Some women have waited their entire lives to be called mom, mommy, or to be a mother in general. Women map out their entire futures to fit this perfect family that they have envisioned from the time they were a child. Unfortunately, there are said to be as many as 50 million couples worldwide who are struggling with some form of infertility.

According to a BBC article, there has been a remarkable global decline in the number of children women are having. More than any time in history, women are having babies later in life. With women deciding to hold off starting a family until sometime in their late 30s or 40s, their fertility levels are lower and they may need to seek out fertility treatment.

Fertility Treatments

There have been great strides in medicine when it comes to infertility treatments. At one time, all that was talked about was IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) treatments or IUI treatments, better known as artificial insemination. With IVF, the woman’s eggs are fertilized by the sperm outside of the womb in a lab. With IUI (Intrauterine insemination), sperm is implanted into the uterus during ovulation.

Going to a full spectrum clinic can answer all your questions about infertility. For example, if you live in Massachusetts, Dedham infertility diagnosis and treatment can be found at Fertility Solutions. Fertility Solutions is a patient-centered practice that provides a full spectrum of infertility diagnosis and treatment. They have the latest in assisted reproductive technology that allows for a personal approach to be taken when it comes to infertility. They can guide you to every possible option available.

There are also surgeries that can be done on both men and women to try to correct their infertility problems. If the complications are mental, then therapy work can be done. If the infertility is hormonal, then hormone replacement treatments can be done.

Advances in Infertility

There is a procedure called IVM (In Vitro Maturation) which will take immature eggs out of a woman and help them to mature in a lab. This procedure can help with ovarian disorders to have healthy pregnancies. Another procedure that is still being tested is three-parent embryos. With this procedure, parts of a patient’s egg and another egg would be combined and fertilized with a man’s sperm. A procedure like this would help women out who have genetic diseases they don’t want to pass on to their baby or health complications that make it difficult to get pregnant.

There are countries like Sweden that have successfully done uterine transplants. This is a procedure where a woman whose womb cannot successfully carry a child will receive a donor uterus, which will then allow her to have a healthy pregnancy without the need of a surrogate.

Infertility in Women

When it comes to infertility in women, there are many things that can be a contributing factor.

• Her age

• Egg Count/quality of eggs

• Smoking

• Excess amounts of alcohol use

• Stress or depression

• Quality of diet

• The type of athletic training she’s done

• Her weight (overweight or underweight)

• Sexually transmitted infections (STIs)

• Hormonal conditions like PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) or primary ovarian insufficiency

• Medications she takes

• Does she have uterine fibroids

Infertility in Men

Infertility, for a long time, was thought to be a problem that mainly existed in women, but men have infertility complications too. A man’s sperm count is very important in determining his fertility. Some men were born infertile or with problems that affect the quantity or quality of their sperm.

Here are a few things that can impact a man’s fertility and sperm count.

• If he heavily drinks alcohol

• Doing drugs

• If he smokes

• His age

• Different environmental toxins

• Different health problems such as kidney disease, hormonal problems, or the mumps

• Medicines

• If he had radiation or chemotherapy treatment for cancer

• Emotional stress or depression

Being infertile does not mean that you won’t be able to become a mother or a father. All that being infertile means is that your health needs extra attention in order to have a baby. The great thing is that doctors and scientists are working to make sure that people are able to have healthy and happy babies. Being told you are infertile doesn’t mean that you can’t have children or that you have to adopt, it just means that a little more work will have to be done for you to have your children.