Egg donation is a medical procedure that allows women who otherwise wouldn't be able to conceive (because their ovaries either aren't producing eggs or their own eggs aren't viable) to be able to become pregnant. Some women donate their eggs to...
Receiving an egg from a donor can help a woman to get pregnant even when her own body is no longer releasing eggs, or her eggs are not viable for reproduction. The egg is combined with sperm in a laboratory--it can be her partner's sperm or donor...
Today, almost any woman undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) can use egg donation to conceive. Egg donation is most often used by women who have been unable to conceive with their own eggs. Donor eggs can also help women who cannot get pregnant...
A surrogate mother is a woman who carries a child to term for a couple that cannot have a child on their own. Surrogacy is an option for women who cannot bear children due to infertility or other health issues and may otherwise remain childless....
Approximately 6.1 million people in the United States suffer from infertility, according to the American Pregnancy Association. Infertility is the result of an impaired reproductive system, can affect both men and women and is usually diagnosed...
Femara is a medication that helps induce ovulation in women who do not ovulate on their own. It also causes stronger ovulation, or super-ovulation, in women who do ovulate but have had difficulty achieving pregnancy. Some reproductive specialists...
Surrogacy is one way for a couple who are unable to conceive to have a child. The process involves a contract between the couple and a woman who agrees to become pregnant, carry the fetus to term and turn the baby over to the couple almost...
HCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin, is a drug given to mature eggs from artificially stimulated ovaries during assisted reproductive technology, or ART procedures. HCG is usually given 34 to 36 hours before egg retrieval, since release usually...
The freezing of human eggs for childbearing purposes is a technology used by in vitro fertilization, or IVF, clinics to help provide more options for women who want to eventually have children but who may be facing circumstances that make future...
Your adrenal glands produce dehydroepiandrosterone, or DHEA, a steroidal hormone that is converted to produce the sex hormones androgen and estrogen. The rate at which your adrenals produce DHEA begins to decline in your mid-twenties. According to...
Nutrition and reproductive health go hand in hand. A healthy reproductive system is the place to start for optimizing your fertility. Research has determined that some of the things you love to eat or drink may impede your ability to get pregnant....
Lisinopril is a commonly prescribed treatment for high blood pressure. Human chorionic gonadotropin, better known as HCG, is a prescription treatment to induce ovulation in infertile women, and for a limited number of other purposes. While most...
Couples who are unable to conceive a child on their own sometimes turn to surrogacy. Two types of surrogacy--traditional and gestational--have different legal and medical implications for the intended parents.
Men and women have different biological and wellness needs. Although underlying cellular growth and development remains the same, men require more or less of different vitamins and minerals in order to maintain their health and prevent illness and...
Sometimes couples who are unable to conceive a child on their own choose to use a surrogate mother, in which case another woman carries their child. One method of surrogacy is when a woman who is not able to carry a child to term, but is otherwise...
A woman's diet before and after she conceives a baby can determine her baby's gender, according to researchers at Exeter University in the United Kingdom. The study's finding has stirred controversy among scientists, most of whom maintain that...
Artificial insemination, also called "intrauterine insemination," is used to treat a number of fertility issues, including low sperm count and poor cervical mucus. Insemination may also be used for sex selection after sperm is separated in the...
Stem cells are specialized cells that can transform into almost any kind of cell in the body. This potential to turn into other cells holds the promise of repairing damage to organs caused by injury or disease. Embryos contain the most versatile...
Within stem cells lie the capability to create every part of your body you need to live. From the time you were conceived, these versatile little cells replicated and developed your organs, tissues and functions. Through research, scientists hope...
Family planning agencies play a critical role in ensuring people have access to a variety of preventative and healthcare services. Because they lower the risk of unplanned pregnancy, federally funded family planning clinics lower public-sector...
Folk methods of choosing a baby's gender have been around for generations, but none has ever been proven to increase the chances more than the 50-50 split that nature provides. In recent years, scientists who study the way that conception works...
It is true that age and fertility are closely connected. Fertility declines with age. In fact, not only does fertility decline, but your chances of having a miscarriage increase as well. Even with high tech fertility treatments, the fertility...
It's quite possible to get pregnant without a man, but it's not possible to get pregnant without sperm. If you can find a source of sperm, you don't need the man who produced it in order to get pregnant. It's actually fairly easy to find sperm;...
Many women experience some clotting during their periods. Clots are the body’s natural way to control excessive bleeding. Clots occur when a large amount of blood pools in the uterus before exiting the body through the vagina during...
In vitro fertilization is often characterized as an assisted reproductive technology where eggs are extracted from the ovaries and then inseminated outside the body before being placed into the uterus. Following embryo transfer, most women must...
Infertility can be a heartbreaking problem, leading those who suffer from it to try anything that they hear will improve their chances of conceiving. When it comes to herbs, there are several that are said to offer help but very few with...
The body mass index (BMI) is a measure of weight that takes height into consideration to estimate whether you are underweight, of normal weight, overweight, obese or morbidly obese. If you are overweight, you may have more trouble becoming...
Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) helps couples overcome infertility challenges. However, assisted reproductive technologies do not overcome every barrier. According to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), women under...
