FEMALE FERTILITY TREATMENTS

If you are thinking about treatments for fertility

There are many types of fertility treatments that can help women become pregnant. Talk to your healthcare provider to find out if one of them is right for you.

Treatment for fertility can cause complications, such as getting pregnant with twins or more babies, having a preterm birth, and having a baby with birth defects.

If you need fertility treatment, there are ways to help you get pregnant with just one baby. This may help reduce the risk of pregnancy complications.

Things like smoking and weight can affect your fertility. Making certain changes in your life can help you get pregnant without fertility treatment.

What is fertility treatment?

Many women need special medical treatment to help them become pregnant. This type of treatment is called fertility treatment or infertility treatments.

If you have been trying to get pregnant for 3 or 4 months, keep trying. It may take longer, even longer than you imagined. You may want to think about fertility treatment if:

You are under the age of 35 and have been trying to get pregnant for at least a year.

You are over 35 and have been trying to get pregnant for at least 6 months.

Talk to your healthcare provider if you think you may need treatment for infertility.

How can you find out if you need fertility treatment?

If you think you and your partner may need treatment to help you get pregnant, you can do the following:

Talk to your healthcare professional. You can see your prenatal care professional, such as an obstetrician or midwife, who cares for pregnant women. Or you may see an infertility specialist (also called reproductive endocrinologist). This is a doctor who specializes in helping women become pregnant.

Tell your healthcare provider about your family health history. This is a record of the health problems and treatments that you, your partner and all the relatives of both families have had. Do not forget to tell your provider if you have been pregnant before and how many children you have had.

Make changes in your life that can help you get pregnant without treatment. For example, things like smoking, being overweight or underweight, and taking certain medications can affect your fertility and make it harder to get pregnant. Even using a jacuzzi can affect fertility! You may be able to make changes in your life without infertility treatment that can improve your chances of getting pregnant.

Keep track of your periods to find out when to ovulate. Ovulation is when the ovaries release an egg into the fallopian tubes. The egg then passes through the tubes into the uterus. If you have sex and the egg is fertilized by sperm, you are pregnant. To find out when you ovulate, note the date each month begins and how long it lasts. Or use the on-site ovulation calculator. If you know when to ovulate, it will help you determine the best times of the month to have sex with your partner to try to get pregnant.

Your health care provider can do medical tests for you and your partner to find out if they need treatment. For example, the professional can:

Recommend that you analyze your partner's sperm to see if it is normal. That's called semen analysis. The health professional will be able to tell you where to get tested.

Do some tests to check for problems in the fallopian tubes or uterus. If your tubes are blocked or there are problems with your uterus, you may find it difficult to get pregnant. You may be able to get treatment to resolve those problems.

After these tests, you, your partner and your health care provider can decide on fertility treatment.

Lomid® or Serophene®). This medicine comes in tablet form. It is the most common drug used to help women ovulate. You may have side effects from the medicine, such as feeling sick to your stomach, mood swings, hot flashes or chest pain.

Gonadotropins. This medicine is given with injections. Side effects include feeling bloated or having pain in the lower abdomen.

If you are being treated with controlled ovarian hyperstimulation, have sex a few days before and the day you ovulate. The more sex you have during those days, the more likely you are to get pregnant. Your provider may recommend that, in conjunction with controlled ovarian hyperstimulation.

What is in vitro fertilization?

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a type of fertility treatment called Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART). That means all kinds of infertility treatment in which the egg and sperm are treated in a laboratory.

In vitro fertilization is the most common type of assisted reproductive technology. In it, an egg and sperm combine in a laboratory to create an embryo (fertilized egg), which is then introduced to you in the uterus. You may need IVF if you:

Your fallopian tubes are damaged and can not be repaired with surgery.

He has endometriosis. It happens when the tissue of the uterus grows somewhere outside the uterus.

You have premature ovarian failure. That happens when you stop ovulating and have the menstrual period before age 35.

Your partner has infertility problems.

March of Dimes recommends for most women under in vitro fertilization that an embryo be introduced into the uterus. This is known as a single embryo transfer (SET). For women who have had certain health disorders, such as chemotherapy to treat cancer, the March of Dimes supports the transfer of two embryos. This is known as a double embryo transfer (DET, for its acronym in English). If your specialist recommends in vitro fertilization, ask how many embryos are transferred to get the best results from your treatment.