
whereas a doctor will often dismiss these
fears as irrelevant. Most of the time,
the doctor is right, but - and here’s
what’s good about the worldwide web of
fertility - there are also times when
people who have been in your shoes really
do know best.
• www.twoweekwait.com
The internet’s widest resource of clues,
signs and symptoms, all user-submitted
and in every part designed to help you
understand the clues you body offers.
• www.in-gender.com
A brilliant resource for those looking to improve
the odds of getting a certain gender, whilst
dealing with the range of post-birth emotions.
• www.mumsnet.com
A prolific and mammoth resource, relevant
along the whole timeline, from those looking
to conceive to others adapting to the patter
of not-so-tiny feet.
www.fertilityroad.com
47

FERTILITY ROAD
GUIDES/LAW
Helping you plan for every stage of your journey...
HAVING A
FAMILY BY
ADOPTION
by Naomi Angell of
Osbornes solicitors
Adoption can offer an opportunity
for parenthood to families who might
otherwise be childless. At the same
time it can give a child who faces
growing up in care without their own
family a loving and permanent family.
Adoption in the 21st Century
With the availability of abortion, contraception and society’s
acceptance of single motherhood, young babies are now rarely
relinquished for adoption particularly as compared to the situation
50 years ago. The traditional adoptive family has also changed as
reforms in adoption law mean that not only married couples but
also single people, unmarried and same sex couples can adopt.
There are also many children within the care system in need of
adoptive families. For many of these children in care, the promise
of a fulfilled and successful life reduces the longer they remain in
care. But adoption has been proved to give them what every child
needs to grow up successfully into adulthood.
Before the new Adoption and Children Act 2002 came into
force, even after a child had been placed for adoption with a family,
there was no certainty that either the family or the child would
have a smooth passage through the court system to the making of
an adoption order. Birth parents were able to withdraw consent
to the adoption right up to the Court room door or contest the
adoption despite the fact that the Court had already decided,
months or even years earlier, that the parents would not be able
to care for their child. It was consequently always a worrying and
very stressful process.
The Adoption and Children Act 2002 brought in a much higher
degree of certainty so that once a child has been placed with
a prospective adoptive family, an adoption order will almost
definitely be made. The birth parents now have very limited ability
to intervene, as their opportunity to do so is much earlier on in
the process, when the child was first taken into care.
With virtually all the uncertainty removed, the adoptive family
can now devote themselves to getting to know the new member of
their family and giving the child the secure and loving permanent
family that has until then been denied to them.
First Steps to Adopting
A family interested in adoption is likely to start their journey by
contacting their local authority adoption unit or by responding to
a local authority advert seeking adoptive families for the children
in their care or for a specific child available for adoption.
Many of the children will be sibling groups, children with
special needs or children with troubled early childhoods. The
young babies available for adoption may well have been removed
from parents with drug or alcohol problems.
This might sound a daunting prospect. However thorough
adoption preparation and social work support means that many
families who originally might have doubted their ability to parent
other than a very young child to whom they are biologically
related, find that they have untapped skills and enthusiasm for
this different type of parenting.
What is important is that an adoptive family is able to meet
the needs of the individual child and consequently, prospective
adopters must be assessed by an adoption agency as to whether
they are suitable to adopt the children available for adoption.
The assessment or home study process is a thorough investigation
by a social worker which includes looking at the family’s
background, values, aspirations for their adopted child and their
ability to meet the needs of children who are within the care system.
The home study report will be considered by the adoption agency’s
adoption panel, which the family are encouraged to attend to
answer any outstanding questions.
Again, families can feel daunted by the prospect and feel it
unfair that they must undertake this process for adoption when, if
they were able to have their own children, no outside body would
be involved in deciding whether they would be suitable parents.
This alone can dissuade families from considering adoption.
However, families who have been through the assessment
process frequently report how interesting and constructive they
have found it, giving them many skills for bringing up their future
children and an understanding of parenthood, which would be
helpful for any family and not just for adopters.
Once assessed as suitable adopters, the adoption agency will
then help the family find the right child for them.
48 fertility road | november - december

Supporting Adoptive Parents through
the Adoption and Beyond
The Adoption and Children Act 2002 has also brought in an
adoption support package to help the adoptive family in meeting
their adopted child’s needs. This may be in the form of a payment
of a regular adoption allowance which opens the door to adoption
to families of all means. The adoption support package can also
include the provision of professional advice and support with
birth family contact.
Continuing contact between a child and their birth family is
another change encouraged by the 2002 Act. For older children who
have continuing relationships with their birth families, birth family
contact may well be important. Contact may be ‘direct’ contact with
regular or occasional meetings with birth family members, or indirect
by the exchange of letters and photographs through the adoption
agency’s letterbox contact service. If contact with birth parents is not
thought to be in the child’s best interests, there may be the possibility
of contact between a child and their siblings or grandparents.
During the adoption assessment, prospective adopters will learn
how they can provide a settled secure home to children and where
this is considered to be in the child’s best interest, plus how to manage
some form of contact for the child with their birth families.
Many adoptive families bear witness to the joy and satisfaction
that adoption has brought to both the children and adults involved.
It provides an opportunity of family life to children who
would not otherwise have had it and puts the adults on a journey
to parenthood which may be different than that originally
planned but one which may in many ways, be more fulfilling.
Naomi Angell specialises in children’s law and has particular
expertise in international and domestic adoption, children’s
cases with an immigration interface, child protection and
alternative reproduction cases, such as surrogacy.
She chairs the adoption panel of a national adoption agency
and has been closely involved in the parliamentary process
of the recent new adoption legislation. She is a Consultant
at Osbornes and qualified as a solicitor in 1973.
Contact her by email naomiangell@osbornes.net or call
020 7485 8811 or visit www.osbornes.net
Delhi IVF Fertility and Research Centre, was one
of the first test-tube baby clinics established in
India and has gained international recognition as
a state-of-the-art comprehensive facility providing
a complete range of fertility procedures under one
roof in the heartland of New Delhi.
Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI)
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Surrogate Mothers
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Alternative Family Law
• children
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• pre-nuptial agreements
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3 Southwark Street
London SE1 1RQ
T 020 7407 4007
F 020 7407 4008
E andrea@alternativefamilylaw.co.uk
www.alternativefamilylaw.co.uk

