IVF Fertility Blog

  Let me introduce you to people known as embryologists . In layman terms, they are simply those who make babies in the lab. Early in my career, there was an incident related to work that I will never forget. My dad was out for his evening walk when I ran to catch up with him. He proudly introduced me to a bunch of his senior-citizen friends, “This is my daughter and she makes babies!” I could feel all the old hearts there do a somersault. I was red with embarrassment. “Make babies for other people in a lab with the help of IVF,” I corrected him. My dad laughed, patted my back and said, “Yes, it is the same thing.” In my mind, to prevent such an incident from reoccurring, I vowed to give my dad a few lessons on the essentials of being an embryologist. At the clinic, we are required to change into scrubs before we enter the lab in order to minimize the entry of dust and microorganisms. Scrubs are commonly worn by doctors, nurses, and medical students when at work. They are designed ...

What is IVF? Do you remember when you first heard the word IVF , you probably had to repeat it in your head at least a few times just to get the hang of it. At that point, most people are clueless about the treatment and the first image that flashes before their eyes was of a baby attached to tubes in a giant test tube. At some point you will realise how utterly wrong It was! There is a huge amount of information available online that can be bewildering and in the worst-case scenario, misguiding. From my experience, I can tell you that this is not what one should do as there is no way to tell authentic and genuine information from the inaccurate and unreliable. Therefore, instead of choosing to lurk and wallow in confusion, consult a clinician for all your questions and doubts. Trust your clinician, ask the right questions, and that will be your best bet at understanding IVF. Everything during the treatment is tailor-made. That is, during IVF, one person’s treatment is designed for tha...

Embryo transfer   is the process of putting the embryos that are growing in the lab back into the uterus. The period during which the embryos remain in the lab as we have seen in the previous chapter is one where important procedures are undertaken and crucial decisions are made. While growing the embryo is the responsibility of the embryologist, depositing them in the uterus is the job of the clinician. Embryo transfer can be done during any one of the four stages of embryo development ·  Day 2 (cleavage stage) ·  Day 3 (cleavage stage)                                                          ·  Day 5 (Blastocyst stage) ·  Day 6 (Blastocyst stage) Embryo transfer to be done at which sta...

The Egg, Sperm, and Embryo The three key players or the stars at fertility clinics are: 1. Egg/Oocyte/Ovum 2. Sperm 3. Embryo The Egg The egg is one of the largest cells in the human body; in fact, it is a giant compared to other cells in the body. No other cell in the body is anywhere quite as big. Yet it is not large enough to be seen by the naked eye. It should be remembered that everything examined inside the embryology lab is microscopic.  Women are born with approximately two million eggs which keep diminishing as the age progresses. Naturally, the first day of menstruation, when the bleeding starts, is counted as the first day of the cycle. One of the ovaries will release an egg (ovulation) about 14 days before the start of periods. Eggs are released randomly by any one of the two ovaries.  An egg lives in the fallopian tubes for about 12-24 hours after ovulation. Of the three players, the oocyte or the egg is the most important component. The success of the treatment d...