Fertility

If a couple has tried unsuccessfully to have a child for the last twelve months, one or both of them may be infertile and should consult a fertility doctor. If a woman is over 35 years old, she should consult a doctor after six months, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fertility is something that can falter in men and women due to environmental, genetic and lifestyle choices.

The number of women in the U.S. between the ages 15 and 44 with impaired fecundity are 7.3 million. That's nearly 11 percent of all females between those ages, according to the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth.

Because having a biological child is important to many couples, their doctor may suggest infertility treatments. These may be in the form of medication, surgery, artificial insemination or assisted reproductive technology, which removes an egg from a woman, fertilizes it, then implants the embryo into her body.

If only the woman is infertile, she may consider surrogacy. This means a woman agrees to become pregnant with the husband's sperm and then give the baby up for adoption to the parents.

If both people are infertile or do not want to have a surrogate mother, they may begin to consider adoption. However, many experts believe that a couple must first grieve for their loss of a biological child before they'll be considered good candidates for adopting.

Online forums and nonprofits like the American Fertility Association are great places for couples to find support before deciding to start a family via adoption.