The Difficulties In Creating A Life

By: Brianna Burciaga

Passage 1
Ms. Burns

Infertility is when a couple are not able to have children, that is when people go to a doctor for

medical help. The profession of infertility has grown throughout the years. “One out of six
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couples have trouble in becoming pregnant.”Pittman, Genevra. “Almost one in six couples face

infertility: study.” Reuters, 11 Jan. 2013, 2:05PM. There can many intriguing reasons on why a

person/couple can not have a baby. It can be the age that you are attempting to get pregnant, the

number of sperm, etc. Learning about the different way a person can be infertile, what are the

worldview, and what are the risk/benefits of the process. It’s very heartbreaking when you’ve

seen the eyes of a woman not being able to have their own children. Women will go through any

treatment to be able to have a baby, but it can also cost enormous amount of money and time.

Some religious people are against having infertility treatments. They will probably think that if

you are not able to have a baby, then that’s what god wanted.

Thesis

There is a large number of obstacles when being infertile it is not worth going through treatment

due to having multiple experience of emotions, different outcomes as in a couple that can go

through, and the certain treatments that can help someone to be fertile.

A human body is a very interesting object that do many things. For example a woman's body

can create a life. The thought about of how the process of that is so intriguing but not all women

in the world create a life. A woman's body has a uterus,

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which is also called a

womb. The uterus is where all the magic happens. The scientific definition of the uterus would

be “is a major female hormone-responsive reproductive sex organ of humans.” There can be

many problems that will affect the womb and is not able to have a baby growing inside. There

are many health problems, such as a person that has high sugars, STD’s, cancer, and obesity can

affect the way the uterus or sperm function. High sugars, also known as diabetes can actually

affect infertility horribly, it is also increasing every year. “When a person's glucose levels are too

high it can affect hormone levels throughout body including the all important estrogen,

progesterone, and testosterone levels needed for pregnancy to occur.” Rodriguez, Hetheri.

“Diabetes and Fertility: How Diabetes Can Affect Your Fertility.” Natural Fertility Info your

complete source for fertility information and products. People can be born with diabetes or as

you grow older and consume more sugars your pancreas does produce enough insulin which can

be cause of diabetes. To continue, type II diabetes is rising in the US, which causes unexplained

infertility cases. Another health problem that cause fertility problems would be STD’s. The two
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diseases that are highly recommended to be careful be chlamydia and gonorrhea. If the person is

attempting to have a child then it is a better chance to make sure that they have a good health and

do not have any diseases that can affect the health of the partner “gonorrhea is concerning

because it blocks the fallopian tubes, preventing the passage of an egg.”Christiano, Donna .

“Health Issues That May Affect Your Fertility.” Parents Now chlamydia, a person should be

careful with, “it rapidly causes pelvic scars that interfere with the ability of fallopian tube to

sweep across the ovary and pick up an egg.”Christiano, Donna . “Health Issues That May Affect

Your Fertility.” Parents STD’s are dangerous to the human body even if a person are trying to

have a baby. The human body have the ability to pass on diseases to the baby, it can affect their

health negatively. If the person is lucky enough to have none of these problems then their

treatments can be able to go through smoothly, there are still challenges in each person’s life

which can be the cause of their body. Everybody has their own problems involving the type of

body they have, everybody is born differently. It does not mean that they should not give up on

having a family.

Another reason why women have trouble on having a child would be because of her age.

Usually women have certain goals in their life, they have their life all planned out. Once they are

to busy making their life successful time goes by fast and they get older. The older a woman gets

the difficulties that will occur would be going to be depending on how many eggs she is

ovulating. “.. fertility peaks in their mid 20’s begins declining at the age 27” Hunt, Stephanie . 8

Surprising Facts About Fertility. Parents. The older a woman gets her eggs start declining as

well the quality. It can be anyone, but usually the women that are having difficulties would be

those who go to school, has a job that takes a lot of time, and traveling. These situations cause a

woman who tend to have problems with infertility would be the cause to who want to wait
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because they are not ready or because they are enjoying, life but they do not recognize that they

will have problems. In different situations women who are not white usually do not see cases on

where they struggle with infertility due to getting pregnant at an early age. “Women who have

used fertility services are likely to be married, white and older.”Vega, Tanzina. “Infertility,

Endured Through A Prism Of Race.” The New York Times, 25 Apr. 2014. In the Rose

Reproductive Associates of Colorado, usually there are women who are wealthy, successful,

married to someone who is wealthy and sometimes the couples that go in their late 30’s or 40’s.