At MFP we understand all that it is to be a new parent with all
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child is financially secure, whatever the future holds for you all.
Fertility Road readers can benefit from a Free Financial Review via phone, email or in
person at a time to suit you (before or after baby comes), just contact us below or via
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FERTILITY ROAD
GUIDES/ FINANCE
Helping you plan for every stage of your journey...
PUTTING A PRICE
ON SOMETHING
PRICELESS...
© Rosemarie Gearhart / iStockphoto.com
Much is often said about the cost of having children,
and by that, the assumption is made that it’s
the price of nappies, nursery, schooling fees,
PlayStations and university textbooks that counts.
But for many couples, some of the biggest costs come before
birth – a long time before. And though IVF success rates are on the
rise, it is an expense which, ultimately, may not even yield that
very special and individual reward that parents the world over crave.
Assisted Reproduction Therapy (ART) remains at the forefront of
modern science, and with that insight comes a reflective price tag.
Indeed, cost is often marked as the governing factor in the type
and design of infertility treatments that couples undertake, with
a typical IVF cycle costing, on average, £6,300, and the expense
of fertility hormones adding a further £2,500 onto that total.
When it comes to budgeting for such treatments, very few can.
And in fairness, very few ever would have had the foresight to. After
all, fertility problems, (barring hereditary clues) are very rarely
consequences that a couple would have put money to one side for.
Yet given the considerable costs involved, not to mention the
financial constraints of a weak economic situation, more and
more experts are warning that couples must consider seriously
(and budget accordingly) when it comes to seeking private
fertility treatment.
Thankfully, the UK market is well equipped to advise, with the
first point of contact being a fertility specialist. The time to visit
one is when attempts to fall pregnant have proved unsuccessful
after a year for couples under 35, six months for those over 35,
and any length of time for those over 40.
The fertility specialist will, first and foremost, discuss cost, isolating
potential treatment plans whilst charting realistic financial facts
that will mean that, when your little bundle of joy does arrive into
the world, he or she isn’t instantly saddled with a legacy of credit
card debt that you’ll still be paying off when they reach adulthood.
Seeing a reproductive endocrinologist (an expert in hormones)
will also help you save time and money, as well as going some way
to helping alleviate stress, worry, nerves and indecision – factors
that some experts believe can muddy the progress of even quite
straightforward IVF processes.
While many couples will dip into reserves or borrow in order to
fund fertility treatment, it’s worth checking your health insurance
terms to see if your provider caters for infertility. Only one in four
cover ART methods, though rather more will at least fund early
investigations into diagnostic infertility tests.
It’s also worth checking out companies who offer paybacks,
guarantees and refunds if fertility treatment proves unsuccessful,
while participation in clinical trials can also provide a wellmonitored
if slightly unconventional (and by no means worry-free)
process by which prospective couples can potentially save tens of
thousands of pounds.
As with anything, your best point of reference for all initial fertility
funding discussions is your primary care physician or obstetriciangynaecologist,
whereby they will recommend options and refer you.
And always be certain to use friends, reference items and the world’s
biggest resource for information and advice – the internet – when
judging and assessing what you feel is the best option for you.
Support is always at hand in so many different guises, and with
the stress of fertility woes coupled with a financial backdrop that
will seem more terrifying with every cycle, there will come a time
when you will undoubtedly need it. But use it and make the most
out of it, because the rewards are truly priceless.
www.fertilityroad.com
51

FERTILITY ROAD | Rosjurconsulting
INTELLIGENT PROFILE
FROM
RUSSIA
WITH
LOVE
Konstantin Svitnev from Family and
Reproductive Law Firm Rosjurconsulting
talks to Fertility Road about Surrogacy
and fertiltiy treatments in Russia
With changing laws in the anonymity of donor
eggs in the UK, parents-to-be are seeking further
afield for their dreams to come true. Russia offers
one of the most advantageous approaches towards
reproduction in Europe, allowing the possibility of parenthood
to everybody.
The legal situation around assisted reproductive treatment in
Russia is very favourable as well where surrogacy, gamete and
embryo donation are all without restrictions.
Konstantin Svitnev is the General Manager of Rosjurconsulting,
the first Russian and International Family and Reproductive Law
firm in the Russian Federation, and is also the founder of the
Reproductive Law and Ethics Research Centre based in Moscow.
His main involvement, since 1991, has been in reproductive law
and the legal challenges and controversies in the area of assisted
human reproduction.
He explains that “In Russia, marital status is irrelevant, single
women and married couples are treated the same; the same
refers to single men too…”
“A birth certificate is issued to the names of the intended
parents, and the surrogate’s name is never mentioned”
In light of this, single women and men can also become parents
through surrogacy in Russia as they also allow the one parents
name on the birth certificate, as this is the only country in Europe
where this is legal.
“Single intended parents regardless of their age,
sex or sexual orientation can implement their right
for parenthood through surrogacy in Russia”
In Russia foreigners have the same rights for
assisted reproduction as Russians, so parents-to-be
will automatically obtain a Russian birth certificate
with their names on and can leave for home
within 3 days of the child’s birth.
At Rosjurconsulting they believe that everyone
has the right to have a child, and that has been
their policy for 7 consecutive years.
As Konstantin Svitnev explains;
“The right to procreate should not depend on
gender, family, age or sexuality. It is a natural right
of any person. Refusing to allow childless people to
become parents means refusing to treat them equally
and is an example of selective discrimination.”
Travelling for treatment is almost a given in
many cases and liberal legislation makes Russia
very attractive for reproductive tourists looking for
interventions that are not available in their home
countries. Prospective parents go to Russia when
surrogacy is considered, because of marital status (single men and
women) or advanced age. Costs play a big part of the process, and
in Russia, remain lower than in the EU or US.
Russia has no waiting lists for their clients for both surrogacy
and egg donation. Any successful surrogacy program requires
cooperation between qualified doctors, professional lawyers and
experienced managers. Working with the Vita Nova IVF clinic in
Moscow, Rosjurconsulting offers an all inclusive surrogacy package
covering all medical and organizational services upto the child’s
birth when the parents can leave for home with their new born.
Rosjurconsulting are the first to introduce a 'Baby Guarantee
plan, in which the surrogacy program will be continued until the
live birth without extra charge regardless of number of IVF and
embryo transfer attempts – even in the case of spontaneous
abortion, still pregnancy or still birth. Money is always an issue
and intended parents should know the exact amount they are
going to be spending from the start.
Russia is also one of the very few countries where posthumous
surrogacy can be implemented, by which mothers who have lost
their sons are allowed to have grandchildren.
For more information head to www.jurconsult.ru/en
FIRST IVF CLINIC IN RUSSIA SPECIALIZED IN
SURROGACY AND EGG DONATION (INDIVIDUAL
AND ANONYMOUS) FOR INTERNATIONAL CLIENTS.
Couples and Single intended parents
All-inclusive packages
Baby-Guaranteed plan
Legal protection
No waiting list
English-speaking staff
www.vitanovaclinic.ru
4 Bulvar Generala Karbysheva, 123154 Moscow, Russia • Tel: +7-926-823-23-04
e-mail: info@vitanovaclinic.ru • Skype: vitanovaclinic • Follow @vitanovaclinic on Twitter

