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Reproductive Center Visitation Tips – What to Expect from In Vitro Fertilization

Do you know what to expect once you contact a reproductive center about going through in vitro fertilization? This can be a scary step if you are struggling to conceive naturally, and especially if you have already been told that you will be unable to conceive a child naturally. If the problem is unknown or lies with your partner rather than your own eggs, there is a chance that you could use IVF to conceive a child and give birth with your own body.

Many women take natural childbirth very seriously. They want the pleasure of carrying their child in their womb and bonding with them for ten months prior to pushing them out and officially meeting them in human form. If this is what is important to you as well, then you cannot give up on your dream to have children without visiting a reproductive center and at least considering in vitro fertilization.

What Is IVF?

The in vitro fertilization process involves collecting eggs from a woman and sperm from a man and fertilizing the eggs with the sperm outside of a woman’s body. Once this procedure is done, the eggs are placed into the woman’s body where they will hopefully attach to the lining of the uterus and start growing. Many people use IVF because the male in the relationship does not have healthy sperm to conceive naturally, but that is not always the case.

For instance many same-sex couples will conceive by having donor sperm united with one woman’s eggs and then placed into one of the mother’s bodies. Anonymous and donor sperm will be used in many cases of IVF.

What Can You Expect?

The journey into IVF always starts with a booked appointment with a local reproductive center. Do not get nervous, since you will not go through with IVF on the very first appointment. The first appointment will be a simple consultation where a doctor analyzes your situation and determines whether you are best suited to in vitro fertilization, or if there may be other options open to you.

You may be encouraged to try to conceive naturally for a longer period of time, you may be given fertility testing, and you may be told right off that IVF could work for you. What happens in the reproductive center will be determined by your own body and the type of infertility you are working with. You will also be able to ask questions about the procedure and discuss options for paying for the procedure, since it is not cheap for most people. You should find out whether your insurance will cover any of the procedure prior to going to this consultation.

Once you are approved for the procedure and decide it is the right move for you, the procedure will start with medication to stimulate ovulation. This medication will coax your body into producing eggs, and may allow you to release multiple eggs so they can be collected at once. The more eggs you collect, the more chances you have at successfully conceiving a baby through IVF. You should now understand why you have a higher chance of producing multiple babies with IVF!

There is a bit of a time rush to get your eggs collected in the reproductive center once you have successfully ovulated. It is important to time everything so the healthy sperm is available at the center when the eggs are ready to be fertilized. Once eggs and sperm are in the laboratory, the process of fertilization can be started. The perfect environment for conception is simulated in the lab so you have as good of a chance as possible of achieving fertilization.

The (hopefully) fertilized eggs are then placed back into your body and you will hopefully take a pregnancy test with good results in the near future. It is possible you can have extra eggs stored just in case your first round with IVF does not work or you want more children in the future.