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Women's Fertility
When it comes to making babies, your reproductive life hinges on two systems – one is structural (all your physical parts) and one is hormonal (activating changes through your menstrual cycle). Your fertility depends on the health of both systems.
Your Parts
Your structural system is what you remember from health class diagrams:
- Your two ovaries, which contain every single egg that you will ever produce.
- Your two fallopian tubes, which are the conduit between your ovaries and your uterus.
- Your uterus, which prepares itself each month to nourish a possible pregnancy.
- Your cervix, which is the entrance to your uterus where sperm enter.
- Your vagina.
Your Hormones
The intricate ovulatory cycle depends on a careful balance of hormones:
- follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), which readies the ovaries to release an egg
- lutenizing hormone (LH), which prompts the ovaries to release an egg
- estrogen, which sets off the LH surge that triggers ovulation
- progesterone, which allows the follicle wall to swell before ovulation, aiding in egg release
Hormones can be pretty touchy. If you're overweight, underweight, under a lot of stress or not eating well your cycles can be irregular.
Trouble Conceiving?
If you're having trouble conceiving [link to infertility treatments article] it may indicate problems with either your structural system (such as blocked fallopian tubes), your hormonal system (such as an inability to ovulate), or your partner.
To find out what's going on for you, head to your OB-GYN. She may suggest some simple lifestyle choices like improving your diet or adding an exercise routine, or she may refer you to a reproductive endocrinologist (infertility specialist).
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