By: Mickey Coffler, MD When you are not trying to get pregnant, the most you think about your fertility is how to suppress it. But once you are thinking about getting pregnant, your fertility becomes a top-of-mind issue. When you are ready to start your family, you have some steps to take that will prepare your body for pregnancy. Even more important, however, the steps you take now can also maximize your fertility and your chances of success when it’s time to take a pregnancy test. Step One: Exercise Exercise is critical to maintaining a healthy weight and reproductive system....

Women who have struggled with infertility or who have suffered a loss of a pregnancy can have difficulties relaxing and enjoying themselves when they become pregnant afterwards. These women commonly feel as though they don’t belong in the hopeful group of pregnant moms. They may continue feeling grief for their previous loss, or even detachment from the baby whom they fear is too good to be true. While such feelings are only natural, these women do not necessarily want to share them with others. They fear complaining about their pregnancy symptoms makes them seem ungrateful. Or they worry that people...

Surrogates have made parenthood possible for many couples in which other assisted reproductive technologies (ART) have failed. Surrogates also have helped those whose marital status, age or gender have prevented them from having children. Surrogates are women who carry the baby in the uterus for another couple. There are two types of surrogates: traditional and gestational. A traditional surrogate is a woman who is impregnated via artificial insemination using her own egg and either the father’s sperm or donor sperm. She is the baby’s biological mother. A gestational surrogate is a woman who is implanted with embryos formed in a...