HUFFINGTON
10.07.12
MIRACLE BABIES
get pregnant,” said Alice Domar,
an assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical
School and executive director of
the Domar Center for Mind/Body
Health. “And my patients look at
me and say, ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me. I’ve had 18 cycles of IVF.’
And then they get pregnant.”
Though no expert has ever offered her a definitive explanation,
Michelle believes her first pregnancy somehow healed her body.
“With my boy, it’s like I had one
golden egg in there. I don’t know
how to explain it,” she said. “But I
don’t think it would have happened
without my daughter. It’s like she
taught my body what to do.”
Scientific theories do support
Michelle’s hunch, particularly for
women with certain conditions.
For example, about 50 percent
of women with endometriosis,
which causes the tissue that normally lines the uterus to grow
elsewhere, have problems getting
pregnant. Whether induced or
natural, pregnancy “suppresses”
the condition, Domar explained.
“For somebody who has a history
of endometriosis, if she manages to
get pregnant, those nine months of
pregnancy are very healing to her
IVF IS A
GRUELING,
LOGISTICALLY
CHALLENGING
PROCESS,
NOT A
QUICK FIX.
pelvis,” she said. “It would make
more sense that she would be able
to get pregnant after.”
An underweight woman faces
a similar prospect, as long as her
weight is a reason for ovulation
problems. If she manages to get
pregnant, even a window of several months to lose the baby weight
may be long enough for her to become pregnant naturally with a
second child.
AN INEXACT SCIENCE
An even simpler explanation is
that some women are rushing into
assisted reproductive technology
and that given more time, they
might have gotten pregnant on
their own. Much about infertility and its roots is still a mystery,
and to have a baby, the complex