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Fertility Fact or Fiction


The Answers

1. You are most fertile two weeks after your period begins.
False. This statement is only true if your cycle is 28 days long, and women ’s cycles can range from 26 to 36 days and beyond. Most women ovulate 14 days prior to the start of their period, so a woman who has a 35-day cycle would ovulate on day 21, three weeks after the first day of her last menstrual period.
2. A 35-year-old or older pregnant woman is always considered high risk.


False. While it’s true that the maternal death rate rises as women age, it is still so uncommon that it’s not a major concern. Amniocentesis is offered more routinely to women older than 35 -- to test for abnormalities such as Down Syndrome -- but other than that, women older than 35 are not treated any differently during pregnancy than younger women.
3. Taking your temperature every morning will let you know when to have intercourse.


False. While tracking your basal body temperature (BBT) will provide you with information about your menstrual cycle, it won’t tell you when to have intercourse. The only way to use a BBT chart to predict your most fertile days is to look at several month of charts and determine if your cycle has a pattern to it.
4. Your due date is not calculated from the date of conception.


True. True. Your due date is calculated as 40 weeks after the first day of your last menstrual period.
5. Your fertility decreases substantially when you are older than 35.


False. While fertility declines with age, women 35 and older have a great chance at becoming pregnant. The National Center for Health Statistics reports that women under 25 years of age have a 96 percent chance at conceiving within one year, women 25 to 34 have an 86 percent chance, and women 35 to 44 have a 78 percent chance of conceiving within a year.
6. Women who have had in-vitro fertilization don’t know when they will go into labor.


True. Even if you are certain of the moment of conception, there is no telling when you will go into labor. Only three percent of babies arrive on their due dates.
7. You can determine the gender of your baby by timing when you have sex.


False. There is no evidence proving that when you conceive determines the sex of your baby. Even high-tech methods of sex determination don’t guarantee success.
8. Like women, men also have to worry about a decrease in fertility.


True. Men also experience a decline in fertility as they age. There is an age-related decline -- starting in the late teens -- in sperm production, leading to a decrease in fertility as men get older.
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