July 16, 2007
I am 40 years old and am very concerned with multiple gestation and possible ethical/moral ramifications that can come with using fertility drugs. As much as possible, I would like to only become pregnant with only one child, maximum two, since there is an increase in problems for the children and the mother during a pregnancy with multiples. Upon doing research on Gonal-F, I’ve found out that 15-20% of pregnancies from drugs like Gonal-F and Follistim are twins and 5% are triplets or higher (I found that statistic from RESOLVE). That worries me a great deal. Plus the fact that I would be doing IUI instead of IVF, which there is more control in the multiple births because we are manually placing the eggs in the fallopian tubes, adds to my concern. My greatest fear is to become pregnant with multiples and then have to make a decision to terminate some of the fetuses to reduce the difficulties of the pregnancy and give the other fetuses greater chance of survival. That would be a difficult decision to make for anyone, but as a Catholic (or anyone who is religious), it would be doubly difficult ethically and morally. I would prefer not to put myself in that situation if I can help it.
I know that my RE's main objective is to get me pregnant and that’s he is being aggressive in his approach. But I won’t do it at any cost and I won’t be blind to any possible physical/emotional/moral dilemmas that can occur. Are there other fertility drugs that I can use that can produce an outcome that no more than twins will occur? I know that there are no guarantees, but maybe I should be more conservative in my approach, rather than being aggressive. I’ve used chlomid before, could that be an option again? Or if chlomid may be too weak, then is there something in between chlomid and Follistim/Gonal-F?
I want to make the best decision, with as much knowledge as possible and with the understanding of the consequences of my actions. I need to be able to make a decision I can live with – one with which I can have a clear conscience. Thanks for your help.
I know that my RE's main objective is to get me pregnant and that’s he is being aggressive in his approach. But I won’t do it at any cost and I won’t be blind to any possible physical/emotional/moral dilemmas that can occur. Are there other fertility drugs that I can use that can produce an outcome that no more than twins will occur? I know that there are no guarantees, but maybe I should be more conservative in my approach, rather than being aggressive. I’ve used chlomid before, could that be an option again? Or if chlomid may be too weak, then is there something in between chlomid and Follistim/Gonal-F?
I want to make the best decision, with as much knowledge as possible and with the understanding of the consequences of my actions. I need to be able to make a decision I can live with – one with which I can have a clear conscience. Thanks for your help.
July 16, 2007