Valentine's Day is "Baby Making Time"
I don't know about you, but I have an inordinate number of family members born in November--which means that Valentine's Day, in my family, is "baby making time". I was a happy surprise after a Valentine's weekend getaway (I know TMI) and I think that 50% of our family members were actually born around Thanksgiving. This was a running joke among my relatives until a cousin began struggling with infertility issues. My heart goes out to couples who want Valentine's Day to bring about that special event in a relationship, but have lost hope.
Infertility is a wide spread problem today. Approximately 15 to 20% of couples have trouble conceiving. Whenever I talk with women dealing with infertility, I get the sense that they feel lost and helpless in the process. I think there is good reason for these feelings. The medical community seems to approach infertility in a "one size fits all" manner and all roads lead to the more technological solutions like IVF. Infertility is treated like the disease, not like a symptom of an underlying problem. There are many causes of infertility. Treating "infertility" rather than "the cause of a woman's infertility" is like treating "abdominal pain" rather than treating the "cause of abdominal pain". A good question to ask a reproductive specialist is "what percentage of patients do you see have unexplained infertility". Listen closely to his/her answer.
So, what is an alternative approach to standard infertility treatment? Naprotechnology is a system developed by Dr. Thomas Hilgers, an Ob/Gyn in Omaha, NE. The system is based on the idea that if you correct the underlying gynecological disease, you have a high rate of success in helping a woman conceive.
Let me give you a quick example of the contrast between the two approaches. If a woman, with regular cycles, comes into a reproductive clinic the recommendations are usually as follows:
1) Fertility focused intercourse on days 17 through 21 or buy a fertility monitor and try to determine when ovulation is taking place (this is a more recent development).
2) Some hormone testing to look for things like polycystic ovarian disease. Hormone testing is done on a certain day of the cycle like "day 21".
3) Clomid 150 mg starting on day 7 of the cycle with intrauterine insemination.
4) Surgery to look for things like endometriosis.
5) Invitro fertilization.
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