PAGES : If ‘Mommy’ Was a Test Tube

How do you explain where babies come from when your baby came from a test tube?

That’s the delicate subject Santa Monica psychologist Elaine Gordon takes on in her new children’s book “Mommy, Did I Grow in Your Tummy?” (EM Greenberg Press, Inc., Santa Monica).

Gordon, who became a mother through adoption, said she wrote the book to help parents handle the questions of children who are conceived via one of several new reproductive technologies, including in vitro fertilization, egg donation and surrogacy.

All of the options are presented as ways in which parents grow to love a baby. The book is designed for children ages 4 to 8.

“Thousands and thousands of children have been conceived with such assistance, and honesty is the best way to deal with the inevitable questions they will ask as they grow up,” Gordon says.

The story centers on the infertility problems of Sandy and Bob and their search for options to have a family. The story does not resolve how the couple had their baby, only that they are happy to have a child to love.

“I tell parents that being comfortable and proud of how they conceive can be the greatest legacy they give their children,” Gordon says.