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Can I Get Pregnant If Only One of My Ovaries Works?

Dear Dr. Fertility,

I love your new column on Modern Mom. My hubby and I have been having problems getting pregnant. I had a son three years (at 38) ago and since then we’ve been trying to get pregnant with Number Two. I just turned 41 and it just doesn’t look like it will happen again. Nothing is wrong with my husband’s sperm. It’s me. My FSH levels are off the chart. You just can’t fool the biological clock I guess. But I’m so sad about this and considering alternatives.

My friend had twins using donor eggs. (She was 40 at the time.) She showed me a photo of the donor, who looks nothing like her! But here’s the strange thing: her twin daughters look a lot like her. They have the same smile, and one has her eyes. She says that even though the eggs were not biologically hers, she believes that her DNA was transmitted to the children while they were growing in her womb.

Have there been any studies on this? Can a mom really transmit her DNA to somebody else’s eggs?

Thanks doctor!

Susan, New York

Dear Susan,

Unfortunately, you are not alone in your struggle to have a second child. Social evolution and our desire to have children later in our lives have outpaced our biology. Women typically start to loose their fertility in the early thirties and most will have lost their fertility by the early forties. This phenomenon is referred to as the “biological clock” which alludes to the fact that women are born with all the eggs that they will ever have and as we age, the eggs age as well. The eggs that a 40-year old ovulates are also 40 years old.

Interestingly, we do not see a decline in male fertility until men reach their fifties and many men in their sixties and seventies can still father children. The reason for this difference is that men continually produce new sperm. The best advice that I have for readers is to look at their family planning carefully and to consider completing their families before their forties. While egg donation is a wonderful option for those that pursue it, it a difficult decision to face.

In regards to the appearance of your friend’s children, there is no transfer of DNA to the fetus during the pregnancy. If the children look like mom, this is a nice coincidence.

Good luck with your pursuit of having a second child,

Bradford Kolb, MD

Dr. Bradford Kolb, aka Dr. Fertility, is an infertility specialist and a managing partner of the Huntington Reproductive Center, in Pasadena, CA. Dr. Kolb is internationally known for his expertise in egg donation, oocyte cyroperservation and the treatment of couples who have failed traditional therapy in other centers. He appears on national television and radio shows regularly, addressing women’s reproductive issues. For more on Dr. Kolb, please go to his
website: http://www.havingbabies.com

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