In honor of Women’s History Month – Fertility history

The history of fertility challenges – and how we can learn from them

It’s pretty safe to state that since women arrived here on planet earth, a good share of them long to be mothers at some point in their life. With the conception of the desire for a child also came the challenges.

The World Health Organization states that, “A WHO evaluation of Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data (2004), estimated that more than 186 million ever-married women of reproductive age in developing countries were maintaining a “child wish”, translating into one in every four couples.”

About 10% of women in the US have difficulty getting and staying pregnant.

These numbers are significant. Despite fertility challenges being one of the loneliest things a couple can go through, the numbers prove we are very much not alone.

The first ever in vitro fertilization (IVF) was performed in 1977. Since then, about 5 million babies have been conceived with this procedure. Over 140,000 IVF procedures are done in the US every year.

Without IVF many of these couples would never get to experience that dream come true of parenthood. Yet, is there more we can do to prepare young men and women for optimal reproductive health? I believe so.

Once we are pregnant, a lot of time and thought goes into the preparation of the baby’s room. A crib is purchased. Diapers, bottles, clothes, etc. We painstakingly train and arrange for our baby. Yet there is so little done to prepare the womb to develop our child. Our child’s home for the first 40 weeks of it’s life could be considered one of the most important aspects. After all it determines how our infant will develop it’s brain, heart, lungs, immunity and more. All life altering characteristics.

I know I spent a lot of time lost in my fertility challenges. I wanted answers and I wanted results… mainly a positive result of a pregnancy test. I didn’t even know to put more time and consideration into prepping my womb space and egg quality to set myself up for the best possible outcome. But I know now. And it has become of the utmost importance for me to share that knowing.

I think IVF is an amazing gift that western medicine gave our world. I will forever be grateful for the son that I have from the knowledge and ability of wonderful doctors. However, I don’t want you to sell yourself short. You wouldn’t just show up to the starting line to run a marathon. You would prepare your body. Prepare your body for your baby too. Our body is amazingly capable and resilient. Wondrous and beautiful. Listen when it speaks to you. You are powerful beyond belief.

Baby dust!