The success of IVF has increased from 5% to over 45%
Since IVF was pioneered in the late 1970s, advances in technology have increased the success rates of the procedure drastically. Not all cases of infertility end up in the hands of IVF. In fact, over 85-90% of cases can be treated by conventional therapies like medication or surgery.
There’s even a few other options (like IUI) that couples have prior to considering IVF if it’s appropriate for their specific situation.
If you’re in the dark about what IVF is, like I was, I’ll break it down for you into 5 easy stages in the lingo I understand it in 😉
- Stimulation – AKA pump you full of fertility drugs to increase the number of eggs that your body produces. Your body usually produces one egg per cycle, IVF requires multiple, so the meds tell your body to create LOTS. There’s a lot of blood tests and ultrasounds during this time to know when the time’s right to “trigger” so they can retrieve)
- Egg retrieval – This is a surgical procedure with anesthesia, needles, and an ultrasound wand to go into your ovary and into an egg-containing follicle. The needle suctions eggs and fluid out of each follicle.
- Insemination with ICSI- in our case they will need to take the sperm and inject it directly into the egg.
- Embryo Culture- The fertilized eggs will be monitored to ensure they are dividing and developing.
- Transfer- After 3-5 days of fertilization, you undergo another procedure where the fertilized egg is implanted into the uterus with hopes of implanting itself in the uterine wall. Usually, a blood test within 6-10 days can determine whether or not your pregnant.
This is extremely simplified, and there are so many more moving parts to it than it sounds. It’s a process that is months long (depending on your situation and doctor) for one egg retrieval and one embryo transfer.
As you heard in my Be Unstoppable Radio interview with Chyrelle, it’s not always as simple as one round of IVF to get the job done.
They had a 22% chance of success after 4 transfers.
They had less than a 2% chance that two embryos would take on her final transfer.
The crazy part?! TWO EMBRYOS TOOK! She now has beautiful twin babies! A boy and a girl that will turn 2 this year!
Miracles happen every single day!
If you know someone in a similar situation, spread the love and share the word with this post and help others feel the support they need during a difficult time.
Love, Cass
