IVF is often referred to as in vitro fertilization, and is the process of gathering eggs from a woman's ovaries and combining it with sperm from a male.
The egg is fertilized in a lab and after it has matured some it is then transferred back into the woman's uterus which will hopefully lead to pregnancy.
Children that are a result of this procedure are often referred to as test tube babies and for a woman, the IVF procedure can be draining physically, emotionally, and mentally.
There are going to be check-ups done before the process is started and you will be required to take a series of fertility drugs to help your ovaries mature over time.
You are going to be under the supervision of a doctor as you will be going through a change in your blood and hormone levels.
The following stages in in vitro fertilization include collecting the mature eggs and transferring them into the woman.
You will be put under with anesthesia and a fine needle is used and an ultrasound is utilized as well.
The vaginal wall is pierced with this thin needle and fluid is gathered which contain the eggs.
There are about 10-20 eggs that are selected for this process.
Once they are collected, they are combined with the male's sperm, and if the sperm count is too low, sperm is directly placed in the eggs.
Once this fuse is finalized, the eggs are kept in the lab in a petri-dish or an incubator to allow them to become fertilized for an average of 2 days.
This is going to give adequate amount of time for embryos to form, and of the selected eggs, the ones that look the best are selected for injection.
There may be some embryos that are kept in the lab for future use and are often times frozen.
These are great for hanging onto in the lab in case the first cycle fails.
The final stage consists of the embryos being implanted into the uterus.
A thin catheter or tube is used to do this and it is inserted not the cervix for best results.
Depending on fertility issues of the woman as well as the age, this is going to determine the amount of eggs that are injected.
Once the eggs have been injected, you are going to be able to go about your daily activities.
After about 2 weeks, you will be asked to come back in for a check-up to see how things are going.
You will be given a pregnancy test to see if the procedure helped and resulted in a pregnancy.
There are some rare complications with this procedure, however, one risk that comes with multiple eggs is multiple pregnancies.
Sometimes women experience twins or even triplets.
There are other risks associated with in vitro fertilization such as infectious sperm, but this is again rare.