reproduction is hard?

[Agent Jelly]

Since I have gotten pregnant I have learned a lot of interesting things about reproduction. Like for instance did you know that anywhere from 10-25% of all clinically recognized pregnancies will end in miscarriage?

I have also learned about the Rh factor and how incompatibility with blood types many times makes it hard to conceive. Here is information below...

What causes Rh disease?
An Rh-negative mother and an Rh-positive father may conceive an Rh-positive baby. When this occurs, some of the fetus’s Rh-positive red blood cells may get into the mother’s bloodstream during pregnancy, labor and birth. Because red blood cells containing the Rh factor are foreign to the mother’s system, her body tries to fight them off by producing antibodies against them. This is called sensitization.

Once a woman becomes sensitized, her Rh antibodies can cross the placenta and destroy some of the red blood cells of an Rh-positive fetus. In a first pregnancy with an Rh-positive baby, there usually are no serious problems because the baby often is born before the mother is sensitized, or at least before the mother produces many Rh antibodies. However, a sensitized woman continues to produce Rh antibodies throughout her life. This means that in a second or later pregnancy, an Rh-positive baby is at risk for more severe Rh disease.


I never knew that reproduction was so complicated. Its kind of mind blowing! I just thought I'd share my new found information with others... I find this all very fascinating and I am looking forward to learning more things. I also find it very ironic that I got knocked up when I took my husbands virginity... and we have conflicting blood types. I don't know if I'm positive for the antibodies yet but damn... the stats of me getting pregnant were really low. And its even more mind numbing that I'm in my third trimester now and still healthy!

 

[Thalassa]

Yeah, reproduction is hard. It sucks collagen out of your body, it can ruin your teeth if you don't eat properly, it can even kill you.

I've thought about skipping it.

 

[Totenkindly]

Honestly, I don't think in this day and age people realize how difficult conception and carrying a baby to term can be, due to the progress we've made in the health arena compared with even a century ago.

It's unsettling that people can find out they're pregnant after only a month, then tell everyone and prepare for this new life that hasn't even come halfway to term, and they yet have no idea if a miscarriage is going to occur and then have to struggle with grief as if a born child had died. (This happened to a relative of mine just a few months back.) Miscarriages are not as uncommon as people might suspect.

For our first child, we tried for a year... the whole "official" process, having sex at the right times, letting things settle afterwards, it was all rather hilarious in hindsight. We were both frustrated and starting to have fights about it, it was just not working. And right when we were about to just give up on "trying to make it happen," it happened. And then we got pregnant again literally five months after the birth of our first child, either the first or second time we had sex since he had been born... it was one of those, "Should we use birth control? No, why bother, it took us forever last time!" moments, and, well... . Anyway, it's funny how unpredictable it all can be.

I'd be interested in seeing the other things you learn as you go. It's pretty fascinating.

 

[PeaceBaby]

Like many cliches, you come to realize they don't call it "the miracle of life" for no reason, eh? That's there a real grain of truth in there.

I'm glad your pregnancy is going well. Did you have much morning sickness? I look forward to more of your posts.

 

[Agent Jelly]

Honestly, I don't think in this day and age people realize how difficult conception and carrying a baby to term can be, due to the progress we've made in the health arena compared with even a century ago.

It's unsettling that people can find out they're pregnant after only a month, then tell everyone and prepare for this new life that hasn't even come halfway to term, and they yet have no idea if a miscarriage is going to occur and then have to struggle with grief as if a born child had died. (This happened to a relative of mine just a few months back.) Miscarriages are not as uncommon as people might suspect.

For our first child, we tried for a year... the whole "official" process, having sex at the right times, letting things settle afterwards, it was all rather hilarious in hindsight. We were both frustrated and starting to have fights about it, it was just not working. And right when we were about to just give up on "trying to make it happen," it happened. And then we got pregnant again literally five months after the birth of our first child, either the first or second time we had sex since he had been born... it was one of those, "Should we use birth control? No, why bother, it took us forever last time!" moments, and, well... . Anyway, it's funny how unpredictable it all can be.

I'd be interested in seeing the other things you learn as you go. It's pretty fascinating.

I think that is really how it goes... When you aren't trying it happens. Strange but true!

