IVF & Ever After

IVF and Ever After focuses on IVF treatment, its effects on families and relationships, and how to minimise the stress it causes. A groundbreaking work no other book deals with the emotional experiences involved in IVF treatment and bringing up an IVF child.

- IVF clinics are overflowing with new patients and have little room for the personal touch
- 41,000 IVF cycles currently begin in Australia annually
- 10,000 IVF babies will be born this year (4 per cent of all births in 2007)
- 1 in 6 Australian couples experience infertility (80 million couples worldwide)
- This book is for couples thinking about IVF treatment, those undergoing treatment, and IVF parents who are experiencing emotional lows without knowing why
- It is also an invaluable guide for health professionals working with IVF families

IVF births make up a highly significant part of Australia's fertility rate. The current overall success rate of IVF in Australia is approaching 25 per cent twice what it was twenty years ago. Experts predict that we will approach a figure of 30 IVF births per 100 births by around 2030. IVF mothers are three times more likely to attend early parenting centres for help. IVF clinicians are now emphasising to parents that stress plays a sizeable role in treatment success. Research has shown that women undergoing treatment for infertility have a similar level of stress as women dealing with life-threatening illnesses, such as cancer or heart disease. IVF and Ever After discusses the latest international research, bringing together the most up-to-date information for parents. It moves beyond the here and now to look at issues families and practitioners rarely consider, such as telling a child about IVF conception, what to do with spare frozen embryos, and the implications of legislation to make surrogacy easier.

This is also an essential read for any health professional involved with IVF, who rarely see how families cope away from the clinic, and it will be invaluable for GPs, who are seeing more and more patients who have been affected by IVF.