IVF: Dealing With Your Concerns

By Helen Simpson

Many couples who could benefit from IVF treatment fail to take advantage of it. Although around half of the three million couples with fertility problems in the U.S. seek medical intervention to have a baby, the vast majority do not ultimately go through with IVF. This is true even when their chances of having a baby by under-going the treatment are good.

The question is then, what barriers cause so many people to not to proceed with IVF? The answer is not entirely straightforward, because what is a barrier to one couple can be considered irrelevant to another. Still, there are some common issues that tend to be causes of concern to the majority of would-be IVF candidates.

One is that it is risking the health of the mother, baby, or both. A second is that it is expensive and unaffordable. A third is that it is inconsistent with religious beliefs. The last is that the couple will not be able to fulfill their professional and personal responsibilities whilst the treatment is going on.

However, all of these issues have been dealt with by other couples before, and the barriers overcome. By taking the time to really learn about what exactly IVF involves - there are lots of reliable websites from which to gather this information - and having discussions with couples who have previously undergone the treatment and experienced IVF professionals, couples will find that their concerns are unfounded.

That does not mean that IVF is always the best option for infertile couples, but it should always be one of the options which is seriously considered as part of the decision making process. To simply dismiss it could be one of the biggest mistakes that a couple ever makes. - 29962

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When is the Best Time to Get Pregnant?

By Tammy Richardson

It is very often the case that when a couple is told they have unexplained infertility they really should be told that they need to learn some more about conception, and not listen to everything the doctors say. This is because many doctors are far too quick to tell patients they are 'infertile' after just one year of trying - sometimes it just takes a better understanding of your bodies and your cervical fluid is one of the best indicators of when is the best time to get pregnant.

Doctors will tend to highlight the importance of measuring the body basal temperature and overlook entirely the importance of cervical fluid. The changes in cervical fluid are critical for determining when is the best time to get pregnant. The unfortunate reality for millions of couples out there is that the medical profession advises timing intercourse around changes in body temperature. There are doctors who go half the way and tell couples that the temperature measures will only give them an indication of fertility once the fertile time has actually passed, but they will still prescribe that keeping a record for a number of months and then establishing a predictive timing for fertility will do the trick (bad advice, and a waste of precious time). There is misinformation in both pieces of advice!

If couples us the basal temperature method to determine when is the best time to get pregnant, they may actually be doing themselves a disservice, as often by the time an increase in temperature is recorded, the egg has died.

Tracking changes in temperature is of course a part of the conception puzzle, but the emphasis the medical profession gives it as a sign of fertility is misleading. Recording basal body temperatures can help determine if the phases of your cycle are long enough to let an egg be implanted into the uterus, or to determine if you are ovulating at all - it can even tell you if a pregnancy has been achieved. This being said, it should not be the measure of your optimum fertile phase. Changes in cervical fluid provide a very accurate determinant of fertile times, so start checking! Women are most fertile during the 'eggwhite' cervical fluid days, especially the last day, or if you don't notice an eggwhite appearance, then the wettest type of fluid is your indicator.

Looking at changes in cervical fluid can make conception easier. Knowing what you are looking for is the crucial first step of tracking changes in cervical fluids. Volume, colour and consistency are all important indicators in cervical mucus, and these can alter considerably throughout the menstrual cycle. You can help to determine the best time in the month for conception by tracking these changes.

Directly after the menses have finished, there is usually not much cervical fluid produced. There is little or no cervical fluid produced for the first couple of days (sometimes as long as a week) following a period. The general rule of thumb can be summed up thus: no cervical mucus, no chances of conception. The next mucus phase is between the 'dry' time and ovulation, where the fluid is normally tacky, and cloudy or white in colour. This time is also one of lesser quantities of mucus. The next stage, only a number of days before ovulation occurs the cervical mucus will take on a moist and sticky feel, akin to that of a crme or lotion product. This stage is accompanied by a white to cream coloured mucus.

The optimum time for conceiving is during ovulation. When a woman is ovulating, this is when there is the highest production of cervical mucus. During ovulation the cervical mucus takes on the colour and consistency of an eggwhite which is why this time is called the time of 'eggwhite cervical mucus'. When the eggwhite stage comes, this is the time when the chances of conception are highest.

By taking notice of the changes in your cervical mucus, you can track your cycle more accurately, and always know where you are in your cycle. By observing the changes in your cervical fluids over a number of months it becomes easier to pinpoint exact ovulation times, and thus to pinpoint the perfect time each month for conception. - 29962

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Information Regarding Infertility Stress

By Adrian Logan

Infertility is one of the most stressful situations that any couple must deal with. Even treatments for it can contribute to the stress that the couple goes through. In addition, the irony is that couples that realize that they themselves are stressed can further worsen their infertility thanks to this realization!

What are the various reasons behind infertility stress?

