Daily Shot Archive

Here's what you might have missed in fertility this week!

Profound Words from Movie Star Elizabeth Banks

Researchers Find Gene Linked to Sperm Motility

Symptoms of Endometriosis

The Perfect Timing

Ovulation Makes Women Go for the ‘Bad Boy’ Men

Age and Fertility

Natural Treatment for PCOS Now Available

Caffeine: Risk During Fertility Treatment and Pregnancy?

The Mother's Day Blues

Your Sunscreen Might Be Making You Infertile

Video: Is PCOS Hereditary?

Fertility News

• Chemicals in Environment 'Damaging Male Fertility'
• Elizabeth Banks: My Battle with Infertility
• Diocese Wants Suit over IVF Firing Tossed
• A Woman's Late 30s Guide to Fertility
• Business Up at Fertility Clinics
• Lesbian Couple Faces Legal Hurdles in Raising Quadruplets
• So Eager for Grandchildren, They’re Paying the Egg-Freezing Clinic
• Book Explains In Vitro Fertilization to Children
• Fertility-Frustrated Women Turning to India
• Chromosomal Screening Improves IVF Pregnancy Rates

A Second Shot at the Daily Shot

• The Daily Shot Archive

Last week the news covered a British study that found, essentially, that sperm have a lousy sense of direction. If scientists can learn more about the sperm that actually find their way through the cervix and fallopian tubes to get to the egg, they may be able to develop new fertility treatments for men or better select the sperm for fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization (IVF).

The research also serves as a reminder that getting pregnant is just not that easy — no matter what you were told in high school.There are a zillion things that have to happen — perfectly and at the right times— for an egg to actually be ovulated, get fertilized, grow into an embryo, implant into the uterus and then "stick" and grow into a healthy baby. It really is a miracle.

And remember, men are responsible for at least half of that miracle, To learn more about male fertility and infertility, click here.

Comprehensive chromosomal screening (CCS) is a type of preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) that allows embryologists to evaluate ALL 23 pairs of human chromosomes to find out if an embryo has aneuploidy (abnormal numbers of chromosomes).

CCS is thought to help with IVF success by finding the best embryos, with no aneuploidy, to transfer to the woman's uterus. In fact, a new study found that in IVF with single embryo transfer, when embryos were screened with a technique called array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) along with studying the morphology, there were improved pregnancy rates over those embryos who were screened by morphology alone. The aCGH group had significantly higher clinical pregnancy rates and a lower miscarriage rate.

Exciting stuff! To find out more about preimplantation genetic testing on embryos, check out the articles in FertilityAuthority's Genetic Testing section.

There's no getting around the fact that this Sunday is Mother's Day, one of the toughest Hallmark holidays for women who are having trouble conceiving or battling a diagnosis of infertility.

Not only is it hard to watch the celebration of other mothers around you, but your mother may give you a guilt trip if you don't feel like celebrating this year. This can be especially difficult if you feel like your own mom doesn't understand what you are going through.

Just remember, Mother's Day is really a celebration of all women and what they can accomplish — it didn't really have a lot to do with being a mother. Anna Jarvis — the woman who embarked upon the campaign in the early 1900s to make Mother's Day a recognized holiday — did it as a tribute to her mother, a woman who had founded Mothers' Day Work Clubs in five cities to improve sanitary and health conditions. By the 1920s, Jarvis had soured on the commercialization of the holiday, and she and her sister spent their family inheritance campaigning against what the holiday had become.

You don't have to campaign against Mother's Day, but you can certainly take a break from it. And if friends and family don't understand, seek support from places like RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association.

As summer approaches, have you thought about treating yourself to a vacation of sorts? Maybe some spa time, antiquing, relaxing on the beach and a round of IVF?

"Medical tourism" is a term used to describe the practice of traveling across international borders to obtain health care services, including dental, medical, surgical — and fertility treatments. As an industry, medical tourism is rapidly growing, often enabling people to receive good quality health care for a fraction of the domestic cost. IVF is one of the more popular offerings, and several agencies will arrange "IVF Vacations" in places such as the Czech Republic or South Africa.

