Fertility First Steps: 4 Ways to Learn More About Your Reproductive Health

Knowledge is power when it comes to making informed decisions about your body and planning for the future of your dreams. Unfortunately, many people with uteruses and ovaries don’t have all of the information they need *before* they start trying to conceive and experience challenges.

Even if starting a family is years down the road in your plans, here are 4 easy steps you can take to feel educated about your reproductive health and in control of your fertility options:

1. Track your menstrual cycle

The first indicator of a person’s fertility is their menstrual cycle. Your period acts as a cyclical internal clock that tells you so much about how your reproductive system is functioning and can clue you in when/if something is wrong. By tracking your cycle each month (either in a physical planner or within a mobile app designed for cycle tracking), you can not only predict the start date of your next period, but have a better understanding of when you’re in each of the four phases of your cycle — follicular, ovulation, luteal, and menstrual. If your period is irregular, that may suggest irregular ovulation, which could impact a person’s ability to conceive naturally.

It's important to note that while birth control does not impact your fertility, it may be masking signs and symptoms of an irregular cycle and make you think your period is regular. This is why some individuals run into fertility-related issues after coming off the pill or another form of birth control — not because of the birth control, but because the birth control made them unaware of how their menstrual cycle functions on its own.

2. Test your ovarian reserve

Did you know that while you only ovulate one mature egg each cycle, your ovaries actually offer up many eggs monthly? Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) is released by the brain to grow one randomly selected egg from the offered up “batch” for ovulation and potential fertilization — the others from that month disintegrate back into the bloodstream. AMH (anti mullerian hormone) blood testing and an AFC (antral follicular count) ultrasound can be valuable tools in understanding your ovarian reserve and how many eggs your ovaries offer up each month to “know your numbers” when it comes to planning ahead for your future family.

Ovarian reserve testing is helpful to understand how many eggs you might retrieve in an egg freezing or IVF cycle should you one day choose to undergo fertility treatment — but it’s important to know that these tests are not indicators of your fertility. Remember, only one mature egg gets ovulated each month, so as long as your ovaries are offering up one mature egg and you are timing intercourse with ovulation, you have the same likelihood of pregnancy as someone else your age (regardless of if their reserve is higher or lower than yours).

3. Start the conversation with your inner circle

One of the most valuable first steps you can take in engaging with fertility is finding and creating spaces where you can feel safe to learn from the people in your life. There is so much we don’t talk about when it comes to our reproductive health, and you’d be surprised how many people close to you have similar thoughts, questions, and experiences to share. 1 in 8 individuals struggle with fertility at some point in their lives — and many feel like they have to carry that burden on their own. Talking to friends, family, and even coworkers reminds us that we aren’t alone on our journeys and helps to create a support system to turn to if something ever feels overwhelming, isolating, or even “wrong.”

Spring Fertility regularly hosts in-person and virtual events for anyone who wants to bring their community together to talk about reproductive health and fertility — we would love to have you and your loved ones join us in conversation. ????

4. Talk to a physician about your family-building goals

Even if you’re not actively exploring fertility options, an initial consultation with a fertility specialist or proactively starting conversations with your OBGYN or PCP is a great way to understand your options and how they could fit into your future family plans and desired timeline. 

In a one-hour consultation with a fertility physician at Spring, you have the opportunity to  talk through your personal and family medical history, your family-building goals, and ask any questions you may have about fertility and assisted reproductive technologies — a conversation you may not have ever had time to “fit in” to your annual gynecological exam. You will also have the opportunity to have bloodwork and an ultrasound done to better understand your reproductive health and ovarian reserve. If you have a sperm-producing partner, we can also schedule a Semen Analysis (~30% of all infertility cases are related to male factor infertility).

The goal of that first consult is that you leave your doctor’s office empowered with new knowledge about your fertility options, and fully informed about your body so that you can make decisions that will help you toward the future of your dreams!

If you’re interested in booking a consultation with a Spring Fertility provider, you can click here to get started.