Book Review - Grade A Baby Eggs

About the Book
Grade A Baby Eggs: An Infertility Memoir is an insider’s account of the hidden world of egg donation written by a clinical psychologist who battled infertility. Using the pen name Victoria Hopewell, the author shares personal experiences that are often heartbreaking and sometimes funny, capturing an informative and thoughtful journey through the process of IVF and egg donation. Victoria’s IVF and donor egg experience also becomes part of the riveting fabric of a newly blended family, which includes the author, her two daughters from a previous marriage and her husband, a once confirmed bachelor.

The unregulated market of donor eggs is a modern day wild carpet ride through the bazaar, with some women’s ova worth more than others, the internet offering a shop ‘til you drop egg market. Extraordinary and exceptional eggs fetch a higher price than ordinary or conventional, a magazine-ready model with high SATs and a successful prior donation yielding the highest price. Grade A Baby Eggs spotlights questionable practices in the donor egg marketplace and raises public awareness about the seamier side of egg donation. Grade A Baby Eggs: An Infertility Memoir also tackles ethical and legal issues regarding stem cell research poised to help older women make brand new eggs.

Engaging and timely, Victoria Hopewell’s instincts for information and humor make Grade A Baby Eggs: An Infertility Memoir a must-read for anyone dealing with this emotionally charged topic. Her very human story is chronicled in a singular memoir that speaks to 7.3 million couples in the U.S. whose eggs and sperm aren’t quite up to the task. Grade A Baby Eggs is a firsthand account that probes the always cutting edge media topic of IVF and the egg donor industry while never losing sight of the poignant and personal side of trying to get pregnant.

About the Author
Victoria Hopewell is the pen name of a Ph.D. clinical psychologist whose experiences with infertility have brought her to the forefront of this thought-provoking topic. While she’s counseled a handful of the over 7 million infertile people in the United States, it was her own story that gave birth to Grade A Baby Eggs: An Infertility Memoir.

After remarrying later in life, the then 44-year old was intent on having a child with her new husband—a once confirmed-bachelor, the last in a long line of descendants of an illustrious Jewish scholar. With old eggs and a fresh desire, Victoria underwent every procedure from Lupron shots through egg harvesting and in vitro fertilization (IVF), journeying toward the acceptance of using a donor egg. Placed on a lengthy waitlist, Victoria and her husband embarked on a surrealistic egg hunt to find their own donor. Their experience led to an insider’s account of the hidden world of egg donation—where good eggs are pricey and a perfect egg commands top dollar.

Following her undergraduate degree and a doctorate in clinical psychology, Victoria completed her internship in the psychiatry department of Harvard Medical School. She has been an instructor in psychology at the medical schools of Harvard and Cornell, and her research has been published in medical journals. Currently, she has a private practice in New York. Most importantly, Victoria Hopewell has herself battled infertility.

My Take on the Book
This book opened my eyes to the underground market for donor eggs as well as the process someone has to go through to find an egg that they would use to get pregnant. I have had friends who have had to go through a similar process, but I have never really talked about the process with them. The book was enlightening and definitely opened my eyes to the struggles and the challenges these parents have to go through to even be considered, as well as the money that has to be expended to be able to receive an egg. If you've never read about this process, talk to anyone who has gone through it. I highly encourage you to read this book and open your mind and heart to those who are going through this process currently and those who have gone through it in the past. An interactive, engaging read that you will enjoy from beginning to end.

All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company.  Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Disclaimer  for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.

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