Why don't you get a baby everytime you have sex?

Question

I don't understand... You see movies and TV, and the couples always go, "We've been trying so hard, but..." Why is it so hard to get a baby? Don't the sperm(s) just "swim" to the ovary and everything's set into motion? What is it that I don't know...?

Answer 1

Well ovulation only takes place once a month. So you have to have intercourse at the right time. And then the sperm try to swim to the egg, but they don't always make it. Even if they do make it to the egg, it's not a guarantee that it's going to implant into the uterus. There's a lot that has to happen to create a pregnancy.

Answer 2

Many little things have to go right for a pregnancy to occur. For instance:

*The woman has to ovulate

*Her hormone levels have to be sufficient to sustain a pregnancy

*Her uterline lining has to be sufficient to sustain a pregnancy

*Her cervical fluids have to be "sperm friendly" -- this happens as you near ovulation

*There can't be anything going on that would inhibit a pregnancy

* The sperm has to be up for the job: with sperm count, volume, motility, morphology, and pH balance

*Sex/insemination must be timed right so that the sperm has just the right amount of time to "swim" to meet the egg (this happens in the fallopian tubes, and not at the ovaries) -- can't be too much time or the sperm will die before the egg arrives...can't be too little time or the egg will die before the sperm arrives. An egg, once released, only lasts for a matter of hours (roughly between 8 and 24...if that); sperm can live for as many as 5 days, but it's a safer bet to say 3 days, IF the environment is "friendly" to the sperm.

*The sperm has to actually fertilize the egg

* If the egg is fertilized, resulting in an embryo, that embryo must implant in the uterine lining. This requires, among other things, that cell division during the first few days go just right, and that, chromosomally, things aren't so out of whack that the embryo is unviable at this point (the number of chromosomally abnormal embryos is large)

* If implantation occurs, everything must still proceed just-so for things to "stick". It is estimated that as many as 70 percent of pregnancies end in miscarriage if you account for "chemical pregnancies," which are very early losses that typically occur before a woman even knows she's pregnant -- conception and implantation occur, the "pregnancy hormone" is secreted so a pregnancy test would come up positive, but the embyro stops developing extremely early, before an ultrasound would or could have confirmed the pregnancy. Typically, the woman just experiences a slighly late "period."

And that's just for getting pregnant!

Answer 3

You only have a short window of time every month to get pregnant. This is when you are ovulating. Sometimes couples have problems getting pregnant because the man has low sperm count or motility (the sperm don't move quickly or well), or because the woman may have a condition that make getting pregnant more difficult (like polycystic ovarian syndrome). Sometimes a woman's body can actually "reject" sperm. And, as women age, it's more difficult for fertilization to occur. That's why its normally much easier for a couple in their twenties to get pregnant quickly than a couple in their forties.

Answer 4

It can be a lot of things. That is the basics yes, but a woman's body only releases an egg once a month, so if you're timing is bad, no baby. Plus there are tons of possible other factors. It took my husband and I 2 years to get pregnant because I'd been on Depo Provera (the birth control shot) and it took that long to get out of my system. Hormone flucuations, fertility problems, there are really too many other possible issues to list.

Answer 5

Hey there! I am trying to have a baby, and I tell you, it is not easy. I suppose having sex when it is your fertile period will increase the chances, but according to what other people told me, one has to be relaxed, and not be obssessed with the idea, otherwise the baby won't 'come'. The theory is easy, but somehow you get pregnant when you least expect it.

Answer 6

because sperm aren't that smart...
: )