When infertility becomes an issue to contend with, the problems
to worry about go beyond just getting pregnant. Carrying the
baby to full term and giving birth to a healthy baby becomes
another source of worry. Pregnancy loss or miscarriage is not
uncommon among fertile and childbearing women, but whether
problems with fertility aggravate pregnancy loss is an issue to
be critically looked into.
In the general population, pregnancy loss ranges between 10-20%.
Amazingly, most of these miscarriages occur ever before the
woman involved realizes that she is pregnant. Such miscarriages
are merely observed as an unusually heavy menstrual flow in
women that suffer it. It is estimated that the loss of
clinically recognized pregnancy is only about 8%.
Furthermore, many of the miscarriages in healthy women occur
long before a fetal heartbeat is detectable by vaginal
ultrasound. Pregnancies that will result in miscarriage mostly
do not develop enough to allow the heartbeat to be detected in
the fetus. This factor has also helped to further streamline
risk and better predict miscarriages. Recent medical studies
have shown that if a fetal heartbeat is detected by vaginal
ultrasound in a pregnancy between the 6th to 9th week of
menstrual age i.e. 4-7weeks after ovulation, then the chance of
subsequently losing the pregnancy is as slim as 2%. This number
serves as a major form of re-assurance for pregnant women who
have had an ultrasound in which the baby's heartbeat was seen.
Also, this number has been used to determine if the rate of
pregnancy loss in women with infertility problems is different
from that of the general population. In one of such studies,
carried out in the UK with 231 women in an infertility clinic it
was discovered that pregnancy loss averaged 7.7% with single
pregnancies and 18.0% with multiple pregnancies in women below
35 years of age; while the value for women over 35 years old was
4.9% for single pregnancies and 13.4% for multiple pregnancies.
This study result plainly shows that women with infertility
problems are not just going to have problems getting pregnant,
they might also find it difficult to carry babies to term and
deliver a healthy baby, when pregnancy does occur. There could
be several reasons for this situation, however, it is important
to note that there are always several medical factors
responsible for infertility, one or two of these factors may
also affect the ability to carry a baby successfully.
One such factor is that of age. Most women with infertility
problems are older than the average age for childbearing,
because they have delayed getting pregnant for one reason or the
other. The uterine tubes and the uterus also play crucial roles
in conception and successful gestation. When these organs don't
function properly, for any reason, they impair fertility and may
also affect the ability to carry babies.
Due to these, and many other factors, miscarriage rates appear
to be higher in women suffering infertility, especially if over
35 years old and in cases of multiple pregnancies. After all, it
is always better to know what to expect out of every pregnancy.
The knowledge could bring comfort, when you understand your
chances.
About the author:
Michael Russell Your Independent guide to
Infertility
