(BlackDoctor.org) -- Infertility among African Americans is very much a taboo subject. For men, it’s a feeling of not being able to continue the family lineage. Women often look at it as punishment for something they may have done at an earlier age and view it as an atrocity (i.e. abortion, lifestyles). It’s very ironic that African American women are looked upon as “baby making machines” in their earlier years but when they do the right thing and wait for the “right time” they could face infertility problems. More and more African American women are waiting longer to get pregnant. They are seeking education, career advancement and personal stability at a rapid pace. To put it more clearly: you’re enjoying your youth. The so-called normal reproductive years, which are from your late teens to early 30’s, are spent achieving higher education. In contrast, our parents often had their children during their late teens and early 20’s, so they were mostly done before 30. Now, the average sister is not looking to have children until her late 20’s to her early 30’s.

Women are given a finite number of oocytes (eggs) from conception, which is about 500. That is it. Men, on the other hand, continue to produce sperm well into their eighties. In fact, even though the sperm is mostly dysfunctional at this age, it is still produced. So when your biological clock ticks, it really is ticking, which makes time a very important obstacle when you’re trying to achieve pregnancy. There is a small window of time (about 48hrs) when ovulation occurs during a normal menstrual cycle. This is when you have the highest chance of conceiving. This time of the month when you are most fertile can easily be missed due to work scheduling, discrepancies with your partner or just plain fatigue. Some women go to various websites in an attempt to find out exactly when they are ovulating and then notify their partner that they’re having sex that night. This could be good or bad (depending on you’re relationship), but now sex becomes more of a chore and could become another source of stress in trying to conceive.

If you are in your 20’s and having sex with the hopes of achieving pregnancy, you should get pregnant in about 6 months. If you’re in your 30’s, it could take up to a year. This longer duration is due to the quality of eggs, since as your age increases the quality of eggs decreases. Also, your ovulation period may need time to adjust if you have been on the pill for a large amount of time. As I mentioned earlier, it is very important to find out when exactly you are ovulating. According to your age bracket you can then decide to get help.

In conclusion, you should seek fertility help after a full year of unprotected sex. When you seek fertility help, make sure you bring your spouse or partner to get tested also. It’s just as important to get his sperm count tested also. Men often have oligospermia (few sperm) or Azoospermia (barely any sperm at all) but still produce a normal ejaculate and they think their sperm is fine. Or what we often get is men who have children from previous relationships and therefore think the problem is not with them, so they berate their partner, implying that it’s her fault that she can’t conceive. This brings more unwanted stress to the relationship as well as pressure trying to conceive.

Lastly, when you decide to get help, be sure to ask your OB/GYN for a good Reproductive Endocrinologist. An RE would know more about infertility and the latest advancements in the field. Once they know your past medical history, they can then provide you with the proper course of action to hopefully achieve pregnancy.

By J. Kendall Smalls

Clinical Embryologist MSc.