Pregnancy and Infertility Treatment After 35

Human Sexuality

Course Project: Human Sexuality — Different Facets

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Delayed Pregnancy and Infertility Treatment

Although Marsha and Liam’s marriage is able to weather the conflict arising from Marsha’s diagnosis of HPV. Marsha is treated as successfully as possible, and the virus seems to be in remission. The couple decides to postpone starting a family until they both have more time to develop their respective careers. Although they discuss starting a family periodically, it isn’t until Marsha turns 35 that they both agree it is time.

They visit a fertility counselor. Based on your learning from this week’s readings and lectures, answer the following in two to four pages:

The five advantages and disadvantages of not starting a family till Marsha turns 35 and the intellectual, financial, physiological, emotional, and social factors that may contribute to these advantages and disadvantages are.

Professor Elizabeth Gregory says older mothers are financially secure and happy to put their careers on hold while they bring up baby and are more likely than younger first-time mothers to be in stable relationships.
They also live longer.
They are more stable in their relationship.
They have greater self confidence
They have stable careers.
They are also more knowledgeable and open to suggestions which will benefit in the proper metrication and exercise while pregnant.

The disadvantages of having a baby later in life are:
Their fertility decreased with age. The rate of fetal defects resulting from chromosomal abnormalities (such as down Syndrome) rises with maternal age. Slightly higher rates of maternal death, premature delivery, cesarean sections, and low birth-weight babies occur (London, 2004) (Crooks and Baur, 2008).

Compare and contrast what Marsha may experience as a pregnant woman and Liam may experience as an expectant father.

Some of the issues women worry about, especially with first-time pregnancies, are their ability to give birth to a healthy baby and what labor and delivery will be like. But, women also worry about their attractiveness to their husbands during pregnancy and how much he will actually be involved with prenatal care, labor, delivery, and the first difficult months of infant care (Argosy, 2008).

Some males may experience what is called couvade according to a research
Couvade in its narrowest sense refers to the practice in which a father simulates labor and childbirth shortly after the birth of his child to demonstrate his role in reproduction or to ease the mother 's pain by sharing in it. It has come to mean, however, the father 's sharing of sundry pregnancy symptoms with his wife anytime during the pregnancy or shortly thereafter.

The frequency of Couvade is unknown, but some researchers estimate that it affects from 11 to 65 percent of expectant fathers. The onset of male "pregnancy" symptoms usually starts near the end of the first trimester and generally stops with the birth of the child. Couvade also seems to be a universal phenomenon, with cases reported across cultures, continents and centuries (Polinsky, 2006-2007).

In a 1994 article, a group of Italian researchers wrote that Couvade appears "to be the psychosomatic equivalent of primitive rituals of initiation into paternity." And in a 1991 article, Dr. H. Klein of the University of Texas Medical Branch reviewed some of the possible causes of Couvade such as "somatized anxiety, psuedo-sibling rivalry, identification with the fetus, ambivalence about fatherhood or parturition envy."(Polinsky, 2006-2007).

After a year of attempting to conceive “naturally,” Marsha and Liam begin to consider some assisted reproductive techniques.

Three possible ways the couple may, with technical assistance, enhance the possibility of Marsha still conceiving with his sperm and her ovum are:

Some assisted reproductive techniques are intrauterine insemination, In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), Gamate Intrafallopian Transfer (GIFT), Zygote Intrafallopian Transfer (ZIFT), and Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) (Argosy, 2008).

Intrauterine Insemination- Artificially inserts sperm, a partner’s or a donor’s, into a woman’s vagina (Argosy, 2008). In Vitro Fertilization - A woman takes fertility drugs to increase egg production. Mature eggs are removed and fertilized with her partner’s or a donor’s sperm in a lab dish, and the eggs grow for two to three days. Selected embryos are inserted directly in the uterus. The remaining embryos are frozen for potential later use(Argosy, 2008).

Zygote Intrafallopian Transfer - An egg is fertilized in the lab and then placed in the fallopian tube(Argosy, 2008).

Work Cited

Hill, Amelia. The New Zealand Herald, (2007) Waiting for baby better for both child and mother, study finds. Retrieved march 31, 2008 from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/6/story.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10473724

Crooks, R. & Baur, K. (2008). Our Sexuality. Belmont, CA. Thomson Wadsworth.

Argosy University, (2008). Module 5, Online Lecture, Retrieved March 29, 2008, from http://myeclassonline.com

Polinsky, Michael, , (1996-2007). Pregnancy Today. Feeling Her Pain. Retrieved march 29, 2008 from http://www.pregnancytoday.com/reference/articles/malepg.htm

Cited: Hill, Amelia. The New Zealand Herald, (2007) Waiting for baby better for both child and mother, study finds. Retrieved march 31, 2008 from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/6/story.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10473724 Crooks, R. & Baur, K. (2008). Our Sexuality. Belmont, CA. Thomson Wadsworth. Argosy University, (2008). Module 5, Online Lecture, Retrieved March 29, 2008, from http://myeclassonline.com Polinsky, Michael, , (1996-2007). Pregnancy Today. Feeling Her Pain. Retrieved march 29, 2008 from http://www.pregnancytoday.com/reference/articles/malepg.htm