In vitro fertilization: Everything you need to know about the procedure

Science has made many leaps forward. The invention of the in vitro procedure has given so many people the chance to have a baby, even if they are experiencing reproductive problems. Since 1978, over a million 'in vitro' babies have been born - a figure that is exceptionally impressive.

Though many people have heard about it or know partially how in vitro takes place, few know the procedure in its entirety. Naturally, in vitro fertilization is a chance but something to worry about, as well. After all, the process is leading to the birth of a child in a very different way from the traditional manner.

This is when the real procedure gets started. The future mom undergoes ultrasound examination, blood tests and gynaecological exams. The future dad will respectively have to undergo sperm analysis.

Follicle Suppression 

Most in vitro clinics control ovulation by using different types of medicines. The gynaecologist decides on the most suitable type of drug.

Such medications prevent the egg from being discharged too early during the menstrual cycle. This procedure is called follicle suppression. Follicle suppression medicines are taken for a period of two weeks but the period can be changed on the basis of the bodily response.

Follicle Stimulation 

To increase the chances of pregnancy, medics will use follicle stimulating medicines that, as the name suggest, stimulate the ovaries to produce more eggs than what is considered normal. In this way, more eggs are available for fertilization and transfer into the uterus.

Follicle stimulating medications are administered for a period of seven to 10 days. During that time, the lady who is trying to get pregnant will have to see her gynaecologist frequently. He/She will monitor the manner in which follicles are developing. Ultrasound equipment is needed to do that.

The progress will be monitored carefully so that the gynaecologist knows whether the medicine is functioning or if an adjustment is needed.

During one IVF cycle, an egg needs to be obtained before the natural ovulation takes place. Unfortunately, some female organisms are incapable of responding well to follicle stimulation. If the number of follicles is small, stimulation is likely to be discontinued. Other ladies will have too many follicles developing in their ovaries. This is unadvisable and the medical team will monitor the response to make sure that the number of follicles remains reasonable.

Obtaining Eggs 

Eggs need to be obtained during a specific time frame. The careful selection of the right moment is very important since the egg is needed before it undergoes natural ovulation.

A needle is used to collect mature eggs. Ultrasound equipment guides the needle to the ovary.

Getting the Egg Fertilized 

Once the egg is obtained, it has to be fertilized. Experts at the IVF lab get the eggs obtained during the previous stage with sperm previously collected from the lady's partner or spouse. On the coming day, eggs are examined for signs of fertilization.

The fertilized eggs are called pre-embryos. They will be examined in the coming days for proper cell division. When the embryos reach a certain stage of development, they will be positioned in the uterus.

Embryo Transfer 

Embryos are transferred in the uterus during a short procedure. The number of embryos to be transferred will be determined in advance.

A catheter is introduced through the vagina and the cervix into the uterus. This catheter is used to place the fertilized eggs in the uterus. The procedure is painless. After the transfer, the medic is likely to administer progesterone, which helps the female body accept the embryos.

This is where the procedure ends. The final stage is getting a pregnancy test. If the test is positive, the in vitro clinic stages ultrasound scans, which can confirm the good condition and positioning of the embryos.

Vital Tips for Couples Struggling to Conceive

There comes a point in the year, when, after trying for so long, you still aren't getting pregnant. If you have systematically been following your ovulation cycle with no success as yet, then you may be disheartened. There is no worse feeling than thinking you may not be able to have children. The path to success lies in evaluating every option open to you - and proceeding with the choices that are best for you.

Fertility treatment has come along leaps and bounds in the past 30 years. There are now so many options when it comes to fertility doctors and clinics that you may feel like you don't even know where to start.

Fortunately, you can follow below steps to start you on your journey. Once you've had a read, make an appointment with your infertility specialist to chat further about the options open to you.

Counselling

The first port of call when having fertility issues is to chat with a professional who is skilled in the area. They can help you with doubts, questions and misconceptions that you may have to do with fertility and IVF.

Lifestyle changes

Our lives these days have a lot of external stressors involved. Whether it's mental health or physical health, they can both have effects on both male and female fertility. There may be medications that are affecting your fertility too. Chatting with a trained professional will help in determining which, if any, lifestyle changes you should think about making if you'd like to increase the chances of conceiving.

Hormone therapy

For those women experiencing problems with egg development and subsequent release, hormone therapy can be a good way to coax the egg along it's intended path. For further information, again, chat with a professional at the fertility centre.

