The IVF Process:
Learn what is involved with In-Vitro Fertilization

The IVF Process is quite intricate and involved. It is also expensive, but if you can't have a baby naturally and it works for you, than you would be more than happy to go through it all I'm sure.Put simply, IVF is when a woman egg cell is fertilized with sperm, outside of the body in a laboratory.
If you can't get pregnant for a number of reasons, such as having blocked fallopian tubes or other problems like if the male doesn't have a high sperm count or has sperm that isn't very motile and unable to reach the fallopian tubes, than this could be your answer to getting pregnant.
Deciding to do IVF is a big commitment financially and emotionally. Basically this is the process you will go through if you decide to go ahead with IVF.
Firstly you will need to attend a fertility clinic or see a fertility specialist who will go over everything with you.
They will want to know your history and details such as how long you have been trying to get pregnant. Initially they may want to try other less complicated treatments, procedures or medicines that may help you get pregnant before trying IVF.
IVF isn't always the first solution to pregnancy, in fact in fertility centers IVF is usually one of the last options.

Check out this short video about the 5 phases of IVF, so you can gauge the full IVF Process:

Here's the IVF process in full:

Firstly the doctor or specialist will need to ascertain when you are going to ovulate.

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

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?
The IVF process can be a lot to handle, but if the outcome is a baby that you probably couldn't have achieved naturally, than you will never regret trying it out.