It’s never the woman’s fault of waiting to have a baby, it can also be the relationship they are in,

it can be unstable or maybe their significant other just doesn’t want to have a baby. Even though

most people are not ready for a baby it is a good option to have a baby at mid 20’s, during those

years it will be easier to be able to run after and play with the kids. Once you go in your later

30’s and 40’s people tend to get more tired easily and don’t have as much energy.

In addition, a male’s sperm can

also be a cause. The sperm is the other big part of the process of creating a life. The male age can

also affect their sperm, “.. only eight percent of men younger than twenty-five fail to impregnate

their partner after a year of trying, numbers grow to fifteen percent after the age thirty-five.”

Usually time is one of the causes, but recently men’s sperm count seems to go down due to
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producing abnormal sperm. “Many men have adequate sperm count not only are overall counts

going down, but men are producing abnormal sperm. If current trends continue, many more men

will be infertile..” proven by Leonard, Rosemary. Infertility is a rising problem. Daily Mail.

What number disagreement are causing men to have lower sperm count? There are many causes

on why a man sperm is lacking, it can be by their sperm production problems, blockage of sperm

transport, sexual problems, hormonal blockage, and sperm antibodies. It is known that alcohol

can actually affect the reproductive hormones in the male’s body. Such as the sperm count and

how well the sperm moves in the female’s reproductive tract.

To continue, there are different reason on why certain people are not able to have children

one reason would be their physical fitness lifestyle. Exercising can affect fertility in a positive

and negative way. For example; hormonal disruption due to extreme exercise and low levels of

fat decrease fertility. When both things are happening the body can have a poor adrenal health, it

impacts the thyroid function and how to handle stress that leads to affecting the hormonal

balance and fertility. To not having to give up exercising there are ways to keep muscles in

shape, reduce stress, anxiety, and having a happy life the exercises that can be rewarding for

fertility, such as having light jogs, going swimming, and yoga. Athletic women usually have a

low level of fat, have menstrual and ovulatory irregularities, and estradiol. Barton-Schuster,

Dalene. “Is Exercise Good Or Bad For Fertility?” Natural Fertility Info Your Complete Source

For Fertility Information And Products. Men who are athletes or even if they are not can have

trouble with fertility as well. When men do intense workouts and do not let their body rest

enough can affect sperm count, morphology, and motility. “All it takes is one sperm to reach to

the egg in order to have a baby, in order for that to happen would be is to have healthy strong

sperm.” “Male Fertility: Keeping The Boys Fit and Fertile.” Attain Fertility Plan For Success.
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Exercising is a great gate away, it can help with many things but it is best to not do so much in

order to have a baby. It’s a decision on where you either sacrifice the lifestyle working out

constantly or having to change the way you live in order to have a family.

Problems involved with family start to rise, which are caused by financial and other problems

between their partner. IVF is not very cheap, not everyone is allowed to access it because of how

much it cost. It can cost up to thousands of dollars at times it is not covered by insurance.

Pittman, Genevra. “Almost one in six couples face infertility: study.” Reuters, 11 Jan. 2013,

2:05PM. Treatment can range from $15,000-50K depending on the couple situation and

diagnosis. It also add a lot of stress and heart break to couples trying to create a family.

Sometimes they need to take out loans, get a second mortgage, max out credit cards, and using

all their saving for treatment that may or may not result living birth. When it has been a certain

amount and nothing has happened and the money is low couples start fighting due to money.

There has been moments when people cannot continue treatments due to how tight their wallet

might be after a certain amount of time. People might not want to spend thousands of dollars in

order to start a family and having unexpected results. There are other options for example

attempting to adopt a baby or child. going through the treatments and seeing progress but yet

there is a point on where you are not able to pay the amount is needed for the next step, there is

no point on doing it.

