- (string of curse words)
- This woman, who is literally one year shy of being double my age and already has a litter of kids, is pregnant and I could never get pregnant (despite being a normal age). It's unfair.
- Math. At minimum this woman will be 83 when her kids graduate from high school, provided that she lives that long. The average life expectancy for a German woman is 83. It seems selfish to me to take steps to get pregnant when it's unlikely that she will live to see them through adulthood.
- What do her other kids think? Particularly the 44 year old big brother/sister. Or the grandchildren who will be older than their aunts/uncles.
- Does the doctor who approved and preformed IVF even have ethical standards? The human body just plain isn't designed to handle pregnancy at that age. Case in point: the article says that it took multiple attempts (though it doesn't specify how many).
- I wonder how the egg donor feels about a woman of this age carrying a pregnancy with her eggs?
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Things that make you go hmmmmmm
Did anyone else see the news reports about the 65 year-old woman who is pregnant with quadruplets? She already has 13 kids ranging in age from 44 to nine. Here are a few of my thoughts, pretty much in order:
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yeah this story bothered me too! Especially when I heard how many kids she already has. Talk about being greedy! At her age she should focus on being a good grandmother! I can't imagine it being good on her health to go through a pregnancy at that age.
ReplyDeleteI also felt like it was really greedy of her! I wish her all the best, but I do sort of feel like it was irresponsible of her at her age to even seek out this treatment and even more irresponsible of the doctor who agreed to the IVF.
DeleteWow. If she is that desperate, she could volunteer in an orphanage or some other type of place like that. I'm sure they could use the help. Then, she wouldn't be putting her body through this and there won't be little children that would have depended on her when she died. I agree, it isn't for me to say what a person can and can't do, but that just seems selfish. And that includes the doctor. He's just in it for the fame. Shame on him.
ReplyDeleteAgreed! Apparently the nine year old was completely a surprise and didn't require any medical intervention. Even though she was 55 then, nature still let it happen and I can live with that. But to seek out medical treatment at 65 to get pregnant? I just don't get it.
DeleteTo be carrying even one child at her age is a huge risk (for both of them) -- but QUADS??! I wish them all well, really, but sometimes I really question the sanity of the universe when I hear stuff like this.
ReplyDeleteAmen, Loribeth! I wish them all well too, but geesh.
Deleteyes, this news is everywhere in our news. I hate it. Since it gives people a feeling that everybody can have children at ANY age, as long as you wish them.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts:
- all you have already written
- there are hoarders of things. Hoarders of cats and dogs. Hoarders of children obviously.
- egg donation is anonymously in many countries. I am almost sure that a donor did not know about the age of recipient.
- One could say: even if she is not able to take care of her 4 little children when she is let's say 75, the kids will have brothers and sisters. Well, technically they will just have the same mother. But none of 13 older brothers and sister share their genes.
Scary world, IVF clinics playing like this.
Anyway, it is absolutely none of the fault of the babies. I wish them all the best.
I guess egg donation would be done completely anonymously-I didn't think about that (plus I'm not really completely sure how the whole egg donation process works). I think that describing her as a hoarder is a perfect description!
DeleteI can't even understand how she got an IVF clinic to accept her. Were they in it for fame and notoriety? That has to be the reason because it seems very medically irresponsible. Quads in a healthy woman of normal child bearing age is a high risk pregnancy, I can only imagine those risks increase exponentially at her age.
Like you, I wish the babies a healthy entry into the world and all the best.
I was pissed (shocking, I know) that the piece I read on it stated the woman did artificial insemination, which of course could never work at her age. I agree with Klara about stories like these giving people the impression anyone at any age can have children. The incorrect terminology doesn't help with this - it was IVF with egg donor, nothing more, nothing less.
ReplyDeleteStill waiting for the headline featuring one of us, like, "Sarah from Infertility Honesty - Not Pregnant and Never Will Be"....but I'm not holding my breath.
I read that it was artificial insemination too and immediately thought it was hokey. Because nature usually shuts down reproductive operations in women well before 65. I do think that the media did the public a disservice by reporting that it was artificial insemination. Maybe lost in translation?
DeleteAnd I think you're right, it would be great to see our stories in the headlines. But it'll never happen because people only like to talk about reproductive topics when success is involved.