Infertility: A couple is considered infertile if the woman does not conceive a child after one year of unprotected, well-timed intercourse or she has been unable to carry a pregnancy to a live birth. The diagnosis is sped up for women over 35--treatment is normally recommended after six months of trying to conceive.

Conception is a complicated process that depends upon many factors:
• the production of healthy sperm by the man and healthy eggs by the woman
• unblocked fallopian tubes that allow the sperm to reach the egg
• the sperm's ability to reach the egg
• the sperm's ability to fertilize the egg when they meet
• the ability of the fertilized egg (embryo) to become implanted in the woman's uterus
• a good quality embryo

Post-Partum Depression: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists estimate that 70 to 85 percent of women will experience the baby blues after childbirth. Symptoms will usually appear within three to seven days after delivery, but can occur up to one year afterwards.

Signs & Symptoms of Baby Blues and Postpartum Depression
. Anger
. A sense of unworthiness, inadequacy, failure or guilt
. Crying
. Irritability and impatience
. Restlessness
. Sadness, loneliness, confusion, forgetfulness
. Tiredness, inability to sleep
. Mood swings Sign & Symptoms of Postpartum Psychosis
. Visual or auditory hallucinations
. Delusional thinking (e.g. about infant's death, denial of birth, or killing the baby)
. Delirium and/or mania

Risk Factors

Postpartum depression affects women of all ages, races, and economic statuses. It can develop after the birth of any child, not just your first.

 
 

More