Infertility And How To Overcome It

A Fortress Publishing book

Chapter 1: Am I Really Infertile? (Extract)

Life seems unfair sometimes doesn't it? As you walk through the park you ask yourself why that couple playing with their son on the swing were able to have a child. You question why that woman sitting on the park bench was able to conceive.

You and your partner, on the other hand, have been trying to have a baby for more than a year now - and there is still no pitter patter of little feet in your house. The ghost of infertility is on your heels.

Of course you're frustrated, confused and downright angry!  Who wouldn't be!  And of course you have questions - it seems like an infinite list of questions - about the whole process.

Doctor, why can't I get pregnant?  Is it me?  Is it my husband?  Is it temporary? Will I ever be able to have children? Can infertility be beaten?

For many women, getting married and having children is the center piece of a life well lived.  For many couples, the desire and joy of having a baby, raising them, watching them grow and sharing a natural, extended love, is something they have dreamed about for years.

But that dream for about 10 to 15 percent of all couples in the United States is just an empty promise.  These couples are infertile.  Try as they might, they are unable to conceive.

The medical community defines infertility as the inability to get pregnant after at least one year of repeated, frequent attempts.  In other words, if you and your partner are not using any type of birth control, have had sex for at least a  year and you still have no child, medically speaking you're considered infertile.

Is it a death sentence?  Does it mean that you'll never be able to have a child?  Even though you may think so right at this moment, actually nothing could be further from the truth.

Here's some good news for you!

In reality, you actually stand a good chance of conceiving a child in the future.  Many medical experts tell couples that very often what's preventing a conception is a condition or problem that is quite treatable.

The success rate of achieving conception in any given month for a healthy couple hovers between 15 and 20 percent.  Surprised?  Many are.  You can see then that it may take several months - to say the least - to overcome these seemingly dismal odds.

Generally speaking, about 70 percent of couples conceive after they've been trying for six months.  Eight-five percent of couples are successful at the end of one year or 12 months.

But now, here's the surprising part.  After two years of trying, nearly 95 percent of couple are successful and have gotten pregnant.  Two years!  So, in some ways, if you've only been trying to one year and have not conceived, it's not ... well, inconceivable that you can still have a baby.  In fact, the odds are very much in your favor.

Even though the table can be found easily in Appendix I, I can't help but cite this one statistic for you.  At the end of five years of trying, statistics show that only 0.6 percent of couples have not gotten pregnant. 

That means 94 percent of them have.  The success rate per month is low at this point - a measly four percent. But, looking to the future, the proportion of those couples who can still look forward to conceiving in the following 12 months is still a rather healthy figure of 36 percent.

The problem may be subfertility

Now, let's look at the definition of infertility again.  You can clearly see that after only a year of trying all hope is not really lost. Some medical experts, after viewing these conception statistics want to call the problem subfertility instead of infertility.

Barring any physical disorder on either the woman or man's side, conception is still a distinct possibility.  The problem lies more in the timing of the pregnancy than in the lack of it.  The event just isn't happening as quickly as you would like.

Your infertility may very well be due to one simple, single cause present either in your system or that of your partner.  Or, the fact that you can't conceive may be the result of several factors that when discovered and treated will allow you to enjoy all the delights of parenthood!

All of this becomes much clearer once you understand infertility better.

Symptoms of infertility

Of course!  It almost seems stupid to say it, now doesn't it?  But the main and overriding symptom of infertility is the inability to get pregnant.  But beyond that there are telltale signs that may indicate your infertility - whether you're a woman or a man.

For example, many infertile women have irregular menstrual periods.  This symptom alone would make it difficult to conceive.  Men who are infertile may exhibit signs indicating hormonal problem.  This condition could appear as a change in hair growth or even sexual function.

Doctor, what causes my infertility?

When people refer to the miracle of birth it really is more than just a phrase - it's a fact.  The human reproductive system is miraculously complex.  If one considers everything involved in getting pregnant, you're in awe that anyone of us was born at all...

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Pregnancy Success Program

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