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• Topics to be talked about

  • Fertility
  • Infertility
  • Waiting to be adopted
• Fertility


  The natural capacity to conceive a child
• About 11% of couples face infertility
• Fertility is not only a female health issue
• Natural ways to boost fertility and get pregnant faster

  • Eat foods rich in antioxidants
  • Eat a bigger breakfast
  • Eat fewer refined carbs
  • Swap protein sources
  • Add in a multivitamin
  • Take time to relax
  • Aim for a healthy weight
  • Avoid excess alcohol
• Ovulation


  1. Mature egg is released from the ovary

  2. Egg moves down the fallopian tube

  3. Egg can be fertilised by sperm
• Fertility window


  • Pregnancy is technically only possible if you have sex during the five days before ovulation or on the day of ovulation
  • The most fertile days are the three days leading up to and including ovulation
  • By 12-24 hours after ovulation, a woman is no longer able to get pregnant during that menstrual cycle
• Sperm count


  Fertility is most likely if the semen discharged in a single ejaculation (ejaculate) contains at least 15 million sperm per milliliter
• Female fertility


  • Peak reproductive years are between the late teens and late 20s
  • Fertility starts to decline by age 30, more rapidly after mid-30s
  • By 45, fertility has declined so much that getting pregnant naturally is unlikely for most women
• Male fertility


  • Peak fertility is around 25-29 years old
  • Sperm quality begins to decline at 30
  • At 45, men begin to experience a significant decrease in semen volume
• Infertility


  Not being able to get pregnant (conceive) after one year (or longer) of unprotected sex
• Signs of a fertility problem

  • You are age 35 or older, and you've been trying get pregnant for six months
  • You're younger than 35 and have had unprotected sexual intercourse for one year without getting pregnant
  • You have had two or more successive pregnancy losses
  • You have any risk factors for infertility
• Most common symptoms of a fertility problem

  • Irregular menstrual cycles
  • Unusually light or heavy bleeding and bad menstrual cramps
  • Unusually heavy periods or abnormal menstrual bleeding
  • Pelvic pain or pain during sexual intercourse
  • Sexual dysfunction (including erectile dysfunction or low libido)
• Causes of infertility


  • Age
  • Chronic diseases
  • Hormonal imbalances or diseases of the reproductive system
  • Infection of the reproductive tract
  • Medication side effects
  • Obesity
  • Reproductive tract blockages or abnormalities
  • Unhealthy lifestyle habits
  • Unexplained infertility
• Douching


  Vaginal douching can wash away the valuable cervical mucus you need to get pregnant and can also wash away good bacteria, leading to an increased risk of vaginal infection
• Lubricants


  Personal lubricants like Astroglide and KY Jelly are harmful to sperm, but there are sperm-friendly options including mineral oil, canola oil, or hydroxyethylcellulose-based lubricants such as Pre-Seed and ConceivEase
• Timing of sex


  Having sex every other day or every two days is likely to have sex at least once or twice during your most fertile time, while having sex daily may result in immature sperm
• Fertile window


  You want to have sexual intercourse during your fertile window, which lasts between five and eight days, and occurs just before ovulation
• Adoption


  The action or fact of legally taking another's child and bringing it up as one's own, or the fact of being adopted
• Types of adoption


  • Foster care
  • Foster-to-adopt
  • Infant adoption
  • Independent adoption
• Closed adoption


  No identifying information about the birth family or the adoptive family is shared between the two, and there is no contact between the families
• Open adoption


  Allows for some form of association among the birth parents, adoptive parents and the child they adopted, including picture and letter sharing, phone and video calls, or even intermediary or open contact among the parties themselves
• Most adopted age groups

  • One-, two-, and three-year olds are the most adopted children, making up about 37% of all total adoptions
  • If we include all children under 5, we're looking at almost half of all adoptions (49%)
  • Teenagers (13 - 17) account for less than 10% of all adoptions