The First Steps to Understanding Your Infertility

Infertility is a diagnosis no couple wants to hear when they’re trying to have a baby. Unfortunately, though, it happens to more couples than you know.

Couples with infertility usually go through testing to find out the cause of the problem so they can conceive faster. At Artemis OB/GYN, located in Union, New Jersey, Nicola Pemberton, MD, FACOG, provides infertility testing to women who are struggling to conceive.

Dr. Pemberton is an experienced OB/GYN offering services such as infertility evaluations, ultrasounds, and testing for menstrual cycle irregularities to get to the bottom of infertility.

Understanding infertility

Infertility is a problem that happens when a couple is unable to conceive with regular unprotected sex after one year. However, that time frame can change depending on various factors, including the female’s age.

For women over 35, an infertility diagnosis comes after six months of unprotected sex because of the decline in fertility.

Difficulty conceiving can occur for many reasons, some of which are lifestyle factors, while others are deeper issues. It’s essential to seek treatment for infertility to understand why you’re struggling to conceive and find options that can help.

The first steps in your diagnosis

The first step in receiving an infertility diagnosis is to consult our team and make an appointment. If you’ve been trying for six months to a year without success, it’s a good idea to come in for a consultation.

At your consultation, we ask you and your partner various questions, including questions about your menstrual cycle and whether you’ve tracked ovulation. The following steps in determining infertility include:

Provide medical and lifestyle information

To get an accurate diagnosis, we need to know your medical history, including any menstrual issues or pelvic surgeries. It’s also important to let us know about past pregnancies and any problems that arose.

We also need to know about you and your partner’s sexual history in detail. Other essential information to know is your exercise habits, whether you smoke, and how much alcohol you regularly consume.

Get initial bloodwork

The next step in determining the cause of infertility is getting initial bloodwork to give us information about your hormones. These tests give us vital information about pregnancy hormones and ovulation.

Your partner may also need bloodwork to look at testosterone levels. We also suggest testing your partner’s semen to assess sperm count and quality.

Undergo other testing

After the initial testing, we recommend further testing if there isn’t a definitive answer. A pelvic or transvaginal ultrasound is the next step in determining any issues with your reproductive system. We look at the uterus and ovaries to see if there are any abnormalities.

An HSG is another procedure that involves looking at the fallopian tubes and uterus under X-ray with dye to find blockages or other problems that could be preventing pregnancy. Genetic testing is another helpful option.

What happens next?

After we have all of the information we need, we set up an appointment to discuss the results. For many couples, there’s a definitive reason for trouble conceiving. If that’s the case, we provide a customized treatment plan to help you get pregnant as soon as possible.

We discuss treatment options based on your infertility findings. These treatments may include medications to help you ovulate or procedures to move the sperm closer to the egg during ovulation (IUI).

If other treatments don’t work or your results reveal a significant issue, we may suggest IVF as the quickest alternative to help you achieve a healthy pregnancy as soon as possible. We discuss all the options with you and provide support and information to keep you well-informed.

To book an appointment for an infertility workup, call or message our office in Union, New Jersey, today, or schedule a consultation using our convenient online booking feature.