They Say: Housework and Having Kids Don’t Mix

In our house, everyone helps out with chores.  For the most part, I do the cooking and my wife does the clean-up because that’s where our strengths lie, but we aren’t locked into those roles.  But the idea of “women’s work” is not new — there is a reason there is so much humor based on the idea of men not cleaning up after themselves or trying to get them to help out.  In our culture, housework is not seen as masculine.  Well, if you’ve had a hard time getting your partner to help out around the house, things just got a whole lot worse.
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Fertility Doctor Claims IVF Is Unnecessary. Really.

Hey, infertiles! Did you know that your problems are maybe caused by running too much? Or by being obese? Somewhat conflicting, that? Then you’ll enjoy this charming little interview of Dr. Sami David by someone named Julie Menin.

She interviewed David, who apparently did the first IVF in New York State and has been in the fertility field for 30 yars, for her Internet TV show Give And Take.

And that sound you are going to hear in about five minutes, after y’all click and watch, is infertile women in New York and across the country tearing their hair out in unison. Continue reading »

Knowing When to Stop Running in the Fertility Marathon

Tom Teicholz has written a really compelling, four-part series on male infertility over at yourtango.com. Actually, it’s not just about male infertility. The narrative starts out that way, but more than anything, his story is about traveling the twisting, seemingly endless road of trying to conceive a child, and all the ovulation tests, frustrations, sperm count assessments, crushing disappointments and acupuncture sessions that come with the ride.

We all know that it isn’t easy to get pregnant, but these sorts of stories about fertility-challenged couples often leave me gasping at how exceedingly, unjustly difficult it can be for deserving people to become parents. Two things in particular that leaped out at me as I was reading Teicholz’s piece: the amount of money (more than $200,000!) and time (six years!) that he and his wife Amy spent trying to have a baby. Which raises the question: how do you know when you’ve hit the wall in the fertility marathon and just need to quit?

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