If you’ve been trying to get pregnant for over a year and you’ve had no luck, you might now be considering other options, such as IVF. The whole IVF process can seem overwhelming so it’s best you have an idea of what will happen. Are you asking yourself how does fertility treatment work? Well, hopefully, this fertility treatment guide will help. Knowing what to expect will hopefully make it a little bit easier for you and your family and may ease some stress of the stress.
How To Prepare For Your First Consultation Visit
For your initial consultation, bring along any medical records with you, as you’ll be asked about your medical history to help determine the right treatment for you. You may also be asked about your previous attempts to get pregnant, so it’s best to jot any details down ready for the meeting. It’s also advised you bring a notepad and a list of any questions to ask.
What To Expect From Your First Consultation Visit
You should also expect to have some tests done during this visit to help discover what the issue could be, for example:
- Women will have blood tests to check the hormones in the blood and their ovaries
- Women will also have an ultrasound scan or an x-ray taken to check for any blockages which could be preventing conceiving
- Men may need to have their semen’s quality checked, this is done by the men giving a semen sample
So, What Are The Next Steps?
According to the NHS, there are six steps of IVF treatment.
Step 1
You will be given medication which will suppress your natural menstrual cycle, this allows the following medicines to take more of an effect. This medication is to be taken for two weeks in the form of a nasal spray or a daily injection.
Step 2
After you’ve finished your natural cycle, you will be given a fertility hormone to take once a day for 10 to 12 days via an injection. The fertility hormone, known as follicle stimulating hormone, makes your ovaries produce more eggs meaning more can be collected and fertilised.
Step 3
You will have frequent vaginal ultrasound scans to check on your ovaries throughout your course of treatment. Following this, between 34 to 38 hours before you have your eggs collected, you will have a final hormone injection to help your eggs mature.
Step 4
For the next step, you will be sedated for a 20 minute minor procedure where your eggs will be collected. A needle is passed through the vagina and into each ovary. At this time, your partner will be asked to give a sperm sample, from this, the most active sperm is collected.
Step 5
Next, the eggs are mixed with your partner’s sperm and are checked if they’ve fertilised after 20 hours. After growing for 6 days in the laboratory, the best 2 embryos will be transferred into the womb. Before being transferred, the lining of the womb is prepared to receive the embryo by hormone medicines.
Step 6
Finally, the embryos are transferred into the womb with a simple procedure.
