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WORK TITLE: Conceivability
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 3/28/1968
WEBSITE:
CITY: Denver
STATE: CO
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born March 28, 1968; married; husband’s name Richard; children: two.
EDUCATION:Received degrees from Columbia University and Yale University.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author and lawyer.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Elizabeth L. Katkin works primarily within the law field. Prior to starting her career, she attended Columbia University and Yale University. She is also the author of one book.
Conceivability: What I Learned Exploring the Frontiers of Fertility serves as a report on the state of fertility care within the United States, as well as Katkin’s personal journey toward conceiving her own children. The book starts at the very beginning of Katkin’s attempts to try for a baby with her husband. Initially, Katkin believes this goal will be easy to achieve; however, her first pregnancy ended with a painful miscarriage, and further attempts led only to more frustration and pain. Over time, Katkin came to grips with the fact that fulfilling her dreams of motherhood would take alternate methods. With her husband at her side, Katkin sought help from several specialists, all of whom tried several means to help Katkin conceive.
Katkin thoroughly recounts each step of her attempts to conceive her children, from undergoing IVF to receiving injections to stimulate her hormones. Katkin also travels out of the country in order to find further treatments. Katkin’s narration brushes both the personal and medical elements of the process. While undergoing IVF, Katkin also utilized forms of alternative medicine, such as acupuncture, and delves into the relationship between these two methods of treatment. She also goes into the biological science behind pregnancy or, more specifically, the relationship between a successful pregnancy and one’s general reproductive health. Through her travels, Katkin illustrates how parents struggling to conceive ultimately may be forced to take their needs to other sources, thus commodifying their situation.
Despite Katkin’s best efforts, she finds herself ultimately unable to successfully conceive and carry a pregnancy to term. She then decides to seek out a surrogate who can carry her baby for her. With the surrogate’s assistance, Katkin is able to become a mother to two children. At this point in Katkin’s memoir, she talks about the legal, medical, and emotional aspects of working with a surrogate. Some of Katkin’s points also come from other parents who struggled with infertility in the past and have chosen to share their own experiences. A Kirkus Reviews contributor called the book “a well-researched, informative, and positive account of a very long journey to motherhood.” A reviewer in Publishers Weekly expressed that the book “will be a boon to others navigating the deep and “choppy waters” of fertility treatment.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2018, review of Conceivability: What I Learned Exploring the Frontiers of Fertility.
Publishers Weekly, April 16, 2018, review of Conceivability, p. 88.
Elizabeth Katkin, a lawyer and mother of two, is a former partner at a large international law firm. A graduate of Yale University and Columbia’s Law School and School of International and Public Affairs, she lives with her husband, Richard, and their children in Denver, Colorado. Conceivability is her first book.
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Katkin, Elizabeth L.: CONCEIVABILITY
Kirkus Reviews. (Apr. 1, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Katkin, Elizabeth L. CONCEIVABILITY Simon & Schuster (Adult Nonfiction) $26.00 6, 19 ISBN: 978-1-5011-4236-9
A chronicle of the great lengths one woman went through to conceive and birth two children.
Denver-based lawyer Katkin was sure she wanted children. Like many women, she assumed it was much harder to avoid pregnancy than to become pregnant. However, after her first miscarriage, she began to realize that becoming a mother wasn't as easy as she originally thought--but she wasn't going to give up. As the years progressed--years filled with more miscarriages, hormone injections, in vitro fertilizations, and so many doctors' appointments that she lost track--her determination to have children only grew stronger. In her debut memoir, the author shares the various methods she and her husband used to finally have two healthy children in their lives. She thoroughly examines the medical side of her treatments, giving readers an in-depth accounting of hormone shots, the way the female body functions pre/during/and post pregnancy, the role a healthy uterus plays in keeping an embryo viable, and the effectiveness of acupuncture and Chinese medicine alongside IVF. Katkin discusses the inadequacies found in the United States when it comes to helping women deal with infertility issues and how patients become consumers, "shopping" for the best clinic when there are few standards, lax regulations, and almost no data on success rates to help patients make informed decisions. She shows how other countries around the world have far better information and rates of success than the U.S., which will lead some readers to question if they should look outside the U.S. for help with similar matters. Katkin also incorporates the stories of other couples, giving a wide-angle look at the pros and cons of medical intervention, the use of surrogate mothers, and the extreme measures many will go to in order to have a baby.
A well-researched, informative, and positive account of a very long journey to motherhood.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Katkin, Elizabeth L.: CONCEIVABILITY." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Apr. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A532700387/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e2d5c310. Accessed 6 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A532700387
Conceivability: What I Learned Exploring the Frontiers of Fertility
Publishers Weekly. 265.16 (Apr. 16, 2018): p88.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Conceivability: What I Learned Exploring the Frontiers of Fertility
Elizabeth L Katkin. Simon & Schuster, $36
(304p) ISBN 978-1-5011-4236-9
Lawyer and debut author Katkin shares her trying experiences with fertility treatment in this in-depth memoir of her obstacle-ridden journey to motherhood. "Driven to share" the information she collected, Katkin takes readers on a relentless, 10-year quest to conceive two children; in the process, she spends $200,000, weathers seven miscarriages, and visits six countries and numerous physicians. Katkin interweaves research with her personal struggles; while her writing is replete with technical terms ("most IVF protocols rely on an injection of HCG 36 hours prior to egg collection"), she personalizes her research with anecdotes, such as the birthday she spent flying to Moscow for timely egg retrieval. Katkin perceptively explores the emotional pain of miscarriage and shares her feelings about adoption (which she and her husband considered) and surrogacy (their eventual choice.) Her story reveals the importance of becoming a savvy, educated consumer, questioning fertility protocols, and investigating different options. She also examines the ethical questions surrounding egg and sperm donation, and helps readers unpack confusing and sometimes conflicting laws. Katkin's lawyerly thoroughness has resulted in an invaluable and inspiring text that will be a boon to others navigating the deep and "choppy waters" of fertility treatment. Agent: Gillian MacKenzie, MacKenzie Wolf. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Conceivability: What I Learned Exploring the Frontiers of Fertility." Publishers Weekly, 16 Apr. 2018, p. 88. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A536532775/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=eb632723. Accessed 6 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A536532775