Infertility is the inability of a couple to get pregnant after 1 year of regular, unprotected intercourse or the inability of a woman to carry a pregnancy to live birth. An infertility specialist can help you with your problems associated with conception and maintaining pregnancy.

Assisted Terms Related to Assisted Fertilization

• Advanced maternal age-decreases the possibility of pregnancy. This term applies to women in their late 30's to middle 40's.

• Assisted reproductive technology - is the term used to describe techniques used to aid an infertile couple in achieving a visible pregnancy.

• Gamete intrafallopian transfer - is a procedure in which ovum and sperm are mixed outside of the body then transferred by laparoscopic surgery into the fallopian tube where hopefully fertilization will occur.

• Intracytoplasmic sperm injection - is a procedure outside of the body in which one sperms is placed into one egg thereby fertilizing it. This procedure is used in the case of severe male factor infertility.

• In vitro fertilization - is a procedure in which mature ova are removed from the mother and fertilized outside of the body. The resulting embryos are transferred into the uterus with the hope that they will implant and continue to develop as in a normal pregnancy.

• Zygote intrafallopian transfer - is a laparoscopic procedure in which a zygote is placed in the fallopian tube allowing it to travel down the tube to the uterus where it implants.

Fertilization

During copulation, a man ejaculates approximately 100 million sperm cells into a woman's vagina. The sperm travel upward through the vagina, into the uterus, and on into the fallopian tube.

When a sperm penetrates the descending ovum, fertilization, also known as conception occurs and a new life begins. After fertilization occurs in the fallopian tube the fertilized egg, which is now called a zygote travels to the uterus.

Implantation is the embedding of the zygote into the endothelial lining of the uterus. From implantation through the eighth week of pregnancy the developing child is known as an embryo. A fetus is the developing child from the ninth week to the time of birth.

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