How to Make a Family: The Blog

baHAHA... Schadenfreude Time Again, Guys

I know it's cruel, but I can't help it. Every time I see yet another study -- and especially reviews of multiple studies! -- that point a finger at men's role in subfertility... well...

Sorry, that's just me being ugly, as my mother would say.

But seriously. For how many decades were women the ones who were not only poked and prodded but also told to Straighten Up & Fly Right To Get Pregnant? 

Wow. I had no idea that this much emotion about the topic was still laden in my underpinnings. 
You might already know that my main problem with trying to have a baby back in the Dark Ages was recurrent miscarriage. Getting pregnant, we could do. Every six months, in fact. But keepin' the little suckers around long enough to develop from a fetus into a baby... not my forte. So in my mid- to late-30's, I started living like a nun. You name it, I gave it up. Even yoga. I did the best I could afford diet-wise and pounded supplements, near as I can recall. 

I won't tell you about the healthy lifestyle "efforts" (or lack thereof) that my son's dad engaged in at the time, because it would be tantamount to slander. And I really do like the guy and have no intention of rocking his world now. Thing is, nobody asked him to do anything different once that semen analysis came back normal. So why should he?

But studies here and there have been sneaking up on men, and the researchers are finally tsk-tsk'ing them to change their ways or risk not passing those fantastic genes on.

An intervention review published in this month's Cochrane Review looked at 34 trials with 2876 couples where the study objective was to find connections between men taking antioxidant supplements and their reproductive outcomes. 

The conclusion of this review: Pooled findings support increases in live births and pregnancy rates with the use of antioxidants by the male partner. Further work is recommended to confirm these findings.

YES!!

In a press release, lead researcher Marian Showell, Obstetrics and Gynaecology at University of Auckland, said more comparisons between different supplements are needed to understand whether any one antioxidant is performing better than any other. Still, she and her colleagues believe the evidence is strong enough to state, “When trying to conceive as part of an assisted reproductive program, it may be advisable to encourage men to take oral antioxidant supplements to improve their partners’ chances of becoming pregnant.” 

So, go to it, guys. And if you're past baby-making age or stage, then take it upon yourself to educate the young men following in your footsteps. Making babies is *not* strictly a woman's job any more.

Showell MG, Brown J, Yazdani A, Stankiewicz MT, Hart RJ. Antioxidants for male subfertility. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2011, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD007411. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD007411.pub2 

Spreading More Love, This Time Like Jalapeno Jelly

On another blog where I also ramble in me.me.me mode (but with a focus more on generic family stuff), I recently wagged a finger at myself for how -- well -- just how All About Me I can get on the Internet and how I need to spread more love.

Today's the perfect day to do something similar here, where I yada yada yada about the baby-making industry. My friend and yours, Pamela Madsen, is coming out. Way out. And I can tell you, because I know, that it's been a few years in the prep phase, this Party o' Pammy's -- and just like the best sex, today's 'peak experience' is really just the beginning of a steady heatwave.

Y'all know Pam -- I used to rant against her, right here on this blog. Funny thing about such tenuous connections, they sometimes transform into friendships of the most genuine kind. I give Pam Madsen most of the credit for how I softened up to her. She is one persuasive woman.

Okay, before this gets any gooey-er -- here's the hot stuff: Pam's book, "Shameless: How I Ditched The Diet, Got Naked, Found True Pleasure and Somehow Got Home in Time to Cook Dinner” (Rodale), is finally out. 

Wait There's More: She has also produced, with Circle + Bloom, a companion audio program for the baby-makers among you. Now *that's* hot.

I don't wade around the bookstores or even libraries much any more to see what's on the shelves to help fertility-minded couples get their mojo back. Nor do the related publishers send me the stuff any longer. (Yay! Let's hear it for moving on and down the road of life!) So I could be wrong, but I'm thinking this Shameless Baby-Making program is a first. And you know me -- yawning every morning at the "infertility news" marketing re-treads that are out there... it's good to wake up and see bona fide pioneering Adventures in Infertility.

Have I read the book? Well, not in its entirety yet, but I will. I'll confide this: I got to read a first draft of some parts of it way back when. :::big Yay Me grin::: Have I listened to the audio program? No, and I'll be honest -- I'm almost 50, folks. I love, love, love my one and only hard-to-finally-have child. So while sex may be on the top of my Personal List of Things To Do, baby-making most certainly is not. Still, knowing Pam's "Put It Out There" style and just a tiny slice of her experiences in practicing Shameless living, I'd be willing to bet that even I might need to pull over and take care of business if I were indulging in a listen on one of my long country roadtrips...

Congratulations, Pam. I know you know it, but I also know that some of us cannot hear it enough: you are SO deserving of this party.