Phoebe Buffay

Today I'm in Hattiesburg. I had a meeting that ended at about 3:00 and then I checked in to my favorite hotel here. To pass the time I turned on the tv and found an episode of Friends. It was the one where Phoebe becomes a surrogate for her brother and sister-in-law. I was really entertained by how IVF is portrayed on tv. The episode started with Phoebe going to the doctor to see if she was "ready" to get the embryos. Once at the doctor's office, the doctor declared that Phoebe's endometrial lining was thick enough, so they were ready to move forward with the embryo transfer. The doctor announced that they'd be transferring 5 embryos, which concerned Phoebe, but then the doctor told Phoebe that with the 5 embryos, she only had about a 25% chance of getting pregnant. Phoebe then reassured her brother and sister in law that even though the odds weren't good, she'd keep doing it until it worked. Her brother then informed her that the procedure cost $16,000 and that they could afford to do it only once. Phoebe went home after the procedure and immediately took a pregnancy test. She knew that it took a couple of days before the pregnancy "set in" but since her body "moves faster than most" she decided to test immediately. It was negative. The next day her brother and sister in law came over with another test and asked her to take it, which she did. Fortunately this time it was positive. They were all overcome with joy and I couldn't help but tear up. First of all, this is definitely a simplified version of how IVF works. It's so much more complicated and scripted than that. The timing of the implantation is dependent on both the woman's endometrial lining and the age of the embryos. Both have to be just right. Also, it takes at least 9 days after the transfer before the hormone can be detected. Another distinction...I'm not sure when that episode was filmed, but I'm guessing it was in the late 90's. My odds of success were much higher than that and they only transferred 2 embryos. Of course, success rates vary around several factors including age, quality of embryos, and condition of the mother's uterus. Still, I can't imagine that Phoebe's odds of success would have been that much lower than mine, since most surrogate are chosen because of they are deemed to be good hosts. In this case, Phoebe was chosen because she was related to the couple, but still I would assume that they'd want to qualify her to determine that she's a good surrogate. Despite the descrepancies, the end result was just the same. The expectant parents were full of hope and fear when waiting to find out if the procedure had worked. They had endured so much heartache to get to that point, and as they said "all of their eggs were in one basket." They were overcome with joy and gratitude just like we were when they found out.