” If you imagine it, you can achieve it. If you dream it, you can become it.” – William Arthur Ward. One of our patient’s sucess story in his own words

My fatherhood story

From the age of 20 I know I will become a parent, but time past faster than I felt and I was over 40 still a single man with no clue how I am making my biggest dream come true. And it happened a few years ago I came to read in a local newspaper about a gay couple becoming parents to a child getting help by a surrogate via Rotunda.

 It took me more than 2 years before I got the courage to send a mail to Rotunda and on the second mail my angel on earth wrote me. It was Dr Goral who later I understood is going to be the most meaningful person ever for me. She personally was the doctor and embryologist who got my embryos created through egg donation and she personally was the doctor who selected and put back the perfect embryos in my surrogate’s womb.

But this I will tell later. Before I want to tell about how afraid I was to begin the path. I am a single man, living alone in Israel. I don’t have any will changing my status. The only thing ever I wanted was a family! My family! and at the age of 43 I finally said to myself that I can’t wait no more and I sent the first mail to Rotunda. Till that stage it was the most difficult thing I did. No one can understand how much courage I needed and if not the feeling that this is what GOD has wishing for me I would not have become a father. My first try did not succeed. It took me 6 more months and good words from Dr Goral to start 1 more time. Got 1 more flight to Mumbai and again sat in Rotunda while the egg donation and 2 days later getting  embryos back in my surrogate.12 days later Dr Goral sent me the best mail till then telling me there is a pregrancy.

8 months later I became the happiest man living on earth! I am a father of a daughter and a son.

 My twins are 1 year and almost 4 months now. The boy is running for almost 2 month and the girl is making her first steps now. There is no happiness bigger than my happiness! No argument about it. Thank God for allowing me to be a father to my twins and thank Gods angel on earth (Dr Goral).

For anyone reading this blog I wish to explain: You need to stand on your legs and want the impossible! It is possible, just decide you want it. Rotunda knows how to make our biggest dream come true. God is great. Thank you Rotunda and more than anyone thank you Dr Goral & Dr Allahbadia.

Oriah (meaning the light of God) – my daughter

Yehonathan (meaning God gave) –  my son &

 Me- Yehoshua / Joshua (meaning God will save)

Email: joshua40@walla.com

Breaking News: Surrogacy not for married couples only – singles and gays will have legal rights to have surrogate babies

Single men, single women, gays and lesbians may soon get the legal sanction to undergo surrogacy in India.

The draft bill legalizing the surrogacy process in India has provided for Single parenthood by allowing “Unmarried Couples” and “Single Persons” from India and abroad to have children in India using ART procedures and surrogate mothers.

By conferring the right to have children on unmarried couples and single persons, the bill attempts to achieve several historic feats – legalizing commercial surrogacy, single parenthood, live-in relationships and entitling gays and lesbians to start families using surrogate mothers – at one go.

The bill proposes to set up a mechanism to regulate and supervise surrogacy in India.

The bill, with potential to rewrite the social landscape, may be tabled in the monsoon session of Parliament if the Union Cabinet clears it.

Read more about this on http://epaper.hindustantimes.com//artMailDisp.aspx?article=21_06_2010_001_020&typ=1&pub=264

Celebrity Surrogacy Twins!

 

By People December 10, 2008, 12:06 pm PST

• • celebs:
  • Ricky Martin
• • topics:
  • Kids
  • Musicians
  • Hotties

People

Meet Matteo and Valentino Martin! 

Born via surrogate in early August, Ricky Martin’s 4-month-old twin boys make their debut in this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday. 

A joyful Martin, 36, spoke candidly with PEOPLE at home in Puerto Rico about his desire to be a parent, the decision to seek the help of a surrogate, and juggling caring for twins — he has no nanny! 

Describe this time in your life.
“I’m so happy! Everything they do, from smiling to crying, feels like a blessing. Being a father feels amazing. This has been the most spiritual moment in my life.” 

