Right now, you may be more into preventing pregnancy than having a baby. But the recent wave of infertility anxiety has lots of chicks wondering, Will I be able to conceive when I am ready? Here, what to do now to be fertile later.

If you want to be a mom one day but don’t plan on sporting a bump soon, you’re not alone. Whether it’s for financial reasons, finding Mr. Right Dad issues, or just wanting more experience before settling down, women are waiting longer than ever to conceive their first kid. In fact, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics show that the average age of a first-time mother is now 25—driven by a surge of first-timers who are over 35.

Problem is, putting off motherhood can pose some challenges. It’s a biological fact that the longer you wait, the tougher it can be to conceive a healthy baby. And media reports are filled with scary stories of women who postponed baby making only to realize that their fertility was in nosedive mode. It’s enough to put you into a pregnancy panic.

To help you sort through the news, we gathered top experts and got their answers to your most pressing questions, including what you can do now to preserve your fertility for the future.

Is there any way to know if I’m fertile now, before I try to conceive?
No—you really won’t know until you start actively trying. That said, there are some new diagnostic tools, including over-the-counter home fertility kits that measure urine levels of the hormone FSH to determine the quality and quantity of your eggs, and MD-administered egg-reserve tests that measure blood levels of FSH and other hormones. But such tests don’t tell you the whole story. “They can’t detect all the other factors that influence your ability to conceive, like whether you’re actually ovulating or if your fallopian tubes are blocked,” says Susannah Copland, M.D., assistant professor in the division of reproductive endocrinology and fertility at Duke Fertility Center in Durham, North Carolina.

For now, the best thing you can do for your fertility is to see your gyno yearly for a pelvic exam to spot potential problems. And if your period has become erratic, let your gyno know. It may lead to future baby-making issues.

It took my mom years to have a child. Will it take a long time for me too?
“If it had to do with low egg count or poor egg quality, don’t panic: these traits aren’t hereditary,” says Ronald C. Strickler, reproductive endocrinologist at the Henry Ford Center for Reproductive Medicine in Troy, Michigan. And if early menopause cut short her baby-making abilities, it’s unlikely the same fate will befall you. So, don’t panic.

But some illnesses that can result in infertility do have a strong genetic association. Endometriosis, which affects 7 to 10 percent of women, causes uterine tissue to grow outside the uterus, which can cause scarring on your fallopian tubes or ovaries and block conception. As many as 40 percent of women with endometriosis may not be fertile.

Another inheritable threat is polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Women with PCOS produce more male than female hormones and have cysts on their ovaries. They don’t ovulate often, so they don’t have regular periods. PCOS is a common cause of infertility in women, striking 10 percent of females of childbearing age.

There’s no cure for either condition, but both can be controlled, and pregnancy is definitely possible—especially with an early diagnosis. So be aware of the symptoms: Killer cramps that aren’t eased by pain meds or pelvic pain that occurs when you’re not having your period could signal endometriosis.

Does alcohol have an effect on conceiving even if I quit partying before I start trying for a baby? Dr. Strickler says.
Your nights pounding ’em back while dancing on the bar may be behind you, but moderate drinking might make a dent in your parenthood plans as well. Some studies suggest that women who have two or more drinks a day may take longer to get pregnant than nondrinkers, explains Keri L. Greenseid, reproductive endocrinologist at the Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey.

It’s not clear why…and yes, generations of women have conceived effortlessly while enjoying wine or cocktails with dinner. But play it safe months before you try to get pregnant by reducing your alcohol intake.

Will smoking make it harder to conceive?
Yes. Women who smoke take 10 to 40percent longer to get pregnant, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Not only do the toxins in smoke damage the fallopian tubes, but they also lower the quality of your eggs so they’re not the best candidates for conception, Dr. Strickler says.

These toxins also impair your ability to produce estrogen, which prepares the lining of the uterus.

What does my weight have to do with my fertility odds?
A lot more than most women realise. “Obese women [defined as having a body mass index, or BMI, of 30 or higher] may have changes in the ovarian fluid around their eggs, negatively affecting their eggs’ development,” says Dr. Greenseid. Also, fat cells produce estrogen; if you are obese and have a high number of fat cells, the extra estrogen can alter signals from the brain, so your cycle stops and you don’t ovulate.

Very thin women are also at risk. When your BMI dips below 18.5, you’re underweight, and your system reduces the production of hormones that stimulate ovulation. “It’s your brain’s way of saying, ‘I don’t think this body has enough fat reserves to support a pregnancy, so I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen,’ ” says Dr. Greenseid. For your future fertility, actively aim now for a BMI between 20 and 25. If yours is under 19 or 26 (in overweight range), see your M.D. about how to gain or lose pounds safely.

What if I’ve had an STD?
Viral STDs, such as herpes and human papillomavirus, usually don’t affect your ability to conceive, though they may affect your odds of delivering safely. It gets trickier with bacterial infections like chlamydia and gonorrhea. Although these probably won’t pose a threat if you’re diagnosed and cured early, many women have no symptoms, so they don’t get tested, and the bacteria sneakily damage their reproductive tract.

“Left untreated, the bacteria make their way past the cervix and into the uterus and fallopian COSMOPOLITAN september 2010 tubes, becoming a more serious condition called pelvic inflammatory disease [PID] that can result in infertility,” says Dr Greenseid. Scarily, 1 in 5 women with PID become infertile. It’s best to use a condom and be careful.

How does stress come into play?
Stress can mess with your cycle so you don’t ovulate regularly and, therefore, are less likely to conceive, says Paul B. Miller, M.D., a reproductiveendocrinology and infertility specialist with Fertility Center of the Carolinas at Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center in Greenville, South Carolina. “The more stressed you are, the more likely it is that levels o f r e p r o d u c t i v e hormones will fall, and that affects ovulation,” says Dr. Miller. It’s the same reason why women often miss a period or two when they’re going through a tense time. Learn now how to deal with stress. Take up yoga, defuse tension via regular workouts, or set aside time every day to tune out, says Alice Domar, PH.D., director of Mind–Body Services at Boston IVF, in Massachusetts.

At what age will my fertility slide?
Age is the biggest factor when it comes to determining fertility because you ovulate only a limited number of healthy eggs with which to conceive a baby. The older you get, the fewer healthy eggs you have.

Every female is born with a million or so oocytes, or eggs. They die off by the thousands, and you ovulate about 300 through your life. So by your teens, you’ll likely have just 300,000 oocytes remaining. By your mid-30s, you’re down to an estimated 30,000, and there’s a higher chance of having problems. There’s no clear cut-off at which you go from fertile to conception-challenged, and every woman is different, but that mid-30s point is when more women start running into trouble. A woman between the ages of 20 and 24 has only a 7 percent chance of being infertile, while a woman who is 35 to 39 carries a 30 percent chance of not conceiving on her own. However, experts say that it does not mean everyone will have problems.

Courtesy: http://cosmo.intoday.in