Image: If you and your partner are exploring options to grow your family, talk to a doctor about IVF!
When it comes to starting a family, it isn’t always as easy as inserting tab A into slot B. Whether it’s a problem with a gent’s little swimmers, a lady’s eggs, or something else entirely, infertility can seem like an enormous barrier between you and your dreams of 2.5 kids. Luckily, those dreams don’t have to disappear! Modern medicine has brought us in vitro fertilization, or IVF.
And no, IVF isn’t science fiction! Since 1978, hundreds of thousands of children have been born every year as a result of IVF.
IVF involves four basic processes:
- Stimulating multiple follicles in the woman’s body to develop eggs
- Retrieving said eggs
- Fertilizing the eggs in a laboratory
- Transferring the resulting embryo to the uterus
Entering the Testing Period
Doctors at fertility clinics perform a variety of tests on both potential parents before beginning the IVF process. Through blood tests, antral follicle counts, and other testing, doctors determine how fertile the uterus involved is. Because infertility can happen in both males and females, doctors will also test the man’s production of sperm—it’s important to make sure both partners are up to the task of making a baby!
For men struggling with infertility, Vasectomy Reversal USA offers plenty of services that can get them on the road to parenthood. These services include sperm retrieval and treatments for erectile dysfunction and intracytoplasmic sperm injection, a process by which sperm is injected directly into the eggs.
Stimulating the Follicles, or: Making Eggs
Assuming there are no issues discovered during the testing period, the woman is injected with medications that help develop multiple follicles in the ovaries. The growth and development of eggs is monitored for about 8-10 days to make sure everything is on track. Monitoring includes blood and ultrasound testing.
At this point, doctors want to see multiple follicles to develop, since not all the eggs will be successfully fertilized. The target number to develop is 3, and 90-95% of women under 40 with no extraneous issues can do this quite easily.
Going on an Egg Hunt
Once the follicles are mature, doctors use a transvaginal, ultrasound-guided egg retrieval process to remove the eggs without harming them. This procedure takes an average of about 10 minutes and is performed with the patient under anesthesia—so there’s no pain or discomfort.
She Blinded Me with Science
Once the eggs are removed, it’s off to the lab to fertilize them with the partner’s sperm. The developing embryos are cultured for two to six days in a scientific incubator. If the sperm or eggs are of low quality, the earlier steps might be repeated.
Risks, Rewards, and Realizing Your Dreams
The rewards of a successful IVF process are clear: a new baby for your growing family! That’s a pretty big, wonderful reward. But IVF does have some side effects, the majority of which are fairly mild. Women who have recently undergone IVF treatment may experience mild bruising or soreness at the injection site, nausea, temporary allergic reactions (like red, itchy skin at the injection site), or breast tenderness and vaginal discharge. Women might also experience mood swings.
Some risks of the procedure are more serious. The IVF process could cause injury to organs near the ovaries, which could require surgery; the patient may also develop mild to severe pelvic infections. In rare cases, surgery may be required to address these.
Regarding a pregnancy from IVF, women are more likely to have multiple births (twins, triplets, etc.). Expectant mothers might also experience preterm labor or gestational diabetes. It is also important to note that while the risk of birth defects with IVF pregnancies are low, they are slightly higher than with fertile patients, about 3%. The rate of miscarriage with IVF is as low as 15% for women in their 20s, but it’s more than 50% for women in their 40s.
Make sure you understand the balance between risk and reward with IVF—but the reward really is life-changing.
Coming Home
Once an embryo has sufficiently developed, it’s placed in the uterus, where it will hopefully implant and develop into a healthy, happy baby. Implanting the embryo is a bit like a pap smear and shouldn’t involve much pain or discomfort. Most women are up and at ‘em the very next day. And in nine months—give or take—the stork should be by for a visit!
It’s important to talk to both your partner and your doctor about the benefits and potential risks of IVF. In particular, you’ll want to get information about the typical birth rates for people in your age range and in similar physical condition. As with any medical procedure, there are potential side effects. But in most cases, IVF is an absolutely viable option for couples who want to have a family and aren’t about to let any road blocks get in their way!