What Happens at an IVF Clinic
About IVF Clinic
During an IVF cycle, you will take injectable hormones to encourage multiple eggs to develop. Your fertility specialist may then inseminate those eggs with sperm from your partner or a donor to create embryos. Some of these embryos will be frozen for future use.
Your doctor will carefully monitor the development of your embryos. They must overcome significant hurdles to reach the blastocyst stage, a normal embryo that is ready for transfer into your uterus. Only about 50% of fertilized embryos develop to this stage. On average, only one of these embryos will result in a pregnancy.
The success rate of your IVF cycle depends on many different factors. Your age, previous fertility treatment and genetic history are all considered. In addition, the number of transferred embryos is important. SART, in conjunction with the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, publishes guidelines on the optimal number of embryos to transfer based on your individual characteristics.
After your follicles reach the right size, you will receive an injection of hormones, called the trigger shot. About 34 to 36 hours later, you will undergo a procedure that is called egg retrieval. A fertility specialist uses ultrasound images to guide a long, thin needle through your vagina into the follicles (also known as sacs) that contain the eggs.
Some clinics include the cost of an egg retrieval in their base fee. Others will charge extra for it. Most will also perform a mock transfer, in which the doctors mimic what they will do during the actual transfer, but with no embryo on the catheter. This helps them determine what type of catheter to use and where to steer it when the time comes for the real thing.