FERTILITY ROAD
GUIDES/REFLEXOLOGY
Helping you plan for every stage of your journey...
TREADING
A NEW
PATH OF
FERTILITY...
© MorePixels / iStockphoto.com
If a word ends in ‘ology’ there’s a good chance that at some
point, and in some way, its science has been linked to that of
fertility. Patients will pursue the dream of having a family
with the same veracity as specialists seeking to unravel the
secrets of the human body, but should reflexology be added to the
list of alternative remedies that hold their own when it comes to
providing trusted routes to parenthood?
Maybe so. An increasing number of women are claiming significant
results having experimented with this popular type of foot
massage - a technique and approach that dates way back to the
ancient Egyptians and Chinese, and one that uses pressure points
on the feet (and hands), in doing so unblocking channels and freeing
up the flow of positive vibes around the body.
Scientific investigations remain disparate, but the theory is that
the sole of the foot, in particular, acts as a map for the inner workings
of the body. It therefore follows that particular points on the foot,
if manipulated in a skilled and knowledgeable way, can send
therapeutic, repairing vibes to the brain regarding a woman’s egg
production, correcting imbalances and freeing up energy pathways.
Unlike other assisting techniques, there is no evidence whatsoever
that reflexology interferes negatively with any processes either before
or during pregnancy. Some reflexologists will refuse patients
in their first trimester, though this is thought to be for the reason of
protecting against adverse publicity that might errantly be linked
to the therapy in the event of miscarriage.
Instead, reflexology is best viewed as an exercise – something that
can be built up gradually to suit an individual’s taste and demands.
Renowned therapist Lynne Morgan was recently quoted as
saying: “Reflexology is very successful in the treatment of a wide
variety of pregnancy discomforts and conditions. It can be used for
relaxation and pain relief, and research has shown that women
who have regular reflexology treatments during pregnancy have
far shorter labours than those who don’t.”
In addition, research leans heavily towards the idea that reflexology
is excellent for maintaining or increasing milk supply, as well
as helping with postnatal depressing and general relaxation.
And the good news for those looking to explore more about
reflexology is that the technique’s reputation is very much being
endorsed by the NHS, with many healthcare professionals
recognising its incredible benefits.
Some maternity units have their own reflexologists either working
within the practice or accessible through it, so try asking your
midwife if she knows of any that your local Trust uses.
So what are the scientific numbers that have pushed this
relaxation art right forward into the consciousness of potential
participants? Well, the Association of Reflexologists recently
gathered feedback from their members, finding that over 50% of
clients seeking reflexology in connection with conception found
themselves pregnant within six months.
Of course, these figures are very difficult to quantify. A certain
proportion of that number would have fallen pregnant anyway,
while others will state that it is the calming effect or faith created
by and placed in reflexology that actually creates better conditions
with which to conceive, rather than the technique itself.
But reflexology has as worthy a place on the market as any of
the other alternative remedies, and given that it takes the form of
such a simple, non-intrusive process, its popularity is only
expected to increase.
www.fertilityroad.com 53

Q&A | zita west
EXPERT
WITNESS
WITH
ZITA WEST
Once again, our leading fertility expert Zita West
has taken the time to answer questions sent in
by readers through the Fertility Road website.
If you would like Zita’s advice on a fertility matter,
please log your question at www.fertilityroad.com
or email in to info@fertilityroad.com.
QMy doctor has recommended I start using a
drug called Clomiphene. I’ve had irregular
cycles and unexplained infertility for a while,
and she feels we could get some positive results on
both of those fronts by using the drug, but I’ve been
made aware of some side effects. I already suffer from
vertigo, could Clomiphene make it worse?
– Lisa-Marie Brossard , Nottingham
A
Clomiphene is usually used as a first line treatment
for women with irregular cycles, and also
if your progesterone level is low – your specialist
will have investigated this with tests.
Ideally you should be monitored while on Clomid to
check that you are responding to the dose that you were
given. This dose may be increased depending on how
you respond.
There are side effects with Clomid, and if you suffer
from vertigo it is worth discussing this with your doctor
first. As with all drugs and side effects, some people get
them and some don’t. For most women taking Clomid,
the side effects do improve after a few weeks.
54 fertility road | november - december

QI’ve just married the love of my life. I am 33 and in
good health, yet he is more than twice my age. So
much of fertility seems to be from the perspective of
the woman, but in this instance, should I be worried that the
quantity and quality of my husband’s sperm may be a cause
for some anxious times ahead in terms of getting pregnant?
– Sandeep Margat, Ramsgate
A
You don’t state if you want to start trying for a baby straight
away. If you are, it is worth having regular sex at least 2-3
times a week for the next 4-6 months and seeing what
happens before testing your partner. For every test there is a result,
and through my experience this can send you into a real panic if the
slightest thing is out of the normal range, which in turn can put a
lot of stress on a newly married relationship.
Many things affect male fertility so it’s best if he does not
smoke, does not drink alcohol to excess and eats a well balanced
diet. Male fertility does decline somewhat with age and many
men will benefit from taking a male fertility supplement. If it is
discovered that he has a fertility problem, there are many things
that can be done in terms of assisted fertility.
QWould having sex twice a day during my ‘window’
have any real greater effect on my chances of getting
pregnant than having sex just once a day? Thanks.
– Angela Edwards, Grantham
A
Having sex once a day is more than enough. Twice a day
can put a lot of pressure on your partner. Healthy sperm
can live for 3-5 days inside you, so aim to have sex at
least 3 times a week to ensure that there is plenty of sperm in the
fallopian tube ready to meet the egg once it’s released. A healthy
diet and lifestyle is very important also as this can have an impact
on the quality of the egg and sperm.
YOUR
BIG DAY
THE MOST POPULAR
DAY FOR A BABY TO
ARRIVE IS A WEDNESDAY
– 15% MORE BIRTHS
ON THIS DAY THAN
THE AVERAGE.
AND THE LEAST
POPULAR DAY?
SUNDAY!
QWe have researched what we believe to be two
excellent IVF clinics in India. We like the idea of
combining our pursuit of a family with a relaxing
trip, and I’ve always wanted to visit Asia, but are there
guarantees over technical knowledge and proficiency, and
are we being too ambitious when a clinic closer to home
may be a less stressful venture?
– Jonathan Welton, Skye
A
The idea of going overseas to combine your pursuit of
a family with a relaxing trip sounds nice in theory but
in practice can prove very different. Cultural differences,
language barriers and expectations can be incredibly stressful to
some, while in others the challenge is something that takes
them out of their normal state, and therefore takes the attention
away from the task in hand. Personally, I believe couples are
better off having a holiday and focusing on IVF separately at
home, but it really does depend on who you are and what type
of person you are. We are all different and we all enjoy different
challenges and experiences.
Zita West has given specialist fertility
and pregnancy advice for over 25 years, as
a midwife, an acupuncturist, a nutritional
advisor and as an author and consultant.
She has also written numerous books on fertility
and pregnancy, with her latest title - Zita West’s Guide
to Fertility and Assisted Conception - now available.
For more information on Zita, her London clinic or books,
visit www.zitawest.com
MORE
ABOUT
ZITA
WEST
© Jacob Wackerhausen / iStockphoto.com
www.fertilityroad.com
55

