What is Infertility?
If a couple is infertile, this means that they have been unable to conceive a child after 12 months of regular sexual intercourse without birth control. Primary infertility means they have never had a child. Secondary infertility means that the infertile person has had one or more children in the past, but a medical problem is impairing fertility. Many people may be infertile during their reproductive years.
Infertility is usually defined as not being able to get pregnant despite trying for one year. A broader view of infertility includes not being able to carry a pregnancy to term and have a baby. Infertility affects about 6.1 million Americans, or 10 percent of the reproductive age population, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Pregnancy is the result of a chain of events. A woman must release an egg from one of her ovaries (ovulation). The egg must travel through a fallopian tube toward her uterus (womb). A man’s sperm must join with (fertilize) the egg along the way. The fertilized egg must then become attached to the inside of the uterus. While this may seem simple, in fact many things can happen to prevent pregnancy from occurring.
Infertility is the inability to conceive after a year of regular, unprotected intercourse. Couples who have known barriers to fertility, such as endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome(PCOS), male factor infertility, irregular cycles, etc., do not need to sit out the traditional “waiting period “for one year to seek expert care for infertility.
