In Britain, there's concern over whether obese women with a certain BMI should be permitted to have In Vitro fertilization treatments covered under the National Health Service. When we told you about this last year, the subject sparked a lot of controversy.

But it's also sparked some positive changes -- especially for one woman. According to this article, 40-year-old Jane Crook was refused IVF treatment in 2006 because she was overweight at 378 lbs. But a short two years later, she was down 126 lbs. However, by then she didn't need IVF -- she conceived naturally. She lost the weight with help from gastric bypass surgery.

She lost the weight and had a baby -- a happy ending on all accounts, don't you think?

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Acupuncture is used to treat many conditions -- from migraine headaches to arthritis to backaches. It's also sometimes recommended as an companion to in-vitro fertilization (IVF). It was thought to improve blood flow, subsequently improving the chance of embryo implantation. However, recent data from London suggests that acupuncture may not be helpful to IVF at all.

The researchers evaluated 13 separate trials involving nearly 2,500 women. Five of the trials evaluated the efficacy of acupuncture at the time of egg retrieval. Eight studies evaluated acupuncture at the time of embryo implantation. Some women who were getting acupuncture treatments did need less pain medication during egg retrieval, but none of the studies showed a difference in pregnancy rates among the women who received acupuncture, those who received a "sham" version of acupuncture, and those who didn't get acupuncture at all.

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If you would like to start trying for a baby soon, you may as well pick a paint color for the room now. That's because it's entirely possible for mothers to have some influence on the gender of their child by following either a high-calorie or calorie-restricted diet, say U.K. researchers.

In a joint study conducted at the University of Exeter and Oxford University, it was discovered that when women eat a diet rich in calories (including a regular breakfast) around the time of conception, they might be increasing the liklihood that they will give birth to a boy. Conversely, by restricting their caloric intake at this time, women may be improving their chances of giving birth to a girl.

It is known from IVF research that high levels of glucose encourages the growth and development of male embryos while inhibiting female embryos, just as low levels of glucose might encourage the opposite. However, researchers caution against restricting calories for the purpose of increasing your chances of having a girl. As one a fertility expert from the University of Sheffield stated in a recent BBC News interview, "It has been observed in some animal studies that even small changes in female diet can affect the life long health of the offspring, so it is important that the mother has appropriate nutrition at the time of conception and throughout her pregnancy."

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In Britain, a debate is raging over In Vitro Fertilization and obese women -- namely, women who are severely obese (with a BMI of 35 or higher) are being denied the treatment until they slim down. The reason? Being obese reduces a woman's chance of conceiving and it also poses health risks to both the fetus and the mother should the woman become pregnant. This would mean, for instance, that a 5'7 woman who weighed 225 lbs would be turned away.

What do you think about this decision? Is it right for the government to decide who should be allowed to have kids? I don't think so, and we have to keep in mind that BMI is considered a slightly flawed measurement of how healthy someone's weight is. But at the same time, someone with a BMI of 35 or higher is usually very obese -- it's not down to her being just a bit fat. Should we be expending valuable resources on someone who is unhealthy?

(To calculate your BMI, click here)

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An Australian couple who went through infertility treatments to become pregnant were so devastated when they found out they were having twins, they even considered giving one of the babies up for adoption. They've taken their doctor to court and is suing him for the cost of raising the second child, or roughly $332,000 U.S. dollars. They say that they were clear in their desire only to have one child and that the embryologist on her case knowingly implanted two, resulting in the twins birth.

Their anger is justified; a doctor who knowingly ignores your requests should definitely be held accountable, but I'm not really sure what to think about their very strong reaction. What about you?

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