[ See Famous Twins Who’ve Graced PEOPLE Covers ] 

How hands-on are you as a father?
“I don’t have a nanny. I’m doing this on my own because I don’t want to miss a moment. I have a personal assistant who helps me, someone who takes care of me while I’m taking care of them, but I’m the one who changes the diapers, the one that feeds them, the one that bathes them, the one that puts them to sleep. For any parent, the first couple of months tend to get a little bit intense.” 

Why did you choose to become a parent via surrogate?
“Adoption was one option, but it’s complicated and can take a long time. Surrogacy was an intriguing and faster option. I thought, ‘I’m going to jump into this with no fear.'” 

[ Angelina, Gwen, Ashlee: See the Hottest Mamas of the Year! ] 

Tell us about Valentino’s and Matteo’s personalities.
“Valentino loves to sleep. I call him ‘Mr. Peace and Love’ because he’s so chill and serene. Matteo is more alert and active. He was up at 3 a.m. the other night and just hanging!” 

What is your philosophy on raising your sons?
“I love to read books to my sons and tell them stories. I play music for them so they develop their own personalities. I want to give them information and raise them with honesty and love, and give them self-esteem and a lot of acceptance.” 

For more on Ricky Martin, including photos of the twins’ nursery and the full interview, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.

Multiple joys: Three gynecologists — and moms — are personal experts on twins and triplets

Talk about multitasking. Of the eight female obstetrician-gynecologists who deliver babies at Sutter Roseville Medical Center in Roseville, California, three are the mothers of multiples.

 

Dr. Amy Riley’s triplets, Julia, Vivian and Alec are now four years old. Dr. Anna Almonte’s twin daughters, Katherine and Elizabeth, are 6. And Dr. Jackie Ho gave birth to the babies of the group – twins Marissa and Ellie Ow – on May 16.

Even more impressive, all three doctors have older children as well. Clearly, they’re well versed in the art of juggling the demands of home and family and a busy career.

 

“People will say, ‘I can’t imagine,’ ” Riley says. “But I can’t imagine anything else.”

For their patients, they set an encouraging example. Riley, Almonte and Ho understand the reassurance implicit in their care of nervous expectant mothers overwhelmed with the idea of carrying, delivering and raising multiples.

“I’m very encouraging about twins,” says Almonte, 37, who immigrated from Ukraine a dozen years ago. “I always say, ‘It’s double trouble, but it’s a double joy.’ “

 

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics, the twin birth rate – more than 32 per 1,000 births – has increased 42 percent since 1990 and 70 percent since 1980, in large part the result of delayed childbearing. Beginning in their 30s, women are more likely to conceive twins naturally – and even more so when fertility treatments are involved.

 

In contrast, the birth rate for triplets and other multiples has declined slightly in recent years, the CDC says, following American Society of Reproductive Medicine recommendations limiting the number of embryos transferred during fertility procedures.

 

“When I was pregnant with my twins, I had four other couples at the same time in my practice carrying twins,” says Ho, 39, herself a twin. See? Twins, once a relative rarity, seem like they’re everywhere these days. Scratch the surface of most elementary schools and you’ll find a few sets of multiples.

 

And as Cindy Camarena, president of a California Moms of Multiples club, likes to say, when people see twins, they smile. Something about doubled- and even tripled-up siblings, whether identical or fraternal, still delights us.

 

For the record, Ho and Almonte both conceived their twin daughters the old-fashioned way, without the assistance of reproductive technology. “It was nothing but nature,” says Almonte.

 

On the other hand, when Riley and her husband, Damon, decided it was time to expand their family beyond their first daughter, Brenna, now 10, they struggled for several years. “Then one cycle with in-vitro fertilization, and there were three more kids,” says Amy Riley, who lives in Roseville. “It was like winning the lottery after four years of infertility.”

 

Carrying multiple babies comes with multiple risks, including preterm labor and toxemia. As expectant ob-gyns, the doctors knew more about those risks than most pregnant women.

 

“I think knowledge is always good,” says Ho, whose oldest daughter, Caroline, is 8. “When I found out I was having twins, I was very happy but at the same time worried about potential complications. “I was as excited as I could be, but I thought, ‘Am I going to end up having a C-section? Am I going to be able to take them home with me from the hospital, or will I have to leave them in the (neonatal intensive care unit)?’ “The extra knowledge caused extra concerns. But I also knew what to watch out for.”