FERTILITY ROAD
GUIDES/ACUPUNCTURE
Helping you plan for every stage of your journey...
Yvonne Darnell, so-named
‘The Baby Whisperer’, looks
at acupuncture’s increasing
place in the world of fertility...
There are few alternative remedies that split opinion
in quite the way that acupuncture does. One of the
oldest and most practised forms of traditional Chinese
Medicine, it tends to provide determined schools of
thought in one direction or another. One camp sidelines it as a
holistic adventure without significant scientific backing, while in
other quarters it brings together in complete form the complexion
of systems that form a person’s physiology.
It is certainly the uniting of complex physical and emotional
states that brought record numbers to acupuncture last year,
a good percentage of whom were looking for answers to their
fertility conundrums.
For Yvonne Darnell, the Sussex-based acupuncturist, who has
been widely profiled and celebrated in the national press, acupuncture’s
power is without question. She has already helped over
100 couples achieve their fertility dreams, intervening at a point
where science had told them to turn their backs on the chances of
producing a family by conventional methods.
“People ask me to define acupuncture, and the best description
I can offer is that it presents a natural path down which the body
can heal itself. It is a drug-free solution that is cleansing and
thorough – so thorough that the practitioner’s aim is to identify and
treat not just the symptoms of the problem, but the cause as well.”
Acupuncture’s history goes back thousands of years, and it is a
credit to its resilience throughout times of massive change in
terms of medical and scientific advancements, that it remains as
highly regarded now as ever before. Its secret of longevity may
well be in its versatility.
That’s because no matter what the ailment, acupuncture technique
and application remains much the same, with deep principles of
treating the individual as a whole.
“Acupuncture serves such a wide range, but every person who
comes to see me is unique, and the treatment given will reflect
this,” Yvonne continues. “If several people turned up with a named
condition - for example PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), something
which has become very common - the severity of it and the
Acupuncture as a whole can
be a complementary treatment
to many ailments, but the specifics
of how it is used vary widely.
imbalances it produces will vary from person to person. The
responsibility is therefore that the diagnosis and point selection
will differ depending on what other underlying issues there are.
“Acupuncture as a whole can be a complementary treatment to
many ailments, but the specifics of how it is used vary widely.”
Its flexibility works too in terms of where along the fertility
timeline the woman (and indeed man) are. It is known to
encompass unexplained infertility, pre-conception care and
assisted conception support, plus low sperm parameters, PCOS,
endometriosis, ovulation issues, menstrual cycle irregularities
and recurrent miscarriage.
© Jacob Wackerhausen / iStockphoto.com
56 fertility road | november - december

“Treatments, if working alongside assisted conception
cycles, are recommended at certain times to support
the different phases of the drugs being given. And
acupuncture shouldn’t be mistaken for a treatment
used to assist only in getting pregnant. Its benefits
last throughout the gestation period, and beyond.
“For acupuncturists, it is the pregnancy itself that
dictates the level of treatment and when those treatments
happen, but the benefits are vast. This delicate,
beautiful time can also be plagued with discomfort
and malaise which can be very frustrating. At a time
when most medications can’t be taken, acupuncture
can bring great relief. Morning sickness, headache
and threatened miscarriage are physical symptoms
often supported, while emotionally, it helps with the
anxiety first time mums go through at various points.”
It is clear that attitudes to acupuncture have
progressed over the years. Even in its very use, it
has transformed from a preventative measure to
something used to cure.
“We now live in a society of trying to mend things
once they are broken,” Yvonne continues. “I think
therefore it only follows that acupuncture’s role has
altered over the years, but as practitioners we’re
keen to change those views back. We look after our
cars by having them serviced regularly, giving them
oil and water to keep them working, yet we seem to
forget to do these key things for ourselves.
“And science has really been behind acupuncture’s
recent resurgence. There have been several studies
undertaken and published in the British Medical
journal, most of which were extremely positive.
“There are always important distinctions to be
made though, because we are keen to emphasise the
fact that acupuncture is often intended as a complementary
benefit. Western medicine and research
is invaluable and can help in cases (for example if
someone has blocked, scarred fallopian tubes) that
acupuncture alone cannot, but where fertility is
concerned there seem to be no definitive answers.
So many people come to me diagnosed with unexplained infertility,
and there must be some explanation. Acupuncture has, on many
occasions, succeeded where other methods have failed, but there
is a long way to go to prevent the growing fertility problems for
all involved.
“But we are certainly in a good place now. I think a lot of recent
interest probably comes from increasing public awareness about
its benefits, either through the media or from working more
closely with Western medical professionals and their understanding
and acceptance. We are all nervous of the unknown, but those
who try acupuncture generally feel so good they wish they had
discovered it earlier.”
And many acupuncturists will charge as little as £50 for an
initial consultation. Naturally, prices of treatment vary according
to areas and the knowledge base of the practitioner. And as with
most things in life, you’re likely to pay more for a specialist based
on their background and experience.
“I think for those looking to take a step towards acupuncture
for the first time, the relationship with the practitioner is of great
I think for those looking to take
a step towards acupuncture for the
first time, the relationship with the
practitioner is of great importance.
importance,” Yvonne says. “After all, no matter what we do in
life, we all need to feel confident in someone’s ability, and be
able trust them.
“This is especially the case where fertility issues are concerned
as it involves discussing the most intimate part our lives. I would
recommend that anyone planning treatment should contact the
British Acupuncture Council to get a list of practitioners in their
area. Ask what experience they have working with fertility, their
success rates, how they could help with their particular problems,
and what to expect from their first visit. This will give a good
sense of who is right for them.”
For more information
about Unity Fertility,
contact Yvonne on
01444 235400 or visit
www.unityfertility.co.uk
Fo
Un
Yv
vis
uk
www.fertilityroad.com
57

