Choosing the right fertility clinic can be a difficult decision. You want to find a place that provides effective treatment with compassionate staff and clear pricing. It’s also important to choose a clinic that offers excellent emotional support and seamless administrative processes.
During your IVF cycle, you will receive injectable hormone medications to encourage your ovarian follicles to mature and release eggs. This process is called ovarian stimulation. The type, dosage and frequency of these medications is tailored to each patient based on their medical history, age and AMH (anti-mullerian hormone) level.
The next step in the IVF process is egg retrieval. During this procedure, a fertility specialist inserts a thin needle into the ovary to retrieve the eggs. This procedure usually takes about 15 minutes and is done while you’re asleep under anesthesia. Once the eggs are retrieved, your doctor will attempt to fertilize them with semen that you provide or from donated sperm. On average, about 70% of the mature eggs will fertilize.
Once the fertilized eggs are ready to be transferred, your physician will insert a catheter into your uterus. A member of your healthcare team will then insert the washed sperm into the uterus, where they will be introduced to the fertilized eggs.
After the embryo transfer, your doctor will take a blood test to confirm that you’re pregnant. It may take up to 2 weeks for the pregnancy test to be accurate. You may need to take daily shots of progesterone for the first 8-10 weeks after the embryo transfer to help the lining of your uterus prepare for the pregnancy.