There are many good IVF programs around the world, but regulations and oversight vary widely. Carefully research the program you are considering. Also, if IVF tourism is an option for you, make sure you consult with a reproductive law attorney to understand the legalities of certain procedures in specific countries. For example, gender selection is illegal in countries such as Switzerland and Austria. In addition, make sure you review the travel warning issued by the State Department for U.S. Citizens Considering the Use of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Abroad.

For some, IVF tourism can combine discovering amazing new parts of the world with the amazing journey of creating a child. It may be the experience of a lifetime.

Here's what you might have missed in fertility this week!

Embryo Donation

IVF Embryo Transfer

Choosing a Fertility Clinic

Frozen Egg Banks Offer Another Choice for Egg Donation

Catholicism and IVF: No Easy Answers

Infertility 101: The Fertility Work-Up

Feeling Positive about What LIes Ahead

Video: When and How Does Fertility Decline?

Researchers Find Male Fertility Gene; Formaldehyde Exposure Bad for Fertility

The ABCs of PGD, PGS and More

Laugh Until You Cry (and Then Laugh Again)

Bravelle, Follistim, Gonal-f

Video: What Is PGD for Gender Selection?

Fertility News

• IVF Trials Boost for BlueGnome
• Could Clowns Improve Fertility?
• Sextuplet Parents: 'It's Very Overwhelming'
• U.S. Lags in Global Measure of Preterm Births
• Oklahoma Court Halts 'Personhood' for Embryos
• Having a Baby after Breast Cancer Treatment

A Second Shot at the Daily Shot

• The Daily Shot Archive

If you're trying to get pregnant, it might be time to familiarize yourself with an important part of a woman's reproductive anatomy — the fallopian tubes. No, they don't play music … yet they transport something even more miraculous.

These two long thin tubes are located on either side of the uterus and allow passage of an egg from the ovaries to the uterus. One end is connected to the uterus, while the other end flares open with several long fringes, called fimbrae. In the perfect scenario the ovarian follicle ruptures, and the egg is caught in the fimbrae and travels to the ampulla, the curved portion of the tube over the ovary. Here is where the egg and sperm usually get together, turn into a zygoe and travel on their merry way to the uterus to become an embryo and implant. And all of this is aided by the fallopian tube muscle and the cilia, the tiny hairs inside the fallopian tubes that help push things along.

Whew, there's a lot going on in those tubes. It's no wonder that problems with the fallopian tubes are one of the leading causes of female infertility.

Find out more about your fallopian tubes and tubal factor infertility here.

The Royal Couple Will and Kate quietly celebrated their one-year anniversary on April 29. This milestone has only ramped up the speculation on when a little royal heir is going to be born.

If you have followed the news and blogosphere over the last year, baby bump speculation began on the couple's honeymoon when there was a "special order" for Brussels sprouts, which purportedly boost fertility. Over the past year, there were reports of Will and Kate being pregnant, but it was a false alarm; Kate being pregnant with twins; Will and Kate adopting; Kate having a miscarriage; and Kate's anorexia triggering a miscarriage. None of these reports have been confirmed.

You'd think we were still living during King Henry VIII's reign with so much scrutiny on when an heir to the throne will be born!

Let's give the happy couple a break. They have only been married a year. Kate is only 30. And many say they will not draw attention away from the Queen's Diamond Jubilee with a pregnancy announcement. If the tabloids will quit crying "Pregnancy," it will make a real pregnancy announcement so much more exciting!

As National Infertility Awareness Week winds down, stay passionate on the topic of infertility. Keep talking about:

• How common an infertility diagnosis is among couples.
• Why you should see a fertility doctor sooner rather than later to find out why you are having trouble conceiving.
• Fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization and their success rates.
• IVF costs and what can be done to make fertility treatment more accessible.

Legislation such as 'personhood' amendments that can endanger access to fertility treatment and reproductive health.

Tell us what you are most passionate about when it comes to fertility. Please share with us on Facebook or Twitter!