Stem Cell Finding Could Expand Women's Lifetime Supply of Eggs

[trcy]

Thought I would share:
http://news.yahoo.com/stem-cell-finding-could-expand-womens-lifetime-supply-190304876.html

[Tondi G]

Wow ... thats very interesting.

[lil_acorn]

I find it a little scary - I can only imagine how the maternal age is going to continue to climb with women forgoing motherhood for careers and waiting until they are in their 50s to have children because they can.

[hellokitty]

I find it a little scary - I can only imagine how the maternal age is going to continue to climb with women forgoing motherhood for careers and waiting until they are in their 50s to have children because they can.

:yeahthat:

[Kindra178]

I find it a little scary - I can only imagine how the maternal age is going to continue to climb with women forgoing motherhood for careers and waiting until they are in their 50s to have children because they can.

If a 50 year old is super energetic and in shape, and many 50 some year old women are (pretty much every 50 some year old women I know is), that would be a great time to have a baby. You would have tons of money saved, your career has already worked itself out, and you can retire at the top. What's the problem?

[rin]

If a 50 year old is super energetic and in shape, and many 50 some year old women are (pretty much every 50 some year old women I know is), that would be a great time to have a baby. You would have tons of money saved, your career has already worked itself out, and you can retire at the top. What's the problem?

On one hand I totally agree with you! It makes perfect sense on a lot of levels. On the other, age is precisely the reason we didn't name my parents, or anyone currently over 50, to be the guardian for our kids in our will, since I wouldn't want my kids to have to deal with a good chance of losing caregivers in their 20s. Of course there's a lot that can't be controlled, and sure, you can lose your parents even if they're both in their 40s, but it was a concern for me. I have two close friends whose fathers were older (like 50+ when they were born), and both of them lost their fathers in their 20s. It's been very sad for them to never have their fathers meet their husbands or children, not to have their fathers there for them as support entering into adulthood, etc.

Of course, everyone gets to make that decision for themselves, and I would never suggest that a woman shouldn't have the right to make the call of when/if to have kids for herself.

[daisymommy]

Exactly. There is a reason our egg supply starts to dwindle as we grow older. Sometimes just because we *can* do something, doesn't mean it's the wisest choice to do so.

I for one am not in favor of putting everything in life first...and children last as if it's something you are dreading, or the last thing on your priority list. But that's what we are encouraging here.

This would mean for many kids, soon after they graduate highschool their parents could be dead.

[jren]

I don't think this necessarily means a bunch of 50+ year old women will run out and get PG if this technology becomes available. I'm in my early 40s now and am TIRED, so no way would I want to purposefully start a family in my 50s. Plus, there are already options for women in their 50s - donor eggs.

This would actually have helped me get PG when I was 30 and we discovered that I had no available eggs. If successful, I would've actually had more time to be with my kids. We were lucky to be able to adopt before I was too old, so I wouldn't change my situation for the world. But this would be great for other women with POF or other issues where they can't "get at" their eggs using current technology.

[sste]

The same age issue comes up with donor eggs and some practices have ethical review - - I believe some won't serve patients over a certain age though I am not sure of that.

I am willing to go with the idea that family structures will adapt to parents dying when their kids are growing or young adults. Maybe the people that opt to do this will have bigger families (more sibling support), closer ties to godparents, or who knows what. Family structures can adapt.

The downside I see--not that I would limit technology based on it--is that there is no making peace with infertility/not having kids and then moving onto another happy, productive life path. No matter your age, your circumstances there would always be this "last shot." We are experiencing this with SIL who has been infertile from ages 39-44, has spent a fortune, is now divorced with no romantic prospects . . . and when you talk to her at age almost 45 she says her biological clock is screaming. She is obsessed with having kids, it has taken over her life for years and years but there is no hope in her particular case for kids from her own eggs. I don't know - - unless this stem cell stuff worked very, very well - - a Round Two of the fertility rollercoaster in SIL's late forties and early fifties makes me cringe. What can I say? It is her call and maybe it would be worth it to her. But I can really see how this could eat decades of someone's life with all the different fertility options, wreak havoc on personal relationships, etc.