I bought my baby on the internet (WTF?)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=470660&in_page_id=1879

Too old to have IVF here, Linda - like thousands of other desperate women - turned to a clinic in Eastern Europe. Now she is seven weeks' pregnant. But just how safe is this cut-price baby trade?

You know how it is with shopping on the internet - the sheer choice of what's available out there can overwhelm you.

And so it was for Linda Barnett when she was looking for an IVF clinic. Desperate to become a mother, she spent night after night surfing the web.

Indeed, she says herself that she became addicted.

"There are just so many to choose from," she says.

"They all seemed to be offering incredible success rates, and some said 'Pregnancy guaranteed'. I was hooked."


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Delighted to be pregnant at last: Fertility 'tourist' Linda Barnett

In the end, the choice of clinic - in the Czech Republic - pretty much came down to cost. She still feels she got something of a bargain.

"I liked the look of the website," Linda remembers, "and the hospital seemed clean and welcoming. But mostly, the whole thing was so cheap - just £2,000, and that included the cost of a lovely four-star hotel for the week."

But the shopping didn't end there. Once she had made contact with the clinic, Linda had to "buy" the eggs needed to make a baby.

Six years ago, when she was 42, she had been told she was too old to have a baby naturally, and fertility investigations in this country had confirmed that her own eggs were not of sufficient quality.

Again, via the internet, she discovered that this need not be problem. In fact, when she inquired, she was once more overwhelmed by the choice available.

"In the end, we even got to choose the hair colour, the height and the educational record of our egg donor," she explains.

"The eggs donors in the Czech Republic are young - mostly students in their 20s. There are so many to choose from that the consultant sent me a long list of their details so my husband and I could choose at our leisure.

"You are told their hair colour, the colour of their eyes, height, weight - even their hobbies and what siblings they have. Naturally I wanted a baby who looked as much like me as possible, so I narrowed it down to two girls with dark hair and dark eyes.

"But then I couldn't decide between them, so I said to my husband: "Nigel, you choose." In the end, we went for the one who had a sister.

"It sounds daft, but we want a little girl because Nigel's 12-year- old daughter from a previous relationship, Lauren, said that she would like a little sister - and we felt that a woman with a tendency to girls in her family might be more likely to produce a daughter."

Lauren might well have a sister on the way.

Today, Linda, a charity worker from Coventry, is seven weeks' pregnant - thanks to her bargain fertility clinic.

Her IVF treatment worked, and she and Nigel, 38, who have been married for six years, are just waiting for the first scan to tell them if they are expecting the one baby, or twins.

For them, the happy ending they didn't dare dream of is around the corner, and they are, understandably, over the moon.

But their story is as troubling as it is delightful, and it is a story that is becoming increasingly common.

The number of couples seeking IVF abroad is on the increase - despite the fact that health officials in the UK warn they may be putting themselves and the health of their unborn babies at serious risk.

As women leave getting pregnant later and later (one in 90 babies in the UK is now born through IVF to older mothers), there is unprecedented demand for fertility treatments.

But the lack of egg and sperm donors in this country, coupled with the high cost of IVF and the postcode lottery of NHS provision, means that more couples are becoming "fertility tourists", grabbing the opportunity of cheap treatment abroad.

What particularly worries health professionals is that the internet is now awash with crude adverts for such treatment - adverts which are proving irresistible to childless couples. Never has it been easier to "buy" a baby online.

But it is a terribly unpalatable business, and the real cost may not be measurable in pounds or dollars, however much infertile couples may wish it to be so.

The Barnetts' is a very familiar modern story. A generation ago, Linda and Nigel might have been devastated at the realisation that they would not be parents together, but they would have had little option but to accept the fact.

But when it was confirmed, very early in their marriage, that Linda was too old to have children, they set about challenging their lot in life.

Although the technology was there to help them, in practice it was more difficult.

There is a chronic shortage of egg and sperm donors in Britain - largely down to changes in the law which make it possible for any child born of such donations to trace his or her parents at the age of 18.

Since then, the number of donors has plummeted. One clinic reports that while they had 27 willing sperm donors in 1992, by 2000 they had just the one.

Abroad, however, donation is still anonymous.

Cost is also a major factor for many couples. An IVF cycle in the UK is likely to cost from £3,000 to £8,000, depending on the clinic. Funding is available on the NHS, but women over the age of 39 are unlikely to be granted it.

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I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii

Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein

Fuck...I did not read the entire article and I am laughing my ass off...


Jesus...people are asses. What is next??? Babies being sold on fucking eBay???


This has not been an easy week so I needed a good laugh...

she sounds like a rube

well i have a nice semi used bridge only used by a little old lady at the weekends.. its going cheap.. if she wants it i can send it to her..

*********************************************************************************************************************************
I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii

Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein

Does it ever occur to these baby obssessed idiots that the eggs probably came from some broke, desparate girl, possibly even a hooker, who probably isn't nearly as pretty, smart or talented as the egg broker claims?

It's like those private adoption agencies who claim that every baby is from a college student when you just know that the mother was a piece of white trash.

Just think of the money that can be made off of all these desperate, old, haggard wannabreeds?

could always sell them non human eggs, then claim sorry u have to pay again next year..

*********************************************************************************************************************************
I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii

Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein

You guys are on to something! We should start an egg-selling business. Collect a check and send a gift wrapped basket of Cadbury chocolate eggs.

Reply Quote

E-Baybee?

You go, JoJo!!! I'll be more than happy to go into business with you (I'm a terrific baker!!).

This article just makes me sick and afraid, very afraid. How about all of the genetic defects? How about genetic predispositions to all kinds of addictions?

Again, all you bimbos with baby rabies, get a cabbage patch doll. They're cheap, low maintenance, and you get to sleep the entire night.

Failing that, work in a daycare center for a week. You'll become a rabid childfree individual in no time.

Buyer beware, indeed!

Stupid, deluded breeders deserve nearly every child related misery that comes their way. They wanted, no NEEDED that baby soooo bad that it trumped every single logical thought in their heads, and screw them right to the wall for it.

Brings a whole new meaning to 'Babies R Us'; well Toys R Us sells toys :spin

'Mummy, where did I come from?'

'The internet, dear, but I think you were a little damaged in shipping '

For them, getting a brat IS like buying a CPK, they even get to choose one that looks like them! :sw