Couples who are dealing with the problem of infertility can often think that they are very alone in their concerns. Most believe that pregnancy is easy, and may look around at the other couples with their bouncing bundles of joy as proof positive of this fact. They may also have many friends and family members who announce one day that they are planning on starting a family, and who are seemingly pregnant immediately after.
But believe it or not, infertility is much more common than you might think. It’s estimated that about 1 in every 10 couples that are attempting to have a baby, have some type of problem with infertility. Imagine ten other couples that you know who have children, and you can make a safe bet that at least one of them faced some difficulty when it came to conceiving. And when you think about this on a national scale, 1 in 10 couples means 5 to 6 million couples in the U.S. every year have some difficulty getting pregnant.
But what exactly defines the concept of infertility? Simply put, this is when a couple is having regular (twice per week on average) unprotected sex and are still not pregnant after a year of trying.
This may be surprising news to some couples, who often assume that a month or so of trying is all that’s needed to signal a problem with infertility. Not so, say doctors. Because of the many details that need to align perfectly for a woman to conceive, it can actually take that many times trying before there is any need for concern.
Obviously it’s true that there are some who have a much more difficult time with conception than others; and of course there are many factors that will contribute to this problem. Some couples seem to be much more fertile than others, and this may very well be the case. Some men simply have a higher sperm count than average, and of course the more sperm he had, the greater his chance of having one reach a woman’s egg to fertilize it. Additionally, some women have problems with ovulation and do not release a healthy, viable egg every month, so there may need to be a few months worth of attempts in order for her to conceive.
But while infertility is something that is more common than you might think, it is also a very personal issue. You should never make the mistake of comparing your abilities to conceive to anyone else’s, even those in your own family. Again, you may know of a couple who seem to be able to get pregnant just by talking about it, while you and your partner have been trying for weeks and months, but this isn’t necessarily a cause for concern. Everyone’s body is different, everyone’s reproductive abilities are different as well. If you are really concerned about whether or not you will need medical intervention or another way of helping you with your supposed infertility, then be sure to speak to your doctor, as only he or she will be able to know for sure.