In the first round table programme, there was a debate on a crucial issue: is the desire to have a baby stronger than anything else?
On 6 June, on the occasion of fertility awareness week (from June 4 to 10, 2018), we organized in Paris, in partnership with Doctissimo and the association Collectif BAMP, half a day of discussions led by Marc Tronchot, the former editor in chief of the Europe 1 network. As a central theme of this event, there was an issue that concerns all of us directly or indirectly, namely, the desire to have a baby. Our goal: to raise awareness, inform and reflect!
The event brought together 15 of the best specialists (psychoanalysts, gynaecologists, geneticists, researchers …) and witnesses who have undergone assisted reproduction treatment in person. The afternoon was structured around three round tables, each one exemplified by a video testimony of a couple, Nathalie and Hugues, who underwent assisted reproduction treatment through oocyte donation 13 years ago, and the parents of 12-year-old Leo.
In the first round table programme, there was a debate on a crucial issue: is the desire to have a baby stronger than anything else?
Or to put it another way: should we – or can we – set limits? Is it a universal feeling? Can it withstand everything? Should we take on all the risks in order to fulfil this desire? A plethora of questions that the following people have tried to answer:
- Amelia Rodríguez (Clínica Eugin).
- Joëlle Belaisch-Allart (Centre Hospitalier desQuatre Villes).
- The psychoanalyst Léa Karpel (Hospital Foch).
- The writer Maïa Brami, author of L’inhabitée (unpublished in Spain).
From these exchanges, we will remain, among others, with the most outstanding contributions, firstly, by Maïa Brami, who, evoking her inability to have children, declares: “When I saw that the baby wasn’t coming, I fell into a depression. I found myself between two bodies, neither dead nor alive. I was in a limbo. I had the impression that I was no longer a part of society.”
For Amelia Rodríguez, “the desire to have a baby is a universal aspiration, which nevertheless can be lived differently depending on the continent and culture. The force of this desire is often excessive, and the role of doctors, of course, is to know how to go along with and direct it, but also, if necessary, to know how to set limits when the risk is too high for the woman or the baby”.
For Dr. Belaisch-Allart, the main limitation to the desire of having children is linked to the age of the woman: “Women are getting older when they decide to have a baby. Often, this is because they have not found their prince charming. Therefore, we must encourage the self-preservation of oocytes. ”
The psychoanalyst Léa Karpel reminds us that “the desire is rooted in childhood. We develop childhood dreams around this desire”.
To find out more, Eugin invites you to live -or to relive- the first round table of this conference, starting by discovering the story (in French) of Nathalie and Hugues. And also available to you here is the full conference in French.
