Symptoms That May Indicate Female Infertility

Married just over a year, Janice and David Landenberg were trying for a baby. Young and healthy, the thought of female infertility did not even cross Janice’s minds until their doctor confirmed the diagnosis.

David’s lab tests came back normal and no other factors indicated he might be the one having the trouble. Female infertility seemed like a sharp blow in the face but as their doctor explained, it was not the end of their planned chapter on parenthood; it was just the beginning of a different chapter.

Their doctor took a detailed medical and family history to find out if there were any other symptoms of female infertility lurking around. Some of the things that he found were:

Irregular Menstrual Cycle

Even though few women have a textbook-like 28-day cycle; many have their period only once a couple of months. Any cycle less than 24 days or more than 35 days is considered irregular and can lead to a meeting with a reproductive endocrinologist.

Irregular Ovulation

One assumes that if the menstrual cycle is regular, she must be ovulating, but this is incorrect as not all women ovulate every cycle. Since there is usually a 24 hour window where she is most fertile, calculating if and when she ovulates is crucial to eliminate female infertility

Family History

You find out your mom had trouble conceiving you and your husband’s sister had to go through infertility treatments before she had her first child gives you a higher probability of having to go through the female infertility screening questions.

Age

Women 35 and older are not automatically female infertility candidates. A forty year old could have no problem conceiving. It is just that the number of eggs a woman produces each cycle diminishes in her mid-thirties and therefore the chances of getting pregnant become less in comparison to someone in their early twenties with all other factors being constant.

Stress
Just as we like to plan everything in our lives, we feel it should be easy to have children when we choose to. However, unlike airline tickets, we can not book the dates in months in advance. That is what causes couples struggling with female infertility sessions a lot of stress which in turn impedes their chances of success. ‘Why me?’ is on of the most common questions as is ‘Why did I wait?’ and ‘Why did I take having kids for granted?’

However, punishing yourself with such questions will only make conception harder. Science has progressed leaps and bounds and more miracle babies are being born everyday.

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