NEW BOOK: Positively Negative: Love, Pregnancy and Science's Surprising Victory Over HIV

"How could someone have sex without a condom, not pass on the virus and have a healthy baby? It went against everything we’ve heard about unprotected sex for decades." - Heather Boerner, author

My PrEP Experience is very excited about this book. We featured one of the remarkable individuals whose story is told in this book on our blog. Our first post about "Poppy" was published in June 2012 - Trying to Get Pregnant and Thankful for PrEP and then, we were delighted to post a very very happy follow-up in November 2013 - Poppy's Story - How A Magnetic Straight Couple Utilized PrEP for Conception.

From a press release:

Positively Negative: Love, Pregnancy, and Science’s Surprising Victory Over HIV
($2.99, Amazon, July 2014) takes readers behind the scenes of the crucial last 15 years of the crisis, when scientific detectives forged a new understanding of the virus and the potent antiretroviral medications that would tame it.

Then, it follows two HIV-affected couples (in which one person has HIV and the other does not) as they pioneer a path to parenthood, harnessing the power of the new science in the service of the most natural of all drives—the formation of a family (including Poppy!)

In 65 brief pages, veteran journalist Heather Boerner weaves a narrative that’s part love story and part medical mystery, all in language that it’s easy for readers to understand.

In it, readers will learn:

• How HIV can affect heterosexual couples and their desire for parenthood;

• How HIV medicines have changed the futures of HIV-positive people and those they love;

• How babies can be born without HIV even though a parent has the virus;

• What it means when the news talks about pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), Truvada, and treatment as prevention;

• How condoms went from the de facto safe-sex method to one of several options;

• How to safely conceive a baby with one’s HIV-positive partner;

• How far we have to go to implement the science and get to zero new HIV cases.

Order the book here.

 

Poppy's Story - How A Magnetic Straight Couple Utilized PrEP for Conception

"When it came time to announce our pregnancy, we decided that we just wanted to come forward and tell the truth. We felt it was such a miracle that we were even pregnant that this child, and this process, deserved our honesty. So we told everybody. I took Truvada for a year and a half - and it worked."

A year and a half ago, My PrEP Experience featured a story from an HIV-negative woman, who we will call "Poppy", married to an HIV-positive man. The sero-discordant (magnetic) couple wanted to have a baby, and after a journey investigating various options that lasted more than a decade, Poppy chose to take Truvada as PrEP, to protect her from contracting HIV while still allowing her to conceive.

And guess what?

She stayed HIV-negative and got pregnant. Check out those toes up left - and that cute little mug to the right - to see the result of that pregnancy.

In this recording, Poppy tells her very compelling PrEP experience - from the beginning to a beautiful baby daughter, with features and characteristics from both her parents. Please take a few minutes to listen.

The recording is actually an excerpt from a webinar conducted on October 28, 2013 called "PrEP-ception: Sero-discordant couples using PrEP to reduce HIV transmission risk during pregnancy."

This webinar, the second in a series of webinars by the US Women and PrEP Working Group, discussed the possibilities and challenges associated with serodiscordant couples using PrEP to help them achieve pregnancy safely. In addition to a Q&A period, the webinar consisted of the following:

• Introduction: Overview of PrEP and the Role of the Working Group
  Dazon Dixon Diallo, MPH, Founder and President, SisterLove, Inc. 
• Defining the Need for Safer Conception Options: The Role of “PrEP-ception”
  Shannon Weber, MSW, Director, Special Projects, National HIV/AIDS Clinicians' Consultation Center, Bay Area Perinatal AIDS Center Coordinator
• A Framework for the Integration of PrEP
  Erika Aaron, CRN, Drexel University College of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine
• One Mom's Story
  Poppy

Click here for presentation slides, an audio link, and more information.

Click here for Poppy's recording.

VIDEO - HIV Positive Men: Having a Healthy Sex Life and a Healthy Family

This informative video, from our friends at the Bay Area Perinatal AIDS Center, talks about how HIV+ men, with HIV-negative female partners, can avoid HIV transmission - even if they want to have a baby.

The video includes info on the prevention benefits of treatment as well as PrEP. Click to watch.

Trying to Get Pregnant and Thankful for PrEP

by an HIV-negative spouse

I've been married to my HIV+ husband for over ten years.

A few years ago we decided we wanted to try to get pregnant.

After years of researching and many disappointments, we decided to try to conceive naturally. Luckily, I had a doctor that was willing to work with us, who respected our choices, and wanted to do whatever she could to mitigate my risks.

She prescribed me Truvada. I began taking it for a month before my husband and I had unprotected sex, and after about two years of trying...we are still not pregnant, but I remain negative.

I realize our choices are risky, but there are not many realistic options for couples in our position who want to conceive. Sure, there are fertility treatments, we looked in to them all, not one fertility treatment option worked for us for one reason or another.

Taking the Truvada does not make me "reckless" in my decision to have unprotected sex, it makes me feel supported by a community of doctors and advocates, who recognize the nuances of my situation, and are doing all they can to help me stay negative.

I understand the risks I'm taking. I don't minimize them just because I'm using Truvada.

It is frustrating to hear experts say that prescribing Truvada to someone could give them an unrealistic sense of safety from becoming HIV+. I'm sure that's true for some...but judging from my own REAL (not hypothetical) experience, it makes me more aware of the risks I'm taking. I am reminded of those risks on a daily basis, every time I open that bottle and swallow that blue pill. I don't take them lightly. If I did, I wouldn't go through the trouble of using Truvada.

I've jumped a lot of hurdles to get to this place....through legislative changes, doctors with unbelievable and blatant prejudice, and all the disappointments that go with failing to conceive.

What has angered me the most, is watching and listening to doctors, politicians, and experts decide what my choices and risks should be.  For most of them, it is their job. But for me....it is my life.

Their opinions and decisions trickle down to impact my life in very real ways. From not being able to utilize certain fertility treatments because the Center for Disease Control won't establish guidelines, (even though I am legally entitled to those treatments), to walking past the baby apparel section at the store, to seeing that negative pregnancy test every month.

With all the complications and legal limitations of our situation, I am thankful for the opportunity to use Truvada. For now, it is my only option. And I think its a good one.

To read more about my journey, check out my blog (HIV negative spouses.)