This year for American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s annual meeting, most of our staff were able to attend, taking courses and updating ourselves with the newest technology and information. We came back with a few interesting things:
1) Books for surrogate mother’s children – It may be challenging for a surrogate mom (gestational carrier) to teach her children what is happening as her pregnancy progresses. We used to search for tips and asking experience surrogate mom’s for advise, but now we have books!
2) Egg freezing update – Egg freezing is still an experimental procedure, don’t get me wrong, but it’s advancing quickly. We still do not recommend patients to freeze their eggs if there are other alternatives. However, for some patients, this is the only way to preserve their fertility for later. In these situations, it is important for patients to realize the potential of future successful pregnancy is limited, and freezing more eggs will increase their chance. Funny on TV show Lipstick Jungle, one of the main characters Nico is also freezing her eggs. On the show, her “doctor” recommended her to pick a sperm donor, and then freeze embryos. But since she wishes to have children with her future partner, she opted to freeze eggs. (Yes, we do egg freezing.)
3) gay men and lesbians – Research on gay and lesbian parents and their children and the social, emotional, and legal issues they face going through Assisted reproductive technologies. On a practical note, in surrogacy cases, the attorney has to petition the court to put the couple’s names on the birth certificate. Attorneys are careful in which court to make the petition because some judges are more “old school” while others say “sure!” Thankfully, L.A. is one of those later ones.
The meeting is in Atlanta, Georgia next year!
