The Mechanics of Making a Baby

The universal way to create things is to start with the right components and then to assemble them properly. When cooking, the quality of the finished dish depends on the ingredients you use as well as how you put them together. Building a car involves using the right parts and then performing proper assembly.

The same applies to the making of a baby. In a previous post, we learned about the components that are used in making a baby, specifically the maternal DNA packaged into an egg and the paternal DNA packaged into a sperm. The joining together of sperm and egg take place in the woman's body, usually in the Fallopian tubes. If the sperm and egg are both perfect enough to create a perfect embryo and if that embryo properly migrates into the a hospitable uterus, then you will have a perfect baby.

So in order to make a baby, you basically need sperm and egg to come together and for that sperm and that egg to be perfect enough to create a surviving embryo. This leads into the generation of many ideas on how we can improve the odds of pregnancy for infertile couples.

1. You can improve the quality of your sperm and eggs by overall getting healthier. Some ways include getting to the optimal body weight, avoiding tobacco, avoiding environmental toxins, avoiding excess stress, treating any existing medical problems.
2. You can improve the chances of the egg and sperm physically coming together. Some ways include intrauterine insemination and IVF.
3. You can improve the QUANTITY (and sometimes the quality) of eggs. This is done with ovulation medications.
4. You can substitute better sperm and eggs from somebody else, if necessary. This is done with donor sperm or donor eggs.
5. You can optimize the final implantation site for the embryos inside the uterus. Some ways include surgically cleaning out any abnormal uterine lesions, hormonally preparing an optimal lining and eliminating any immunological problems.

Looking at things systematically and logically can help us understand the rationale behind the various fertility treatments available.

Comments

[rdd]

I like your nice summaries