When a couple decides to start their family, they have to ask themselves some tough questions.
- Are we emotionally and spiritually ready for a child?
- Are we physically ready to have a child?
- Are we stable enough financially to support a baby?
- Are we ready to be responsible parents for the rest of our lives?
- Do we have a plan after the baby's arrival?
- Do we have enough space in the house?
If these questions can be answered positively, all the couple has to do is get down to business and conceive.
Natural Family Planning (NFP)
Natural family planning as the name suggests is the most natural way to conceive a child. This method takes the woman's basal body temperature, mucus symbols, sensations and characteristics, cervix sign and menses to determine her fertile and infertile days. A woman will most likely get pregnant right before or right after ovulation. If coming off a hormonal contraceptive, it may take over a year to get pregnant since the hormone could still be active in the body. This method is 90 to 98 percent effective when used correctly. Two in three women will get pregnant when having sexual intercourse on the day of ovulation.
In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF)
Manually combining an egg and sperm in a laboratory dish is the process of in-vitro fertilization. If this is successful, then embryo transfer will occur. This is placing the embryo in the uterus. This method can be done with the couple's own eggs and sperm or with a donor's. There is a unique risk to couples who use this procedure. To increase the probability of a pregnancy, the doctor will transfer up to four embryos into the uterus. That means it can result in a multiples pregnancy. Most doctors will not transfer any more than four embryos because of the risk of a multiples pregnancy. The success rate of IVF differs on the age of a woman. For women 35 years of age and older, the success rate is six to 25 percent. For women under age 35, the success rate is 30 to 35 percent.
There are two other procedures which are similar to IVF. They are gamete intrafallopian (GIFT) and zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT). These two procedures account for less than four percent of assisted reproductive technology procedures in the United States.
Adoption
For other couples who are infertile and/or want another choice, adoption is always an option. There are different types of adoption.
- Agency: Adoption handled through a licensed public or private agency.
- Public: Adoption supported and managed by state, county or city.
- Private: Adoption handled by an attorney.
- Independent: Birth and adoptive parents meet with a lawyer to handle the adoption process.
There are several choices to choose from when adopting.
- Open: Birth parents are in contact with adoptive parents throughout the child's life.
- Semi-Open: Birth parents stay updated on the child through the agency.
- Closed: Birth parents and adoptive parents have no contact and no information is exchanged about the child.
- International: Adopting a child from a foreign country.
- Foster: Foster parents adopt a child through the state.
- Stepparent: A stepparent legally adopts an unbiological child.
The five main steps of the adoption process are choosing the desired type of adoption, selecting an agency or facilitator, completing a home study, waiting for placement and finalizing the adoption.