Firstly, it can stem from being initially diagnosed as being infertile in the first place. Many couples try having intercourse for some months or at least a year (of course, unsuccessfully) before they get frustrated and seek the advice of a fertility specialist. And when said specialist diagnoses either partner - or both in some cases - as being infertile, one or both could very well end up feeling depressed and inadequate.

Secondly, further stress can be added to the couple who has decided to undergo infertility treatments. Such treatments can prove exceedingly and prohibitively expensive depending on the treatments required.

And the act of going in and out of doctors' waiting rooms and hospitals, among other places, waiting with bated breath for results, and so on and so forth can also increase a lot of stress to the couple.

Thirdly, the stress can be added from the lovemaking itself. Many couples may not be able to get past the fact that they are unable to bear children normally.This can make things very hard for them because they may have to make recourse to more medical procedures if they are unable to consummate the sexual act.

Also having sex might become unenjoyable and a chore for the couple as they would have to be doing it according to a schedule with the pressure of producing children. It is no longer about enjoying each other and having a pleasure time.

In addition, having to undergo fertility treatments may be even more demeaning for men, who may very well feel emasculated and feel that they are responsible if they are unable to produce babies with their wives. Plus it may prove extremely embarrassing to have to produce semen in doctors' offices, for instance - or to have other people aside from their wives learn that they have low sperm count or, worse, erectile problems.

How the couple responds to such stress in the first place is extremely important. Some can simply take it in stride and be positive even in the face of potential failure; others can be negative right at the outset even if the future for them might not be so bleak, and immediately contemplate having to adopt children while agonizing over how unfair things seem to be, and so on and so forth. This can result in the couples and individuals having a low self-esteem.

Many couples end up going through extreme strain due to infertility. Some couples buckle under this strain, and many of them end up breaking up. Others, though, end up learning from this experience and end up stronger couples. - 29962

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Baby Gender Predictor - Can You Really Predict A Baby's Sex ?

By Olivia Campbell-Price

Pregnancy is a great time of life for many couples. While you impatiently wait for your bundle of joy to make its appearance, you'll find that there are plenty of people who will offer their opinions on your baby's gender. It seems that everyone is a baby gender predictor when they see a mommy-to-be.

Of course, there are many old wives tales ranging from the shape and size of your belly to how you look at your fingernails to the kinds of food you crave during your pregnancy. While these baby gender predictor tricks can be funny, they're questionable as to accuracy.

An amazing accurate baby gender predictor is an ancient chart found in a royal tomb in China. Referred to as the Chinese pregnancy or baby prediction calendar, it correlates the mother's lunar age with the date of the baby's conception to determine gender.

It used to be extremely difficult to predict a baby's gender before birth, but with the advent of the ultrasound machine, this has become a reality for many expectant parents. The best time to perform the sonogram is during the middle of the second trimester. It is a non-invasive procedure and can be quite accurate if performed under the right conditions.

Prior to undergoing an ultrasound examination, the mother might need to drink large amounts of water to enable a clearer picture to present itself. Other than a full bladder, there is little to no discomfort. The sonogram can be pretty accurate but there are factors which can obscure the details of the baby's gender such as the direction it is facing during examination. The baby's size and age can also affect the examination. For that reason, a sonogram as a baby gender predictor falls short of providing 100% accuracy.

Medical testing is the only way at this time to accurately determine a baby's sex before the birth event. However, medical testing procedures such as amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling carry a risk of harm to a fetus and because of this high risk, using them as a baby gender predictor is not a viable option.

These days, it's not uncommon for expectant parents to want to learn the sex of their baby beforehand. With busy lives and exciting, yet unknown changes, anything that can make the anticipation of a new baby's arrival a little easier is often a welcome relief. With baby gender predictor information, new parents can plan better and feel less harried when their precious bundle finally arrives. - 29962

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Five Tips To Become Pregnant Fast

By Brock Davis

How to become pregnant fast? Many people want to know the answer to this question. There are some tips which will definitely improve your chances on becoming pregnant fast. Let's look at the 5 main ones, but you should only follow these tips if you know that there are no other medical problems with you and your partner.

Tip 1: Improve your health before trying to conceive. Many of the infertility reasons are due to an unhealthy life style. Start to do some moderate exercise, eat healthy, avoid chemicals and lose some weight. All these can help you to get conceive.

If you are consuming any alcohol and nicotine, stop immediately. Those have an negative impact on your effort to conceive a healthy child. Next you must relax yourself and stay happy everyday. This will help you to have a healthy pregnancy. It is difficult to get pregnant if you are stressed and depressed.

Tip 2. Don't try to have sex all the time during the cycle. It will make you and your partner tired and then sex becomes a chore. Remember that it is not the amount of sex that will get you pregnant; it is having sex at the right time that will do the trick. For younger women it is only 1 or 2 days in a month when they are able to become pregnant (if your ovulation comes monthly).

For women above 35 years old, their ovulation may not come that often and it can be as rare as once in 6 months. That is the reason why older women are harder to get pregnant. Even though it is harder, it is still possible.