 

And what do the twins and triplets watch out for? Often as not, each other.

“When there are three,” says Riley, “they learn to be more patient than other kids are. They all yell, ‘Mom,’ at the same time, but there’s only one mom. So they help each other out. And they’re very good at sharing.” “You teach your kids to be independent,” Almonte says. “They entertain each other.” Riley nods. “We had to constantly entertain our older daughter,” she says. “But these guys entertain each other.”

 

Meanwhile, Ho and her husband, Dr. Randy Ow, an ear, nose and throat specialist, make a point of devoting one night each week to their oldest daughter so she won’t feel overlooked in their newly twin-centered Roseville, Calif., household. “Life is good,” Ho says. “I have a very understanding husband. I’m still trying to be there as much as I can for my patients. When I leave work, I’m 100 percent with my kids. They keep us very busy, nonstop.

“We’re so happy with them.”

 

Baby after whole ovary transplant

A 39-year old woman has become the first to give birth following a whole
ovary transplant. Susanne Butscher received an intact ovary from her fertile
twin sister last year, during a landmark operation carried out by Dr Sherman
Silber of the Infertility Centre of St Louis, Missouri US. Mrs Butscher
became infertile after her ovaries failed at the age of 15. To date, eight
women have given birth subsequent to receiving small sections of ovarian
tissue. Yet this – the ninth case – has been lauded as a pioneering
achievement in infertility treatment.
The birth of baby Maja last week should be celebrated, according to Dr
Silber, during what he has labelled an ‘infertility epidemic’ that in the UK
alone is affecting upwards of 100,000 women. Although a complicated
procedure (the operation involves the reattachment of arteries one third of
a millimetre in diameter), the transplant renews the ability to conceive
naturally. It also restores hormone levels to those necessary for driving
the menstrual cycle. Such hormones, like oestrogen and progesterone, also
protect against osteoporosis. 
   Nonetheless, the majority of women affected by an early menopause are
unlikely to have a fertile twin sister capable of donating an ovary. This
would be necessary in order to avoid donor-rejection of foreign tissue, and
to circumvent the need for immuno-suppressive drugs. But Dr Silber claims
that, from a social perspective, it will be an attractive option for women
wishing to extend fertility into their forties and fifties, perhaps to
favour a career. However the British Fertility Society (BFS) is opposed to
what it calls an ‘unethical application’ of the operation, suggesting
current methods, like egg storage, are less problematic. Laurence Shaw,
consultant in reproductive medicine at the London Bridge Fertility Centre,
London, and spokesperson for the BFS, said: ‘I would have thought that the
long-term freeze-storing of an ovary would cause as much harm as the
deterioration due to age itself’.
   The BFS instead endorses a more practical application of the operation.
Women that face invasive cancer therapies like radiotherapy and chemotherapy
(both of which reduce fertility) could have an ovary frozen pending an
improvement in their condition. In such cases, ovary storage could be more
suitable than egg extraction, as egg follicles must first be matured through
a lengthy hormone treatment, causing unwanted delays to chemotherapy.

France: Woman, 59, is oldest mother of triplets

A 59-year-old Frenchwoman has given birth by Caesarian section to two boys and a girl, who are in good health, the Paris hospital treating her said on Monday last.

“Everything went smoothly,” said a spokesman at Cochin hospital where the triplets were born overnight Saturday.

The woman, of Vietnamese origin, is thought to have resorted to a private Vietnamese clinic willing to overlook the age limit for egg donation and in vitro fertilisation (IVF), set at 45 in Vietnam, according to press reports.

Egg donations are authorised in France but most fertility clinics here set a maximum age limit of 42 for would-be mothers.

But nothing prevents couples from seeking fertility treatment abroad and in 2001 a 62-year-old Frenchwoman gave birth to a child conceived through IVF, in the Riviera town of Frejus.

Earlier this year, an Indian woman said to be 70 years old gave birth to twins after receiving IVF treatment.

The baby girl weighed in at 2.42 kilograms (5.34 pounds) as did one brother, while the second boy weighed 2.32 kilograms.

