Nanny to Mommy

Fertility isn’t something that we talk about too often, and a lot of the time, many of us don’t have a clue as to whether we are fertile or not and how fertile we are until we actively start trying to conceive a child. However, understanding fertility is important. Here’s more information on the subject that can help you to get to grips with the basics!

First, let’s take a moment to understand what fertility actually is. Put simply, it is the state of being fertile. A fertile man can father children, while a fertile woman can conceive a child and carry the baby full term. This may sound relatively simple and straightforward, but if you are trying to conceive, it’s important to know how to track your menstrual cycle effectively. It’s also important to be aware of a whole number of factors that can impact fertility. Please bear in mind that being infertile or having low fertility doesn’t necessarily mean never being able to have a child either.

Now, when it comes to conceiving, the majority of people will conceive naturally. This simply involves sexual intercourse where sperm cells swim up the uterus and into the uterine tubes. If you conceive, this means that a sperm met an egg and fertilized it. Do bear in mind, however, that not all people can conceive in this way. The following factors can affect natural conception. These include:

- Genetics

- Smoking

- Alcohol abuse

- Weight

- Damage to the reproductive organs

- Missing reproductive organs

If you are unable to conceive naturally, an alternative is to conceive through egg donation. This is an ideal solution if your own eggs are infertile, or if you don’t have any eggs of your own left. This is also an option for:

- Same-sex couples

- People with endometriosis

- People with premature ovarian failure

- People with blocked or damaged fallopian tubes.

Many people will practice medical tourism to find the right egg donor. When a donor has been found and eggs have been donated, you will then go through a process called IVF in order to carry and birth a child.

IVF is short for “in vitro fertilization”. This is a process in which donor eggs are artificially fertilized with sperm, outside of the body. The resulting embryos can then be transferred to your uterus. Then, ideally, the embryo will settle and continue to grow and develop. Please bear in mind that when opting for IVF, you have a higher chance of becoming a new parent with multiple children at once, such as twins or triplets.

As you can see, there’s a lot to take in when it comes to discussing fertility - and these are just the bare basics! But hopefully, some of the information above has helped to show you some of the main steps in processes for individuals who are infertile. There’s plenty more information online if you’d like to learn more, or if you’re looking to undertake IVF yourself, it’s definitely worth talking to your doctor for individual recommendations.