Did you ever notice how your sex education classes focused on how not to get pregnant? By the time you want to try and have a baby, you rack your brains and find you hadn't learned a thing.
A new National Survey by Fertility Centers of Illinois of 1,208 women ages 25-45 without children in the U.S. uncovered a strong desire and need for infertility education. Here are just five of the key takeaways:
1. Most Women Want it Mentioned in OB-GYN visits.
"Tick tock," is not something women want their gynecologists to say—not in that insensitive way, anyway. But don't worry, your doc probably won't bring it up at all! Did you know that conversations about fertility are supposed to be initiated by the patient, not the doctor, according to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists? But how are you supposed to talk about your fertility if you don't know there's something to talk about, or think about yet? Sheesh, even my tax accountant would ask me if I'd met anyone yet or wanted to have kids.
Approximately 89 percent of respondents agree that infertility education should be mentioned at an OB-GYN visit. (If someone would have explained to me in my 20s how few days I was actually fertile, I could have saved so many days of worrying I was unwantedly knocked up!)
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2. Sex Education Should Talk About Fertility, Too
For years, "Sex Education" has been synonymous with "Pregnancy Prevention."
But what if it actually were education: Like not just about the biomechanics, but about love, lust, relationships, and baby-making. Now that would be a class I'd pay attention to! And it seems most people agree as79 percent of respondents feel conception education should be included in sex education classes.
More than half the women over 35 years old said they would have made different life choices if they had known about infertility at a younger age.
3. Why Didn't You Tell Me About Problems?
Almost half of the women in the survey never heard of the fact that your ovarian reserve declines after age 35, miscarriage rates increase and pregnancy is considered high risk. A third of the women didn't know anyone struggling with infertility (interesting, since one in eight couples have trouble conceiving and some 7.4 women have had infertility services.)
4. To Freeze or Not to Freeze
The good news is that only 8 percent of respondents never heard of egg freezing. The bad news is that 49 percent had heard of it but didn't know much about it. Only 36 percent knew a little bit, and 7 percent knew a lot. Still, only 40 percent might have frozen their eggs if they'd known it was more challenging for women over 35 to conceive.
RELATED: Celebs Who Have Struggled With Infertility
5. Regrets? We've Had a Few
More than half the women over 35 years old said they would have made different life choices if they had known about infertility at a younger age.
Many of the respondents, when asked if they "had a chance to do it all over again" said they would have had children when they were younger—47 percent would have had at least one kid, 25 percent would've had two. Only 41 percent said they wouldn't have had any when they were younger.
The takeaway? If you're ever considering having kids one day, it's never too early to start a conversation with your doctor. Even if you don't know what to talk about. Open the door and put the ball in her court.
