CAUSES OF CHILDLESSNESS MISCARRIAGES
Some women who can become pregnant are unable to carry a baby, and repeatedly experience miscarriage, or spontaneous abortion. Emotional stress, general ill health, malnutrition, illnesses (including infections), and glandular disorders can cause miscarriages.
Some doctors think that many miscarriages can be avoided by a refraining from sexual intercourse during the days on which the woman’s first three menstrual periods would occur if she were not pregnant. Sometimes, a week’s rest in bed at these periods, especially during the first months, may save the developing baby.
Do not be alarmed or discouraged by a miscarriage, especially if it is your first pregnancy. It has been estimated that about 10 per cent of all married women in this country under the age of 35 have had at least one spontaneous abortion.
Low fertility
To be sterile means to have no reproductive power, to be barren. I prefer to use the term ‘fertile,’ which can be qualified—that is, one can be relatively fertile, extremely fertile, and so on—rather than the word ‘sterile,’ which has such a final ring to it!
Doctors can usually determine a man’s or a woman’s fertility. A man may produce few or many sperm cells. These may have a long or a short life-span and may be either very active or too inactive to make the necessary journey to the reproductive, or egg, cell of the woman.
The woman’s secretions may be injurious to the sperm or her tubes may be narrow or her uterus incapable of forming tissues needed for the egg after it has been fertilized by the sperm. There are many, many factors that can interfere with fertility. The majority of them can be corrected, although it takes time and the skill of specialists to do so.
This is what I suggest first of all to childless couples wanting a baby: Since either one or both of you may not be very fertile, give yourselves the best possible chance of conceiving a child. This means that you should have intercourse at the time when it is most apt to result in conception. In other words, study the rhythm method of birth control on page 190 and practise it in reverse. Many couples have considered themselves to be sterile when they have never actually had intercourse at exactly the time conception could take place. The act of intercourse should be performed in such a way as to allow the semen to reach, and be retained in, the inner portion of the vagina. This will be facilitated if the woman elevates her legs and keeps them raised for a short time after the act is completed. No douches of any kind should be used. It is not necessary for the woman to have an orgasm in order to become pregnant. Some men fail to produce a sufficiently large number of sperm cells to impregnate a woman if they have intercourse frequently. Therefore I urge infertile couples to refrain from coitus for a week before the day of ovulation. On that day, they should have intercourse in the morning and again at night.
Be sure to follow these suggestions before you start wondering whether either of you is sterile, if you still do not have a baby, both of you should consult your doctor or your nearest hospital who will recommend a physician specializing in the treatment of infertility.
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