Baby Making

For the majority of individuals, one of the main reasons why they want to get married is to have children. Particularly for some women, the process of giving birth to your own child is the ultimate joy that you can experience. It is therefore unfortunate that a percentage of the female populace is incapable of conceiving. This inability is largely due to health reasons that are simply beyond the control of the woman concerned.

Decades ago, if you are unable to conceive, your choice to having children is to adopt. This option may not appeal to those couples who prefer to have babies that are blood related. The situation has positively changed, however, which is good news for those married women who also want to become mothers. Scientific studies and researches have come up with alternative methods that you can try to experience pregnancy. These procedures are recommended to couples who desire to have children but one of the parties is incompetent to do so.

One of the most widely known alternative techniques in pregnancy would be artificial insemination. This process involves the introduction of sperm to a woman's cervix or uterus via artificial means to achieve fertilization. The couple has a decision to make with respect to the donor sperm. They may choose to utilize the husband's sperm, which is referred to as artificial insemination by husband, or by an external donor, in this case called as artificial insemination by donor. Prior to the public acceptance of artificial insemination on moral issues, the practice was to combine the sperm of the husband and the donor. In this way, there can be no definite rule as to the real identity of the father, which can go either way.

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is another acceptable alternative to becoming pregnant. This technique involves the removal of both the egg cells from the wife and sperm cells from the husband then fertilizing these externally from the womb. It is only when there is a zygote or fertilized egg that this will be transferred to the expectant mother's uterus. Variations of IVF include gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) and zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT). In GIFT, one of the fallopian tubes contains the woman's eggs and the man's sperm for fertilization. In ZIFT, the zygote is placed not on the woman's uterus but in the woman's fallopian tubes.

In the case of donor egg pregnancies, the woman's egg is being donated. The sperm cells originate from the husband. Similar to the IVF process, the fertilized egg is eventually relocated to the future mother's uterus and not to the donor of the egg.

Another alternative would be surrogacy or look for a woman who is willing to be a surrogate mother. This scheme uses artificial insemination using the father's sperm to fertilize the surrogate mother's eggs. For this last option, complications may arise such as the refusal of the birth mother to release her baby once she gives birth. An emotional bond may be established between the baby and the surrogate mother, which can lead to legal issues.