Big news: I’ve got a little ditty up on BlogHer today. Those guys – err, ladies – are the best. Go show them some love.
And if you’re here from BlogHer, thanks for stopping by and please, read on for
more snarky irreverence and name-calling story telling.
Just hours after
the feeling of having a vice slowly tighten around my ovaries has subsided, and
in the throes of mild lower back pain that surely means I’m pregnant
about to get my period/suffering a slipped disc from aggressively shoving my
feet into those IUI stirrups, here I am. And, enraptured though I know you are by my
stimulating discussion of non-specific symptoms that likely exist in my head
only, today I want to talk about science[1].
I’ve been
thinking a lot lately about IVF. Because I’m a stubborn pessimist and
misanthrope realist, I have
slowly begun to open the door to that
magical wonderland. So
while tentatively lured by Baby Center IVF message boards – which are
essentially just a series of unintelligible acronyms, falling stars and numbers in place of letters (“m4yBb4by”?[2])
– I ran for the hills settled on something more academic. Because let’s
be honest, while I’m opening the door, I’m just opening it a crack.
First things first. Did you know that the
first successful IVF procedure in the US was accomplished in 1981 by
husband-wife team Dr. Howard W. Jones, Jr.[3]
and Dr. Georgeanna Seegar Jones[4]?
I did not know this. Bravo Drs Jones[5].
What’s more, Georgeanna’s research in the 1930s laid the foundation for the
creation of at home pregnancy tests[6].
They were, it turns out, pretty badass – performing IVF in the early 80s, in
the midst of right wing troglodytes with questionable moral imperatives. But
the truth is that none of IVF would be possible without another woman: the now
rather infamous, Henrietta Lacks.
