Summary
BECOMING A PARENT
Some Benefits and Costs of Having Children
The Joys and Tribulations of Pregnancy
Some Effects of Parenthood: Mothers/fathers and their newborns
HOW MANY CHILDREN DO YOU WANT
Why U.S. Fertility Rates Have Changed: Macro/Micro-level factors
Infant Mortality
POSTPONING PARENTHOOD
Why Are Many People Postponing Parenthood?: Macro/Micro-level factors
Some Characteristics of Older Parents: Advantages/Disadvantages
INFERTILITY- inability to conceive a baby
Reasons for Infertility: Female/Male Fertility
pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)- infection of the uterus that spreads to the tubes, the ovaries, and surrounding tissues
Chlamydia- a sexually transmitted bacterial infection
endometriosis- tissue that forms in the endometrium spreads outside the womb and attaches itself to other pelvic organs
Reactions to Infertility
ADOPTION: THE TRADITIONAL SOLUTION TO INFERTILITY
adoption- taking a child into one's family through legal means and raising her or him as one's own
Transracial Adoption: Good or bad idea?
Open and Closed Adoption
open adoption- practice of sharing information and maintaining contact between biological and adoptive parents throughout the child's life
closed adoption- records of the adoption are kept sealed, the birth parent is not involved in the adoptee's life, and the child has no contact with the biological parents or little, if any, information about them
semi-open adoption- there is communication between the adoptee and the adoptive and biological parents but it takes place through a third party
Adoption by Same-Sex Partners
International Adoption
Some Rewards and Costs of Adoption
MEDICAL AND HIGH-TECH SOLUTIONS TO INFERTILITY:
artificial insemination- medical procedure in which semen is introduced artificially into the vagina or uterus at about the time of ovulation
fertility drugs- medication that stimulate the ovaries to produce eggs
assisted reproductive technology (ART)- includes all treatments or procedures that involve the handling of human eggs and sperm to establish a pregnancy
In vitro fertilization (IVF)- surgically removing eggs from a woman's ovaries, fertilizing them in a petri dish with sperm from her husband or another donor, and then transferring the embryos into the woman's uterus
surrogacy- woman who is capable of carrying a pregnancy to term serves as a substitute for a woman who cannot bear children
preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD)- recent ART procedure that enables physicians to identify genetic diseases, such as cystic fibrosis or Down syndrome, in the embro before implantation
Genetic Engineering: Its Benefits and Costs
amiocentesis- a needle is inserted through the abdomen into the amniotic sac, and the fluid withdrawn is analyzed for abnormalities such as DS
chorionic villus sampling (CVS)- a catheter inserted through the vagina removes some of the villi fro the chorion to recognize abnormalities
ABORTION- expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the uterus
Incidence of Abortion
Who Has abortions and Why: Reasons/ demographic characteristics
Is Abortion Safe?: physical and emotional health
Why Have Abortion Rates Decreased?: attitudes about abortion, contraceptives, abortion services, laws and policies
CHILD FREE BY CHOICE
Points of Interest
On page 309, there is a small section that talks about the possibility of men becoming pregnant. I remember seeing an episode of Grey's anatomy where a man was possibly pregnant. I believe his belly just got very large and he was not pregnant, but I could be wrong.
I thought it was odd that the picture on page 313 had men protesting for/against abortion instead of women. Usually this matter affects women more because they are the ones carrying the child.
Questions
On page 295, there is a picture of the well-known Duggar family from TLC. What do you think about their decision to have so many children? Do you see positives or negatives in raising/ growing up in such a big family? What about the health risks of still having children at an older age as a woman? Other than abstinence, did she have other options than just continuing to have children without using contraceptives?
I did not have a problem with the Duggar family and all of their children until recently. I thought they were crazy but also thought that if they could handle it good for them. However, their last baby had serious health problems and I believe the mother was in the hospital for quite some time as well. That is when it is wrong. Can you imagine if this mother would have died during child birth and left 20 (or however many there are!) kids to just the father?
ReplyDeleteGina Z.