It is a bit scary to think about going into a reproductive center to discuss in vitro fertilization for the first time. If you have already been told that having a child with your partner is not possible without IVF or you have been struggling for a long time without conceiving, it can be very scary to go in and see if IVF will work for you. The good news is that many women who have unknown fertility issues or who are healthy but with partners without healthy sperm often do conceive healthy babies through IVF.

Many woman cannot imagine having a child without a natural childbirth through their own bodies. 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 you are dreaming of having a baby through natural childbirth, you have to consider in vitro fertilization before you give up the dream.

What Is IVF?

In vitro fertilization, or IVF, is the process of collecting a woman’s eggs and a man’s sperm and putting them together for conception in a laboratory. 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. This is often done in cases where a woman wants to have a baby with a man without healthy sperm, but there are many other situations in which it is useful.

It is very common for women who want to have children together to use IVF and donor sperm to conceive. In most of the cases, donor sperm (known or anonymous) will be used to bring the pregnancy to fruition.

What to Expect from IVF

The journey into IVF always starts with a booked appointment with a local reproductive center. You will not be doing your procedure the first day you walk into the center. 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.

In some cases they will know right away whether you are a good fit for IVF, but in other cases you may be put through further testing or may even be advised to give natural conception more of a chane. It depends on your particular situation and the type of infertility problems you are experiencing. Write down all of your questions prior to going in for this procedure, and be prepared to talk about options for paying for the procedure if you decide to go through with it. If you think your insurance might cover part of your payment for the procedure, it is important to check with your insurance carrier prior to going to this first consultation.

Once you have agreed to have IVF through a reproductive center, you will be given medication to stimulate ovulation. The medication will stimulate the release of your eggs, and hopefully you will release multiple eggs. In most cases, you want to work with as many eggs as possible so you have as many chances of conceiving as possible. It should now be obvious why so many people who go through with IVF end up with twins, triplets, or even seven to eight babies.

There is a bit of a time rush to get your eggs collected in the reproductive center once you have successfully ovulated. They should also have the healthy sperm that you want to use for the conception at or by this time. Once eggs and sperm are in the laboratory, the process of fertilization can be started. In order to encourage fertilization, the right environment is set up when combining the eggs and sperm.

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. In some cases, you may have additional eggs waiting in case a pregnancy doesn’t occur on the very first attempt with IVF.