All babies develop from two different cells that join together- the sperm and the ovum. Women are born with about a million reproductive ova that are produced and developed in the ovaries, organs which are located within the abdominal cavity.
Men produce millions of sperm each day in organs called the testes.
Knowing this, it seems that couples who want to become parents should have no problem doing so. But one of every 12 American couples who want to have a baby cannot. In women, development of a ripe egg and its release into a fallopian tube, a process called ovulation, is controlled by hormones produced by the brain, pituitary gland and ovaries. The leading cause of abnormal ovulation is polycystic ovary syndrome. Those who have the syndrome usually experience infrequent or irregular menstrual periods and infertility.