In Vitro fertilization is the proper medical name for what the press dubbed ‘test tube babies’ many years ago. The process involves sperm from a woman’s partner or a donor being placed in a dish with eggs that have been removed from her ovaries and fertilizing them before being placed in her womb. In Vitro Fertilization is recommended if you are an older woman, have been diagnosed with unexplained infertility, those whose tubes are blocked, or if other techniques have been unsuccessful.

Methods of IVF will invariably differ a little from clinic to clinic but should proceed along these lines. Your doctor will give some drugs to block the hormones normally released during the menstrual cycle. Blocking the hormones helps the doctor have greater control over your egg production. After this your ovaries are stimulated by drugs to create more than one egg.

Symptoms After IVF...

It’s important that levels of estrogen produced by the eggs are monitored so a combination of blood tests and vaginal ultrasound scans are used. As soon as the tests show that the time is right, you will have another injection of a different hormone to help your eggs mature. Timing is crucial, as you must have this injection 34-38 hours before your eggs are collected - this may mean you having it last thing at night. Eggs are usually collected by ultrasound guidance which takes around 30 minutes and you are either given a drug to make you drowsy or a general anesthetic.

It’s about this time that the man must produce some fresh sperm. To make sure that the best sperm are used for the process, the sample is washed and then spun at high speed, this will give the healthiest and the most active sperm. With donated sperm, the process is the same but the sample is taken from the freezer. Once that has been completed the sperm is mixed with the eggs in a dish and left for between 16 to 20 hours and then checked to see if they have been fertilized. Any that haven’t, or any that have fertilized abnormally, are discarded and the remaining embryos are then left for another 24-48 hours before being checked again.

In order to help prepare your womb, pessaries, gel or an injection are given two days after your eggs have been collected.

Symptoms After IVF

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