Fertility drugs can affect a woman's body and health positively or negatively. Some don't feel

any side effects but other can feel severe. The side effects depend on the type of medicine the

patient takes. In that case there is a variety of medicine, for example there is the oral and

injectable medication. Some of the medication’s are Clomid, Letrozole, Gonadotropins, GnRH,

Farma, etc. Some of the common side effects can happen when you take the medication, use a
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certain dosage of the medication or it just depends on your body. Women can feel hot flashes,

dizziness, headaches, bloating/ abdominal discomfort, weight gain, mood swings, nausea, tender

breast, abnormal menstrual bleeding/ spotting, vaginal dryness, injection soreness, trouble

sleeping, and upper respiratory tract infection. In reality, it would be an extensive amount of

discomfort to feel different things and having to take different medication that someone can

barely afford in order to have a chance to be able to ovulate. when the doctor suggest that you

should have a certain type of surgery due to the fact there can be scarring the fallopian tubes or

what is going on with the uterus. The type of surgeries: fallopian tube procedures, laparoscopic

surgery endometriosis, myomectomy uterine fibroids, laparoscopic ovarian drilling, and

polycystic ovary syndrome. The type of surgery a male can get would be varicocele and

vasectomy reversal. These surgeries can increase the chances of being able to create a life. There

can be different type of risk as well when in order to have a baby. A woman can be at a high risk

of having multiple pregnancy, preterm labor, and can lead to premature infant,“What are the risk

factors for preterm labor and birth?” Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health

and Human Department. When having multiple pregnancy it puts the fetus for multiple health

risk which can also lead to death. When having multiple children at a time it can lead to preterm

labor when this happens the babies might need intense nursery care, surgeries, or medications.

Premature labor the babies can be underweight or very small. It is not a reason to be discouraged

or scared to do treatment. People will go through different side effects and can have different

risk, it is always worth the try to have a family.

Doctors not having the right medicine or treatments due to not being certified can cause

negative effects to your body. In certain cases, some people are desperate and want to have help

which can lead to not knowing anything about the doctor and what he usually focus on instead of
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doing a infertility treatments. If the doctor is doing a surgery on a patient and does unnecessary

procedures can cause more problems instead of resolving them. For example, the doctor can be

doing a procedure that can damage the uterus or removing the fallopian tubes if not necessary.

The surgeries that the doctor has done to the on the patient it can cause scarring from procedure

and the baby can not grow due to not having enough blood flow. Also, during delivery there can

be complications, which the uterus has to be removed to have to save the mother’s life. It is

possible to have a botched surgery and can leave the patient to have more difficulties on being

able to reproduce or not having any children. The uterus has three layers the inner lining

endometrium middle muscular layer myometrium, and the outer layer perimetrium, then it

connects to the fallopian tubes. Usually the uterus has scarring would be due to by trauma which

is caused by a surgeon who does not know what they are doing. The inner layer is where the

lining sheds which is when a woman has her period and also where the embryo grows. If the

uterus or the fallopian tube are damaged there is a higher chance on having a miscarriage,

become infertile, and can affect the person’s health. By having a doctor that has a board

certification it can improve clinical outcomes. Even though it must be impatient and frustrating

but it is best to always finding a doctor that can help the best way and knowing what they are

doing.

Furthermore, emotional impacts happen before, during, and after treatments it can feel as if

a person is on a rollercoaster but yet you never know what is going to be expected. Usually

women are most likely to go through a psychological distress. Women go through a lot when

they find out they are not able to have a child naturally. They usually are discouraged about

continuing treatment when they have tried multiple times, spent so much money, and time.

Women mention that they feel as if it feels out of control or that it’s hopeless. They feel as if the
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world is against them. They go through different type of procedures, type of medicines they have

to take, and emotional mountains that affect them mentally. When attempting to reproduce and

failing can be a devastating experience. It is also probably a amazing feeling when you are told

that you are pregnant. Infertility often cause distressing life crisis for couples. A couple can go

through different emotions for example, feeling anxious, depressed, anxiety, or isolated. Usually

the woman feels more distress than the male unless he is told he is infertile. Men can react by

feeling the way a woman would experience such as having a level of low esteem, stigma, and

depression. People usually can lose a interest of activities that they use to do because most of the

time all they think about is infertility. It can als cause change in sleeping pattern, eating habits,

the way they view the world. They feel as if they are the only couple that can not get pregnant

because everyone around them are pregnant or have a baby. They can feel bitter that can cause

them to become isolated and begin to increase guilt and worthlessness. During the process of

attempting to have a baby it is always good to talk to a mental health professional it can be good

to be helped with making decisions such as exploring other ways to start a family and

considering a third party assistance such as a surrogacy or a gamete donation, also deciding

between treatments. These feeling can happen before and during the treatments, the feeling after

can be different if the result were positive or negative. Depending on what type of news the

couple have received can create a great amount of effect on each person. Emotions are part of

life no matter what is happening in that moment a person is going to react to it in a positive or

negative way. Due to all the horrible feelings that a couple can go through getting treatment is

still going to be the best choice that they are going to have due to the number of chances of being

able to get pregnant. After all the dreadful feelings that a couple can go through, there is a chance

that can be cheerful after a couple months.

