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You can choose the sex of your child.
Choosing the sex of your child is technically possible thanks to
advances in fertility treatments that allow doctors to create or
identify embryos of a certain sex. But today's sex-selection options
aren't equally effective, affordable, or available.
The most accurate sex-selection methods are usually the most
expensive, often involving invasive infertility treatments and
fertility drugs with side effects. If you're serious about trying
one of these techniques, you'll have to meet strict eligibility
requirements. In some cases you won't be eligible unless you're
married and already have at least one child of the sex opposite from
the one you're trying for. Some clinics have age limits or
require you to take hormone tests to prove you're not approaching
menopause.
And keep in mind that Mother Nature has already tipped the odds a
bit in favor of boys in the sex-selection game. According to data
released in 2004 from the National Center for Health Statistics,
approximately 1,050 boys are born for every 1,000 girls.
There are two gender-selection methods related the existing
infertility treatments:
IVF starts with a round of fertility
drugs to stimulate your ovaries to produce several eggs for
fertilization, instead of the single egg you normally release each
month. For IVF, fertilization occurs outside your body (in vitro
means literally in glass). Your doctor gives you an
anesthetic and removes your eggs from your ovaries by inserting a
needle through your vaginal wall. Your eggs are then fertilized with
sperm in a petri dish. Two to five days later your doctor places the
fertilized eggs — now embryos — in your uterus by inserting a thin
catheter through your cervix. The number of embryos inserted depends
on your age, the quality of the embryos, and your reproductive
history. As a general rule, if you're under 35 and the embryos look
healthy, no more than two are transferred.
Fertility drugs may also be used for
AI. For AI, also known as intrauterine insemination (IUI), your
doctor uses a catheter to insert a concentrated sperm sample
directly into your uterus.
Pros
- If you do get
pregnant, PGD guarantees with almost 100 percent
certainty that you'll have a baby of your desired
gender.
- Following a PGD
cycle, remaining embryos of the selected gender
are automatically frozen. These can used in
another attempt, if you miscarry or decide you
want more children down the road. Frozen embryo
transfers aren't as successful as fresh transfers,
but the procedure is less invasive and
significantly cheaper.
Cons
- A single round of
PGD can cost nearly $20,000.
- The procedure is
invasive and the removal of eggs from your ovaries
can be painful.
- The fertility
drugs you have to take can have uncomfortable side
effects such as weight gain, bloating, swelling,
and blurred vision.
- As with any IVF
pregnancy, you're more likely to have multiple
births. According to the latest statistics from
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 38
percent of infants conceived as a result of IVF
and related procedures were twins.
- About 43% of fresh
IVF cycles result in a live birth, and that figure
goes down as you get older. But some doctors claim
higher success rates with PGD because defective
embryos are excluded.
- You'll need to
decide what to do with the embryos of the
undesired gender: freeze, destroy, or donate for
other couples or research.
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