A Shot of Prevention

At your preconception checkup, make sure to go over your vaccination history with your doctor. It’s especially important that pregnant women have up-to-date chicken pox (varicella) and rubella (German measles) protection, since these diseases can cause problems during the first or third trimester of pregnancy. Because both these shots are live vaccines—meaning they include all or part of a usually-weakened disease-causing organism—they’re not recommended during pregnancy. Some routine shots, such as the tetanus/diphtheria shot that adults are advised to have every 10 years, are considered safe during pregnancy, but it’s still smartest to get vaccinations up-to-date before you conceive.

For more fertility tips, check out Conceive's book, Fertility Facts: Hundreds of Tips for Getting Pregnant.

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Pregnancy Envy

You’ve only been trying for a few months, but you’re already starting to get annoyed rather than excited when you see a pregnant woman. Or you’ve been trying a lot longer. . . and you can’t even bear to look. Here’s how to get over it until it’s your turn.
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Eileen Garvin of Susanville, California, became a client of a fertility clinic the way most women do—she was referred there by her ob/gyn.
Negotiating Time Off for Fertility Treatments and Adoption

Everyone knows about maternity leave, but sometimes women need to take time off before a baby arrives. If you’re having fertility treatments or trying to adopt, here’s what you should know to get the time off you need. Whether—and when—to tell your boss that you’re undergoing fertility treatments or arranging an adoption depends a lot on your relationship with your supervisor. While most workplace experts caution against revealing too much personal information, how do you explain being late for work because of blood tests and ultrasounds, and then needing to get home for hormone injections? Or what if you must travel abroad to bring home a baby, and then want three months to bond with your adopted child?
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In an effort to attract patients and compete against the more-than 400 fertility centers providing IVF nationwide, fertility clinics today routinely...
IVF 101: In Vitro Fertilization Explained

As kids, we all learned about the birds and the bees. But we probably didn’t learn enough about fertility to know how babies can be conceived when nature doesn’t work perfectly.
Generous Donations: Egg Donors and Surrogates

When a couple is having trouble conceiving or carrying a pregnancy, sometimes a “third party” is enlisted to help. These women—egg donors and surrogates—are giving one of the greatest gifts of all. Find out why they do it.
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By now you’ve probably heard of Clomid, the most commonly-used fertility drug in the United States. But do you really know how it works and what the possible side effects can be? If fertility drugs are your next step in the attempt to get pregnant, then here is a quick rundown of the seven medications your doctor is most likely to prescribe.
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