Wrong Sperm Inseminates

I feel so poorly for the women who had fertility problems and trusted their doctor.  In Ottawa Canada, a renowned fertility specialist Dr. Norman Barwin allegedly artificially inseminated three women with the wrong sperm. Barwin currently volunteered to surrender his license which is now restricted.

In 1985, a woman went to Barwin to beinseminated with her husbands sperm, which had been frozen prior to starting cancer treatments. Later giving birth to a baby boy, later to discover the child was not her husbands.

Another lawsuit pending against Barwin, in 2007 Ottawa resident Jacqueline Slinn said she seeked Barwin’s help in 2003, selecting a donor from Toronto sperm bank. Slinn did conceive after a series of inseminations, giving birth to her daughter in 2005. Later Slinn joined a registry to make contact with other mothers who had been inseminated with the same donor. Three of the children were DNA tested, and discovered that none of the children had the same biological children.

The full article is here.

My book, Five Strands of Hope, is available here on Amazon.  It is a memoir about my journey through secondary infertility through a horrendous triplet pregnancy.

Higher Rates of Psychiatric Disorders Among Childless Women who Faced Infertility

I found this article to be interesting for two reasons.  First, it gives you a glimpse into the Danish healthcare system.  And, of course, the study that showed that women who went through fertility treatments, but ended up childless were more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric disorders.

I cannot imagine how my mental state would be if I found myself fifty years old and childless.  I'd like to say that I wouldn't fall apart, but maybe I would.  I have wanted to be a mother since I was a little girl.  If I wasn't able to have biological children then I know I would have adopted.

However, it's not always that easy.  When I was in college, I worked with a women who tried to take out a loan from a bank, so that she could adopt a child.  She was turned down time and time again.  I met her when she tried for the fourth time to adopt a little boy.  She was turned down.  She got a cat, dyed her hair black and didn't seem to smile for the rest of the summer.

The full article is here.

My Book at Amazon: Five Strands of Hope

Here are links to previous blog posts: 

I'll Have Another

A Mother's Fears

The Strongest Women

The Loneliness of Having Triplets

What is the "Right" Number of Children to Have?

The Baby Making Project: IVF

Acupuncture Improves Your Chances

Stress Kills Your Chances

Smoking's Bad

It's Not Your Lifestyle: Male Infertility

Grasping at Straws: Laptops Damage Sperm

The Holistic Approach to Infertility

Fresh vs Frozen Embryo Transfer

Premature Babies Twice as Likely to Suffer Mental Disorders

Does IVF Increased Your Breast Cancer Risk?

Infertility Treatments Reach Success Close to Natural Conception

Women in their 30s-40s who go through multiple infertility treatments may be almost as likely to deliver a baby as women who conceive naturally, according to a new study.  The success of in vitro fertilization and other assisted reproductive technology (ART) was based on live births following a single treatment or cycle.  Now, researches have calculated the cumulative success rates for women undergoing several treatment cycles.

Here is the link to the full article.

My Book at Amazon: Five Strands of Hope

Here are links to previous blog posts: 

I'll Have Another

A Mother's Fears

The Strongest Women

The Loneliness of Having Triplets

What is the "Right" Number of Children to Have?

The Baby Making Project: IVF

Acupuncture Improves Your Chances

Stress Kills Your Chances

Smoking's Bad

It's Not Your Lifestyle: Male Infertility

Grasping at Straws: Laptops Damage Sperm

The Holistic Approach to Infertility

Fresh vs Frozen Embryo Transfer

Premature Babies Twice as Likely to Suffer Mental Disorders

Does IVF Increased Your Breast Cancer Risk?

Here are links to chapter one of my book:

Chapter 1 (part 1)

Chapter 1 (part 2)

Stress Kills Your Chances

Stress Kills Your Chances of Making a Baby

There is an interesting article in the Times of India website, which states that Stress is the leading cause for the rise in infertility.  This study's took place in India.  However, I believe, its findings are relevant across the cultures and continents.

Only a few years ago, women were solely blamed for infertility, because it was not diagnosed in men.  Doctors in India have concluded that the cause for infertility is roughly 1/3 men, 1/3 women and 1/3 men/women combination.

Dr Shreyas Padgaonkar, an IVF expert from Mumbai, India, expressed deep concern over the increasing obesity in young girls and exposure of rural men to pesticides. Dr. Padgaonkar said that very few women know that their bodies contain both the male and the female hormones. The fat that gets deposited in young girls stimulates an increase in production of estrogen which disturbs the hormonal balance.  This imbalance directly affects the ovulation cycle and causes an unpredictable menstruation cycle," he said.


Men in India who work in agriculture don't wear any protective gear.  These men have very low sperm count.  Men who work or live near heavy environmental pollution areas also have low sperm counts.  Dr. Padgaonkar said that even though there is very little research in this field, he believes that pesticides and pollution negatively affects the motility, count and functions of the sperm.

Here is the link to the full article.

My Book at Amazon: Five Strands of Hope

Here are links to previous blog posts: 

I'll Have Another

A Mother's Fears

The Strongest Women

The Loneliness of Having Triplets

What is the "Right" Number of Children to Have?

The Baby Making Project: IVF

Smoking's Bad

It's Not Your Lifestyle: Male Infertility

Grasping at Straws: Laptops Damage Sperm

The Holistic Approach to Infertility

Fresh vs Frozen Embryo Transfer

Premature Babies Twice as Likely to Suffer Mental Disorders

Does IVF Increased Your Breast Cancer Risk?

Here are links to chapter one of my book:

Chapter 1 (part 1)

Chapter 1 (part 2)