Nicosia IVF located in North Cyprus combines beautiful bays,
enchanting sights & sunny climate all year round, making it
an ideal get-away for your fertility treatments, including:
IVF – ICSI treatment - IVF is a procedure being performed since
1978 in the world. It is an important solution for couples who suffer
from ovulation problems, sperm problems, uterine problems and
also from unknown reasons.
Egg Donation Program - Egg donation is widely popular because
success rates are greater compared to regular IVF treatments. Our clinic
does not do egg sharing and use all eggs of a woman for the same patient
PGD Sex Selection - PGD (pre implantation genetic diagnosis) is an
embryology technique that actually can detect chromosomal problems,
single – gene diseases and save a child from serious illnesses...
Advantages of having an IVF
treatment in Northern Cyprus
• No waiting lines
• Availibility of maximum 3 embryo
transfer at the blastocyst stage
• Availability of Egg donation,
sperm donation, embryo
donation, and PGD procedures
• Modern Technology, high
success rates
• Get-away environment will relax
the couple during this treatment
• English Speaking Personnel
info@nicosiaivf.co.uk tel: 020 8133 31 21 www.nicosiaivf.co.uk
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58 fertility road | november - december

SCIENCE | sperm dna fragmentation
SPERM DNA
FRAGMENTATION
By Dr Preben Christensen,
from SPZ Lab in Denmark
© Sebastian Kaulitzki / shutterstock.com
Recently, there has been increased
emphasis on the evaluation of
sperm quality. Much of this has
been due a growing realisation
that a sperm or semen test is actually of
limited value.
Sperm, in essence, act as little more
than vehicles by which DNA is carried
from the male to the female egg. Only
very few make it to their goal, and along
the way a potentially damaging process is
undertaken, where the protein blocks
designed to protect the sperm can very often
fail, leaving DNA susceptible to damage
and at risk of becoming fragmented.
There have been significant recent studies
into DNA fragmentation, and I have outlined
below the latest findings into an area of
fertility previous not given the attention it
perhaps deserves.
Historically, infertility has been a problem
that was believed to originate solely from
the woman. About 300 years ago, people
were pretty sure that “what father does
is always right!” The Dutchman Nicolas
Hartsoecker was one of the first to look at
a sperm sample under the microscope. He
drew a ‘Homunculus’, a small child in the
head of the sperm cell, and the belief was
that anything produced by the man would
have to be perfect.
This example tells us that one of our
problems when trying to understand new
research is our entire perception of the
problem! Thus, approximately 75% of all
women believe that it can only be the
woman that is the problem when a fertilised
egg does not implant in the uterus.
And that is despite the fact that nowadays
most men are aware of the fact that
sperm quality can be a problem. Indeed, in
approximately every fourth childless couple,
the reason for the involuntary childlessness
is DNA fragmentation in the sperm cells.
The vast majority of these men have
normal sperm quality, the problem being
that you cannot see when the genome (the
DNA) is not packed properly in the sperm
cell. The concentration of sperm cells can
be fine, they are swimming properly and
can easily fertilise the egg. However, the
fertilised egg is still doomed to perish. The
reason for this is that the genome from the
sperm cell has been damaged (fragmented)
during the long journey to the egg. The
egg might be able to carry out small
repairs of the sperm cell’s DNA, but major
damage is fatal for the further development
of the egg. In other words, the woman’s
eggs might be perfectly fine – but with a
fragmented genome in the sperm cells, the
fertilisation will not result in a viable foetus.
The most extensive study carried out
so far regarding the significance of DNA
fragmentation in sperm cells was conducted
by Mona Bungum at Malmø University
Hospital and was published in 2007 in the
journal Human Reproduction. The study
was based on 998 treatment cycles, where
the couples received either IUI, IVF or ICSI
Historically, infertility has been a problem that
was believed to originate solely from the woman.
About 300 years ago, people were pretty sure
that “what father does is always right!”
treatment. Mona showed that the DNA
fragmentation index (DFI) was above 25 for
approximately 27% of the infertile couples
in her study. At this level itz is basically
impossible to get the wished-for child
through IUI treatment. For approximately
5% of the couples, the DFI was above 50.
At this level, IVF treatment will not have
the desired result either. In other words,
this is a very frequent problem.
It’s also something of a hidden problem,
because when the fertilised egg starts
splitting, the first breaks take place without
any influence from the genome of the sperm
cell. Not until there are eight cells does the
egg start drawing on information from the
sperm cell.
»
www.fertilityroad.com
59

