Why aren’t we having a child?

This question is unfortunately getting more and more common in our environment due to a variety of determining factors which we will spell out later. It is a question which many couples have to face when they see the months passing by and the much desired child, for whom so many things have so often been planned, does not arrive. Couples who are forced to go through this often feel as though their world is falling in on them, as if the whole life they had led before thinking about having a child had not existed or was not worth anything. Their whole lives start to revolve around getting pregnant, ignoring any other interest including very often life as a couple itself. Many ghosts they did not even know could exist come into their heads and sentences such as "What if we aren’t suitable?” or “What if we’ve missed the train?” resound in their minds even though they don’t want to think about them. Even family members and relatives, parents, siblings and friends, who up to that point had been their support, start bothering them when, usually with the best intention in the world, they ask them the typical, “When will it be your turn?”. Terms such as artificial insemination and in vitro fertilisation, as well as television and radio programmes on these subjects, to which they had not paid the slightest attention in the past, start to interest them greatly although they often do not understand a lot of what is being said.

Maybe what we have said in the previous paragraph sounds exaggerated, but unfortunately it isn’t. We are sure that the majority of couples who are suffering something similar do not think that it is so exaggerated. Of course, and fortunately, not everybody suffers each and every one of the "symptoms" we have described. However, we are convinced that the vast majority of couples who take somewhat longer than usual to get pregnant recognise some of these symptoms.

We would like our Web-site, which is aimed at these couples and any members of the general public who may share an interest in these subjects even if they are not affected by problems of this kind, to be a source of information on reproduction. Our intention is to explain in the simplest way, using the clearest possible language (avoiding technical terms and the language which doctors sometimes use and is unintelligible to the rest of society) which treatments there are, and which we can use so that practically every couple can have their own child.

The first step is to identify the problem. Nowadays there is a general belief that everybody has problems in getting pregnant. In reality this is not the case. It is estimated that 15% of couples will have some type of difficulty in getting pregnant. The first reason for this can be found in the later age at which the woman tries to get pregnant. This fact, due to the type of society in which we live, means that the optimum moment in a woman's fertility, some time around the age of 25, is often far from the moment when the woman wishes to try and become a mother.

On the other hand, more and more studies are showing that for unknown reasons the number and quality of sperm in men is undergoing a clear fall.

When should we seek help because we aren’t getting pregnant? For a couple who have no difficulty in getting pregnant it is calculated that the probability of conceiving in any month in which they try to get pregnant is about 25%. On the other hand, there are studies which have shown that after having sexual relations without protection for one year, 80% of couples have got pregnant. This is the moment which doctors specialised in reproductive medicine set out as the advisable time to go to a centre which specialises in these matters, i.e. when after one year of trying, pregnancy has not yet occurred.

To conclude, we should not forget another group of couples who get pregnant without any difficulty but for whom the problem is that they lose the baby before the pregnancy reaches full term. It is calculated that it is normal for 10%-15% of pregnancies to end in a miscarriage for reasons which are not attributable to the parents, but rather to problems with the pregnancy itself. However, it is not so common for miscarriages to repeat themselves. It is recommended that couples who have experienced two or more miscarriages start tests to remove any possible causes of the miscarriages before trying to get pregnant again.

We hope that this introduction has helped to orientate you with regard to the pregnancy problems you are facing. Other sections of this Web-site will tell you about our fertility treatments which enjoy high rates of success in achieving pregnancy.