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Sharon Perkins. Getting Pregnant For Dummies
Getting Pregnant For Dummies® To view this book's Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for “Getting Pregnant For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box. Table of Contents
List of Tables
List of Illustrations
Guide
Pages
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond the Book
Where to Go from Here
Are We There Yet? Wondering Why You’re Not Pregnant
Where, Oh Where, Can My Baby Be?
Defining Infertility
Looking at Infertility Statistics
Making babies: An inefficient process at best
Age and infertility
Race and infertility
High-tech treatments and infertility
Shaking Down the Family Tree
Putting together a family birth history
Finding out important information
Checking the stats of your race
THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT INHERITED DISEASES
Seeing What Causes Infertility
Diagnosing Infertility
Recognizing Why Getting Pregnant Seems Harder Today
Calculating the Cost of Infertility
Preparing for the emotional toll
Recognizing how infertility affects your partnership
Adding up the financial cost
What Does Anatomy Have to Do with It?
Reviewing the Female Anatomy
The vagina
The cervix
The uterus
Nonconformity is (usually) okay
Abnormalities that can affect fertility
The ovaries
The eggs
The fallopian tubes
The breasts
Controlling your hormones
In Sync: How Female Reproductive Parts Work Together
Taking a spin on the menstrual cycle
Recognizing the importance of regular periods
Understanding the causes of malfunctioning menstrual cycles
Bleeding too often — short cycles
Bleeding too infrequently or skipping periods
Bleeding between periods
Bleeding too heavily (menorrhagia)
Having scant periods
Experiencing painful periods (dysmenorrhea)
Hanging Out with the Guys
The penis
The testicles
Sperm — 200 million of them!
Putting Male and Female Parts Together
Recognizing signs of ovulation
Timing and fertility
Conceiving a Baby: How Sex Should Work
Figuring Out How Often to Have Sex
Blame It on My Genes! The Role of Genetics and Family History
Grasping Genetics Basics
What are genes and chromosomes?
What do genes do?
Inheriting Infertility — Really?
Inheriting Diseases that May Impact Fertility — Different Story!
Shaking the Family Tree for Information
Finding Out What’s in Your Genes
Karyotyping
Spotting single gene defects
Looking for other anomalies
Looking at What’s on the Horizon
BENEFITTING FROM THE INSIGHT OF GENETIC COUNSELORS
Before the Baby: Exploring Lifestyle and Behavioral Factors
Making Healthy Lifestyle Changes
Giving up smoking
I’ll drink to that!
Give me my coffee!
Saying no to drugs
Cocaine
Marijuana
Anabolic steroids
Understanding Common Infections That Can Cause Uncommon Results
HPV: The most common STI
Chlamydia: The most reported STI
Cytomegalovirus (CMV)
Gonorrhea
Syphilis
Genital herpes
HIV
Trichomoniasis
Ureaplasma and mycoplasma
A new kid on the block: Zika
STIs May Cause PID: More Than Just a “Pain in the Derriere”
Exploring Specific Lifestyle Choices and Busting Some Common Myths
Gauging the truth about hot tubs — and other “short” stories
Balancing the yin and yang of exercise
Dumping the douche
Avoiding toxins at home and away
Making the connection between stress and fertility
STRESS AND ACTIVITY ARE NOT THE SAME
Getting Checked Out from Top to Bottom
Having a full physical
Checking your blood levels
Looking at your thyroid function
Running a chemistry panel
Checking your blood count
Checking your medications
Taking a closer look at prescription medications
The good and bad of antidepressants
Reviewing nonprescription medications
Deciding if you need a mammogram
Seeking other prepregnancy medical counseling: Do you need it?
Looking for input from maternal-fetal medicine (MFM)
Pursuing genetic counseling
It Worked the First Time! Tackling Secondary Infertility
Facing Secondary Infertility
Wanting an Heir and a Spare?
OUT OF THE MOUTH OF AN ONLY CHILD
Facing Secondary Infertility
Wondering whether it will feel as bad as it did the first time?
Dealing with disbelief: But it worked before …
Looking for What’s Different This Time Around
Changes in age
Changes in health
Changes in partners
Dealing with the Emotional Pain
Longing for another child
Losing support the second time
Planning Treatment for the Second Time Around
Taking the Initiative
DIY Methods to Increase Your Chances
Reading Your Body’s Signals and Signs — An Incomplete Story
Checking for signs that really matter: Your menses
Did I ovulate or not? That is the question
Counting the days — correctly
Determining the shelf life of eggs and sperm
Timing is everything — but don’t make it too complicated!
