Once you decide to visit a reproductive center and consider in vitro fertilization to conceive a baby, what should you expect? If you have already been told that having a child with your partner is not possible without IVF or you have been struggling for a long time without conceiving, it can be very scary to go in and see if IVF will work for you. The good news is that many women who have unknown fertility issues or who are healthy but with partners without healthy sperm often do conceive healthy babies through IVF.

For many women, it is important to bring a child into the world through natural childbirth. There is a sense of bonding and intense love that comes from carrying a child in your own body for ten months before bringing the into the world. If this is what is important to you as well, then you cannot give up on your dream to have children without visiting a reproductive center and at least considering in vitro fertilization.

What Is In Vitro Fertilization?

When in vitro fertilization is performed, a woman’s eggs are united with healthy male sperm in a laboratory where the ideal conditions for fertilization are set up. Once this procedure is done, the eggs are placed into the woman’s body where they will hopefully attach to the lining of the uterus and start growing. Many people use IVF because the male in the relationship does not have healthy sperm to conceive naturally, but that is not always the case.

For instance many same-sex couples will conceive by having donor sperm united with one woman’s eggs and then placed into one of the mother’s bodies. Anonymous and donor sperm will be used in many cases of IVF.

What to Expect from IVF

The first step is to find a good reproductive center in your local area offering IVF and book an appointment. Do not get nervous, since you will not go through with IVF on the very first appointment. You will go in for a consultation and a doctor will determine whether you are an ideal candidate for in vitro fertilization, or whether there are other options that may work better in your situation.

In some cases they will know right away whether you are a good fit for IVF, but in other cases you may be put through further testing or may even be advised to give natural conception more of a chane. What happens in the reproductive center will be determined by your own body and the type of infertility you are working with. IVF is not cheap in most cases, so you will be able to ask questions about payment options and will get answers to all of your other questions as well. If you think your insurance might cover part of your payment for the procedure, it is important to check with your insurance carrier prior to going to this first consultation.

Once you are approved for the procedure and decide it is the right move for you, the procedure will start with medication to stimulate ovulation. The medication will stimulate the release of your eggs, and hopefully you will release multiple eggs. The more eggs you collect, the more chances you have at successfully conceiving a baby through IVF. It should now be obvious why so many people who go through with IVF end up with twins, triplets, or even seven to eight babies.

Once you have successfully ovulated, the reproductive center will go in quickly to harvest your eggs. It is important to time everything so the healthy sperm is available at the center when the eggs are ready to be fertilized. The center will take the sperm and place it with the eggs in order to stimulate fertilization. In order to encourage fertilization, the right environment is set up when combining the eggs and sperm.

The (hopefully) fertilized eggs are then placed back into your body and you will hopefully take a pregnancy test with good results in the near future. It is possible you can have extra eggs stored just in case your first round with IVF does not work or you want more children in the future.