You get them to keep charts and watch while the sex lives of young, healthy couples diminishes. After three months, they re only having sex around ovulation time and the rest of the month is a desert. One in six couples have difficulty conceiving but nine out of ten couples trying for a baby become pregnant within a year. It s only after this length of time that infertility is suspected, especially when the woman may be miscarrying repeatedly. As women get into their late 30s their fertility rapidly declines and the number of chromosomal abnormalities in their eggs increases.
Ovulation failure accounts for one in five cases, as do blocked or diseased fallopian tubes.
Infertility in men comes from undescended testes or the poor health of their sperm. If a GP suspects a problem he will refer the couple to a specialist clinic for a further investigation and diagnosis. Once options such as surgery to correct tubal blockages or fertility drugs are considered, the next step is IVF in it s various forms. But it s expensive, costing between 700 and 5,000 per cycle and access to treatment depends largely on where you live. Not all NHS health authorities offer IVF and the number of cycles available to couples differs from clinic to clinic.