Setbacks in A.R.T Acceptance

Have you heard of the "Baby Selling Ring" Bust in the news? 

Some people will do anything for money or power or fame... or maybe they are simply deranged.

Seriously, how does one decide to impregnate foreign women of unborn babies to sell to desperate women/couples who so desperately want to have a child.

This is why Assisted Reproductive Technologies (A.R.T) get a bad rap. These are the stories in the media that taint people's image of the methods that we and 1 in 7 couples use/will use to fulfill their need to have a family (And yes, I would argue this is a need... Some might see it as a want, but I don't think that other mammals really have true wants and they procreate... )

Seriously, how greedy or power hungry or insane does one have to be to come up with this scheme.

Was there some warped thought in these women's minds that they were doing something good to help other women in need? Or was this really just simple greed. It's fucked up, is what it is... Appalling. And it truly hurts our cause. All of the women out there who need to use third party reproduction (donor gametes, gestational surrogacy, embryo adoption...) to have a child have to already carry the burden of the journey they've taken to get to their families and thanks to stories like this and cases like "Octomom" and "John and Kate plus 8", we also have to defend our choices as SANE and educate the rest of the world to gain some acceptance.

Theresa Erickson, Carla Chambers, and Hilary Neiman, you have set us back... and all I can say is shame on you. Shame on you.

Dirty Slate

My clean slate I wrote about a few days ago got dirty today.

I'm angry and worried. I know what I wrote about worrying and I will try not to worry, but I think today my hope is just low. I was driving to work and instead of listening to my usual NPR Morning Edition, I turned on some more angry tunes that I have in my collection and just belted it out... I'm angry at myself today for believing that this could work. Why should I believe that? It hasn't yet. So why should it now?

I see this though a lot in many repeat IVF-ers in the infertility world: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

I'm insane.

(Welcome back emotional roller coaster of the 2ww... I loathe you :-) )