About Conception

Conception is the fertilization of a woman's egg by a man's sperm. Many people regard the act of conceiving a child as a mundane event, but in fact, it's a miracle that it ever occurs. The timing of the process must be just right in order for the sperm to meet the egg at the right time. Furthermore, sperm have an up-hill battle to face in swimming up to the egg in the first place.

The Facts

In order for conception to occur, many factors come into play and certain processes must be carried out without a hitch. First, the male partner must have enough sperm. Though it takes just one sperm to fertilize an egg, a man is considered to have fertility problems if he produces much less than the average amount of sperm. On average, an adequate amount is about 60 to 80 million sperm per ml of semen. Additionally, the sperm must be healthy and capable of swimming to the egg.

Time Frame

In many ways, conception is all about timing. Sexual intercourse and ejaculation of healthy sperm must occur when a woman is most fertile. A woman's fertile time includes the few days leading up to ovulation, when the egg is released, as well as the day of ovulation. The egg is only viable for about 24 hours while the sperm can live for an average of up to 3 days. Therefore, sex a couple of days before ovulation could result in pregnancy, but a couple of days after would be too late.

Misconceptions

Often, people think of conception as easy, as long as the man can ejaculate and the woman has a viable egg. The fact is, the sperm has a pretty hard time getting to the egg in the first place. For example, the cervical mucous may make it hard for abnormally-shaped sperm, even those from healthy men, to swim. And, an imbalance of the natural chemicals in a woman's vagina could greatly impair movement, such as when an infection thickens the normal vaginal lubrication. Many sperm never make it at all. Some sperm leak out of the vagina in the semen and the others race each other to meet the egg. Once there, only one sperm gets to penetrate and fertilize the egg.

Risk Factors

Sometimes, conceiving a child isn't as easy as it should be, and couples begin to wonder whether they have fertility problems. Generally, doctors suggest that you try to achieve pregnancy for at least one year before seeking medical help. This is the suggestion if you are under 35 years old.

If you are over 35, many doctors suggest a medical evaluation after you've tried to conceive for six months. Certain things may put you more at risk for difficulty conceiving, such as pelvic inflammatory disease, polycystic ovary syndrome, uterine fibroids, undescended testicles, testicular tumors and chronic illnesses. Even a history of certain STDs, such as chlamydia or gonorrhea, can lead to conception difficulties.

Identification

It's difficult to identify exactly when conception has occurred. Usually, women do not know they have conceived until after the fertilized egg has moved to the uterus and implanted there. This usually happens about a day after conception. Furthermore, they are not aware of implantation until after they've missed a period or taken a pregnancy test, which typically isn't accurate until at least several days after conception and implantation.