Have you arrived at that scary time in your life… where time has just caught up with you, and now you’re afraid you may have left it too late for trying to get pregnant? I’m now 36 (what?! Where did the last 6 years go?) and only now are my husband and I considering the prospect of having children. We have only been married two years but time is whizzing by and I can’t deny the fact that we need to get on to it soon. With all this talk of getting pregnant we have both begun to wonder about our fertility chances. My biggest fear is that we may have fertility issues (due to my age and medical history) so in order to educate myself a little bit more about what we may have to deal with, I have found the following.
Where do I even begin with the fertility issues that women are affected with. Here are just two of the factors that can affect a womans’ fertility. 1. Body Weight -either underweight or overweight can cause problems with fertility chances. Underweight women may not be able to conceive and if they do, the fetus/baby requires a lot of nutrition that underweight mothers may not be able to provide. (Well that’s not the problem I’ve got…) Overweight women on the other hand, can have difficulties conceiving due to incorrect hormone levels which are caused by the obesity.
2. Problems with the Ovaries & uterus. Obviously this is a major one. In the ovaries you can have problems like fibroids, PCO (Poly Cystic Ovaries) and twisted ovaries to name just a few. And a common uterus problem is endometriosis which can cause such things as diminished ovarian reserve, ovulation disorders, and low progesterone level. Because I am overweight and had endometriosis I know that there are some issues that I may have to deal with. But first we’d like to see if we can have babies naturally. Wouldn’t we all?
But it’s not just us women that have fertility issues that need to be addressed. Men, of course, also have fertility issues like; low sperm count and motility, sperm blockages, an STD or may have even suffered an injury or chronic disease. And then there’s the other factors that affect both men and women, such as not enough minerals and vitamins, too much caffeine and alcohol, stress and a polluted environment.
It is because of all these other factors in our life that we have decided to take an holistic approach to trying to get pregnant after 35. We are aware that our chances of conceiving naturally, diminish as we get older so we are going to get our bodies and our minds right first. I think that’s the right place to start.
If you want to learn more about the holistic approach we took when trying to get pregnant if you’re over 35, go to Michelle Rudge’s blog at www.TryingToGetPregnantNow.com
