Freeze Away -Nishi P.

It took me less than a week to finish Get Me Out, I went from being bored of this book to not wanting to stop reading it. It taught me a lot about pregnancies and now I have a lot more knowledge about a topic that I barely knew about.

The last section of this book has to be one of my favorites. Freezing sperm, eggs, and embryos is a really neat topic and it’s something that I think everyone should know about. I never really wanted to know about the other options if I wasn’t able to get pregnant on my own. It never really occurred to me that maybe somehow something could go wrong and I wouldn’t be able to have any children. But, that isn’t something I really want to think about.

I think the medical world has really evolved. From the beginning of the book to the last chapter so much has changed. They went from killing women for asking for epidurals to freezing eggs. “In 1867, J. Marion Sims, the same doctor… appalled colleagues by predicting and there will be a day when scientists will figure out when women are most fertile.” (pg. 207) It is amazing to know that we didn’t always have apps or websites that can tell us when we’re most likely to get pregnant. According to Your Fertility, you ovulate 12-16 days before you begin your menstrual cycle. It is interesting to me that we have progressed so much in this field. 

Freezing your eggs is something that one has to be very patient with. A person never knows their chances of becoming pregnant with a frozen egg or even frozen sperm. “People should realize that not every egg you freeze makes a baby. It’s more like one in ten.” (pg. 240) According to USC Fertility it costs around $10,000 for an egg freezing cycle. I think that’s a crazy price, but for what it’s worth that 10 grand could bring along a lifetime of happiness. I liked a point that Yoselin R. made in her post. She stated that who could be disappointed with a child when they had to pay thousands to even bring them into this world.

There are many advantages and disadvantages to freezing embryos. For one, you could be spending money on something that doesn’t even work. But the plus side of that could be that even if it does cost a lot, you get a child of your own. I think that any medical procedure will always have its advantages and disadvantages but you just have to think about the plus side. I think people should freeze their embryos for both research and later use. We need to do more and more research to better improve what we already know about. 

 

In my first blog post I addressed the World Health Organization Millennium #5 which is related to maternal and child health. After having finished the book, I think I can address more things. There will always be issues that third world countries face, but together we have to make an effort.  One of the WHO is to research more and more to find ways to help improve pregnancy. I think we are gradually going to achieve that. But we have to help if we want to make our voices heard.

The medical world around us is constantly changing. Hundreds of years ago we would have never thought about knowing the exact time it is easier for a woman to get pregnant. So many new things are constantly getting discovered it is amazing. This book gave me a lot of insight on a topic I didn’t know much about before. So if someone is looking for a book that goes over medical topics but doesn’t give you an exact overlay on pregnancy I would recommend Get Me Out, to them.