Worried: Childless Five Years after Marriage

I have been following your write-ups in THISDAY, the Saturday Newspaper, for a while now. Your contribution on this page is indeed commendable.

I have been married for five years without a child.

All efforts to conceive over these years have proven abortive; please I will appreciate your one-on-one counseling on my present predicament. Thanking you for your prompt reply. Dorothy, Abuja Dear Dorothy, Your inner worries are well convened in this mail of yours. One thing however is the fact that infertility and subfertility cases are quite common and you need feel that yours is an exception among others. As a matter of fact there are cases with worse bearings – vis-à-vis many more years than five years without an issue after getting married and they still had children after the initial delay.

For one, you need to get it clear that it takes two to tango; in this wise, both the male and female partners must have proper fertility health profile before conception can take place. Data collection worldwide had it that in infertility cases, both men and women have been found wanting or deficient in materials and conditions necessary for effective fertility processes.

One thing I know for sure though is that unlike what was the case years back, most cases of infertility can now be cured per medical interventions.

First line intervention can come in the mode of mere counseling about when (and sometimes how) to have intercourse while monitoring the ovulation period in the woman. Generally, baseline and advanced investigations of both partners would have sufficed before commencing monitoring.

Where either of the partners is found inadequate with the instituted investigations, appropriate intervention are advised and administered where financial means is not an issue.

I am sure a proper work up investigations by appropriate medical practitioners, preferable at a fertility subspecialist center, would assist your case. I encourage you to give this a trial.

Best wishes