To try to get pregnant, couples dealing with infertility may try to increase their odds for conception by changing their lifestyle or taking extra vitamins. Some, however, have started turning to lady luck hoping to win a free IVF treatment.

Recently, fertility clinics across that country have held contests that offer one major prize: the chance to have a baby. Using promotion like random drawings, charity runs and essay competitions, these treatment centers have been able to give infertile couples the chance at a family.

Part of the motivation is altruistic. With fertility treatments costing up to $25,000, a free round of IVF could, for some, be the difference between having a baby and not. For example, Jessica Upham, who won an embryo implant from Long Island IVF, a clinic in Melville, New York.

“I feel inadequate that I can’t provide this to my husband the natural way,” Upham told the The New York Times. She says the prize is, “a wonderful opportunity that I wouldn’t otherwise have.”

Still, it can partially be a publicity stunt.

“I hesitate to use the word ‘marketing,’ but we wanted to get our name out there,” Robin Musiak, the executive director of Reproductive Health Specialists, a Pittsburgh clinic that’s conducted several raffles, told The New York Times. “It worked really well.”

However, not everyone in the industry shares Robin’s thoughts. Some believe these winners should be based on need not luck. As of now, no centers screen for financial need or insurance that might cover the procedure, so someone who can’t afford IVF could easily lose out to someone who can. To some, there’s also a morality issue. Pamela Madsen, a founder and former executive director of the American Fertility Association does not understand how it is “against the law to raffle off a puppy, but people are allowed to raffle off the opportunity to have a baby.”

But as long as doctors are willing to offer their service, raffles for free IVF treatment (and ultimately a family) will continue to be an option.

Do you think it’s right to raffle off IVF treatments?

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Infertility is an issue that, according to the CDC, affects 10 percent of  American women. A new Japanese study, however, may clue researchers in on a new way to reduce that number.

In the study, scientists used blood and stem cells from mouse eggs to create eggs — and the eggs produced healthy mouse offspring. Researchers did two tests: one using embryonic stem cells (destroyed and recultivated embryos) and one using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells (skin cells that are reprogrammed to an embryonic-like state.) Both sets of cells were used to create eggs, and there were similar birth rates for both groups. This is the first study in which created eggs were able to produce healthy offspring that were also able to reproduce themselves.

First, scientists added growth factors and proteins to the stem cells to turn them into primordial germ cells. They then combined these cells with biological cells from mouse ovaries, making “reconstituted ovaries” that were later transplanted to the mouse. A month later,  scientists removed the cells, isolating immature egg cells and allowing them to mature in a dish. The mature eggs were later fertilized with mouse sperm in a test tube and the resulting embryos were transferred into female mice, leading to the birth of healthy mice.

Of course, the study is not perfect. Scientist found that mice impregnated via treatment created healthy offspring less often that those impregnated naturally. According to Time, mice impregnated with natural eggs produced healthy offspring 13 percent of the time, compared with 3.9 percent for eggs created from embryonic stem cells and 1.8 percent for eggs made using iPS cells.

That being said, this is still a huge breakthrough for fertility treatment. If scientist are able to produce the same results in humans using iPS cells, it would get rid of the ethical issues involving embryonic stem cell use. Not to mention, more women may be able to get pregnant.

Do you think the study has potential?

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My name is Kristy. I’m 26 years old and have been trying to conceive my first child since August of 2011. I have been married for over three years and have a nine-year-old stepdaughter. I am a daily poster on The Bump Trying to Get Pregnant and Trouble Trying to Get Pregnant message boards. Just a little background on my medical history. I am physically disabled due to a benign spinal cord astrocytoma (tumor) they found when I was five years old. Unfortunately, it caused a mess of other problems for me, including mobility issues, scoliosis, nerve damage, and a whole lot more. I’ve had a total of 17 surgeries (three tumor removals, two leg lengthenings with several re-breaks of bones in between, foot reconstruction, and many others) . I have definitely gone through hell and back but I fully believe that all of these challenges have prepared me for the struggle I am facing now.

Over a year ago my husband, Rich, and I trashed the birth control after visiting and speaking with each of my eight doctors to make sure it was okay for me to physically carry and have a child. I’ve always wanted to be a mom and I wasn’t going to let my disability or medical conditions get in the way of that. I wasn’t ovulating so I decided to call my OB — I call him Dr. Vajay for obvious reasons. He ran several tests and diagnosed me with PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome). He would always say, “We will get you pregnant. I just have a feeling it’s going to take a little bit longer for you to get there.” Truer words have never been spoken, Dr. Vajay. After that, he sent me off to the infertility clinic. I’m currently on my 5th round of Clomid and five days of injections into the stomach. I never thought it would take so much to get pregnant but I’m willing to do poke myself with needles, drive to tons of monitoring appointments and pay a ton of money to get there. I will have a child one day, whether it’s one month from now or three years from now. I’m never going to give up until I have a sweet little baby in my arms.

So now you know a little about my history and where I am on the roller coaster of trying to conceive. I look forward to sharing my thoughts, pictures, disappointments and how I handle this crazy ride in future posts. I’m incredibly open so feel free to ask any questions. Thanks for reading!

Have you struggled with fertility? How did you get through it?

Between tracking ovulation and undergoing treatments, trying to conceive can be a strenuous and stressful situation, especially if you aren’t successful. It can even be so emotionally taxing that women undergoing the process can even develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In a recent study, researchers surveyed 142 people who had undergone fertility treatments. Of the participants, 46 percent met the criteria for PTSD, meaning they could be diagnosed with the condition. Compared to the eight percent of the general population that suffers from PTSD, that’s quite a jump. Some of the common symptoms were feeling upset at reminders of their infertility, such as seeing commercials for baby diapers, feeling distant or cut off from people, or feeling hopeless.