The birth of triplets by a mother in her late 50s was unprecedented in France and possibly a world first.

But the news raised eyebrows among French health professionals concerned that science was pushing the limits of motherhood too far.

“Having children at that age is dangerous in terms of child development,” said child psychiatrist Nicole Garret-Gloanec.

Women of child-bearing age are able to “draw the link between their own childhood and their baby,” she said.

This case raises questions as to “how you can help a child grow, in educational terms and development,” said Dominique Ratia-Armangol, president of the national association of early childhood psychologists.

She said a child born to an older woman can become confused about the role of grandmother and mother.

Garret-Gloanec suggested that the mother’s late-in-life desire to have children was “a denial of ageing and of death.”

“It’s unhealthy, to project onto children your own anxieties about death,” she said.

Uterus Size May Predict Risk for Premature Twins After IVF

The size of a woman’s uterus can predict whether she is at risk of having very premature twins after IVF treatment, researchers have discovered.

IVF is a treatment given to women to increase their chances of getting pregnant. During treatment, a woman is given drugs to stimulate ovulation and her eggs are removed from the ovaries. The eggs are then combined with sperm in a laboratory, before being implanted back into the woman.

This new French study claims that by using ultrasound to measure the height of a woman’s uterus, doctors can predict whether or not she is at risk of having babies born prematurely if she becomes pregnant with twins after IVF.

The findings could help medical professionals and women make objective decisions about how many embryos should be transferred in one IVF attempt. 

“Twin pregnancies account for between a quarter and a third of pregnancies obtained during IVF, and 8% of them are complicated by the babies being born extremely premature, leading to medical complications and sometimes foetal mortality,” said Dr Raphaël Hirt of the Hôpital Antoine Béclère, Paris. 

Dr Hirt added that for this reason, single embryo transfer is promoted as the best way of avoiding twin pregnancies. However, in some cases, this can alter the overall likelihood of pregnancy.

“An evaluation of a woman’s individual risk of perinatal adverse outcomes from a twin pregnancy may help to select those women who have a lower risk of having twins born severely prematurely, and who could consider a double embryo transfer if that is what they want,” Dr Hirt advised. 

Women who already have children are less likely to give birth prematurely, probably because the uterine cavity has been distended by previous pregnancies. 

Dr Hirt and his team decided to see whether the height of the uterus, as measured by transvaginal ultrasound (a process called hysterosonometry or HSM) could predict the outcome of twin pregnancies after IVF.

The team measured the uteruses of 79 women who were receiving IVF treatment, dividing them into three groups according to uterus size. 

Women with the smallest uteruses (group one) were significantly more likely to have babies born severely premature, with an increased number of foetal deaths. The average gestational age of babies born in group one was just 33.7 weeks, compared to an average age of 37.5 weeks for the other two groups.   

There were seven foetal deaths in the first group compared with one in the second group and none in the third group. Six of the deaths in the first group were linked to being born prematurely, while the one death in the second group was not.

“This is the first time that uterine length has been used to predict which women are more likely to have twins born prematurely. Our results show that HSM is a reliable and non-invasive method for predicting twin-related severe prematurity and neonatal mortality,” said Dr Hirt. 

HSM can be used before conception to help with objective decision making about the number of embryos to transfer. 

Dr Hirt advised that for women with a HSM measurement of less than 62mm, a single embryo transfer is indicated, but in those with a longer uterine cavity, a double embryo transfer can be considered, if it is acceptable to the patients. 

He stressed that transvaginal ultrasound is a common, easy and inexpensive examination. Furthermore, it is already practiced in many fertility clinics and would not increase IVF costs. 

“Although we suggest that further, larger studies should be conducted, we believe that even with the restricted number of patients in our study, the results are dramatically significant and HSM could be included in the criteria that clinics currently use when advising about the number of embryos to transfer,” he concluded. 

Dr Hirt and his team will be using HSM as new criteria and will be studying whether this results in a significant decrease in foetal mortality. 

They are also planning to study the impact of a short uterine cavity on singleton pregnancies, to see whether it could help to identify those women who will need intensive neonatal care.

