Are you and your partner figuring out how to get pregnant? Although a woman will be the one who technically gets pregnant, and carries and delivers the baby, a man also has a crucial role. For fertilization to occur, his spunk must be healthy and strong to reach and penetrate the woman’s egg.
To make fertilization happen, a man must be able to have and keep an erection, have enough sperm that are the right shape and move in the right way, and have enough semen to carry the sperm to the egg, according to the Mayo Infirmary (opens in new tab) . A problem in any step in this process, including male fertility, can prevent pregnancy.
A variety of factors, from family genes and lifestyle to environmental exposures and hormones, can affect a man’s fertility, so it’s difficult to isolate the exact cause for infertility, according to Dr. Jared Robins, chief of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Northwestern Medicine’s Fertility and Reproductive bbw chat Medicine in Chicago. Nonetheless, doctors identify the cause of problems in about 80 percent of infertile couples, Robins noted. When there is a known cause of infertility, problems in the male partner tend to account for about 40 percent of infertile couples, he said. Continue reading