By Jenny Rough

Sitting in a café, I was recounting to a friend a conversation I’d recently had with my doctor. “He wants to put me on fertility pills,” I said.

My doctor described the medication like this: “Think of your eggs as tomatoes and the pills as fertilizer. The tomatoes are ripening, getting plenty of sunshine and water, which is good, but the fertilizer will add —”

“— Poison,” I chimed in, cutting him off.

“Nourishment,” he corrected.

“Well, can’t I use organic compost instead?” I asked.

If Hollywood is any indication, there’s a trend among silver screen teen protagonists and the twenty-something starlets who play them to get pregnant before their biological clocks even begin to tick. But in reality women are waiting longer to reproduce. I’m one of them. And although 86 percent of women know at least one couple that has had trouble conceiving, most are surprised by their own fertility struggles. Again, moi.

Putting parenting off for a few years isn’t the only hurdle would-be moms are facing; the 80,000 (and counting) chemicals we are exposed to in the U.S. (including fertilizers) also play a role. But having kids needn’t be a dirty business — in fact, it has been done for millennia without the help of in vitro fertilization, epidurals or, for that matter, fertility pills. And thankfully, for the millions of women out there like me who are struggling to create and raise a healthy family, there are more effective natural options emerging every day — to aid us along through conception and beyond. Whether you are still just daydreaming about your bundle-of-joy-to-be, tending a bun in the oven or caring for your gurgling babe, we hope these holistic approaches bring you closer to parental bliss.