Will Kate’s Weight Really Affect Her Chances For IVF Success On ‘This Is Us’?

It’s pretty much a given that every episode of This Is Us is going to have some drama, but Monday night’s show dove right into Kate and Toby’s in vitro fertilization (IVF) plans—and their family had some thoughts.

During the show, Kate asked Toby to keep their IVF plans a secret from her family, but Rebecca’s husband Miguel accidentally found Kate’s fertility shots in the fridge. Kate’s mom Rebecca kind of freaked, specifically over whether it was safe for a woman of Kate’s size to be doing IVF.

Sheesh.

Hold on, what exactly is IVF again—and why is Kate doing it?

In vitro fertilization (IVF), essentially helps women with fertility issues get pregnant.

But here’s the thing: While fertilization (i.e., when sperm fertilizes a female egg) typically happens inside the body, IVF makes it happen outside the body in a lab dish, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Those fertilized eggs (typically one or more) are then put directly into a woman’s uterus, where one will hopefully implant and being growing.

Couples will use IVF for a bunch of different reasons including infertility, a history of genetic abnormalities, and needing to use donor sperm or eggs. In Kate’s case, her fertility problems stem from polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)—though Toby’s lowered sperm count (possibly from antidepressant use) might be affecting their chances of getting pregnant, too.

So…is it safe for an overweight woman to do IVF?

Let’s dial it back a bit. In the season premiere, Kate—who had a miscarriage in season two—was told by an IVF doctor that she wasn’t a good candidate for IVF.

“At your weight, the chances of a successful pregnancy is risky…egg retrieval is invasive at your BMI,” the doctor told Kate and Toby. Fortunately, Kate’s doc changed her mind later in the episode, telling the couple that, despite IVF having a 90 percent fail rate (in Kate’s case, at least), that she was willing to focus on that 10 percent success rate.

As for Rebecca’s concerns about Kate’s health (and having a successful pregnancy) as an overweight woman doing IVF…it’s hard to say for sure if they’re warranted.

Research has found that IVF can have lower success rates in women with a higher BMI, says Christine Greves, M.D., a board-certified ob-gyn at the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies.

One 2018 study published in the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics found that the higher a woman’s BMI (above normal range, which is 24.9, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute), the fewer eggs she would have retrieved, and the fewer viable embryos she would have at the end.

Okay, so what about those shots Kate’s taking?

If you plan to use your own eggs—like Kate does—IVF involves five steps:

It seems like Kate was taking the shots as part of the stimulation phase of IVF. During this time, women take fertility drugs to boost their egg production, causing them to make several eggs at once (the more eggs, the more chances that one will successfully implant for a viable pregnancy).

The exact medications you might get during this step vary by clinic and the protocol they put you on, but in general, they work to stimulate your ovaries so you produce more eggs during ovulation, according to the American Pregnancy Association.

As for right now, it seems like Kate and Toby are doing everything in their power to have a successful pregnancy—though, in true This Is Us style, things may not stay that way for long.

Source: Read Full Article