The Real Glass Ceiling
Excerpt from page 36

Our society makes us believe women can have it all. We deserve it all. We are entitled to it all. Women rarely attended college a century ago. Fifty years ago, few worked outside the home. We’ve had the vote for less than half this country’s history. Today there are female CEOs, astronauts, and senators. We have proven we can work as hard, nit not harder, than the guys. This we have earned, no one can take that away.

However, we not only think we can have it all, but also feel we should have it all ― that we are entitled to everything because we’ve worked so hard (or have always gotten what we’ve wanted). This is fine if you are talking about a college degree, a better paying job, or a flashy new car. The big shocker for some of us (and we include ourselves in this category) is that we never expected we might not be entitled to birth a baby ― because of our other time-wasting choices (but relevant at the time) we made along the way. But this is the truth. Some of us might not be able to birth a baby.

Maureen
Excerpt from page 45

You gotta have a plan. When I was twenty-eight, I knew that it was time for me to find a man who was serious, who wanted marriage and children. My clock was ticking. At the time, I was dating a guy I had been with for four years. He was twenty-four, and we were living together. One evening, while we hung out on the couch, I asked him two qualifying questions.

Julie
Excerpt from page 46

Robert and I thought we had it all. When we finally decided it was time to add kids to the mix, we were shocked to discover having it all didn’t necessarily mean we could have a baby. What?!

Suddenly things like work, travel, and saving the world didn’t seem as important as a future with children ― our own children. It was an epiphany reached in the dar of night walking home from Christmas Eve service and realizing we may never have a tiny shepherd of our own in the Christmas pageant.

Table of Contents

If you are experiencing a problem getting pregnant, have discussed this with your gynecologist, and are still child-free, it’s time to run, not walk, to a reproductive endocrinologist, also referred to as an RE.

Let’s look at the difference:
Gynecologist: Gyn docs, like all doctors with an M.D. following their names, have completed four years of medical school. After this, the student does an internship, choosing to either stay in a specific field of medicine or to do a rotating internship which introduces him or her to a variety of medical fields. If the doctor then decides to specialize in a specific field like obstetrics and gynecology, he or she completes a residency program with a few months dedicated to the intricate aspects that contribute to female and male infertility.

To become Board Certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology, the doctor must graduate from college and medical school and complete a four-year residency training in OB/GYN. In addition, he or she must pass a written examination in OB/GYN, complete a two-year practice experience, and then pass an oral examination in OB/GYN.
Reproductive Endocrinologist: Doctors who are board-certified in reproductive

endocrinology must complete all the requirements for board certification in OB/GYN. They also have to do two-year fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and pass a written and oral exam on the topic. When they complete everything, they are Board Certified. The doctors who have done everything but take the oral examination and who are still in their practice experience are called “Board Eligible“ in Reproductive Endocrinology.

If a gynecologist has a few months educational experience in infertility and a reproductive endocrinologist has a couple years intensive training, who do you want helping you? It’s a no-brainer, isn’t it? You want the one who has the most knowledge and experience of getting women pregnant.

So don’t let any gynecologist practice his or her infertility techniques on you. Let him or her go take advanced medical classes and become board certified. You, on the other hand, go immediately to a reproductive endocrinologist, preferably board certified, who is current on all advancements in this rapidly expanding industry.