IVF

IVF is often thought of as a cost prohibitive procedure, but this isn't necessarily true - costs have dropped significantly across the years. IVF costs are a lot lower than they used to be, and many couples experience success with this technique who wouldn't otherwise have been able to conceive naturally.

Experiencing fertility problems can cause a lot of stress and heartache - but it's best to think of it as a challenge that can be overcome. Visiting an infertility specialist will give you all the information you need to make informed decisions about the future and your body, so don't be afraid to book an appointment.

Infertility: Do you make these mistakes?

Mistakes are forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them. And there are some mistakes indeed that you make while fighting infertility. Let’s take a closer look at them.

Mistakes that affect your ovulation

• Going to the bathroom immediately after intercourse: Studies show that it takes anywhere from 3 to 15 minutes for the sperm to reach the fallopian tubes. Women, who are suffering from infertility, better to lie on your back for at least 20 to 25 minutes after the sex to improve chances of getting pregnant.
• Flying and bumpy car drives prior to ovulation: The above activities can disrupt your internal environment and cause undue pressure on your reproductive organs. You have to assist your body in creating a good environment so that you can conceive.
• Stressful activities: Modern lifestyle entails a series of stressful activities that can completely destroy your ability to conceive. When your body is gearing up for implantation of fertilised egg in the uterus lining, you need to maintain a restful mind to aid and help your body getting pregnant.
• Hot baths: Perhaps you may relax and enjoy a hot bath after a busy day time. And in the process you are ignoring a fact that it will rise your internal body temperature. Rising the internal temperature is not ideal when you’re trying to get pregnant.
• Conception after day 16: Cycles with an ovulation time after a day 16 are prone to miscarriages. After day 16 your uterus lining weaken and incapable of nourishing the fetus. Again the reason for delay of ovulation is hectic physical and stressful activities.

Stressful lifestyle that affects your hormonal cycle

You may be hearing about this repeatedly. Perhaps you might be aware of its consequences also. Even then at the cost of repetition we tried to put it in our words considering its importance. One of the crucial factors responsible for infertility is hormonal imbalance and it is caused by experiencing chronic stress often.

Mistakes that affect male infertility

• Wearing tight clothing
• Taking hot showers and saunas
• Not wearing boxers
• Putting laptop on the lap

Avoiding the above activities can eliminate sperm count and motility problems in man.

Using Unnecessary Medications and Over the Counter Drugs

When you’re trying to get pregnant should not use unnecessary medications and over the counter drugs. Most of the medications will have a lot of side effects with direct bearing on each of your organs in the body.

Eating predatory fish that may cause miscarriage

You may have a lot of questions about which foods to eat and which foods to avoid. This becomes even more difficult when you’re not getting pregnant normally. Whether to eat fish or not is one of the frequently asked questions. Each cell of your body requires essential fatty acids for its growth and development. They are also crucial for your ovulation. Seafood is a good source of fatty acids and therefore they must be a part of your fertility diet. However there is only one exception. Avoid predatory fish like shark, swordfish, tuna etc. These fish contain high levels of Mercury which could damage the nervous system of yours baby and eventually led to miscarriages.

Addiction to dairy products that effects your hormonal cycle

Dairy products contain high levels of hormones, antibiotics and pesticides. Consumption of dairy products alters your hormonal levels and also damages a growing fetus.

Eating refined sugar and sugar substitutes

All the food items prepared from refined sugar will cause acidic environment within your body. Excessive amounts of acids are bad as they reduce oxygen, calcium and other minerals from your body. It is also the perfect ground for the growth of bacteria and virus. This atmosphere is also responsible for infertility related diseases.

Infertility: Primary causes and how to deal with it

Infertility has various causes, and figuring out which applies to you may be very simple or intricate. Previously, only women were blamed for infertility, the reality is that male and female factors both share equally in infertility. Consider the following statistics:

• 1/3 of infertility problems are caused by female factors and same applies to males
• Approximately 20 percent of infertility is inexplicable
• Around 10-15 % of infertility is caused by a blend of male and female factors

Among women, prevalent causes of infertility are:

• Ovulatory disorders resulting in no ovulation or irregularovulation
• Tubal disorders resulting in blocked or infected tubes
• Uterine issues-fibroids, polyps or adhesions

Infertility in men is caused due to:

• Low sperm count
• Decreased sperm motility
• Abnormally shaped sperm
• No sperm at all in the ejaculate

Each of these categories of infertility can be caused by a number of things; for example, a decreased sperm count can be caused by a disease such as diabetes, by a birth defect, or by trauma. A woman can have blocked tubes from endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, or from a congenital malformation. Anovulation can be caused by polycystic ovarian syndrome, premature ovarian failure, or by over-exercising. While it may be fairly obvious what the problem is, finding the reason for the problem may be more difficult.

