Can You Get Pregnant With One Ovary?

I loved Sex and the City and one of my favorite storylines was when Miranda got pregnant. I remember her saying she only had one ovary and Steve only had one testicle, so the baby was a miracle. If you're caught up in television magic, you may wonder, "can I get pregnant if I only have one ovary, too?" Or is that like dragons and super attractive viking vampires and only possible on HBO?

According to Ask Alice at Columbia University, when an ovary is removed or damaged, the other ovary becomes a super ovary, doing the work of both. It's like one ovary is the dedicated lab partner, doing all the work, showing up on time, making a person bleed for five to seven days after eating everything in the house. (Or ovulating/releasing an egg to get a period, whatever.) And the other ovary just doesn't even join the WhatsApp group to find out the assignments.

The ovary that is left behind, according to Ask Alice, can indeed function well enough for a woman to get pregnant. However, according to Healthline, because this ovary is getting such a workout, women with only one ovary may be more likely to enter early menopause than women with two functioning ovaries, so it might be harder to get pregnant if you wait until you're older to start your family.

If you're wondering "can I get pregnant if I only have one ovary?" it's possible. But because there are some studies that show it might be harder to conceive for women with one ovary as compared to women with two, Steady Health suggested that women with a single ovary or bilateral ovarian failure seek out the guidance of a reproductive endocrinologist to help them in their journey to become parents. They can provide you with helpful information and determine if any additional steps should be taken to help you conceive.

It turns out Steve and Miranda could've gotten pregnant just as the show's storyline showed — women with only one ovary can get pregnant. Now if only I could find myself a family of dragon eggs to raise, I'd finally believe the rest of what HBO has told me.