What should we expect when we start trying for a pregnancy?
Related Questions
- Could we pass cancer on to our future child?
- How can we optimize our fertility as a couple?
- Is it possible for women to get pregnant after surviving cancer and cancer treatment?
- Does pregnancy put cancer survivors at a higher risk of cancer relapse?
- Does having a period after treatment mean a woman is fertile?
- What does it mean if a woman doesn't regain menstrual cycles after treatment?
Regaining normalcy in your life after your partner has gone through cancer and cancer treatment is important for you, your partner, and your family. It is essential to resume the intimacy with your partner that you may have lost during the illness and/or treatment and to continue with your family-planning goals.
Infertility is defined as not conceiving a pregnancy after 1 year of regular, unprotected intercourse. The odds of conceiving a pregnancy per menstrual cycle for young, healthy couples who are having appropriately-timed sex without the use of birth control are about 20%. A couple’s fertility starts to decline as they get older, beginning first as a woman enters her early 30s. A man’s fertility decreases with age as well, but not as early.
Keeping this in mind, you and your partner should consider being tested to get a measure of your fertility. Information about where and how to do this is available on this site.
If fertility testing indicates you or your partner is infertile, or if you’ve had no success conceiving naturally after more than 12 months, you may need to start looking into alternative options for having a family. Luckily, with the rapid advancement of technology, couples experiencing infertility have a number of choices. You can find out more about each of these choices by clicking on the links to the right.