Female Speaker: Laurie Coutrer is a healthy, active wife who loves attending to her horses, when she is not at her job as an information technology specialist.
Laurie Coutrer: I don't think you can ever prepare yourself for someone to say, I think you're infertile.
Female Speaker: Understanding and protecting a woman's fertility depends on a delicate combination of lifestyle, medical conditions, and her partner. Added to that is the race against the proverbial biological clock.
Female Speaker: Specialists say that, if women under the age of 35 have been trying to get pregnant for a year without success there, maybe fertility issues to deal with. Dr. Bryan Cowan is an infertility specialist at The University of Mississippi Medical Center.
Dr. Bryan Cowan: The most common causes of infertility in women are first, endometriosis, second, tubular disease, and third, ovulation defect.
Female Speaker: Chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease, if left untreated, can also lead to fertility problems. However, it and the most common causes of infertility in women can be diagnosed through a series of tests, and maybe treatable. Even before testing takes place, women can be on the lookout for signs that may point to fertility problems.
Dr. Bryan Cowan: Keep track of her menstrual calendars. If the menstrual cycles are 35 days or longer, she needs to call that to the attention of her doctor really, fairly soon.
Female Speaker: Since age is a leading factor in fertility, women who are over 35 and have been trying to become pregnant for six months or more and may want to visit their OBGYN. Dr. Mark Denker is a reproductive Endocrinologist, who specializes in infertility in Boca Raton, Florida.
Dr. Mark Denker: As women get older, their fertility goes down. And by the time when a woman is 37, she would lose about 80% of her eggs.
Female Speaker: Once infertility has been identified as the problem there are several treatment options, but they can be very expensive and many insurance companies don't cover the costs. Although, statistics vary on average women account for 55% of the fertility cases, male problems account for 20%. In the remaining cases, it's either the couple's complex problem or no specific reason is found at all.
For Dalia Berlin, owning her own interior design business in Miami was just one of her lifelong dreams. She also wanted to have a large family.
Dalia Berlin: I wanted a large home. I wanted all the kids. I want to live right near the school. I want the kids to come here and play. I want to have the children.
Female Speaker: But five months after they were married, Dalia's husband Charles was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease and needed to undergo chemotherapy, a medical cancer treatment that often results insterility.
Charles Berlin: After the biopsy, the doctor told us we need chemotherapy, we are young and if we are interested in having kids. We need to go ahead and right away and freeze some sperm.
Female Speaker: Although they took what they believed to be appropriate measures they still faced infertility issues. So, their journey began. It wouldn't tell years of different fertility treatments, tests, and disappointments.
Charles Berlin: I guess the hardest part was I know how much pain and struggle it was from Dalia, and it was much as she wanted children, you know she probably wanted children from day one, here it was. I was the one delaying her from having the children.
Female Speaker: Through determination and despite false hopes, Dalia and Charles were able to conceive.
Dalia Berlin: After waiting the whole day, I finally get this great phone call and it was the phone call that I've been waiting for and they just said, Dalia you are pregnant.
Female Speaker: However, they soon found that struggling to get pregnant was just the first part of the battle. Dalia like many other women being treated for infertility suffered a series of miscarriages including twins.
Dalia Berlin: Here I've had seven years of losses, losses, and losses and all I want is a wonderful family.
Female Speaker: In addition to the physical side of infertility, there is also an emotional side that needs to be addressed as well.
Laura Coutrer: I'm not sure what I'll gain at the end of this. If it's not a child, I think I'll gain some inner feelings. I thought at first, that it had kind of put a wedge between my husband and I, because we were so stressed out. But I actually think we've actually become closer.
Female Speaker: Peer support groups can help couples throughout the entire infertility process. Elise Linder is an active member of one of the groups known as Resolve.
Elise Linder: Resolve is a national organization that provides support to couples going through infertility. There are many resources available to couples and there are group counseling, peer support, helpline services, as well as advocacy opportunities. Couples like Dalia and Charles come to Resolve looking for information, looking for support.
Female Speaker: For some couples, the future is uncertain, but for others, like Dalia and Charles, the journey is complete. Their struggles and hard work have resulted in two beautiful boys, Adam and Ivan.
Dalia Berlin: The joys that each one of them added to our life, and everyone around us and I think remember when people just look at the baby and they're just, you know, it just makes and brings us smile.
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