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How is not being able to create a life in different parts of the world and in small communities

viewed. Motherhood is highly emphasized by culture. In developing countries when a person,

most likely women they can be physically abused, can be suicidal, and can be excluded from

society. There is big amount of criticism when a woman is not able to have children when the

culture in the community is to be able to have babies to the man you are married too. They are

seen as useless and their significant other will leave them. Family and close friends will push

them away, they won’t be allowed to go to important gathering or they simply don’t want them

around them due to how everyone else will view them. If it is the mans reason on why the couple

is not able to have a baby, the women will take the blame which part of culture. It is known that

the women should take care the man and they make you think that it is your fault. The husbands

won’t be supportive and they will view you as useless. “My husband is not supportive at all. He

knows he could have more children from other relationships if he wants,” says Ann, who sold

her inheritance, a plot of land, to pay for one cycle of IVF. That cycle, costing Ann around US$

4900, was not successful.” This quote shows that in developing countries many people do not

afford treatments no matter how much they sell or do they cannot afford it. Also, they do not

have support from their significant other. It is not easy having a life where you do not have

support, they can easily leave and have a family with someone. “Mother or nothing: the agony of

infertility.” World Health Organization.

In a person's perspective that works in a office and with people who struggle with being

infertile everyday, she sees different situations and different outcomes. The questions that were

asked where, does it ever happen that attachment or a connection occurs with a patient when

helping them with the process of having a baby, how is it been being a person that is able to

couples or people to have a family, what are the feeling that can occur when a outcome are
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positive or negative, what are the worst and favorite thing about working in a clinic, why? The

response to those questions were, “Yes, we do get attached to patients due to having different

connections with them and have a positive effect on their journey to have a family, it is a

rewarding to know that you have helped create a family in one way or another. Also, to be there

for them emotionally throughout this rollercoaster of the unknown. It is an awesome feeling to

know that there is a couple out there to be a parent and make dreams possible for them. The

negative part of having to work in a infertility clinic would be no matter what you do for some

couples, you do not have answers or explanations as of why we cannot help them and it’s not

upsetting for them. To add, it is worst is when having patients that try over and over again but

still have no baby. They feel as the world is against them and it’s our fault but you keep being

hopeful that someday they have a baby after all the pain emotionally and financially. I choose to

work here because i get to help someone everyday even if it’s just being hopeful with them. My

favorite part is when patients bring their itty bitty babies to visit and they tell you that without the

entire staff we could not be here. I do recommend having treatments if you have not been

successful on getting pregnant on for a year it is best to turn to science and technology that can

give better results.” Vanessa H, MA & Celsey L Nurse.

There are many countries in Europe that view infertility different from the one from the United

states. There has been a issue in Europe on where there are “declining birth rate the past fifty

years mean they are only producing 1.6 children per woman.” In Europe, there are many strict

rules on who can get treatment or the type treatment they are able to get. “In countries like

France, Italy, Austria, and Sweden they have certain requirements. Certain people such as single

women or lesbian couples are forbid on using IVF, artificial insemination, also vitro fertilization.
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There is some good in certain countries, in Greece people have traveled overseas for egg

donations and embryo donations.” “Why infertility is becoming a public health issue in Europe.”

The Conversation , 1 May 2015. In the United States, people of whoever can get treatment. The

difference in the view of fertility treatments would be that in the United States there are not that

many rules on who can get treatments. One reason why a person or couple are not able to get

treatment would be the type of money they have. Due to the options of attempting to have a

baby, it can get pricey. Another thing is if they use any type of donor and a therapist does not

think the are a good fit to be parents that can disqualify them to use donor and move forward.

Sometime they need a few sessions of counseling and they may be cleared. Other than that,

transgenders couple, lesbian couple, or whoever wants to start a family are able too if they are

able to afford it.

