“You are not alone.”

You have seemingly done all the right things. You went to school to prepare yourself for a successful career, which you have. You are in a stable relationship. You are reasonably healthy. It seems like everything is in place. Now you are ready to start your family. Yet, things are not panning out the way you would like. You see other couples getting pregnant. However, you are not one of them. Why won’t the stork stop by your house?

Infertility- its causes, what is available to help, and how to cope—those were just some of the issues last week’s Health Watch dealt with. Helping us to better understand infertility and options available to those trying to get pregnant was Dr. Gloria Richard-Davis, an infertility specialist from Meharry Medical College.

Dr. Richard-Davis told us that infertility is much more common than we perhaps first thought. So common in fact, Dr. Richard-Davis and her colleagues have written a book on the subject. The book entitled, Planning Parenthood: Strategies for Success in Fertility Assistance, Adoption, and Surrogacy covers many of the issues our Health Watch listeners wanted to know more about. Things like why it is more difficult to conceive the older a woman gets; costs associated with fertility treatment; and whether it is necessary for a woman to have an orgasm in order to conceive. (In case you were wondering about that last one, the answer is, “No.”) It was a Health Watch program you would not have wanted to miss.

If you are dealing with infertility, be encouraged. You are not alone. There are others in the same position and those with expertise to help. Health Watch wants to do our part to connect you to them. If you want to learn more about Dr. Richard-Davis’ book, please check out the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/Planning-Parenthood-Strategies-Fertility-Assistance/dp/0801891124

This is Health Watch singing off. Until next time remember, “When we know better, we do better. So pass it on.”