Sexual intercourse leads to pregnancy when an egg and sperm meet in the fallopian tube and the resulting fertilized egg (embryo) successfully becomes implanted in your uterus. Many of us have been told that getting pregnant is easy and that simply having sex ensures that an egg will be fertilized. However, in addition to timing, there are many health factors in males and females that play a role in determining whether or not a sperm can find and fertilize an egg. Furthermore, there are additional factors that help determine whether a fertilized egg can successfully become implanted in the uterus for a viable pregnancy.
If you’re having regular intercourse and you’re not getting pregnant, your doctor can conduct an evaluation and order tests to help figure out exactly why. Additionally, for people who are not able to conceive through sexual intercourse, intrauterine insemination (IUI) and in vitro fertilization (IVF) are common options for getting pregnant.