The study’s lead researcher, Allyson Bradow, hopes this leads to a change in definition for PTSD and more discussion about the issue.

“The definition of trauma should be expanded to include expectations of life,” said Bradow, who went through fertility treatments herself. “Having children, expanding your family, carrying on your genetic code — that’s an instinctual drive that we have as human beings. And when that is being threatened, it’s not necessarily your life being threatened, but your expectation of what your life can be or should be like.”

Bradow believes that anyone undergoing fertility should be required to attend counseling. After all, the stress of infertility takes a psychological toll as well as a physical.

Do you think women who are trying to conceive should be provided therapy?

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If you’re thinking about going through fertility treatments, you might need to do it multiple times to actually conceive. A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that women in their 30s and 40s who had fertility treatments were as likely to deliver babies as women who conceived naturally — it just sometimes takes repeated cycles of the the fertility procedure. Researchers looked at all IVF cycles together, rather than the live birth rate after one treatment cycle. By adding those together, they found that there is hope for women undergoing multiple treatments.

The study looked at 246,740 women who went through assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment between 2004 and 2009. Of the women, 57 percent of them gave birth through treatment and 30 percent of all ART cycles resulted in a live birth. Researchers took into account factors like age and quality of embryos.

For women under 31 who went through ART, the birth rate was 42 percent for the first cycle and the by the fourth cycle, the rate was 66-83 percent. For women 43 and older, the birth rate using her own embryos was 4 percent for the fourth cycle and 7-15 percent for the fourth cycle. If older women used donor eggs, they would have a significantly greater chance of having a live birth.  Researchers said the the chances of conceiving naturally are 45 percent for the first month, 65 percent at the six-month mark and 85 percent at a year.

Would you undergo multiple fertility treatments? What do you think of these findings?

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Fertility drugs will help you get pregnant faster, but they also might make your children shorter. A new study presented at The Endocrine Society’s Annual Meeting in Houston, Texas, found that of babies born full term, those that were conceived through fertility drugs were a little bit shorter than naturally conceived children, but were overall healthy.

Experts in this study wanted to see the difference between mothers who used fertility drugs and those who had undergone fertility treatments like IVF. Previous studies have shown that IVF children were actually taller than naturally-conceived children. This time around, the researchers looked at 84 children conceived with the help of fertility drugs and 258 children who were conceived naturally — all of them were born full term. It was found that the kids conceived through fertility drugs were an average of two centimeters shorter — even when the researchers took parents’ height into consideration. They also found that the height difference was greater in boys than it was in girls.

Researchers are still unsure what could be the cause of these findings and need to investigate further.

Do you think fertility drugs could affect height? Is having a tall kid important to you?

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Lesley Brown, the first woman to successfully undergo IVF treatment, died at age 64 on June 6^th. Lesley gave birth to the first IVF baby, her daughter Louise, in July 1978. She had another daughter, Natalie, via IVF a few years later. Louise spoke to The Telegraph  about her mother saying, “Mum was a very quiet and private person who ended up in the world spotlight because she wanted a family so much. We are all missing her terribly.”

Louise’s birth helped pave the way for more successful IVF treatments and procedures for other people who’ve wanted families just as badly. And for that, we remember her fondly.

Has IVF touched your life? If so, tell us how.

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We reported on a study back in January that women who get three or more embryos implanted during IVF  didn’t have a higher chance of getting pregnant than women who only had one or two implanted. In fact, the birth rates for those women with multiple embryos implanted were lower than those who had just one. Now, it looks like more people are going that way — implanting single embryos, which reduces the rate of multiple births.

According to TODAY Moms, more women are opting for single-embryo transplants because of lower pregnancy health risks and technological advancements that have made them almost as effective as multiple-embryo transplants. While many clinics are seeing that their patients are transferring single embryos, at other clinics, patients are very skeptical and don’t want to go through another IVF cycle (it’s expensive and invasive). Many fertility experts at clinics are working with their patients to explain the risks for baby and mom when there’s a multiple embryo transfer — both during pregnancy and after birth. Also, clinics are making sure that the healthiest embryo is transplanted, giving women a higher chance at conceiving.

What do you think of single-embryo transplants? If you were to do IVF, would you try more than one transplant at a time or stick with just one?

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Babies born through fertility treatments after their fathers died might not be able to get benefits from the Social Security Administration. The Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Monday that each state has the power to determine whether the child can receive benefits or not. According to TIME, the ruling came from the case of Astrue v. Capato where a set of twins conceived through frozen sperm after the death of their father. The court decided that the children could not get Social Security survivor benefits based on the laws of their home state, Florida.

Some people just can’t wait to become grandparents and are trying to ensure that they do by paying for their daughters to freeze their eggs. According to The New York Times, more fertility clinics are seeing parents of prospective female patients coming in to offer support – financially and emotionally. Freezing eggs has become a popular practice among women who want to preserve their fertility. It’s an expensive procedure (the cost is usually between $8,000 and $18,000) and while it offers no guarantees, some parents are taking the chance so their daughters could give them grandchildren later on. One fertility doctor even reported that at least three quarters of his patients have parents who paid for some or all of the costs.

Hey, we’re all for parents getting involved with their children’s lives – but it sounds like some of the parents were crossing the line and putting a little too much pressure on their daughters.

What do you think — are these parents taking it too far? What would you do if your parents offered to pay to freeze your eggs?

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