Knowledge good or bad

I wasn't sure where to put this or what to call it.

i've been thinking do you think we are better off today then say our mums or grandparents with all the knowledge/ information avaliable on concieving etc. or not.

Yes I think we are better off. If I was unable to have a baby (which was becoming a possibility), then at least a lot of the time it would be possible to determine why - and if it was fixable then it would be fixed. If it was not fixable then at least there are other options.

Having TTC for about 18 months, I have learnt heaps about my cycles and what to look for and also learnt where I could have been making mistakes and that information has obviously been invaluable.

I do think that sometimes women test too early and then go on to have chemical pregs which can be devastating.

Things are different now - what did people do in the olden days when they couldn't conceive-they adopted a baby? Not exactly many babies to adopt these days tho could argue that if medical science hadnt altered then maybe there still would be-less abortions and so on? Who knows?

All I know is that I am grateful that I have conceived after trying for so long and honestly dunno if I would have if I had left it up to chance!!

I def think its better now that we know all this stuff! I work with a lot of elderly ladies who could never had children, I have PCOS and have the opportunity to have fertility treatment..... I think thats cool

I think things are better, women who wouldn't have been able to have children even 20 years ago, now can thanks to IVF and better understanding of how conception works.

I'm not sure that TTC is any different, we simply know more about it and are aware of what's going on.  A woman who couldn't concieve even 20 years ago, would have been considered 'barren' and consigned to being childless.

Maybe my own parents would have been able to have children if IVF was avaialable 35 years ago, but it wasn't and the DPB wasn't readily available, so I was adopted by my un-wed catholic birth mother at 2 weeks of age by my parents.  Adoption was realitvely common place in the 70's.

I'm not sure I age with society's attittude towards teenage mum's keeping their babies, I've seen how well adoption can work both for the birth mother and the baby.

Coming from the side of having suffering infertility for six years - i definately think its better having more knowledge, it makes you have a better understanding of what is happening with any treatments you are having, instead of feeling overwhelmed at such a stressful time.

I think that it empowers you to try everything you can to enhance your fertility before heading to the doctor, specialist.

I agree with who-ever said about early testing and chemicals, but most people know that it is not ideal to early test, its not the 'knowledge' that makes them test earlier its the anticipation of a positive result.

Babe wrote: I'd rather be able to adopt a child if I couldn't conceive than go through the stress, pain and finance of IVf, etc.

Unless you are in this position i don' think that you know what you would do, to be honest. It is fine to have these ideas but unless put into the position you do not know.

Babe wrote: Thats rarely an option these days though because with scientific 'advances' have come huges rates of abortions.

Are these legalised abortions you are talking about?? What about all the backstreet abortions that happened years ago and probably still go on today. I actually think that with scientific advances if you chose to have an abortion you are in much safer hands and the mortality rate is lower.

Babe wrote: I also think there would be alot less problems conceiving if people were living more simply (which they were before all the scientific 'advances').

... oh so thats were i personally went wrong all those years of TTC-ing!!!!!

The difference being of course is that now IVF is an option, where as 20 years ago it didn't exist. As for adoption that is now harder as there aren't enough babies available to adopt.

Personally I prefer to know what's going on with my body etc, simply not knowing and not being able to do anything about TTC I would find really difficult.

I'd be interested to see the statistics on infertility to see if women and men today really are more infertile or its simply that now there is a way of measuring and recording it.

I’m quite happy to be TTC now rather than in the past! Sure, our medical advances have increased our understanding of how it all works, but I don’t think anything much has changed the pain that trying to conceive can cause when there are complications.

In the past, some people got pregnant when their husband looked at them – just like some ladies do now. People who struggled to have children still struggled – they just didn’t know why quite as well as we do. Some of the things we know can help us fix the problem. Others can at least give some sense of closure – if I can’t have children, I’d much rather know why.

I think we tend to forget that the pain of anxiously waiting for AF to turn up (or not turn up) month after month would have been just as stressful, if you’d been trying for months on end. Not being able to test wouldn’t mean you wouldn’t focus on it! Also, now we know more about ovulation, people with irregular cycles don’t have to go through the ‘am-I-or -aren’t-I’ at the end of every cycle quite so much before AF shows up.

Also, even if you disregard the above, the end result of TTC is hopefully a baby – and I know the medical advances in pregnancy and childbirth mean it’s a lot safer for Mum and Bubs nowdays!

On a side note that’s kinda related, I’m so, SO glad I live now and not 100 years ago or so, when expectations on women were very different. Now, if I can’t have children, there are other ways I can focus the time and energy which I’ll put into raising a family if we do have kids. Back in the day, ladies didn’t have those options. If you couldn’t have kids, you’d pretty much failed at life. I’m not a rampant feminist in many ways (no offence meant to those of you who are) but I think we live in a much healthier society as far as that’s concerned.

Babe

It is easy for you to say that you wouldn't go the ivf route while you are holding your own baby.

Do you realise that it is just as difficult to adopt a child - "stress, pain and finance"?

Why do you think there are scientific advances?  It cant be that some people with a simple life couldn't fall pregnant naturally???

oh, and...

Don't take offence please

I agree with Kicker etc. I'm sorry but until you know the pain of not being able to conceive...
If I have to go down the IVF path I will, if i dont thats great! But I will 100% support those that go down that path! Simple lives or not!

Edited by MindyW

What the heck is a simple life anyway? I honestly have to say that people in the olden days probably didnt have it much more simple and certainly didn't have it any easier and there was heaps more women and babies who died in childbirth...give me the modern 'unsimplified' days anytime.