How is IVF Treatment Performed?

How is IVF treatment performed?

You will be given fertility drugs to stimulate your ovaries which will help to develop several mature eggs. During a normal cycle you may only produce one egg so taking these fertility drugs will you increase your chances of becoming pregnant.

These drugs will essentially switch off your menstrual cycle in order for hormone injections to then stimulate ovulation. These hormone drugs can give some strong side effects so you will be closely monitored by the medical staff who are looking after your case. Your doctor will be able to detect when your eggs are mature and at this point they will be ready to be retrieved. This process involves you being given a sedation anaesthetic which makes you drowsy but still conscious to enable the doctor to remove your eggs. Dont worry you will not be able to feel or remember the procedure.

If you are a married heterosexual couple during this procedure your husband will be asked to give a fresh sperm sample. If you are a single woman or lesbian couple you will use frozen sperm. In both of these cases the sperm will be washed to extract the best quality sperm to fertilise the eggs. The sperm is then combined with the eggs and cultured in an incubator. These samples will be checked over the next few days to see if the eggs have been fertilised resulting in an embryo. Hopefully several of your eggs will have been fertilised leaving you with more than one embryo for future use. The healthiest embryo can then be inserted into your uterus.

After your eggs have been extracted you will take progesterone hormone which helps to thicken the lining of your uterus. The healthy embryos will then be transferred into your uterus using a thin catheter threaded through your cervix. Legally up to three embryos will be allowed to be implanted to prevent the risk of multiple pregnancy. The number implanted will depend on your ageand fertility condition.

Women aged under 40 can have a maximum of two embryos transferred to the womb however women over 40 can have three embryos per cycle due to a smaller chance of conceiving with their own eggs. For women using donated eggs only two can be transferred. If the cycle is successful one or more of the embryos will implant in your uterus and continue to grow. You will be asked to do a pregnancy test two weeks after the embryos have been transferred.

Further Reading:

Will I be able to have IVF?
Do I have to pay for IVF?
What are the IVF success rates?

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