The research was presented at the 24th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Barcelona.

Posted by : Goral Gandhi, MSc,

                   Laboratory Director,

                   Rotunda – Center for Human Reproduction (Pvt) Ltd

Twins Born 16 Years Apart

UK newspapers have reported on the story of ‘twin’ girls born 16 years apart following IVF treatment. Jane and Alan Davis began IVF treatment in March 1989. Thirty-three eggs were collected, and fertilised with Mr Davis’ sperm, producing a number of viable embryos. Three were implanted and 22 others were kept in frozen storage to potentially be used in the future.
Emma Davis, now 16-years old, was born in December 1989. Her sister, Niamh, who began life as an embryo at the same time as Emma, was born in December 2005. According to UK law, IVF embryos can usually only be kept for five years, with the possibility of an extension. Doctors treating the couple decided that their circumstances were so exceptional that they should be granted a special dispensation to keep their frozen embryos in storage for longer. Although siblings have been born up to 21 years apart after the use of frozen sperm, this means that 16 years is now the record for siblings being born from the same batch of IVF embryos.
‘We feel incredibly lucky that we’ve finally been able to complete our family. It’s been a long and traumatic journey, but we’re so glad we never gave up’, said Mrs Davis who has had ten miscarriages, three ectopic pregnancies and lost a third child – conceived from the same batch of IVF embryos. The ectopic pregnancies, which followed after Mrs Davis conceived naturally after the birth of Emma, damaged Mrs Davis’ fallopian tubes so badly that she had no chance of conceiving naturally again. After saving money for more IVF treatment, in 2002, the Davises told Emma they wanted to try for another child using an embryo stored since she was conceived: ‘We’d told Emma about the unusual circumstances of her birth and she’d simply accepted it’, said Mrs Davis, adding ‘she was just thrilled at the prospect of a brother or sister’. However, despite getting pregnant, they lost the baby at six months old. A second attempt ended in a miscarriage and doctors told the couple that embryos could not be kept frozen for ever without losing quality.
In April 2005, the couple decided to have one final attempt at IVF. Each time they tried, six embryos were thawed and the best selected for implantation. ‘We knew that after this attempt, only three frozen embryos would remain, which might not be enough to keep trying’, said Mrs Davis. But this time the pregnancy was uncomplicated. Dr Goswamy, who treated the couple initially at London’s Churchill Clinic, and then later at the Harley Street Fertility Centre, said that he believed 16 years is the longest time between siblings born from embryos created at the same time. ‘As far as I know, this is a record’, he said, adding ‘I don’t know of any other case, anywhere in the world, where children from the same batch of eggs have been born 16 years apart’.
The Davises are discussing what to do with their three remaining frozen embryos, but are almost certain they will have them destroyed. ‘I doubt three embryos is a large enough number to be useful in research’, they said. Speaking about her new sister, Emma Davis said that she realises that ‘it’s very unusual to have a twin sister born 16 years after me’. She added: ‘But we’re not identical, and I don’t really think of her as my twin, more as my baby sister’.
Although theoretically very long term freezing is possible, the normal period for embryo storage in the UK is limited to five years, because of the risks of embryo deterioration. However, this story seems to suggest that longer-term freezing carries few significant dangers. Planer, the company that developed the freezing equipment in which the embryos were stored, said in a press release that Niamh’s birth ‘is believed to set a new record for viability in the long term’. The previous record was twelve years, when in February 2004 it was reported in that a 39-year old Israeli woman has given birth to twins using frozen embryos created twelve years prior. On that occasion, the embryos had been frozen prior to storage in a controlled rate freezer also made by Planer.
We have a Planer at Rotunda:)

