In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a fertility treatment in which eggs and sperm are combined in our embryology lab to create embryos. Then, the highest-quality embryos are transferred to your womb to grow and develop.

An IVF cycle involves multiple phases. First, you will take medication for approximately two weeks that stimulates your ovaries to produce eggs. Then, you will be given an injection that triggers ovulation and prepares your body for the next step: egg retrieval.

Egg retrieval is a brief outpatient procedure that requires anesthesia. While you are asleep, your doctor will obtain eggs from your body. Later, in our embryology lab, these eggs will be combined with your partner’s or donor’s semen sample to create embryos. Our lab director and your physician will monitor these embryos for several days as they grow, identifying the highest-quality candidates to be transferred back into your body. 

The embryo transfer process only takes a few minutes and does not require anesthesia. Your doctor will insert a catheter into your uterus and guide the embryos into your womb. Then, approximately two weeks later, we will perform a pregnancy test in our office to see whether this IVF cycle was successful. Sometimes, it can take several IVF cycles for conception to occur.

If you are interested in IVF, please contact our team at 573-817-3101.