SCIENCE | sperm dna fragmentation
The process of developing a small child lasts through the first three
months of the pregnancy, and during that period the process can be
likened to reading a small manual: ‘How to make a baby’, if you will.
Half the pages of this manual come from the egg and the other half
come from the sperm cell. The manual might have 300 pages, and
all pages have to be intact in order to get the desired result. But
what if page 28 or 268 has been torn (fragmented)? What happens
then? The answer is that if page 28 is damaged, the development of
the egg stops early in the process. The egg might have looked fine
when the fertility specialist inserted it in the uterus, but after a short
while, the development stalls, and the egg does not implant. Thus,
in some cases, DNA fragmentation in the sperm cells can be the
reason that biochemical pregnancy is achieved and then later lost.
By the same logical process, if page 268 in the manual is damaged,
the DNA fragmentation will result in an abortion later in the pregnancy.
Damage to the genome does not always result in the development
of the egg stalling. In some cases, the egg can repair the damage
to the DNA of the sperm cell, but much new research indicates
that faults are not always repaired properly. This means that
some children can be born with genetic damage caused by DNA
fragmentation in the sperm cells - for example, disorders such as
autism or schizophrenia.
Of course, we are all constantly made aware of the fact that the
biological clock is ticking for women, while conversely, the story
of Charlie Chaplin and others becoming fathers at an advanced
ages are common. However, recent research shows that the biological
clock does also apply to men.
A group of American researchers under the leadership of Andrew
Wyrobek discovered in 2006 that if the man is 48-years-old or
older, there is a 50% likelihood that he can no longer fertilise a
woman. The group of researchers found out that this is, amongst
other things, caused by DNA fragmentation in the sperm cells,
which increases as the man gets older. It therefore cannot be ruled
out that a man who has produced children in a previous relationship
is now infertile due to DNA fragmentation of his sperm cells.
The fact that the same man apparently has a normal sperm
quality and quantity, and the fact that the woman has achieved
a biochemical pregnancy, do not exclude the reality that the
problem exists in the sperm.
When Nicolas Hartsoecker looked under the microscope in
1695, he was sure that all fertility problems must be caused by the
woman, but we know now that the situation is somewhat different.
More than 300 years later, the reason for involuntary childlessness
can just as often be found in the man as in the woman.
And we shouldn’t be surprised. The sperm cell is, after all, up there
with the most fragile cell in the entire human body. If the genome is
packed poorly and is damaged (the reasons for which can be found
on the right in the fact box), the sperm cell is most likely doomed.
There is a lot of progress in DNA fragmentation research involving
sperm cells at the moment, and even though it seems that men
are not what they used to be, there is some underlying good news.
In many cases, the packing of the genome can be improved if
the cause is treated. Where this cause is and how it comes about
requires greater investigation, but we know it takes at least three
months before any advancement can be detected.
Although definite progress for patients is slow, research in
this field within the labs continues at great speed, and there is
considerable promise that the years to come will offer a new
world of information and optimism.
Facts regarding reasons for
genome in sperm cells being
packed poorly, resulting in the
possibility of DNA fragmentation:
THE PHYSICIAN CAN EXAMINE AND
TREAT YOU FOR THE FOLLOWING:
Leukocytospermia:
High white blood cell count in the sperm.
Diabetes:
Diabetes or pre-diabetes (hyperinsulinaemia).
Varicocele:
Abnormal enlargement of the veins from the testicles.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Temperature:
The normal temperature of the scrotum is 33.3ºC and can be
increased for many reasons. Avoid hot baths or spa. Avoid tight
underwear and pants. Place the portable computer on the table
instead of on your lap. Turn down the heat in the car seat. High
fever, for example in connection with flu, can also cause problems.
Smoking:
Quit smoking, if you can.
Overweight:
Maintain a healthy diet. Weight loss is a good idea if your BMI is
above 25. Changes in the diet can also reduce hyperinsulinaemia
and result in better packing of the genome in the sperm cells.
Medicine:
Many medicines cause problems. If you are taking medicine,
you should inform your fertility specialist of this. Cholesterolreducing
medicine, stomach ulcer remedies and antidepressants
have a well-known negative effect. Regarding many types of
medicine, we currently do not know whether they affect the
packing of the genome in the sperm cells.
Mobile phone:
Radiation from mobile phones causes problems. When you
have it on you, it should be in your breast pocket and not
your trouser pocket.
WHAT IS DIFFICULT TO CHANGE?
Age:
Already having had children unfortunately provides no
guarantees that problems won’t come about in future.
The environment:
Air pollution, pesticides plus various chemicals can cause
problems. Always adhere to safety precautions when dealing
with chemicals and pesticides. Remember to rinse vegetables
and wipe off fruit.
60 fertility road | november - december

FERTILITY ROAD | |IRTSA
NEW SCIENCE
REPRODUCTIVE
OPTIONS FOR
HIV-POSTIVE
PARENTS
By Lyudmyla Smahina, CEO
of International Reproductive
Technologies Support Agency.
The Invention of antiretroviral therapy has allowed
HIV-infected people to enjoy an active lifestyle for a
longer time and think about having children. Up-to-date
reproductive medicine has also highlighted this group
of patients. On top of that, long-awaited parenthood is now
possible not only for HIV-positive couples (one partner infected)
but for concordant parents (both partners infected) as well.
For an infected man, insemination or IVF with a donor sperm
is considered the safest. However, there is a problem of legal
limitations imposed on such practices in many European countries.
Also, it is often more intolerable for a man to recognize the absence
of genetic relation to a child than it is for a woman. If to consider
adoption as an alternative option then HIV infection complicates
the procedure or in some cases can make it absolutely impossible.
Other more reasonable ways tend to include various methods of
artificial fertilization depending on the reproductive health of a
couple. These cover intrauterine insemination (IUI), in-vitro fertilization
(IVF) or ICSI. The latter two methods are considered more
efficient as they eliminate close contact between an egg and a sperm.
Techniques for sperm clean-up represent distinctive feature of
the programmes. First inseminations using cleaned sperm cells
were performed in Italy (1989) and Germany (1991). From 1991
to 2003 application of these methods gave birth to 500 children.
Sperm washing is a term used to describe the process of cleaning
masculine germ cells from the virus as it is only the surface of the
sperm and not the sperm itself that is affected. Research has shown
that virus infects only plasma sperm, core cells and immobile
sperm cells. Mobile vital sperm cells are not infected. To detect
such sperm cells, sperm Is mixed with a special liquid with
high density. Then, it is divided into three elements and place
into a medical centrifuge. Adding salt solution results in the
emerging of active sperm cells on the surface which is then taken for
fertilization preceded by tests on the presence of the virus applying
high-sensitive methods (sensitivity threshold is 10 pattern/ml).
However, there is a possibility that HIV content in the material
can be lower than the sensitivity threshold. Therefore, one can
not guarantee that this method is 100% safe.
Unfortunately, the sperm washing method is not accessible in every
country. In Great Britain, there are only a few clinics that deal with
this, while France has recently approved the right of HIV-infected
people for IVF. The same law has been introduced in Italy
and Spain as well. In Germany this service is even included in
medical insurance while in Sweden it is completely controlled
and sponsored by the government.
As far as a HIV positive woman is concerned, there is a chance
of a so-called vertical virus transference from mother to a child
which is possible during pregnancy child delivery, and breast
feeding. In 25-40% of such cases HIV is transferred during gestation.
This becomes possible because of vulnerability of the placental
barrier in the result of which the virus can penetrate from
the mothers blood into that if the child.
According to the World Health Organisation a chance of vertical
transference amounts to 20-30%. Under conditions of special
nursing and feeding with milk mixtures the risk decreases to
2-5%. Less continual delivery as well as C-section operations are
also recommended for such obstetric patients.
Thus, the success of the programme depends on three factors:
antiretrovirus therapy, planned cesarean operation and artificial
feeding. However, such medical services are normally difficult to
receive. Many European medical centers offer IVF services only
for those couples where a man is an infected person. Significant
challenges are also faced by concordant couples.
It would be appropriate to note ethical, psychological and social
aspects of implementation and outcomes of highly mentioned
reproductive programs. Many people are curious how living with
one or two HIV-positive parents can influence the child. There
is no doubt that such couples will be very careful in their daily
routine doing their best to avoid any chance of infection.
For more information about
IRTSA’s services, please contact:
Phone: +38 (044) 223-51-13
E-mail: info@irtsa.com.ua
www.irtsa.com.ua/en
www.fertilityroad.com
61

