IVF - How does it work?

Question

How does IVF work? What do the scientists do and stuff?

I read some other questions and they went on about IUI and cycles and that just makes no sense to me...

And I tried Wikipedia but I can't understand that either!

Please help!

Answer 1

IVF is a tricky procedure that is expensive and not guaranteed to work. one round will cost about $20,000 total if your insurance doesn't cover it. it's not guaranteed because what they do is that they give the female drugs so she'll superovulate (release more than one egg) which i have heard is extremelly painful and pms is like 100 times worse, but that is what i've heard, not fact. then you will go back to the doctor and they use a big needle to suck up all the eggs. i read in the other post that they put u under. not always. they can just use a local anesthetic so you may see it and feel a pressure but should feel no pain. then they take a s***n sample from the male and under a vaccuumed microscope they fertilize as many eggs as possible. they then put the eggs in an environment that allows the eggs to continue to develop. some survive, some don't. just like in the body. if a genetic mutation occurs the embryo goes into self destruct mode. then out of the surviving embryos they send them all back into the female. then everyone hopes that at least one implants, but because they are sending more than one embryo back in, the chance of having multiples is greatly increased for IVF patients. then if one implants, you are considered pregnant.

Answer 2

IVF and IUI are two completely different procedures.

Basically, with IVF the women takes a number of fertility medications.  The medications cause her body to produce many eggs (in a typical cycle most women only have one mature eggs).  The doctors do a lot of monitoring with bloodtests and ultrasounds to see when the eggs are nearing maturity.  They then put the woman under anesthesia and use a hollow point needle to remove the eggs.  The partner or sperm donor will contribute a sperm sample and the doctors will use the sample to fertilize the eggs in the lab.  They will monitor the growth and once the cells divide properly, they will place the embryos back into the woman's uterus.  She then waits to see whether or not they implant and start to grow inside leading to pregnancy.

Here is a link to IVF info:

http://www.ivf.com/overview.html

In an IUI, they sometimes use fertility meds but not all the time.  There is no need for anesthesia as they simply take the s***n sample and use a catheter to inject it in the woman's cervix.  It is similar to sexual intercourse except that they have prepared the s***n sample (washed it and left behind the best swimmers) and placed it in the cervix which is much closer to the eggs . . . and hopefully will lead to the egg and sperm meeting and resulting in pregnancy.  An IUI is much less expensive and much less intense than an IVF cycle.

Here is a link to more info on an IUI:

http://www.fertilityplus.org/faq/iui.htm...

Hope this helps!