Recording your basal body temperature (BBT)
Observing cervical mucus
Feeling your cervix
OUCH! I THINK I OVULATED
Keeping a Fertility Chart
Predicting Ovulation: Kits, Sticks, and Software
Using an ovulation predictor kit
Adding computer power with a fertility monitor
Just spit here — the saliva test
Sperm testing at home
Getting through the Two-Week Wait
Looking for a Positive with Home Pregnancy Tests (HPTs)
Getting to know HPTs
Using HPTs
Understanding false positives
Understanding false negatives
Considering Special Circumstances
Calculating Your Fertility Odds as an “Older” Mom
Checking out the statistics
Understanding how much age matters
BEING AN “OLDER” MOM — JACKIE’S PERSONAL OPINION!
What’s “older” these days?
But I don’t look my age!
Putting age in its (proper) place
Modern ways to fight an “age”-old problem
Calculating Your Fertility Odds as an “Older” Dad
Living with Diseases That Affect Fertility
Polycystic ovaries
Endometriosis
Diabetes: More than a “sugar” problem
Lupus and other immune disorders
Cancer and Fertility: The News Is Cautiously Optimistic
The cancer-fertility connections for women
Beating breast cancer
Battling ovarian cancer
Fighting uterine cancer
Coping with cervical cancer
The cancer-fertility connection for men
Considering cryobiology
Harnessing the Power of Modern Medicine: Finding a Doctor and More
Exploring Your “Doctor” Options
When not to wait — even a few months
Choosing between a family doctor and an OB/GYN
Bringing your partner along: Four ears are better than two
Making a list of questions for your first visit
Filling out forms and answering questions
Moving Up to Dr. Specialist
Getting Help from National Organizations
Going Online for More Resources and Information
Chat rooms and bulletin boards
Doctors’ websites: Separating the glitter from the goods
Discussing Dollars with the Doctor
Understanding What Your Doctor Says
Knowing When to Switch Doctors
Keeping Your Own (Hit) Records
Facing the Stranger in Your Sex Life — Treatment and Your Loss of Privacy
Talking sex with clinic staff
Figuring out who gets to know what
Improving Your Odds with Diet, Supplements, and Exercise
Eating for Fertility
Considering BMI
If you’re underweight
What about obesity?
So, what should I put on my plate?
The Controversy over Estrogen
Considering Supplements — Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs, and More
Taking vitamins
Herbs
Folic acid
Wheatgrass
L-arginine
Vitamin D: Is all the hype justified?
Myoinositol and PCOS
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10)
Supplements for better sperm production
Exploring Alternative Medicine from China and Beyond
Traditional Chinese medicine
Help from herbal formulas
On pins and needles — acupuncture for infertility
Chanting Your Way to Conception: Meditation and Yoga
HOW DO YOU SPELL RELIEF? R-E-L-A-X
Seeking Help from On High
Putting Your Body in Motion: The Benefits of Exercise
Are We Having Fun Yet? Managing Your Emotions and Relationships
Holding Your Relationship Together during Treatment
Easy does it when conceiving gets harder
Avoiding the blame game, round one: It’s not my fault
Avoiding the blame game, round two: We should have started sooner
Same game, more blame: Why one of you just isn’t into it
Healing Your Relationship: Band-Aids and Longer-Term Solutions
Remembering the joy
Coming together as a team
Dealing with Buttinskies (a.k.a. Friends and Relatives)
Bringing friends and family onboard
Surviving the holidays
COMPARING AND CONTRASTING
Declining invitations
Forecast: Baby showers likely
Getting Professional Help for Very Personal Hurts
Being in the club you didn’t ask to join
Consulting a professional therapist
Seeking social support from your world and the rest of the universe
Taking a Break from Your Fertility “Job” — You Deserve It
Seeking Answers, Identifying Causes, and Dealing with Disappointments
Ladies First: Female Testing Basics
Understanding the Limits of Testing
Testing Your Blood for Clues
Baseline blood tests
Estradiol
Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH)
Luteinizing hormone (LH)
AMH
Progesterone
Prolactin
Thyroid tests
Testosterone (Yes! For women, too.)
