If you’ve been trying to conceive and want to increase your chances of becoming pregnant, in vitro fertilization (IVF) — one of the most effective fertility treatments — may be an option.

If you are like many women who need extra help getting pregnant, IVF may help you fulfill your fertility goals. This advanced fertility treatment is performed by one of our reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialists.

During IVF, eggs and sperm are combined in our embryology lab to create embryos. Then, one to three of the highest quality embryos are transferred to your uterus to create a potential pregnancy.

IVF may help you get pregnant if you have:

• Blocked fallopian tubes
• Endometriosis
• Genetic conditions that you do not want to pass on to your baby
• Low sperm count or other sperm issues
• Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
• Unexplained infertility
• Other issues affecting your fertility

IVF with donor sperm may be an option if you are single or in a same-sex female couple.

IVF Options

At MU Health Care’s Reproductive Health and Fertility Center, we offer the full range of IVF options, including:

• Intracytoplasmic sperm injections (ICSI) can improve success rates if sperm quality is an issue. For this fertilization method, we inject a single healthy sperm into an egg.
• IVF with donor eggs can improve your pregnancy chances if you have primary ovarian insufficiency or a very low egg count.
• Preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) can identify embryos with genetic mutations so they are not transferred during IVF.
• Fresh embryo transfer involves transferring an embryo to your uterus within about five days after egg retrieval.
• Frozen embryo transfer (FET) uses embryos that were frozen from a previous IVF cycle. Using frozen embryos can make an IVF cycle longer but may offer some advantages over fresh transfers.

Am I a Candidate for IVF?

You may be a candidate for IVF and fertility preservation if:

• You are younger than 35 and have been trying to conceive for one year.
• You are older than 35 and have been trying for six months to get pregnant.
• You are 40 or older and want to conceive.
• You have had unsuccessful intrauterine insemination (IUI).
• You or your partner has genetic conditions that you do not want to pass on to your baby.

We can help you choose the right fertility treatment for your goals, budget and other considerations.

Our Approach to IVF

At our Reproductive Health and Fertility Center, we give you the best chance of becoming pregnant. Because IVF is the most effective fertility treatment available, it may be your best option.

You’ll start with a consultation with one of our reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialists. We’ll take your medical and family history, perform a physical exam and order tests to check your ovaries and uterus. Then, we will discuss the range of advanced fertility treatments available to you at MU Health Care.

We may recommend IVF after you have tried a few cycles of IUI. Or we may suggest trying IVF first if you are over 40 or have health conditions that affect your fertility.

Before your first IVF cycle, we’ll explain your estimated costs and help you understand your insurance coverage, if available. MU Health Care offers IVF packages, discounts for private pay, as well as financial counseling to help you achieve your fertility goals.

When you’re ready, we can work with your OB/GYN and other providers to determine which IVF treatment is right for you. Our fertility experts can also work across specialty lines with our urologists to treat potential causes of male infertility, if needed.

What to Expect Before IVF

An IVF cycle involves multiple phases and takes about two to three weeks. Your timeline depends on the type of IVF and medical protocol on your goals. Typical steps in IVF include:

• If you have a male partner, we send a sample of their sperm to our andrology lab for analysis.
• To maximize the number of eggs that develop, you will self-administer fertility medications that are lab-made versions of the hormones that stimulate the ovaries naturally. These are injectable medications.
• You see our team every few days for a vaginal ultrasound to monitor your ovaries. You will also have blood draws during ultrasound visits to check estrogen, which helps us adjust medications if needed.
• When enough eggs are ready based on your ultrasound, you will take an injection that prepares your eggs for retrieval.

What to Expect During IVF

Egg retrieval is a brief outpatient procedure. Here’s what typically happens if you use your own eggs for IVF: 

• One of our trained anesthetists gives you sedating medication to keep you comfortable during the procedure.
• While you are under anesthesia, your doctor will use ultrasound guidance to harvest as many eggs as possible. No incisions are used, just a needle. We typically aim to retrieve between 10 and 20 eggs.
• Our embryologists combine your eggs with your partner’s or donor’s sperm sample to create embryos.
• Our lab director and your doctor monitor these embryos for 5-6 days as they grow. They will select the highest quality embryos to be transferred back into your body, or they can be put into a “biological pause” by freezing.

During the embryo transfer:

• You do not need anesthesia.
• Your doctor inserts a thin tube into your uterus to transfer the embryo. The number of embryos transferred is based on factors like your age and health. The transfer process usually only takes a few minutes.
• After an embryo transfer, you can resume most of your usual activities. You should avoid strenuous exercise and heat, such as hot baths and saunas for a few days.

What to Expect After IVF

About two weeks after your embryo transfer, you will return to our clinic for a pregnancy test. At this time, we’ll know whether the IVF cycle was successful. It can take several IVF cycles for conception to occur. 

If your IVF cycle is not successful, we can offer expert support and suggest next steps when you are ready.