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1 worry SECTION 2 • PAGE 10 - PLAINDEALER- Myths are a fact of parenting BvLidla Wasowlcz UPI science writer SAN FRANCISCO - It was with great expectations that Barbara Johnson tossed out the last of her birth control pills. She and her husband happily began planning for the baby's ar­ rival nine months hence. After all, they read that half of all American pregnancies are unwanted "ac­ cidents." How simple it should be for those who want a child. Convinced conception would follow almost instantaneously the act of unprotected sex, the couple made no other adjustments. They made love on the weekends. A month passed. Nothing happened. In the second month, they con­ ceived a new plan: sex every 24 hours, no excuses, no exceptions. To her astonishment and anguish, Johnson awoke with menstrual cramps on the 30th day. At the end of six months, de­ jected and certain of permanent infertility, the couple decided it was time to see a doctor. He reassured them they had no physical problems. He told them to begin again, relax, be patient and go to bed when it felt com­ fortable, beginning 10 days after Johnson's next period. "We never imagined it would be so tough," Johnson said. "After visiting the doctor, we saw how far off base we had gone in trying to do a simple thing." She missed her next period. The baby was a girl. The Johnsons are not unique. Fertility experts say about half of all fertile couples have enough trouble conceiving a child that they end up consulting a profes­ sional. "With all the focus on con­ traception and unwanted pregnan­ cy, there's this myth out there that we're very fertile," said Candice McKinnon, who teaches classes in fertility awareness at Planned Parenthoood in San Rafael, Calif. "When women reach the point where they decide to have a child, and it doesn't happen right away, we're all shocked." Lini Bodian, fertility consultant to Planned Parenthood, said, "We have so many women calling here after only three or four months of trying. We tell them not to and call back if nothing eight or nine months." Of 100 women having un­ protected sex for the first time, 15 will conceive the first month, another 70 within a year, another five by the end of the second year, -doctors said. Some 10 percent of American couples will remain in­ fertile. Conception time is cut in about half for subsequent pregnancies. Last year, of the 55 million American women of reproductive age, 6 million became pregnant, said Dr. Luella Klein, president of the American College of Obstetri­ cians and Gynecologists. Of these, 2.7 million planned the conception. While the total national birth rate has been climbing steadily -- 3.29 million births were reported in 1972, 3.68 million in 1982 -- the most dramatic increase has oc­ curred among women over 30, said officials at the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Md. The number of babies born to mothers in the 30-34 age group soared during the decade, from 375,001 to 605,273. The surge in babymaking has spawned a lucrative home pregnancy test market. In 1984, women spent $40 million on the $8- $12 kits, which are 96 percent ac­ curate in detecting pregnancy as early as three days after a missed period. "Why some women become pregnant with ease and others have to work at it remains a . mystery," said Dr. John Jarrett II, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Factors include age, anxiety, past abortions in later stages of pregnancy, long-term use of con­ traceptives and unusually ir* regular menstrual cycles. A woman's most fertile period is between ages 20 and 24, doctors said, and a first conception becomes more difficult after age 30. A Yale University study of 40 childless women found the time it takes to conceive at age 35 and older lengthens from an average of six months to m^re than two years. As the biological clock ticks away, anxiety may increase. "For nearly four years we'd been on a strict schedule of abstinence-performance, and I can testify that it had not been anything like a picnic," said Jola Osborne of London. "When I hit 30 the worry turned to panic. The pregnancy was as celebrated in our household as the royal wed­ ding." [ALP, l'EDNFSn*V I T F R P I U P V O f t t n o r THE PLAINDEALER-HERALD's NEWSSTAND PRICE IS GOING UP MARCH 1st. PRICE BUSTER SUBSCRIBE NOW, AND GET 4 WEEKS FREE! AND ANNUALLY, YOU CAN SAVE '10" OFF THE NEWSSTAND PRICE! Subscribe now thru March 1st and get 4 weeks FREE when you start a 12 week subscription. Plus you'll save even more over the newsstand price of 35<t per copy starting March 1st. So don't delay...and subscribe to your hometown paper today! Get the most in area news, school happenings, sport highlights, community features, advertising specials and coupons galore, 52 weeks a year! PLAINDEALER- HERALD 3812 W. ELM ST. 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