Fertility

Fertility

Read this article to learn more about what you can do if you are planning to have a baby.

Pre-conception care

  • It is important that you take good care of your health, especially if you are planning to get pregnant or become a parent soon.
  • Different factors can affect your ability to get pregnant and carry your baby the full nine months. These can include:
    • your lifestyle (such as diet and exercise);
    • medical condition and medications;
    • genetic disorders or family history of disease.
  • The following healthcare professionals can talk to you about getting healthy for you and for your pregnancy:
    • Family doctors and nurses
    • Obstetrician/gynaecologist
    • Midwife
    • Specialist practitioners (for example a cardiologist, neurologist or an endocrinologist)
    • Allied health workers (for example dieticians, diabetes educators, physiotherapists or pharmacists)
    If you are not trying to become pregnant, it is important to know your how to prevent this, see the Contraception section for more.

Information for this page was sourced from The Women’s Hospital, Monash IVF, Melbourne IVF and Fertile Ground Clinic.

Infertility

  • Fertility is the ability to conceive (i.e. get pregnant). Infertility means you are having trouble getting pregnant.
  • A woman can get pregnant when an egg from her ovaries is fertilised by a man’s sperm. This fertilised egg then implants inside her uterus. This is also known as conception. 
  • Pregnancies can be planned and unplanned and conception can happen at any point in a woman’s menstrual cycle. 
  • Up to 15% of couples find it hard to get pregnant and this number goes up as the couple gets older. 
  • Certain illnesses such as endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) can affect a woman’s fertility.
  • A woman has an increased risk of miscarriage or having a child with a disability as she gets older however it is important to discuss your risk with a doctor as every woman’s risk level is different. 
  • Men can be infertile (or subfertile) too.
    • They can take a test to check their hormone levels and sperm count. 
  • In Australia, Medicare can cover the costs of some fertility tests, treatment and in some cases, assisted reproduction technologies such as IVF (when doctors use medical technology to help couples get pregnant). 

Information for this page was sourced from The Women’s Hospital, Monash IVF, Melbourne IVF and Fertile Ground Clinic.

In the links below you can find more information on these tests, treatments and technologies: 

Here is some useful information about fertility

In the links below you can find more information on these tests, treatments and technologies:

Last reviewed: Jun 2022