Tip 3. Based on a finding by the University of North Carolina, the best time to have sex for pregnancy is when fertile cervical mucus is present. Fertile cervical mucus helps sperm to swim easier and faster it also makes the penetration of the egg easier because of the special environment the fertile cervical mucus produces around the egg.

Unfortunately fertile cervical mucus is not present for a long time. It can be 1 to 2 days only, so it is very easy to miss the exact time. The best way to detect fertile cervical mucus is to do self-examination and measure basal body temperature. One big problem with ovulation prediction kits is they are not very helpful in predicting fertile mucus, so if you use this kind of kit you can miss out.

Tip 4: Having adequate amounts of sperm when you have sex during ovulation is important. Therefore avoid having any sexual activities a few days before your ovulation begins If the couple has sex before the ovulation time, the amount of sperm delivered will be lower. Although the volume of sperm may be the same, the quality of the sperm can decrease if you have sex every day. Abstaining for a few days helps to built up a good amount of sperm.

Tip 5: Based on a few studies, it is concluded that you can get pregnant easier if you enjoy the sex and have an orgasm during it. During orgasm, the woman genital muscles relaxes. This makes it easier for the fertilized egg to imbed into the uterus lining and continue to grow. Thus women should not be stressed and treat sex as a chore.

To conclude, these five tips can help many couples to become pregnant faster. Don't dismiss these rules by saying "I know that all." Try them and follow them for some time, you will see result. - 29962

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How To Cure Infertility - Two Easy Tips And Tricks

By Brock Davis

One of the biggest obstacles a couple can ever go through is infertility. This is especially so since many couples who get married is to plan to have their own families. Facing this issue is surely very frustrating.

If you are searching for cure to infertility, there are two ways:

1. Focus on your lifestyle. Your lifestyle largely affects your infertility as it is a major factor in your health. So, paying some attention to your lifestyle can be a good way how to cure infertility.

The first thing you must do here is to look at what you eat. Your diet plays a big part in being infertile so if you can avoid quite a number of food items that are not ideal for increasing your fertility, please do so.

This mostly includes soy based products and meat with estrogen. Instead, consume more natural food items that are rich in calcium, Vitamin b6, and omega 6 to name a few.

Also, avoiding unhealthy habits such as smoking and excessive drinking of alcohol is another way how to cure infertility. Remember, your body needs to be at its best to produce another life form, so make sure you do everything you can to help it.

2. Get treated. With the advances this modern times now have in science, there are also now a good handful of various treatments for infertility. This is a great way how to cure infertility because it is medically proven and tested, making it safe for you to try.

You have many selection to select from like surgery, drug treatments, and many other artifical ways of getting pregnant.

Apart from the above two tips, there are still many holistic ways to get pregrant and have healthy children. Do some research and learn more about this condition. You will surely be able to find a solution to address it. - 29962

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Acupuncture

By Elie Goldschmidt

Acupuncture provides several fertility benefits and can be helpful for people who are suffering from fertility complications or infertility. Acupuncture is one among the Chinese medical techniques for curing the infertility problems. This treatment involves sticking of thin needles into different points present in the body.

The stimulation of these needles will helping the opening of pathways that affects the operating of human body. The practitioners using acupuncture may use the technique in along with the western medical treatments or in combination with the herbal treatment techniques. The 'American Board of Oriental Reproductive Medicine' (ABORM) is the body that trains and certifies people to perform the therapy for treating infertility.

You will get to know the complete information regarding the acupuncture as well as different herbal medicine treatments during the training period. You must also understand about the western medicine that will be asked for almost half of the exams during the training period in order to become certified. Patients can easily get the information about the certification as well as training of individuals for acupuncture fertility treatment from a trained professional or through consulting the ABNORM.

Acupuncture may be an effective treatment for patients suffering from polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis, low sperm count, poor egg quality and low ovarian reserve. Patients with an increased maternal age, those with sperm DNA fragmentation and who experience recurrent miscarriages may also be candidates for this treatment. Those suffering from immunological causes of infertility, implantation failures, patients undergoing in vitro fertilization or other assisted reproductive technology treatments and those with unexplained infertility problems may also be candidates for acupuncture.

The acupuncture is developed on the basis of an assumption that the life energy of the body, which is called as Qi will flow through your body, thereby by protecting from several diseases, pain and illness. This assumption also states that lack of exercise, poor diet, trauma and stress can interrupt the energy in your body, which can result in infertility. The needles that are placed on different points of your body will help to release energy. Most of the practitioners assume that releasing the positive energy can push out the negative energy from your body.

The patient is required to lie still during the treatment and especially when the needles are placed. Every section in the treatment takes at least thirty minutes to complete. It has been found out that the acupuncture treatment is successful in helping the women to increase their blood flow towards the uterus and also reduces stress.

This treatment helps to strengthen your immune system and also reduces the side effects caused by fertility drugs.

It will be better to consult a practitioner if you are interested in knowing more about this therapy. - 29962

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