In Vitro Fertilization (IVF): What Is It?

In Vitro Fertilization:
What Is It?

In Vitro Fertilization is when a woman's egg cells are fertilized with sperm outside of their body in a laboratory.
It is quite an involved process and is usually conducted when the couple has been unsuccessful with conception for a while, or if there is known factors preventing them to be able to become pregnant naturally, such as blocked fallopian tubes or problems with the male sperm reaching the fallopian tubes.

Check out this video that shows you how IVF works:

In vitro Fertilization (IVF) isn't a straight-forward procedure.

If you commit to a cycle of IVF you will be committing to a series of procedural steps that begin with:

Ovulation Stimulation

This is when your hormones are stimulated so that the ovaries will produce more than one egg per cycle, allowing the specialist to collect more than one egg. The eggs are monitored by way of an ultrasound or blood test to see how they are growing, and how many are growing. The size and quality of the egg does matter.

Egg Collection

Once your eggs are ripe enough for collection an ultrasound is conducted whereby a a very fine needle will be guided to the follicles holding the precious eggs.
The needle will pierce the follicle and all of the fluid in the follicle will be drained leaving the egg. You will probably be given a light anesthetic for this procedure.

Fertilization and Embryo Transfer

Once the eggs are collected, the male partner provides a sample of semen. This usually happens within 2 hours of the egg collection.
If you are having a standard IVF treatment, the eggs are mixed together with the washed sperm in a culture dish.

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Some couples may actually opt for Intra-cytopsmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) whereby a sperm is actually directly injected into the cytoplasm of the egg.

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If Fertilization Occurs

If the egg does indeed become fertilized by a sperm, the pre-embryo, or zygote will begin to develop. All of this is still happening outside of the human body in an incubator.
If the egg does become fertilized it will remain like this in the incubator for up to two days, during this time the pre-embryo should divide into two or four cells.

Embryo Transfer

After fertilization is confirmed, two or three hand selected embryos will be transferred into the female, where hopefully the body will take over and accept the eggs.
The transfer occurs using a soft fine catheter. This procedure isn't painful and in fact doesn't require anesthetic. It's comparable to receiving a pap smear.

The Two Week Wait

Regardless if you become pregnant naturally or through IVF, there is always the agonizing two week wait to see if you are pregnant! Basically, two weeks after the transfer a blood test will be taken to ascertain if you have become pregnant. Good-luck on your journey if you decide to go ahead with IVF! It has worked for many couples, so maybe it could work for you?