July 30, 2008
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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 may be recommended for a number of reasons including; age, other techniques have failed, the woman?s tubes are blocked or the infertility cannot be explained.
The In Vitro Fertilization process should go something like the method set out below but may differ slightly between clinics. At the start of your treatment your doctor gives you drugs to block the hormones your pituitary gland usually produces during your monthly 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.
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To monitor your developing eggs, vaginal ultrasound scans are taken as well as blood tests to ensure that the eggs are increasing the estrogen level. Another hormone injection will be given when the tests show the time is right to help the eggs mature. The eggs are collected between 34 and 38 hours after the injection is given so the timing for it is crucial. Ultrasound guidance is used to help collect the egg but it means you have to be given drugs or a general anesthetic to help you relax because it takes about 30 minutes.
It is now the male?s job to ensure that a fresh sperm sample is ready. After a short storage period the sperm are washed and spun at high speed to enable the most active and healthiest to be chosen. Sperm which has been donated is kept in a freezer but the same method for preparation is used. The process can take between 16 and 20 hours during which time the sperm and eggs are allowed to mix in a laboratory dish before they are inspected to find out if the fertilization was successful. Only those embryos that have fertilized successfully are kept and left for a further day to two days before a final inspection.
In order to help prepare your womb, pessaries, gel or an injection are given two days after your eggs have been collected.
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