In-Vitro Fertilization, And So It Begins.

I have PCOS. It will be two years in March since I first started trying to get pregnant. I tried on my own for 6 months, nothing. I went to the doctor's for 10 months, no pregnancy. I haven't gone for about  7 months, still nothing. I am going to the Doc's monday to talk to him about this:

Infertility is the inability of a couple to become pregnant (regardless of cause) after 1 year of unprotected sexual intercourse —using no birth control methods.
Infertility affects about 6.1 million people in the United States, about 10% of men and women of reproductive age. New and advanced technologies to help a woman become pregnant include in vitro fertilization (IVF), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), and other similar procedures. 

IVF was used successfully for the first time in the United States in 1981. More than 250,000 babies have been born since then as a result of using the in vitro fertilization technique. IVF offers infertile couples a chance to have a child who is biologically related to them.

With IVF, a method of assisted reproduction, a man's sperm and the woman's egg are combined in a laboratory dish, where fertilization occurs. The resulting embryo is then transferred to the woman’s uterus (womb) to implant and develop naturally. Usually, 2-4 embryos are placed in the woman’s uterus at one time. Each attempt is called a cycle.  

The term test tube baby is often used to refer to children conceived with this technique. The first so-called test tube baby, Louise Brown, reached age 25 years in 2003. She was born in England. 

Less than 5% of infertile couples actually use IVF. IVF is usually the treatment of choice for a woman with blocked, severely damaged, or no fallopian tubes. IVF is also used to overcome infertility caused by endometriosis or problems with the man’s sperm (such as low sperm count). Couples who simply can’t conceive and have tried other infertility methods that have not worked for them can also try IVF.

This is how the procedure takes place:

• The woman may be given certain drugs (hormones) to stimulate her ovaries to produce several eggs before the procedure to remove them.


• A surgeon then inserts a needle through the vagina into the woman’s ovary to remove eggs. This procedure used to be done with laparoscopic surgery, but the needle technique is much less invasive and much easier. General anesthesia is not required for this part of the procedure, but the woman may be given some sedating medication.


• The fluid removed is examined in the laboratory to make sure eggs are present.


• At the same time, the man provides a semen sample. He is asked not to have sexual intercourse for a few days before the eggs are retrieved from the woman and before he produces a semen sample (usually by masturbation). The sperm are separated from the semen in a laboratory procedure.


• The active sperm are combined in the laboratory dish with the eggs. This may be referred to as in vitro fertilization.


• About 18 hours after this fertilization procedure, it is possible to determine if the egg or eggs have been fertilized and have begun to grow as embryos. They are incubated and observed over the next 2-3 days or longer. 

• The doctor then transfers the embryos into the woman’s uterus through the cervix with a catheter (a long slender tube). The woman should then remain in a resting position for the next hour or so.


• She is given certain hormones for the next 2 weeks. If implantation works (the egg or eggs attach to the uterine wall and grow), the pregnancy test result is positive.