Well, here we go again, I guess. Period started very suddenly on Sunday. It's about a week early by my estimation, but that's probably because of all of the medication. I'm glad because this means we can get started sooner. I called the doctor this morning but they haven't gotten back to me so I don't know when I'll be going in again. I assumed it would be tomorrow since that's day 3, but I don't have any injections to start so they might not need me on day 3. I'm not sure what the timeline for a frozen transfer is. I imagine I'll be going in sometime this week, but until then, I had already this filler post typed so I figure, why waste it? Enjoy.
Assisted Reproduction Technology Misconceptions:
A Critical Review of The Golden Girls
Sounds like a topic for a dissertation. Hell, maybe if that was what my dissertation was, I might have actually finished. Anyway, I fucking love The Golden Girls. I've loved it since I was a kid and between syndication on Lifetime and Hallmark channel, I must have seen every episode at least 20 times. I'm now waiting for Netflix to put it on instant streaming.
In season 5, Blanche's daughter comes for a visit and tells her mother she is planning to get impregnated by artificial insemination. The episode then depicted her path to motherhood.
Since we have been doing all this, this episode has really taken on new meaning for me. I find myself watching it with a different eye. It's still a great episode, but there are some problems with the information presented. I know, it's an entertainment show not an informative one. But I can't help but think that things like this are the reason why misconceptions persist. So I decided to evaluate the episode.
You can watch here. I tried to embed a YouTube video, but all videos with this episode have been removed. So I had to download it myself through...other means...and upload it directly to Blogger. Since this isn't exactly a high traffic blog, I figure it'll be safe for a while. I guess we'll find out.
"The Accurate Conception"
Season 5, Episode 3
Original air date: 10/14/1989
So, Rebecca lives in Atlanta but is visiting Blanche and the girls in Miami. And she announces that next Monday she is getting impregnated. Now, I'm working on the assumption that Rebecca is doing IUI and not IVF. I'm also assuming, even though the episode doesn't address it, that she has already done all the fertility testing and has been tracking her cycle for at least 2 months, so she knows she will be ovulating next Monday. It's a stretch, but OK, fine.
Rebecca says she is going to a sperm bank to get artificially inseminated. But she would have to go to a fertility clinic. A sperm bank doesn't do the insemination, at least according to what I found when I researched. They just provide the swimmers.
Now, the girls' reactions when Blanche tells them about it is hilarious and totally expected for 1989. Lol.
Blanche also is surprised that you have to buy sperm. She's probably be even more surprised to know how much it costs, too.
In the next scene, Rebecca comes in and announces that she has found a sperm bank nearby. She wants Blanche to go and see what kind of place it is. They all decide to go check it out. We had to go out-of-state for our sperm so we've never actually been to one. I don't know if they allow people to just drop in like that, especially if you have no intention of actually buying something.
In the next scene they arrive at the sperm bank. Oddly enough, the elevator opens right into the lobby.
When they meet with the doctor the scene cuts to the end of their conversation so we don't know what he told them the procedure was going to be. Blanche makes a classic comment about having a test tube baby. But the embryos are grown in a petri dish, not a test tube. They only use a tube when the eggs are extracted for IVF. And when we did IUI, we never once saw a single test tube.
In the final scene Blanche and her daughter make up and Blanche accepts what Rebecca is going to do. I assume she is going back to Atlanta and to her own sperm bank there. In later episodes it is revealed that she actually becomes pregnant and there is no mention that it took multiple attempts, so I guess we have to assume it worked the first time. Lucky her.
Things don't go this smoothly now in 2012 so I've got to figure in 1989 things didn't work out like this either. But hey, it's the Golden Girls.
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