READER STORY | letter from the heart
LETTER
FROM
THE HEART:
JANET’S
STORY
‘‘
This month, Janet Murray, an
Education Journalist based in
Kent, speaks about her journey
towards motherhood, and the
challenges thereafter...
I
always wanted a big family, so when I got married to my
husband Ed in 2003, we started trying for children straight
away. I’d just turned 30 and it never crossed my mind I
might have trouble conceiving.
When I hadn’t fallen pregnant after a year, I went to see my GP,
who did some routine blood tests. He rang a few days later to say
the tests had shown my liver wasn’t functioning normally and he
was going to refer me to a consultant.
After a painful liver biopsy, I learned I had a condition called
Autoimmune Hepatitis, a disease in which the body attacks the
liver and causes it to become inflamed. Left untreated, the condition
can lead to liver failure.
Although in my case, the disease was in the early stages - which
is why I hadn’t experienced any symptoms - I would have to stay
on medication for life. While it wouldn’t be impossible for me to
fall pregnant, my consultant explained that fertility problems
were common in women with liver disease.
While I was relieved my condition had been diagnosed at an early
stage, I was devastated that I might not be able to fall pregnant
naturally. Then, just as I was coming to terms with the news, I was
rushed into hospital with pancreatitis, a potentially life-threatening
condition in which the pancreas becomes inflamed, after developing
an allergic reaction to the drugs I was on. Physically, I recovered
quickly, but emotionally I felt drained. I couldn’t help wondering
what else life could throw at me.
However, in July 2004 I received the news I’d been hoping for. I
was pregnant. But 11 weeks into the pregnancy, I started to bleed.
My GP referred me for a scan and the sonographer confirmed the
baby had stopped growing, at just eight weeks gestation.
Nothing could have prepared me for the misery of miscarriage.
I knew of friends and colleagues who had experienced it, but like
many people, I was ignorant. I thought it was something you ‘got
over’ like a bad bout of flu or a minor operation.
She could experience
any number of complications
from a collapsed lung to a
brain haemorrhage.
I didn’t venture out of the house for weeks. And when I could
finally face the world, I felt I was going to burst into tears at any
moment. It was months before I was back to my old self.
In April 2005, I found out I was pregnant again. Although I was
delighted, I was scared something would go wrong. But my worries
began to ease when we saw our baby bouncing away on the screen
at my 12-week scan.
But At 28 weeks, my waters broke. I was taken, by ambulance, to
Kings College Hospital in south London, where I was given steroid
injections to delay the labour. Doctors explained that I would have
to stay in hospital until the baby was born and that every extra day
of pregnancy would give my baby a better chance of survival.
62 fertility road | november - december

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My daughter Katy was born five days later, weighing just
two-and-a-half pounds. She was immediately transferred to the
intensive care ward. Doctors explained that although she was in
good shape, the next 48 hours would be critical, and she could
experience any number of complications from a collapsed lung
to a brain haemorrhage.
When I first saw her, about six hours later, she seemed so frail
and vulnerable lying in her incubator with wires coming out of
every part of her body. When I’d thought about bringing my
baby into the world, I’d imagined me proudly pushing her
around her new pram. Instead, I was staring at her through a
plastic box and having to ask permission to hold my own child.
But as the weeks went by, Katy got stronger, and in December,
nearly 12 weeks after her birth, we finally took her home.
In May 2006, when Katy was just eight months old, I discovered
I was pregnant again. I was shocked, but also delighted. Surely
we deserved some luck this time around?
But a few days later, I started to bleed. My GP ran blood tests,
which showed low levels of the pregnancy hormone HCG, which
suggested the pregnancy was failing. I resigned myself to
another miscarriage.
Weeks later, I was still bleeding and, although I couldn’t put
my finger on it, something just didn’t feel right. I went back to
my GP who referred me for a scan, which showed it was an ectopic
pregnancy, a life-threatening condition in which the foetus
implants outside of the womb. If it ruptures, as is common with
the condition, it can cause massive internal bleeding.
I was prepared for theatre immediately and investigative surgery
showed I had a rare type of ectopic pregnancy, known as
‘cornual,’ where the foetus implants in the junction between the
womb and fallopian tubes.
The surgeon explained that removing a pregnancy from this area
carries a high risk of catastrophic internal bleeding and performing
a full hysterectomy would be the only way to remove the pregnancy
safely. To avoid this, I could take a drug call Methotrexate,
under close observation, to try and ‘dissolve’ the pregnancy.
Faced with the prospect of a hysterectomy at 31, I opted for
the drugs. It took several months and endless trips back and
forth to the hospital, but in late August I finally got the ‘all clear.’
After a miscarriage and premature baby, it seemed like bad luck,
but doctors reassured me both my fallopian tubes were intact
and I would still be able to fall pregnant in the future.
But four years later, my friends were onto their second and
even third babies, and I still hadn’t fallen pregnant again. I went
back to my GP, who referred me for tests.
Earlier this year, a hysterosalpingogram showed that one of
my tubes was blocked. I am now waiting for a hysteroscopy, but
my consultant thinks it is likely that the ectopic pregnancy has
caused tubal damage and scarring.
I am 36 now and with only one tube working. Combine that
factor with an autoimmune disease that affects my fertility, and
we realise that IVF may well be our only option. And given my
previous history, there is a big question mark over whether I
could carry a baby to term.
People are usually quite sympathetic to women who can’t
conceive a first baby. But when you can’t conceive a second,
people can be quite dismissive. I’ve lost count of the number of
people who have said to me ‘well at least you’ve got one.’
My daughter is five now and has no long lasting problems as a
result of her prematurity. We feel so grateful to have her, but it
doesn’t ease the longing for a second baby.
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Weywelcomeyyouytoythey2 nd yInternationalyCross-borderyreproductiveycareymeetingywhichypresentsyoutstandingy
speakersyandyextraordinaryyscientificyreportsyhighlightingythisyrapidlyyexpandingyareayofyinterest.yAsymoreyandy
moreypatientsychooseytoytravelyfromyoneycountryytoyanotheryseekingymoreyaffordableyhighyqualityyreproductivey
care,y seriousy concernsy arey raised.y y Thesey includey ay multitudey ofy medical,y yethical,y ylegal,y yregulatoryy andy
psychologicalyaspects.
Theyparticipantsyofythisyexcitingymeetingywillylookyatywaysytoyimproveyaccessytoyvenuesyofferingyhighyqualityy
reproductiveyservicesywhileyadvancingyqualityyofycareysafeguards.
DanielyS.ySeidmany y y DominiqueydeyZieglery y GautamyAllahbadia
Chairman,yyScientificyCommitteey y HonoraryyPresidenty y Chairman,yyInternationalyFaculty
Partial List of Topics
• y Howycanyweyimproveyaccessytoyadvancedyreproductiveycareytoyallynations?
• y Mappingytheyglobalyneedsyforyreproductiveycare
• y Identifyingybarriersyforycross-borderyreproductiveyneeds
• y ARTyregulationyunderyinternationalyconsensus
• y Crossyborderygestationalysurrogacy:yprovidingyopportunityyoryexploitationyofytheypoor
• y CostyversusyqualityyassuranceyinyglobalyART.
• y Worldwideygameteydonation:yfulfillingyanyundeniableyneedyoryayformyofyorganytrafficking?
• y MoreyTopics...y
More information is available at:
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Abstract
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Deadline:
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Secretariat: Paragon-Conventions
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Dear Reader,
Special offer to all readers of Fertility Road
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You too could increase your success rate dramatically
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Find out how my clients have easily achieved
these results by getting your free copy today.
Some of the things you’ll find in the book:
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•Two treatment methods that increase pregnancy success to 70%
•Men’s and women’s programmes to follow at home step by step
•An important area that could be preventing you from having a baby
My best wishes, Andrew Loosely – UK Natural Fertility Expert
To claim your FREE copy visit: www.NaturalFertilityExpert.com