How to diagnose infertility?

You may think this is a no-brainer: If you’re not getting pregnant, it seems like you’ve already diagnosed yourself with infertility! However, diagnosing a lack of pregnancy is the easy part; figuring out why you’re not getting pregnant is the hard part.

Your infertility specialist can run a few simple blood tests to help determine whether or not you’re ovulating. Ovulation is, after all, the first step in getting pregnant, and usually blood tests or observation of your own cervical mucus and temperature can help you figure out when you’re ovulating so you can time sex accordingly.

If you’re still not pregnant after six months of “hitting the mark,” it’s time for more testing; your infertility specialist may suggest a test to see if your tubes are open and testing on your partner to see if “his boys can swim.”

This process of looking for the problem and then seeing if it’s fixed can take a few months. Only 20 percent of infertile couples never have a definite answer to why they can’t get pregnant, so the odds are your favour.

Uterine Fibroids: Arguably the most common women health problem

Symptoms of uterine fibroids are generally related to abnormal period problems most commonly being heavy bleeding, with clots, more frequent periods, pain, increased frequency of passing urine, constipation, blood stained discharge, lump in tummy and heaviness in lower abdomen are some of the symptoms. Swelling of feet may be seen in very large tumours. Though rarely, they may be the cause of infertility.

Uterine Fibroids are the most common pelvic tumour in women. Approximately 30 million Indian women aged between 18 to 55 years are at risk for developing uterine fibroids. It is emerging as a major health problem among women in our country. As many as 1 in every 5 women may have fibroids during their child bearing age. Fibroids usually affect women over age 30. They are rare in women under 20. The cause of uterine fibroid tumours is unknown. However, fibroid growth seems to depend on the hormone oestrogen. As long as women with fibroids is menstruating, a fibroid will continue to grow, albeit slowly.

Fibroids can be so tiny that you need a microscope to see them. However, they can grow very large. They may fill the entire uterus, and may weigh several pounds. Although it is possible for just one fibroid to develop, usually there is more than one. Fibroids are often described by their location in the muscle of wall of uterus, in just under the uterine lining and under the outside covering of uterus or inside of the activity.

Treatment options for uterine fibroids

Treatment depends on various factors including age, general health, severity of symptoms, type of fibroids, whether patient is pregnant and if they want children in future. Treatment for the symptom of fibroids may include birth control pills to help control heavy periods, intra-uterine devices that release the hormone progestin to help reduce heavy bleeding and pain. Iron supplement to prevent or treat anaemia due to heavy periods, non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen or naproxen for cramps and pain.

Hormonal therapy may be used to help shrink the fibroids. This therapy is used only for a short period, either before surgery to remove a fibroid or when a woman is expected to reach menopause soon. Side effects include hot flashes and vaginal dryness.

Complications of uterine fibroids

Fibroids may cause following complications if not treated early:

• Most women are able to carry their babies to term, but some end up delivering prematurely because there is not enough room in the uterus. Some pregnant women with fibroids may need a cesarean section because fibroids can occasionally block the birth canal or cause the baby to be positioned wrong. Some pregnant women with fibroids have heavy bleeding immediately after giving birth. Severe pain or excessively heavy bleeding that may require emergency surgery
• Most patients with prolonged uterine fibroid symptoms face anaemia due to heavy bleeding
• Urinary tract infections, if pressure from the fibroid prevents the bladder from fully emptying
• Cancerous changes called leiomyosarcoma
• Infertility   

Latest technique to treat uterine fibroid

A new category of minimally invasive myomectomy combines the best of open and laparoscopic surgery. With the assistance of this technique surgeons can remove uterine fibroids through small incision with unmatched precision and control.

The potential benefits of myomectomy as compared to traditional open abdominal surgery are: opportunity for future pregnancy, significantly less pain, less blood loss, fewer complications, shorter hospital stay and a quick return to normal daily life.