FERTILITY TREATMENT-THE OTHER SIDE OF IT

Fertility treatment..the other side of it

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Today the couple Mrs&Mr R came to me with their 6yrs old twin kids ,a male and a female.I remember to have referred this couple for higher level fertility treatment years back.The girl child was blind .The boy suffered Cerebral Palsy and was disabled physically and mentally.

Mrs R had conceived by the IVF Technic(Test Tube Pregnancy).They told me the third attempt at IVF only,succeeded.The couple were so highly elated at the TWIN conception that they could even forget their financial constraints.The treatment had incurred heavy expenditure.

The pregnancy period was a challenging one..She used to get small bouts of bleeding.She had to take absolute rest to avoid abortion.She had to undergo Cervical Encerclage (a stitch put around the lower end of the uterus to prevent preterm delivery).

In spite of all the efforts by her healthcare team and her own meticulous personal care the babies were born preterm (at the 27 th week of pregnancy) and weighed 600 and 650 grams.

The birth was in a centre where the Neonatology Department offered world-class facilities .The doctors assured 90% survival of the babies which was achieved too and the babies were live in front of me at their age of 6 years.

The miserable couple with the helpless invalid kids provoked my mind.Why were they made to survive? But many other babes born extremely preterm like these survive without any morbidity. I myself being a Gynaecologist,can very well understand how sincerely such babies are cared for in our technically perfect institutions.I know their success stories personally.I am never against advanced infertility treatment extended to the needy couples.

The inevitable happens to the ill-fated ones.Food for thought…