Читать книгу Getting Pregnant For Dummies - Sharon Perkins - Страница 25

Sometimes things seemed easier in Grandma’s day. Large families were common, and it appeared that everyone had children. In fact, getting pregnant for some groups of people is more frequent while it seems to have decreased for others. But for the general population, statistics gathered by the government have shown a rather steady percentage of the population meeting the definition of infertile. This has been near 15 percent since 1965. Some factors that may make it harder to conceive are as follows:

 People are having children later in life. Over age 25, there is a slight but definite decrease in fertility in women. Men are also less fertile at older ages but not for the same reasons as women.

 Due to better medical management, people are living longer and getting pregnant (or trying to) despite the presence of serious chronic disease, such as diabetes or lupus. In the past, just the presence of these conditions would have precluded the possibility of pregnancy.

 Male infertility, related to decreased sperm counts, has increased. Many theories circulate as to why this is occurring, with environmental factors being carefully studied. However, caution is needed here since it is not the semen parameters that matter but whether or not a man fathered a child. Lower semen numbers or characteristics do no always translate into lower pregnancy rates.

 The incidence of sexually transmitted diseases has increased. Some of these diseases, such as chlamydia, cause serious damage to the reproductive organs.

 More men and women have had either a vasectomy or a tubal ligation at a young age and then decided to have another child. Needless to say, they immediately face fertility issues due to their previous choices.

 It may seem as if everyone had children years ago, but start asking questions and you’ll get a different story. You may find out that Uncle Charlie wasn’t really Aunt Jo’s son; he was her sister’s child, whom she raised after his mother died young, and on and on. Everyone may have been raising children, but many of those children may have been extended family members.

 People today talk more. Just because you never heard about your grandmother’s stillborns or your mother’s miscarriages doesn’t mean they didn’t happen. Pregnancy talk today is big business, and everyone in the world seems to be in the news talking about their babies, lack of babies, adopted babies, and how they got pregnant. This focus puts a constant in-your-face emphasis on pregnancy. It also makes you feel, when you’re trying to get pregnant, like everyone else is doing it — and doing it better than you are!

Relax, this is only the beginning for you, and we do our best to help you start baby making with the best of them.