In view of a person’s religion can be a reason to not be able to do infertility treatments

because there can be some parts of the process that can be against their religion. There are

religions that do not accept the fact that there can be someone in the medical field to help a

couple become pregnant because that is not the way god wanted it. They view the world as there

is no need to have help because if god wanted for someone to have a baby then they are and if

they don’t have one it was due for a reason. But now as the world is more modern than the past,

there are religions that are fine with infertility treatments. “ Catholicism.. Only condones the

procedures that assist conception that would happen naturally” and “The church will allow two

type of reproductive assistance.” The two type of reproduction would be Intrauterine

insemination (IUI ), which is a treatment that involves placing sperm inside the woman's uterus

to facilitate fertilization. This can help increase the number of sperms that can reach the

Fallopian tube and increase the chance of fertilization. Also, the other procedure would be
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Gamete Intrafallopian Tube Transfer (GIFT), that is when you fertilization happens naturally but

the doctor would have to place the eggs and sperm in one of your Fallopian tubes. Both of these

two procedure are approved to by the church. In the Jewish community, using IVF is accepted.

They are allowed to use the mother and father's sperm and eggs. According to the law, “it

requires rabbinical supervision to be considered halachic.” You can say that both of these two

religions are alike because they both are up for the process where the doctor are only able to help

the eggs and sperm be together and be in the Fallopian tube which is where all the magic

happens.

That is to say, Islam and Infertility treatments, As in the other religions IVF is allowed in islam.

“semen and ovum are from a couple who are legally married and that the fertilization take place

during their marriage but not after divorce or death of the husband.” there is a group of muslim

that are called the Sunnis who are 85 to 90 percent of muslim population. In this religion there is

a third party that can be considered adultery. It can be even if the donor is providing sperm, eggs,

embryos or uterus it is still seen as adultery but also any type of a surrogacy is forbidden. What

surrogacy “is a method or agreement whereby a woman agrees to carry a pregnancy for another

person or persons, who will become the newborn child's parent after birth.” Since the child is not

carried by the mother who is legally married to the husband it would be illegitimate. They see

women as if they are not the mothers for the reason would be that they are not who have carried

their child for nine months. The difficulties that women that have to decide whether to have to

follow their faith or to be able to have their own children. Muslim must follow their religion of

the Quran and Sunnah when addressing the type of the phenomena and practitioners of Islamic

law must ascertain whether or not there is sin or not in any act. A religion is a big part to many

people but it can also affect the way society views them. There are different things that people
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believe in but those religions can be judgmental about the things people do or what they do their

body. If a couple is not able to have a child on their own, their faith is going to decide whether

they have a child with a medical help or just think that’s how their god choose their story to be.

Learning on how a person religion can control and affect their process of being able to have a

family is quite fascinating due to the fact of how much a person trust their god even if the

treatments are not working they still have a positive attitude. Shank, Melodie. Religion & Third-

Party Reproduction. 7 Mar. 2012. There are going to be couples that do not follow their religions

rules, which can be a majority of people. For that reason can be that they are desperate enough to

do whatever is possible to get them to reach their dream family.

Counterclaim

Why is treatments worth it? Going through IVF is worth doing for the number one reason on

why couple even attempt on doing, a baby. Even though gettings shots, having different

emotions, and not knowing what is going to happen is all worth it. Once a doctor mentions that

there is a fetus, there are so many emotions that are felt at once. It can be exciting and terrifying

as well for the reason being of risk of miscarriage. As the months pass by and closer to the due

date it’s a anxious feeling, to be able to hold the baby that after so many attempts it’s finally

going to happen. When the day come that the baby is born is unbelievable, it is like a dream

come true. Doing treatment is not a walk in the park but it’s all worth it at the end. It’s really

worth it if you are financially able to afford it. It is worth the ride of the emotional and financial

coaster all for the hope in completing a family. If the person can handle the wait, different

emotions, changes, failures, spending thousands of dollars, and success then it is all worth doing

treatments.
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Conclusion

Through the process of finding out what are the possibilities on why is the reason of the cause of

not being able to have a baby, learning about facts on how religion can be a reason that is

limiting or stopping the process, how healthy a person can be, the amount that is can cost, the

difference of treatments in europe, how other in small communities view people that struggle

with infertility, and on why it is worth it. Through all these obstacles there can be a 50% that do

not succeed on their dreams and 50% that are able to reach for their goals. Attempting multiple

tries (if able too) and never giving up will help will help create the beautiful family. Infertility is

a worldwide issue.
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