Although it may seem contradictory, assisted reproduction centres are full of queries from women who are already mothers. Girls, or couples, who have had a baby and are considering having a sibling. The problem comes when time goes by and that second pregnancy does not come.
What does come is stress, tension and a high degree of incomprehension. Because, if we have already been mothers once… why are we not able to do it now? There is a tendency to assume that if it has been achieved before, the woman (and partner, if there is one) is perfectly fertile and there will be no problems achieving another pregnancy. But this is not the case. When this happens, we speak of secondary infertility. It is much more frequent than we think.
There are some factors that can cause infertility, although it is also possible that the problems were already there originally and the first pregnancy was a result of luck.
Normally, the main cause of this infertility is time. Our society has been delaying the age of motherhood of the first child, fighting against our own biological clock. So now, when we try to have the second child, it is usually at a fairly advanced age, with which the ovarian reserve has noticeably decreased. Not only in the quantity of eggs, but also in their quality.
Stress (family, work, etc.) is another important factor affecting our fertility. Added to this is the anxiety that comes when we want to expand our family but see that we are not able to do so. It is an added pressure that negatively influences our well-being and fertility capacity.
Finally, there are a number of health-related variables that can cause infertility. From healthy habits such as diet or exercise (which may have worsened since the first pregnancy), to pathologies and conditions that have recently appeared or worsened: endometriosis, poor semen quality, uterine problems, alterations in the tubes or hormonal imbalances, among others.
When a second pregnancy does not occur, there is usually significant emotional strain on the woman, who mistakenly tends to assume responsibility. The most important thing is to avoid pressure. To understand that it is a situation that happens much more often than we think and that, in most cases, there is a solution with the appropriate medical help.
As a rule, the recommendation is that if you are over 35 years old and have been trying unsuccessfully for more than six months to get pregnant, you should request a consultation at a reproduction centre. At iGin, for example, they are all free and we can carry them out via videoconference, for the convenience of the patient.
In these consultations, fertility studies are carried out to find the origin of the problem and solve it in the shortest possible time and with the least financial and emotional expense for the woman and the couple.
So remember: it is not a topic that is often discussed, but for many women it is not easy to achieve a second pregnancy. The important thing is that, in most cases, assisted reproduction can help achieve this.