How does IVF work?

ain · November 27, 2009, 9:20pm

One cycle of IVF takes a month. You begin with injectible hormones that stimulate the ovaries to produce many eggs. The injections are daily for about 10 to 12 days and the woman is carefully monitored (usually every other day) by ultrasound to check the ovaries and egg growth.

When the eggs are ripe, the doc removes the healthy-sized eggs with a needle. The eggs are transferred to a lab where a lab tech injects each egg with one sperm. The fertilized eggs are then placed in an incubator and monitored for growth. After about 10 days, the eggs are checked for health and genetics and successful growth. Depending on the woman’s history the docs then prepare 2 or 3 of the good eggs for transfer. The rest are frozen for future use. The good eggs are injected thru the cervix into the uterus where hopefully one of them successfully implants and creates a pregnancy. Twins are fairly common because of the number of fertilized eggs that are transferred. And they do not allow gender choice.

It’s not 10 days – in my case only three days. And some case only 5 days.