Week 28: The last week of the IVF cycle…

In the last stage of the cycle, Lindsay has her eggs collected and Matt provides a semen sample. Both Matt and Lindsay are excited but nervous; they are so close to becoming pregnant, but they know that most couples are not successful in their first IVF cycle.

Lindsay was given a luteinising hormone injection by the nurse co-ordinator approximately 34 hours before her appointment to have her eggs collected. The luteinising hormone encourages Lindsay’s ovaries to release the eggs that are inside them. Lindsay’s eggs are collected from her ovaries by the gynaecologist and nurse co-ordinator while she is anaesthetised so that she cannot feel anything. The ultrasound technician is there during the egg collection so that the gynaecologist can see Lindsay’s ovaries on the ultrasound scan.
The clinical embryologist takes the eggs that have been collected, then prepares the sperm from Matt’s semen sample and put them together in a petri dish where they will hopefully form healthy embryos.

Two days later, Lindsay comes back to the centre and the clinical embryologist picks the healthiest two embryos and puts them into Lindsay’s uterus. Lindsay will come back to have a pregnancy test in two weeks time to find out if the IVF treatment has been successful…