Rewinding Your Biological Clock: Motherhood Late in Life

This isn't so much a book about "Motherhood Late In Life" as it is about conception using donor eggs. As a 40+ woman pregnant for the first time (through traditional methods), I picked up this book after my first OB visit, thinking it would provide a good overview of some of the issues I might face. At the time, I didn't realize that the book was specifically about ART (assisted reproductive technology) and pregnancies through donated eggs; I assumed it was just about being an older mom. Nonetheless, once I started reading, I couldn't put the book down. It provides much more detail about the biology of conception than do any of the traditional pregnancy books. Juxtaposed with the detailed biology lessons are installments in the story of Sarah & Joe, an older (Sarah is 48; Joe is younger) couple that opts for donor egg use after years of more traditional fertility treaments. In telling the story of Sarah & Joe, the authors address the ethical issues of pregnancy in post-menopausal women in what struck me as a balanced, compassionate, and very thoughtul manner. In the Sarah/Joe story, they discuss the response Sarah & Joe elicit from family members, friends, Sarah's sister, Sarah's adult daughter from a previous relationship. Let's face it -- not everyone is going to be congratulatory & rushing to hold a baby shower for a 50 year old pregnant woman -- or a lesbian or single woman for that matter; nor do all folks embrace the idea of creating an embryo in a test tube rather than accepting whatever God apparently had in mind. And I think it would make a typical adult women a little put off to learn her mother (and her children's grandmother) was using a donor egg to become prenant again. Paulson & Sachs deal with the questions and challenges that women choosing egg donation (or even pregnancy later in life or under other non-traditional circumstances) may face, and their treatment is even-handed -- realistic, not pedantic or preachy, not utopian. I think this would be essential reading for anyone considering assistance in reproduction, especially egg donation. It would also be helpful for the friends and families of women who have elected to use donor eggs.

A donor egg cycle may include the medication, Lupron. Weeks of Lupron therapy puts one in a different hormonal state in which one is barely able to function. Nurses call this induced hormonal state, "going under," which includes hot flashes and debilitating headaches. Not addressed in the book are the physical symptoms that occur with supression of one's natural hormones and treatment, if any, of the physical symptoms. Although generally informative, I wonder what other critical information may have been left out.

An instructive book about assisted reproduction in the postmenoupausal years, written with great compassion and respect for the couples contemplating such a decision. Paulson and Sachs are obviously attuned to all of the emotional and ethical, as well as practical issues, that enter into such a decision. As a clinical discourse on post-menopausal pregnancy issues it is first rate. As the journey of a fictious woman who must deal with all of the complexities of making such a decision it is an emotional and compelling story.

This book was written by 2 people. Parts deal with the mechanics of fertility treatment and other parts follow a 48-year-old woman's life as she decides to achieve motherhood.The writing of the medical aspects of fertility is done in a detailed and complete manner. It is an education by itself and can be referred to often by any fertility patient with medical questions. (Note: Dr.Paulson is a University professor.)The portrayal of the older would-be mom is very repectful. She has taken care of herself so well that she is able to run an actual marathon. Why shouldn't she be able to have a baby? A man in her position can have a baby! This book gives men and women a way to achieve some manner of reproductive parity.