An ex-boyfriend of mine once said that the problem with pregnancy is that it's way too easy when you are trying NOT to get pregnant, and way too hard when you are trying TO get pregnant.

What are the odds?

According to my fertility doctor, it looks like this:



And according to this article:

Number of women who achieve pregnancy within the first year of trying, by age:

• early 20s: 94 percent
• late 20s and early 30s: 70-85 percent
• late 30s: 65-70 percent

Average number of months to conception, by age:

• early 20s: 4-5 months
• late 20s: 5-7 months
• early 30s: 7-10 months
• late 30s: 10-12 months

So, at my age, it takes an average of about a year of trying. I'm not sure how much better the odds get once you are getting treated for infertility.

According to this site, the odds of a successful IUI attempt are reported to be between 6-26% percent per cycle. Other sites say 4-8% if you are not taking hormones, or up to 25% if you are.

IVF success rates also vary widely... and according to my acupuncturist, "In April 2002, German researchers reported that they had increased the success rate by nearly 50% in women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) using acupuncture."

So obviously your odds are improved by undergoing fertility treatment -- more so by IVF than by IUI, and more by using hormones than not. I'm still not sure by how much. So many things can go wrong and cause a spontaneous miscarriage -- and I don't mean that in a negative way, it's part of nature's way of selecting for healthy babies. But given that I have, apparently, about a 8% chance of getting pregnant tomorrow, I'm just going to breathe deeply, enjoy the process, and see what happens, but stay as free as I can from having any expectations.