Baby Mama

Erich and I went to see Baby Mama last night, the new movie with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. I knew I wanted to see this movie because it looked pretty good and both those women CRACK ME UP. But I knew I HAD to see it when I found out that Tina Fey's character has a t-shaped uterus.

Did you know that a t-shaped uterus is a Müllerian Anomaly? If all your info on MAs has come from this blog alone, you probably didn't. I haven't discussed it since it doesn't apply to me. It's one of the rarest MAs, and it usually can be traced to the mother's ingestion of diethylstilbestrol, or DES. Sometimes prescribed to mothers between the 1950s and early 1970s, DES was thought to help prevent miscarriages. Despite insufficient study data, doctors continued to prescribe it through the '50s. In the '60s, data suggested that miscarriage rates for mothers prescribed DES were no lower than the general population, but doctors continued to prescribe it. And finally, in the '70s, scientists began to discover all the bad side effects of DES. In addition to uterine malformations (sometimes lacking a uterus entirely), the so-called "DES Daughters" were also more prone to various cancers, including cancer of the vagina and cervix.

In the movie, Tina Fey's character is 37 and trying to get pregnant via a sperm donor. All her attempts fail, which a doctor finally blames on her t-shaped uterus. (The line often featured in promos: "I just don't like your uterus.") In reality, a t-shaped uterus doesn't necessarily effect fertility. Like other MAs, it's associated with higher miscarriage rates as well as heightened risk of preterm labor, incompetent cervix, and fetal malposition. Also, her mother claims to have taken DES (though I don't think they name the drug in the film) to cure liver spots. I don't want to give any spoilers, so I'll just say that in sum, the movie has several inaccuracies.

Did these inaccuracies bother me? Not in the least! Anyone would be crazy to go into a comedic film hoping for a science-based anatomy lesson. Her uterine anomaly is simply a device to get to the main plot of the movie, which is the rocky friendship between Tina Fey's character and her hired surrogate mother, played by Amy Poehler. I really liked this movie. It was very funny and sweet in the right places without being sappy. And it is quite refreshing to see a real comedy with substance headlined by two female leads. My verdict: thumbs up.