Trying to Conceive at Perfectly Female in Reston, VA

Trying to conceive? Things to consider.

Are your cycles normal?

Normal menstrual cycles are 21 – 35 days, and normal periods last 2-7 days. For example in a 28 day cycle, day one of bleeding is day 1 around day 14 ovulation occurs. The cervical mucous changes at this time as well and becomes thin, clear, super stretchy to facilitate the swimmers journey to the egg.

In order for a pregnancy to occur a sperm and egg must meet. During your menstrual cycle there are certain days when it is possible for the sperm to fertilize the egg (fertile days). Each month a woman’s ovary releases an egg (ovulation). This egg travels down the Fallopian tube which takes about 12-24 hours, eggs live for about a day after ovulation and if not fertilized, dissolve. Occasionally an egg can get fertilized 2 days after ovulation but this phenomenon is very unlikely. So timing sex is essential. Women are fertile for around 7 days each menstrual cycle (5 days before ovulation and 2 days after ovulation, because sperm can live and hang out for around 6 days inside a woman). Having sex every other day around ovulation keeps a fresh supply of sperm in the vagina ready to fertilize that egg!

What if you have been trying for a while without success to get pregnant? Is there something wrong? Maybe, an office visit would be necessary to evaluate your individual situation and rule out female infertility issues. At this visit sometimes more testing will be necessary to find a potential cause, like blood work or ultrasounds. Infertility is not just a female problem though, in fact 10% of cases are caused by compromised sperm. Male factor infertility like female factor can have several causes for example genetic defects, trauma to the reproductive organs, infections, hormone imbalances, chemical exposures, radiation, certain medications to name a few.

Our office also offers preconception testing for genetic conditions. This testing is helpful prior to trying for a baby. Just because we look normal on the outside doesn’t mean we don’t carry defective genes that if coupled with a partners defective genes can produce a baby with a genetic defect.