FERTILITY ROAD
BOOKS
Our review of the latest fertility titles…
Frozen
- Mike Butcher
BAAF Books, £7.95
The journey through ‘Frozen’ can be detailed
quite succinctly within the opening few
pages. In the introduction we’re introduced
to Mike Butcher, a prolific writer and editor
through such titles as Judge Dredd, Red Dwarf
and 2000AD. I’m fearful of what may follow...
Then, on the opening page, there’s an
email from Mike’s wife, Lesley, to a friend,
dating back some years, in which she writes:
“Mike is getting really stressed with this
course of IVF. I’ve never seen him like this
before... People don’t think much of how
much it hurts the men, they only think of
the women.”
It’s a profound contrast, because it speaks
volumes of how IVF affects everyone,
enveloping all before them in its hope, be
that well placed or misplaced. Comic book
aficionado or nuclear scientist, the subject
is as pertinent to one man as it is another,
and this journey details the highs, the lows,
and the promise of future smiles.
‘Frozen’ proves that when IVF goes wrong
- not only with life-changing, but potentially
life-ending consequences – there are still
answers, even to the most painful of
questions. And the results are emotional...
Making Babies
- Theresa Miller
Available at Amazon.co.uk
How many couples going through the
process of baby-making ever feel they are
truly in control? Of course, part of the thrill
can be knowing that you are not, but for all
those tackling the more stressful footnotes
of fertility, ‘Fertile Thinking’ is an excellent
guide, one that wrestles back control and
empowers those wishing to call the shots.
Renowned expert Anya Sizer and author
Cat Dean team up to produce a unique,
practical guide, specifically aimed at women
experiencing difficulties. The premise here
is not on advice, support and counselling,
more in being able to remove those going
through the process from the hard and fast
facts – a journey from diagnosis of infertility
to a place where they can feel happier and
more in control of their lives.
Many are of the opinion that unless a
fertility book offers some radical new
blueprint or slant, then it’s much like the
one that has gone before, but this title really
is aiming at the everlasting psychological
imprint that the subject makes on us. The
question is whether that imprint becomes
a scar to be hidden away or an elegant
graceful tattoo to be celebrated.
Fertile Thinking
- Anya Sizer and Cat Dean
Infinite Ideas, £10.99
Away from the clinics and doctors’ surgeries,
Theresa Miller is a successful TV producer,
but her battles with creating babies have
tempted her away from the small screen
and into the pages of a debut book. This is
a touching and emotive passage through
IVF, bringing together 14 brave and heartfelt
journeys that sway the reader from
laughter to tears.
Because this isn’t one story, nor a scientific
matter-of-fact insight into the world of IVF,
there’s so much to be taken out of this. In
essence, Theresa has crafted a range of
real-life case studies, processes that will
touch the widest range of readers. From
those involved in IVF, those considering it,
families desperate to understand exactly
what is happening without wishing to pry,
and even doctors and health professionals
looking to get a greater steer on just what
it’s like being a patient, it’s a prolific book
that converses beautifully.
It draws no boundaries between heterosexual
and same-sex couples, and Theresa
links everything with a rich compassion
that makes this a worthy addition to current
crop of excellent fertility titles on the market.
WIN!
We have copies of the above titles to give away to 15 lucky winners, drawn at random.
To enter, simply email your name and contact number to competitions@fertilityroad.com,
stating your top two preferences of books. Entry closes on 24 December 2010.
www.fertilityroad.com 65

FERTILITY ROAD |
not forgotten
THE DIONNE QUINTUPLETS were five identical sisters
born on May 28, 1934, in Ontario, Canada. Emilie and Marie
shared an embryonic sac, as did Annette and Yvonne, while
Cecile shared one with a sixth foetus, which died. Curiously,
those paired together bonded closely post-birth.
But the story of the sisters is a sad one. Cecile died
after an epileptic seizure, aged 20, while 14 years later a
blood clot accounted for Marie.
Long before, when the quintuplets were just four
months old, the Canadian government, led by Mitchell
Hepburn, took custody of the children under the premise
that parents Oliva and Elzire were unfit to care for them.
This created outcry, particularly when the five girls
were courted for significant press interest, which in turn
provoked a flood of tourist interest. Between 1936 and
1943, almost three million people walked through the
observation gallery where the sisters were kept.
Custody was handed back to the parents in 1948,
and exactly 50 years later, the government reached
settlement with the three surviving sisters for what
was deemed exploitation of minors. Yvonne died in
2001, leaving remaining sisters Annette and Cecile.
Neither this publication nor its contents constitute an explicit endorsement by Vibration Media, or by LRN Media, of the products or services mentioned in advertising or editorial content. The editorial
content in this publication does not necessarily represent policies or recommendations of Vibration Media or LRN Media. This publication is not intended to be exhaustive. While every effort has been
made to ensure accuracy, neither Vibraton Media nor LRN Media shall have any liability for errors or omissions. Readers who have questions should consult their healthcare providers or other competent
sources of information and guidance. © All copyright Vibration Media unless otherwise stated. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited.
66 fertility road | november - december

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