DHEA-S
Fasting insulin
Testing for immune disorders
Antiphospholipid antibodies (APA)
Antinuclear antibodies (ANA)
Antithyroid antibodies (ATA)
Antiovarian antibodies (AOA)
Vitamin D
Infectious diseases
Addressing Female Structural Problems
Picturing a healthy uterus
Finding fibroids in the uterus
Removing polyps
Clearing out the fallopian tubes
Understanding how fallopian tubes should work and what can go wrong
Investigating damaged tubes
Addressing scar tissue
Reversing a Tubal Ligation
Testing to Diagnose Structural Problems
Transvaginal ultrasound
HSG (Don’t even try to spell out the word)
Preparing for discomfort
Looking at accuracy
Other considerations
Saline infused hysterosonogram (SIS)
Hysteroscopy (HSC)
Laparoscopy (LSC)
Checking for Endometriosis
Considering Ovulation Disorders: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Prognosis
Metrorrhagia — Irregular periods
Amenorrhea — No periods
Anovulation — Failing to ovulate
Looking at your weight … or lack thereof
Factoring in stress
Your Turn, Honey! Back to the Boys
What is Male Factor Infertility?
Sizing Up the Semen
Obtaining a high-quality specimen
Development of the semen analysis and what the numbers mean
Interpreting the SA Test Results
Making too few sperm
DOES HAVING TOO MANY SPERM MATTER?
When there’s no sperm in sight
IF YOU NEED A SPERM ASPIRATION
Considering the sperm’s shape and movement
Morphology
Motility
Checking for Structural Problems
Correcting Varicoceles
Looking for Clues in Your Blood
Testosterone
Other strategic hormones
Considering Potential Functional Issues
Help for erectile dysfunction
Intervention for retrograde ejaculation
Undoing a Vasectomy: Is it Worth It?
Analyzing the Effects of Age and Lifestyle
Riding the Roller Coaster of Early Pregnancy Loss
Defining What Being Pregnant Really Means
Taking a home pregnancy test
Getting a blood test
Scanning the uterus
Being “A Little Bit” Pregnant: Chemical Pregnancies
Understanding chemical pregnancies
Testing for possible fixes
Suffering a Miscarriage
Understanding the language of loss
Knowing if you need a D&C
Recognizing possible causes
Blighted ovum
Molar pregnancy
Factoring in age
Evaluating chromosomes
Testing products of conception
Chromosome testing of the parents
DEALING WITH LOSS WITHOUT BLAME
Navigating an Ectopic Pregnancy
Recognizing the signs of an ectopic pregnancy
Calling your doctor: NOW
Nonsurgical treatment
Surgical treatment
Understanding why ectopic pregnancies happen
Other origins of ectopic pregnancies
Experiencing Recurrent Pregnancy Loss
Exploring common causes
Answering the question, “Why me?”
Suffering insensitive remarks
Knowing what to do next
RPL-specific testing
Considering immune therapy
How is Recurrent Implantation Failure Different?
Picking Yourself Up after a Loss
What to do while you’re waiting
What not to do
Moving from No-Tech to High-Tech Conception
First: The Lower-Tech Options
Seeking Personalized Fertility Treatment
Discussing options with your fertility specialist
Deciding what’s more likely to work for you
Jump-Starting Your Ovaries
“Take two Clomid and call me in three months”
WHAT ABOUT LETROZOLE?
Comparing Clomid and letrozole
Side effects of oral stimulation meds
Will oral meds work?
Deciding whether to monitor
Checking out your eggs
Monitoring your hormone levels
Getting a “trigger” shot
Injecting hCG to mature your eggs
Boosting progesterone with an hCG “booster” shot
Considering Artificial Insemination
Comparing your options
Practical considerations
Comparing success rates
Weighing the costs
Collecting and prepping the sperm
Getting the timing right
Considering a few risks of IUI
Checking out the Controlled Ovarian Hyperstimulation Option
Understanding the need for injections
Getting injections from your partner
Giving yourself shots
Defining gonadotropins
Exploring the side effects
Deciding which medication to use
Injecting hCG to Mature Your Eggs
Ensuring Proper Monitoring throughout Your Cycle
Deciding When to Pursue Higher-Tech Options
Growing sick of getting stuck
Being sensitive to your partner’s feelings
Going High-Tech: Welcome to the In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) Club
What IVF Means for You
Getting real about what it costs and the chances for success
Looking at the risks of IVF
High rate of twins or triplets
Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome
Birth defects
Switching Doctors: Will a Change Really Matter?
