In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)
During IVF you are given medications, which manipulate your ovaries and the eggs being produced. The idea is to try and get several eggs to mature, not just one or two. The follicles where the eggs are developing can be monitored by ultrasound and by measuring your estrogen levels. When the eggs are mature, they are taken from the ovaries (using a fine needle which is passed through the vagina under ultrasound guidance) and handed to the embryologist. The eggs are then fertilized with your partner’s sperm (or, in some instances, donor sperm).
The fertilized eggs (embryos) are then cultured under very strict conditions and examined each day by the embryologist to assess their progress. On the fifth day the embryologist assesses the embryos and then we decide how many to transfer inside the uterus (embryo transfer).
