For those looking to expand their family, the tendency to see pregnant women everywhere makes it hard to run errands or socialize. When watching your favorite TV shows, the commercials always seem to include one with cute babies roaming in the perfect diaper or you see babies with mama during grocery shopping or a trip to the post office.

However, it is difficult for some families because almost seven million Americans are facing at the problem that getting pregnant is a challenge. The causes for infertility are quite complicated; usually a combination of several conditions both affecting men and women.

Why Am I Not Getting Pregnant?

There are several reasons that can contribute to difficulty getting pregnant. Those issues can include the following possibilities:

1. Endometriosis

This condition affects three to five million Americans and involves a situation where cells from the lining of the uterus (also known as endometrium) grow outside the uterine cavity, so that the tube would be blocked and the egg and sperm can’t meet with each other. It will also cause heavy and painful periods, painful sexual experiences and cramps during the menstrual cycle. It means a more challenging road to getting pregnant.

2. Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)

This disease is a challenge to pin down because each person's case presents in a different manner. The one thing agreed upon is that the condition is a dysfunction in the ovulation process that occurs in the ovary. This can have a wide variety of symptoms, including acne, a significant weight gain, infertility and strange facial hair. It also can mean an abnormal menstrual cycle.

3. Tubal Disease

This issue may involve a blockage in the tubes for the woman. This requires a look via radiology to determine if the tubes are open and the eggs are able to reach the uterus to be fertilized. An infection or other medication condition can lead to tubal blockage, which could be your answer if you are asking “why am I not getting pregnant?”

4. Low Progesterone

Women who do not have enough progesterone during embryo implantation and early pregnancy sometimes experience miscarriage. Therefore, it is important that the levels of progesterone, which are typically produced by the egg follicle, are at sufficient levels. This condition may be connected to thyroid issues or other health problems, so those women who are infertile should look into these health conditions as a possible contribution to the issue.

5. Cycle Confusion

Women need to determine their own cycle, which may or may not follow the typical 28-day cycle taught in high school health classes. Once those women understand their own cycle a little better, their chances to conceive will be higher.

6. Being Over or Underweight

As much as women struggle with their body image, it is hard to hear that being too heavy or not weighing enough can both be reasons you have trouble getting pregnant. However, there is a lot of truth to this, as women who exercise too much and weigh very little may stop having their periods. Likewise, women who weigh too much can also see fertility issues. Women who always ask "why am I not getting pregnant?" should watch their diet and try to reach a good weight for their height and body type.

It is also important to note that the partner's sperm can be affected by being over or underweight as well. So even the papa-to-be should be conscious of his weight in order to improve chances of fertility.

7. Stress

The adrenal system is affected when you are focused on something important like trying to conceive. Therefore, women should stay with their regular routine and not take time off work or make other decisions that focus too much on the act of getting pregnant. What’s more, it is a long process may take up a year, so staying positive even when it is not meeting your hopes is very important to get pregnant. Adding art therapy, meditation, exercise and even counseling can help you retain calm and minimize stress so you can improve the chance of getting pregnant.

8. Smoking

The main reason smoking is not good for fertility is that it makes it take longer to conceive, because smoking both cigarettes and marijuana can lead to lower sperm counts in males, and for women who is addicted into nicotine, it can lead to irregular ovulation and infertility programs.

9. Sleep Deprivation

Getting enough sleep avoids unnecessary stress on the body as well. Men can have better immune systems and less damage to sperm while women have healthier reproductive cycles when they sleep enough.

10. Age

Women are born with approximately one to two million eggs. As women reach puberty, those eggs are down to around 300,000 in number and have decreased in quality gradually. Therefore, eggs become less and less, until women reach menopause at around the age of 51, there is no egg anymore.

What Can You Do?

When it comes to trying to get pregnant, one in 10 couples will experience issues with infertility. This can be due to any number of reasons. You may have learned about sex in the fifth grade, you may have been concerned about unplanned pregnancies in high school, but now that it's time that you want to conceive, it may not be as easy as you thought it would be.

• In order to address issues of infertility, it is a good idea (as mentioned above) to try to keep your body weight in an ideal range.
• Meanwhile, you should attempt to make a plan for sex, or try setting goals for sex oncertain days. You can pick out certain days of the cycle or simply opt for every other day after day 10.
• Try to use an ovulation prediction kit, which uses luteinizing hormone to let you know when you are about to ovulate. These kits provide instruction on when to test, how to test and provide the strips for testing for LH.
• Use fertility charting to know your ovulation by taking your temperature every morning.
• Check out the medicines which you and your partner always take, because some of them may have negative effects on fertility.
• Some women succeeded in pregnancy by taking some supplements such as Vitex and FertiliAid. Vitamin B6 also worked to improve pregnancy chances.
• If these methods can’t help you or you have further questions, just go and discuss with your doctors, and after some tests the doctor would give you more suggestions.

Hopefully, with this help there will no longer be a need to ask, why am I not getting pregnant?