Choosing the Best Clinic for You
Surfing IVF websites
Sorting through SART statistics
Looking for a clinic
Evaluating a clinic’s personality
Addressing the High Costs of IVF
Figuring out what your insurance plan really covers
Changing jobs or changing insurance to get infertility coverage
INSURANCE 101: THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TYPES OF INSURANCE
It’s the Law! States That Mandate Fertility Coverage
Fighting City Hall: Insurance Appeals
When Having Insurance Doesn’t Help
Getting Creative When You’re Out of Other Options
Donating eggs to reduce costs
Joining a drug study
Getting Your Medications for Less
Shopping at mail-order pharmacies
Making a quick trip over the border
Scoring freebies from the drug companies
Shopping for “sales”
Going for the money-back guarantee
Taking ’em up on a twofer
Going overseas for IVF
Ready, Steady, Go! Starting Your IVF Cycle
Preparing for a Roller Coaster Ride of Emotions
Experiencing the emotional ride
Looking at your protocol and dealing with schedules
Reading your protocol
Reviewing your protocol
Dealing with a disappearing doctor
Taking your medications without having a nervous breakdown
Monitoring your progress (more poking and prodding)
Is hyperstimulation avoidable?
Getting your next-step marching orders
Setting up your callback instructions
Knowing what to do if you don’t get along with the IVF coordinator
Dealing with the loss of control, or not being the best in the room
Why feeling blue is normal
Taking a Shot in the Dark: Time for hCG
Understanding the purpose of hCG
Setting the alarm: Timing is everything with hCG!
Heading to the Big Dance: The Egg Retrieval
Looking at retrieval schedules
Signing here … and here … and here …
Meeting the retrieval team
Previewing what happens in an egg retrieval
Sleeping on the job: Anesthesia’s role in egg retrieval
Your Partner Is Busy Too
After the Dance: Do’s and Don’ts for a Happy Recovery
Answering Common Post-IVF Questions
Post-Retrieval Pills and Potions
The Waiting Game: Knowing What’s Next
The Care and Feeding of an Embryo: Amazing Teamwork in the Lab
Recognizing a Good Egg When You See One
Prepping Sperm to Meet the Egg
Conventional sperm insemination
High-tech sperm injection
HAVING ATRETIC EGGS
Looking at What Can Go Wrong When Egg Meets Sperm
The High-Tech Meet-and-Greet: Doing ICSI
Answering the Call About the Embryos
What “day” is it for the embryo?
Understanding when embryos are checked
Grading an embryo
Why are there fewer embryos than eggs?
Testing That Embryo: Checking Genetics Before the Transfer
Considering your preimplantation testing options
Checking chromosomes only: PGT-A
Checking known defective genes: PGT-M
Checking structural defects: PGT-SR
How is PGT (any kind) done?
Does PGT improve my pregnancy chances?
Choosing an embryo to transfer
Understanding the PGT results
Making decisions about “mosaic” embryos
What happens to the “abnormal” embryos?
Hatching Embryos — Come on Out of There!
Looking at the Embryos’ Next Home: Your Uterine Lining
Undergoing the Embryo Transfer
Knowing what to expect: How many embryos to transfer?
What’s a good transfer day? Day 3? Day 5? Any other?
Describing the “oh-so-much-easier” procedure
“Fresh” transfer prep
Choosing the “frozen” path to a transfer
Post Transfer Tips and Boosts
Keeping Your Head in the Game: Successfully Waiting after an IVF Cycle
Not “Not Pregnant” — But Waiting for Proof
Meds without monitoring and feeling a little left out by the clinic
Keeping busy: do’s and don’ts
Making your to-do or not-to-do list
Coloring your hair
Manis and pedis
Getting your exercise
Traveling — particularly out of the country
Having sex during the two-week wait
Sensing Every Little Twinge: The Truth about Pregnancy Symptoms
Checking on Your Own: Home Pregnancy Test Traps
Waiting for the News
Deciding how and where you want the news
Understanding what the test results really mean
Responding to Good News: OMG!
Cautiously pregnant and continuing tests
Expect ongoing monitoring
Graduating from your fertility clinic
Knowing when high-risk monitoring may be necessary
Taking the Next Step if IVF Doesn’t Work
Grasping the importance of follow-up after bad news
Figuring out what happened
Questioning God and your doctor
Grieving your loss
Taking time out for you and your partner
Keeping Embryos on Ice
Regrouping and Future Planning
Staying Afloat When You’re Drowning in a Sea of Fertility Data
WHAT IS “BIG DATA” AND WHERE DID IT COME FROM?