Like many cliches, you come to realize they don't call it "the miracle of life" for no reason, eh? That's there a real grain of truth in there.

I'm glad your pregnancy is going well. Did you have much morning sickness? I look forward to more of your posts.

I did not have much morning sickness at all. My stomach would feel sour and hurt and that was it. Except when I had to go to the ER for IV fluids because my body was rejecting ANYTHING I put in it, and I didn't want to risk dehydration. So I drove myself vomiting to the hospital on the interstate. It was awful, I puked on myself, my car seat covers! Luckily none of it got onto anything that wasn't washable. My husband was away at bootcamp and all of my friends were busy that day and I didn't want to risk passing out on the floor dying, lol. But so far everything has been a-okay... I just REALLY want to know if I have the Rh disease or not. I find out Wednesday....

 

[Totenkindly]

Wait... today is Wednesday! (or do you mean next Wednesday?)

I had a friend who had bad morning sickness. She said it was a routine for her: She'd drive to work, get out of the car, puke in the parking lot, then go inside and brush her teeth in the bathroom... "business as usual." I'm not sure if that's sad or funny or both.

 

[FDG]

Yeah, it is hard, but on the other hand consider that humans are more or less fertile all year long, whereas most other animals aren't. So there is a balance occurring.

 

[Helios]

Why is this topic in this sub-forum?

 

[Octarine]

Did you know that infertility is not diagnosed until you have been trying for over a year?

And then we got pregnant again literally five months after the birth of our first child, either the first or second time we had sex since he had been born... it was one of those, "Should we use birth control? No, why bother, it took us forever last time!" moments,

That is not an uncommon story even amongst women who had to use IVF the first time around.

 

[Quinlan]

Our Gynec, gynecol, gyni...doctor had pen to paper to sign us up for a D&C, only at the last minute did he reconsider and wait another week, and our daughter was alive and well! She's now 1 and a half, happy, healthy, amazing to think how close she came to not existing.

 

[Aquarelle]

I think that is really how it goes... When you aren't trying it happens. Strange but true!

It seems that the easiest time to get pregnant is when you're 16, have a one-night stand, and the condom breaks.

(Not that that happened to me; it didn't. It's just that now that I am trying to get pregnant, it irks me to hear about all these teenagers who get pregnant when they absolutely don't want to. Phooey!)

 

[Patches]

Like for instance did you know that anywhere from 10-25% of all clinically recognized pregnancies will end in miscarriage?

From a biologist perspective though, I have to point out that often this is one of your body's methods of 'double-checking' itself. The vast majority of these miscarriages are because your body recognized a chromosomal abnormality. In other words... Something went VERY wrong in the process of fertilization, or DNA replication, or maybe even in the egg/sperm before conception even happened. Maybe during meiosis the DNA didn't split properly, and the new egg was missing a chromosome. I have to marvel at the fact that our bodies can identify that something has gone wrong, and terminate the process.

I know those words wouldn't offer much consolation to a couple who has lost their pregnancy, but since we're more in an "Isn't that awesome?" context here.... I just think it's cool.

 

[Aquarelle]

From a biologist perspective though, I have to point out that often this is one of your body's methods of 'double-checking' itself. The vast majority of these miscarriages are because your body recognized a chromosomal abnormality. In other words... Something went VERY wrong in the process of fertilization, or DNA replication, or maybe even in the egg/sperm before conception even happened. Maybe during meiosis the DNA didn't split properly, and the new egg was missing a chromosome. I have to marvel at the fact that our bodies can identify that something has gone wrong, and terminate the process.

I know those words wouldn't offer much consolation to a couple who has lost their pregnancy, but since we're more in an "Isn't that awesome?" context here.... I just think it's cool.

Yes. And while it's not necessarily consoling, it is comforting to know that my body will discuntinue a problematic pregnancy.

 

[InvisibleJim]

It should it's hard, otherwise she won't be very happy.

 

[CrystalViolet]

I don't think I'm going to reproduce. Not by choice. I sort of always imagined having one sprog. Older mum's seem to have a hell of a hard time during pregnancy though. Knowing what some of my friends have gone through, I don't think I'm game enough. Nobody tells you about that sort of thing, that it might be easier, or rather younger bodies recover faster and can take more stress, especially pregnancy. I feel kinda ripped off.