Infertility is usually defined as the inability to conceive or become pregnant after a year of trying to do so. This parameter shifts to six months if the woman is older than age 35 years. Subfertility is a diagnosis, which is made when conception happens naturally but the woman suffers repeated miscarriages.
Natural conception depends upon certain factors:
- A woman being able to produce a mature and viable egg from one of her ovaries
- The egg successfully passing down the fallopian tube (organ which connects ovaries to the uterus)
- A man producing enough good quality sperm which can successfully swim up the fallopian tube to “meet” the egg and successfully fertilize it
- Once fertilized, the egg needs to successfully implant or attach to the uterus’ wall where the embryo can develop into a foetus.