Exploring the Link Between Information and the Care You Receive
Knowing how medical decisions are made
Sifting through medical studies: All data is not created equal
Stacking the deck: why diagnosis matters
Choosing What’s Best for You
Figuring out your true conception goal
Teaming up to decide what is best
Knowing where to go for useful information
Go one-on-one with your doctor
Exploring Alternative Routes to Conception
Considering Third-Party Reproduction Options
Deciding to Use Donor Eggs, Sperm, or Embryos
Why do I need to do this?
Getting started down the third-party road
Protecting Yourselves When Considering a Donor for Anything
Asking key questions
Researching companies that find donors
Recruiting a family member or friend
Getting the lawyer involved
REVIEWING FDA REGULATIONS
Heading to the Bank — the Sperm or Egg “Cryo” Bank, That Is
Why fewer couples are using donor sperm
Reviewing donor sperm requirements
Testing donors and taking precautions
Ordering sperm
Shopping at an Egg Bank
Selecting a Donor for a “Fresh” Donor Egg Cycle
Matching with a “fresh” egg donor
Keeping the facts in mind
Finding donor eggs
Funding the donor egg cycle
Checking out your donor
Signing the documents: Lawyering up, again
Coordinating your Donor Oocyte Recipient “DOR” cycle
Getting support
Enlisting the Aid of a Surrogate
Finding that special woman
Using matching companies
Looking for your own surrogate
Traveling abroad for more options
Sharing “your” pregnancy
Medical clearance of your surrogate
Legal issues to follow to make sure your baby is really yours
Embryo Donation
Telling your Pregnancy Story (or Not)
Deciding whether family and friends really need to know
Telling the child (or not): When and how to do this
Using a registry
THE DEBATE ABOUT DONOR-CONCEIVED ANONYMITY
Modern Families: Getting Pregnant
When you’re single or LBGTQIA
Finding sperm
Finding eggs and a uterus
Finding the right clinic
Understanding the process
Transgender fertility issues
Moving On: Not Necessarily the End of The Road
Letting Go of the Dream
When medicine can no longer help
Going through the grief process
Knowing when to get help (and what kind of help)
Opting to Adopt
Considering traditional domestic adoption
Looking into private domestic adoption
Exploring international adoption
Adopting a special-needs child
Starting as a foster parent
Deciding to be a “Family of Two” — Living Child-Free
The Future is Now! New Advances, New Concerns in Fertility
Looking into the Future: Long-Term Health Effects of Fertility Medication
Effects on the mother
Effects on the baby
Gathering Steam: The Genetics Tool Train
Brushing up on the latest genetic capabilities
Sex selection: When you absolutely, positively want a boy (or a girl)
Transplanting Body Parts to Improve Fertility
“New” ovaries?
Permanently “borrowing” a uterus
Putting Your Plans on Ice
CAN TRANSPLANTATION HELP TESTES?
Giving hope to patients with diseases that threaten their fertility
Social freezing: Stalling parenting until you are “ready”
Deciding the future: Disposition documents are a must
Getting Up to Speed on Reproductive Law
Posthumous conception: When your family wants to have your baby
Divvying up leftover embryos after the “Big D”
Ethics and extra embryos
Getting your baby home: Passports, parents, and government interference
Saving Stem Cells for Research: Raising Ethical Concerns
CUTTING THE CORD — BUT SAVING IT
Cloning and Human Concerns
THE CREATION OF DOLLY
Forcing Clinics to Decide Who’s Fit to Parent
Realizing that Machines and People are Fallible
Looking Beyond IVF
Part of Tens
Ten “Fake News” Stories about Fertility
News for Rodents
Reading about Medical Miracles
Celebrity Fecundity (also known as Fertility)
Cell Phones Decrease Male Fertility
Increased Longevity Means a Larger Fertility Window
Men Don’t Undergo Menopause
Looking Good Means Your Fertility Is Good
You Can Glue Your Embryos to Your Uterus
Procreation Vacations Work
Adopt and You’ll Get Pregnant
Ten Things to Know in Early Pregnancy
Good Pregnancy or Not?
Bleeding Is Bad, Right?
What About Exercise?
Can I Fly When I’m Pregnant?
Should I Quit My Job?
Should I Get a Flu Shot?
When Should I See My Ob/Gyn?
Do I Have to Stay on My Medication?
Dealing with a UTI
What Is Happening to My Skin?
Index. A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
Z
About the Authors
Dedications
Authors’ Acknowledgments
WILEY END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