Lesbians lose Australian court battle over twins

An Australian couple lost a high-profile medical negligence case against their specialist fertility consultant at the Canberra Fertility Clinic last week. The couple had alleged that Dr Sydney Armellin negligently transferred two embryos rather than one as specifically requested when they received IVF treatment in 2003, thereby causing the birth of an additional baby, and then sought damages in the amount of $400,000 to help compensate for the cost of raising an additional twin daughter. This sum included fees for a private Steiner school, time off work and medical expenses. They testified that their relationship had suffered dramatically from the strain of raising twins. Their claim, launched in September 2007, attracted angry public criticism.
The president of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) for the Australian Canberra Territory (ACT), Dr Paul Jones, has welcomed the Canberra Supreme Court decision and called for legal clarification to
prevent these so-called ‘wrongful birth’ claims – which classify the birth of a healthy child as ‘damage’ – from reaching courtrooms, similar to prohibitions that already exist in other Australian territories.Former AMA president and obstetrician Dr Andrew Foote told The Daily Telegraph newspaper that ‘it sends a very mixed message [to their children], that we love one but don’t want the other. They should’ve been grateful for healthy babies’. ACT Health Minister Katy Gallagher cautioned against the case leading to ”knee-jerk’ legislative change’ but stated that the government is open to consideration. ACT Attorney-General Simon Corbell also warned that reacting to the case with legal amendment might cause a dangerous precedent. Chief Minister Jon Stanhope felt Foote confused the situation with emotional ‘nonsense’ about who loves children more and clouding facts that highlight important legal principles such as consent, a doctor’s duty of care and patient trust.
Justice Annabelle Bennett cleared Dr Armellin of liability and rejected the couple’s argument that they knowingly consented to the 0.1 per cent risk of identical twins from single-embryo transfer but not to the reported 20 per cent increased risk of twins resulting from two-embryo implantation. In a written statement during proceedings, the couple wrote that they ‘cherish’ their girls but this is about negligence and their right to consent to the procedure performed. Instead Justice Bennett found that the birth mother –
whose identity has been temporarily suppressed by Court order – was ‘negligent’ for not making her choice of the total number of embryos to be implanted clear and reprimanded the clinic staff who failed to seek
appropriate confirmation of consent.
Other critics of the same-sex couple focused on their homosexuality and questioned whether they should be restricted from assisted reproductive services. The couple retaliated that it is a ‘double-standard’ to expect minorities, including homosexuals, to be ‘grateful’ for reproductive privilege rather than to provide ‘equal’ rights. 
The average cost of an IVF treatment is about $5000 in Australia, however most couples – including homosexual couples – are eligible for a rebate of up to $1700 for each procedure.The couple’s solicitor Thena Kyprianou said her clients did not attend the hearing because it was ‘too expensive’ but are ‘shocked’ and will decide whether to appeal after considering the judgment.

World’s oldest mother has twins at age of 70

A 70-year-old woman in India is reportedly the world’s oldest woman to give birth, when she had twins last week. The girl and boy babies were delivered one month early by emergency caesarean section but are reportedly alive and well after being transferred to specialist neonatal care at Jaswant Roy Speciality Hospital.
Omkari Panwar and her 77-year-old husband, Charan Singh Panwar, have two grown daughters and five grandchildren but wanted a male heir and sought IVF assistance, according to newspaper reports. ‘The treatment cost me a fortune but the birth of a son makes it all worthwhile. I can die a happy man and a proud father,’ said Charan, a retired farmer, who told reporters that he mortgaged his land, spent his life savings, sold his buffalos and obtained a credit card loan to afford the IVF treatment costing INR 350,000

.
Journalists were unable to verify Omkari Panwar’s age because she does not have a birth certificate and does not know her birth-date. Instead, her recollection that she was nine years old at the time of Indian independence in 1947 has been used to determine her age to be 70. If accurate, then Omkari is four years older than the 66-year-old Romanian woman, Adriana Iliescu, who previously was believed to be the oldest woman to give birth when she had a daughter in 2005. Britain’s oldest mother is Patricia Rashbrook, who gave birth to a son in 2006 aged 62, after paying INR 800,000 for IVF treatment in Russia.
Omkari dismissed any awareness of the record and fails to see its ‘benefit’: ‘If I am the world’s oldest mother it means nothing to me. I just want to see my new babies and care for them while I am still able’. Critics of post-menopausal motherhood say that they should not be allowed to receive fertility treatment because of increased health risks to mother and child. Others question the ability of geriatric parents to cope with young children and the harm of early parental bereavement.