Donor Egg Books

The other night I read the One More Giraffe book to the girls.  I received this book when it was introduced to the PVED board and free copies were offered.  I was recently pregnant with the twins and had been looking into ways to introduce and talk about the donor egg aspect of their make-up as they grew up.  There isn't a lot out there sadly.  I enjoy the simpleness of this book and the matter of fact way it has of dealing with the topic.  It's definitely not written for adults, as I find it kind of corny and brief, but I think it's a good introduction for young kids.  I also love the idea of Mommy's Garden shared by Keiko (from another friend of hers).  I don't expect that the girls will really have in depth questions about it until they are older and understand more about biology and how babies may typically happen for other families.

 I hope I'm prepared for the simple side of things in the meantime.  I definitely have no shame about how we were given the best gift ever and how through that we were able to have these beautiful girls.  I have no doubt that they are my children and I am there mom.  I hope they never doubt that either.  I hope that they never feel shame over their unique story.  I know that we are a huge part and impact on how they will accept it and themselves.  I don't want us to treat it like a huge deal because it's not.  It's how life came to us and it's how we decided to pursue a family and I couldn't be more grateful that the technology and ability for us to take that route was there.

My question for any donor egg mom's or those pursuing or thinking of it....Are there any books you recommend??  Thank you.

Long Term Outlook

POF has many facets for how it affects your life. Your ovaries basically shut down or stop working. This means that eggs aren't formed and it is the formation process (monthly cylce) and an active ovary that produces most of estrogen in a womans body and also produces some testosterone and other hormones. Without estrogen you run into problems with absorption of calcium and maintaining bone density and also cardiovascular risk. Basically you become prone to the same issues that a menopausal woman becomes susceptible to...but with POF you are at risk 20-30 years sooner. Most women with POF take Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) in order to counter the risks but even then you are still at risk of osteoperosis and heart disease. It's scary stuff.

I remember when I got over the initial infertility issue enough to worry about my health that I was terrified I'd have osteoperosis and I worried about POF upping my risks of hereditary heart problems. I asked my doctor about getting a DEXA scan (bone scan) for osteoperosis and he said it was unnecessary and I should be fine. That was another reason that Jeff and I went to the NIH in Washington D.C. because they performed standard tests for POF free of charge for their study. They realized that osteoperosis is a risk even in a 27 year old (at the time) woman when it comes to POF. Luckily I tested normal for bone density at the time but I should be retested every few years and take proactive measures like weight bearing exercise.

Anyway enough rambling. Basically this post was just to say that I am doing a research paper for my college course Biomed Core (biology and physiology) and I chose to do this on the long term health risks of Premature Ovarian Failure. I think it will be good for me to get more information and I've researched it before so I already know a lot of the material. I am interested to find out more detail about the risks though.