KissMeGoodnight
Article Series: Fertility
Fertility & Conceiving A Baby Explained
In
Vitro Fertilization (IVF) Treatments - The Facts
IVF treatment is a short way of saying In
Vitro Fertilization. Vitro means glass, and originally it referred
to the glass test tubes that the first 'test tube babies' were
conceived in. IVF treatment is used to describe a treatment
where fertilization (that is, the union of the woman's egg
and the man's sperm) happens outside of the body.
The
process is simple to describe although not necessarily
so easy to do. First, you will take birth control pills to
regulate your cycle and protect against certain health problems.
Then you will take fertility drugs to stimulate the production
of eggs (called oocytes) in the ovaries.
When the time is right, the doctors will take follicles containing
eggs out of your ovary and bring them together with your partner's
sperm along with nutrients to boost their strength. Hopefully,
the eggs and the sperm will get together. Then the doctors
will take up to five fertilized eggs (embryos) and put them
back into your womb. If there are spare embryos, they can be
frozen in case they are needed later.
If the treatment is successful, one or more of the eggs will
attach to the lining of the womb and begin to grow. The pregnancy
then goes ahead just the same as if you had gotten pregnant
in the old fashioned way.
They often use more than one egg so that there is a higher
chance of one of them attaching to the womb. This means there
is also a pretty high chance of having a multiple birth, which
could be twins or even triplets. The babies would not be identical
because they would be from different eggs, so if you had twins
you could have either a boy and a girl or two non-identical
boys or girls.
If you do not have eggs that can be used, or if the medical
staff have tried using your own eggs and the IVF treatment
has not been successful that way, then they might suggest that
you try using donated eggs.
This means using another woman's eggs, fertilizing them with
your partner's sperm and then implanting them into your womb.
You would go through the whole pregnancy and give birth just
as if you had gotten pregnant without assistance, but it would
not be your biological child.
Usually the egg donor is anonymous so neither you nor the
donor would know who was the biological mother of the child.
They will pick a healthy donor who is physically similar to
you so the child might look a little like you, even though
you are not related.
In some cases eggs are donated by a female family member,
e.g. a sister. This has the advantage that you would have a
biological link to the child and some shared inheritance and
DNA.
However, if you consider doing this, you need
to think carefully about how everybody might feel about the
fact that the child
was biologically the product of a union between your sister
and your husband or partner. A lot of people might have feelings
about this that could come out later as the child is growing
up: you, your husband, your sister and her husband, the child
itself and even other family members. How would you feel about
the fact that, for example, your parents might refer to your
sister as the child's "real mother"? There could
be some weird feelings around for the men too, even though
the union was not sexual.
Of course, if the man is not producing enough sperm, it is
also possible to use donated sperm. However, in that case IVF
treatment is not usually required because fertilization can
take place inside the woman's body, by artificial insemination
of the donated sperm into the womb.
Click
here if you or someone you love is struggling to
get pregnant (or simply want to increase the odds). Don't
let anyone tell you that you cannot have kids naturally.
It's my KissMeGoodnight recommendation.
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by KissMeGoodnight.com
: 2010
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