Overcoming infertility: How in vitro fertilisation is done

The journey of having a child is not as simple as ABC for all couples. It could take a long time for others to conceive because of certain medical conditions. However, couples need not rule out their desire to have a child completely, especially when there are a variety of options to go by today using top notch technology. 

In vitro-fertilisation is an option taken by some where the female egg is fertilized to the sperm outside of the body, mostly a test tube. Below are the steps. 

Step 1: Day 1 of your period

The first official day of your IVF treatment cycle is the first day of your period. You will consult with your nurse about your period cycle so they can identify the exact date after studying your body for a while. 

Step 2: Stimulating your ovaries

From the first day, the stimulation phase starts. For the next 8-14 days, you are put under medication to encourage the follicles in your ovaries  to produce more eggs. The medication is in the form of injections, which can vary from 1-2 for the cycle, or 1-2 per day. Some of the hormones in the medications used to stimulate the follicles are: follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH). The doctors keep an eye on your ovaries and how the follicles are developing with blood tests and ultrasounds. Your medication will be adjusted if needed. You will have some transvaginal ultrasounds. This monitoring helps to keep track as this step ends with a trigger injection meant to get the eggs ready for ovulation. 

Step 3: Egg retrieval

Egg retrieval, is where the eggs are collected from your ovaries. An anaesthetist will get you ready for a general anaesthetic and the procedure takes half an hour. The average number of eggs collected is 8-15. It's a delicate procedure, which after the collection you're able to be on your feet after half an hour. 

Step 4: The sperm

You can use a fresh or frozen sperm. If fresh, your partner can produce a sample in the morning of the egg retrieval. If frozen, the specialists will be able to use too. The seems are actually graded into four with the best sperm which is not fat nor thin and with a medium tail length is chosen. 

Step 5: Fertilisation

During this process, the eggs and some sperm are placed in a dish. They have the chance to find each other and fertilise like they would naturally within your body.

Step 6: Embryo development

The embryo is put in a special incubator for five to six days to develop cells as this will raise the chances of pregnancy when transfered. 

Stage 7: Embryo transfer

Your fertility specialist places the catheter through your cervix and into your uterus. This process of transferring the embryo to uterus takes five minutes and is simple. You won't need a aesthetician for it. 

Step 8: The final blood test

Two weeks after the embryo transfer, you'll be called to test whether you're pregnant or not. If successful, you're pregnant.

This procedure may be tedious at first but has a high success rate.