Coping with infertility is stressful enough even if you understand all of the medical terms that you will hear, but not really knowing what some of those terms mean can be particularly stressful!
Here are some more commonly used terms associated with fertility treatments and infertility:
Miscarriage: Also known as spontaneous abortion, this refers to a pregnancy that ends in the spontaneous loss of the embryo or fetus before the 20th week of gestation.
Multi Fetal Pregnancy Reduction: Also known as selective reduction. This is a much debated procedure, as it is used to decrease the number of fetuses a woman carries. The idea is to improve the chances that the remaining fetuses will develop normally. Multi fetal reductions that occur naturally are referred to as spontaneous reductions. Choosing to keep all of the fetuses is what resulted in the famous “Octo-Mom” case last year.
Multiple Factors, Female: This simply means that there has been more than one cause of female infertility diagnosed.
Multiple Factors, Female and Male: This refers to a diagnosis in which both the male and the female have identifiable infertility factors.
Multiple-Infant Birth: A pregnancy that results in the birth of more than one infant. Occurring spontaneously in nature from time to time, multiple births are fairly common when the mother has been given fertility drugs such as Clomid.
Multiple-Fetus Pregnancy: This is a pregnancy in which there are two or more fetuses, as determined by the number of fetal hearts observed on an ultrasound.
Oocyte: The female reproductive cell, most commonly called an egg.
Other Causes of Infertility: May refer to a number of different things as causes for infertility, including immunological problems, chromosomal abnormalities, cancer, chemotherapy, and serious illnesses.
Ovarian Monitoring: This term refers to using ultrasound and/or blood or urine tests to monitor follicle development and hormone production.
Ovarian Reserve: This refers to the number of eggs remaining in a woman’s ovaries. Normally, a woman is born with approximately 1 million eggs in each ovary. Over time, this amount dwindles.
Having a working knowledge of medical terms might help to ease the overall stress of dealing with infertility.
Infertility Lingo: Terms That You Should Know Part 3
Infertility Lingo: Terms That You Should Know Part 1
Infertility Lingo: Terms That You Should Know Part 4
Infertility Lingo: Terms That You Should Know Part 2
Comments on this entry are closed.