if you change your mind all of your options will be available to you. “Our bodies do not stop aging, particularly the eggs,” she said.
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February 2024Dr. Krishna also cares about exposing gender issues in the workplace and finding solutions to those inequities. To that end, she hosted a Women in Otolaryngology webinar last year titled, “Optimizing Physical Health and Navigating the Fertility World.” She works at an institution that she says is very family oriented, so male residents and faculty, whether they are fathers or not, seem to be very understanding of the challenges for women who are pregnant or battling with fertility issues at work.
Citing a body of research showing that stress impacts fertility and that the frequency of call can be linked to more complicated pregnancies, Dr. Krishna said, “It’s imperative that we support our female trainees and faculty because they’re assets to our institutions. It’s in our best interest and theirs for them to not have to struggle with these issues or deal with complicated or high-risk pregnancies.”
Dr. Krishna would like to see training programs pay for egg freezing, since these programs are aimed at women in their prime childbearing years and believes that adequate paid time off for maternity leave should be uniform among institutions. She would also like to see paternity leave not only offered but encouraged.
Support from Peers
Another participant in the webinar, Australia-based rhinologist and skull base surgeon Raewyn Campbell, MD, struggled to conceive for nearly two years during her residency before seeing an in vitro fertilization (IVF) specialist. She was in her 30s when she and her husband went through a battery of tests, including a laparoscopy and hysteroscopy, with no abnormalities detected. She did two cycles of IVF and miscarried before starting her fellowship. “I then saw a new IVF specialist when we moved to Auckland and did two more cycles,” she said. “Unfortunately, the first cycle resulted in a miscarriage of identical twins that occurred while I was operating, despite the fact that I was being as careful as I could be.” She ended up needing a dilation and curettage procedure from the experience.
Dr. Campbell ultimately became pregnant, despite challenges that involved three weeks of bedrest, and delivered a son who is now nine years old. When her son was 10 months old, however, she and her husband embarked on having a second child, a journey that involved another miscarriage and multiple failed IVF cycles while still performing surgery. “I ultimately traveled to a fertility center in San Diego and fortunately conceived my daughter, who is now six,” she said. “We never found the cause for our infertility despite a thorough investigation and no initial indications we would ever struggle with fertility.”
Dr. Campbell said the support of her colleagues along the way meant the world to her, but she also knows that nearly 20% of pregnant women had negative comments made about them by their peers and 94% wished for greater mentorship on balancing work and parenthood (IFF Research Ltd. Pregnancy and Maternity-Related Discrimination and Disadvantage: Summary of Key Findings. 2016). “By being open with my situation, I hope that other women and men going through this will feel that they can reach out and that we can eliminate any sense that this topic is taboo or a source of shame,” she said. “Even if they choose not to reach out, as this is an extremely personal journey, I feel strongly that it’s important that they know that they aren’t alone.”
Renée Bacher is a freelance medical writer based in Louisiana.
Challenges for Pregnant and Postpartum Otolaryngologists
Forget about the fact that most busy surgeons don’t have time to hydrate properly or eat nutritious foods at reasonable intervals throughout the day—pregnant and postpartum otolaryngologists face challenges that go above and beyond. When she was pregnant with her first child, LSU School of Medicine otolaryngology residency director Laura Hetzler, MD didn’t realize she was having contractions and performed surgery up until the day before she delivered.
“What we do is physically taxing,” Dr. Hetzler said. “We stand for long hours peering in small, dark, operative spaces all day, typically with a headlight and loupes on, which can be very disorienting.” She added that it’s important to be conscious of the changes that happen in the body of someone who is pregnant, is taking pregnancy hormone injections, or who has recently had a baby and is lactating, and to step up and help wherever possible.
As a new mom who was breastfeeding, Dr. Hetzler didn’t have many colleagues who could help with a 12-hour surgery to allow her to scrub out and pump. She would come out of the operating room, having exploded through the nursing pads in her bra, pump, and then get another gown to cover her wet scrubs to scrub back into the operating room. “Now they make wearable breast pumps,” she said, “but it was a tough time. I almost forget how tough it was.”