Monday 6 July 2009

America and infertility

I don't sleep any more. Instead I stay up late and the surf the internet, finding my way into bizarre websites about infertility / donor eggs / surrogacy. Most of these websites are American because the Americans talk about these things. In Europe it's all too embarrassing and nobody says anything. The details on these websites is incredible. You can search data bases of people who might give you an egg and you can put in your exact requirements. I want tall, slim, blonde woman who looks like a supermodel, speaks five languages and has a PHD. OK, feed that into the search and you'll be shown a photograph of a woman who fits that description and is willing to give you one of her eggs ..... Or apparently so. There is also a lot of details about costs - all the possible costs. Including what it will cost you if the surrogate gets pregnant with triplets and you want to abort one or more of the foetuses. Yeah, it gives you a cost for that - per foetus. Which is very precise, at least. Last night I clicked a button labelled financing and it took me into a site selling a number of different things - breast reduction, teeth whitening, getting your bald patch fixed .... and infertility. I showed this to my husband. 'Great,' he said. 'Why don't you get your boobs done, I'll get my teeth whitened and we'll buy a baby .... and then may we'll be eligible for some kind of discount.' Well, clearly, I'm taking the piss. But actually I'm deeply grateful to these websites and to the people in America who I e-mail. They e-mail straight back. They say, 'I'm sorry for your loss,' which people in England don't say. And they say yes and yes and yes. I like that very much. God Bless America. In England for the last four years all they've said is no and no and no - and then they've looked really embarrassed and hurried us out of the room.

6 comments:

Melissia said...

It is very much the American mindset. At least that has been my experience when I worked in labor and delivery, we where thrilled when we had parents who were able to have a child after a loss, that was the best part of our jobs to be able to share in that. And we do have a sense that people who want to be parents and cannot because of infertility should be able to try using the newest technology.

Sarah said...

Alice, I'm sorry. It is rather different here - everyone seems to jump in and want to help...I'm sorry it's not that way for you in England.

Anonymous said...

I have no idea how you arrived at where you are today... but have you heard of Foresight? They do a lot of work on pre-conceptual care. Maybe they could help you.

Anonymous said...

Hi Alice,
I just checked back and saw that you responded to my message (I'm Sam who sent a long message about egg donation) - thank you for that. It would be lovely to be in contact directly. I am on 07833 050 313 if you had any time to get in touch.
best

Anonymous said...

It's been a long time Alice since you posted. I hope everything is okay?

Peaches said...

So glad you found something in the late night search that you found interesting :) Maybe it will help you to sleep easier, eh? Truly, I'm sorry that people in your area do not say Sorry for your loss...I am very sorry for your pain.