Dickinson Cowan
obstetrics · gynaecology · fertilityIVF
IVF stands for In Vitro Fertilisation and has been practised widely for 30 years. More than a million babies all over the world have been born as a result of IVF. Two per cent of all babies born in the UK are the result of IVF treatment.
On the third or fourth day of your menstrual cycle, you start a course of injections for 10 to 12 days to stimulate your ovaries to produce several eggs. Mr Cowan will collect the eggs from you at the Centre for Reproductive Medicine while you are sedated.
Your eggs are mixed with the sperm of your husband or partner in the laboratory. Three to five days later, two embryos (three if you are over 40) will be placed in your womb.
The day after your eggs have been collected, you will start to take progesterone pessaries. This will continue until the 10th or 12th week of pregnancy, or until you know that the treatment has been unsuccessful.
If after your treatment you have more embryos than you need, you will be advised to consider freezing the spare embryos for future use.