Let me count the ways...

I found this information today and thought it was interesting. I’m not sure if it gives me hope (knowing there a million things that could go wrong, so maybe there really isn’t anything wrong with me,) or makes me feel worse that there are so MANY things that have to fall perfectly in place before a pregnancy can even happen!

There are probably hundreds of "causes" of infertility. What this means is that there are a lot of things that have to happen perfectly in order to conceive and have a baby.
As an overly simplified example of the science involved:


The hormones that stimulate egg development must be made in the brain and pituitary and be released properly
The egg must be of sufficient quality and be chromosomally normal
The egg must develop to maturity
The brain must release a sufficient surge of the LH hormone to stimulate final maturation of the egg
The follicle (eggs develop in structures called follicles in the ovaries) must rupture and release the follicular fluid and the egg
The tube must "pick up" the egg
The sperm must survive their brief visit in the vagina, enter the cervical mucous, swim to the fallopian tube and "find" the egg
The sperm must be able to get through the cumulus cells around the egg and bind the shell (zona pellucida) of the egg
The sperm must undergo a biochemical reaction and release their DNA package (23 chromosomes) into the egg
The fertilized egg must be able to divide
The early embryo must continue to divide and develop normally
After 3 days, the tube should have transported the embryo down into the uterus
The embryo must continue to develop and expand into a blastocyst
The blastocyst must hatch out of its shell
The endometrial lining of the uterus must be properly developed and receptive
The hatched blastocyst must attach to the endometrial lining and "implant"
Many more miracles in early embryonic and fetal development must then follow...


A weak link anywhere in this chain will cause failure to conceive

AND that doesn't even take into account the process of "doing it" on the right day, and making sure the sperm is in the fallopian tube during those 12 hours of the egg being released!!