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TREATMENT

Invitro Fertilization (IVF)

IVF Support

We work in partnership with Olive Fertility Centre in Victoria or Vancouver to help you prepare for and monitor your IVF priming and monitoring stages thus reducing the need for you to travel to the Olive clinic.

What is IVF?

In Vitro Fertilization (commonly referred to as IVF) is a process in which eggs are removed from a woman’s ovaries and are fertilized by sperm in a laboratory. If the egg fertilizes, it is called an embryo. Embryos are grown in the lab for three to five days, and then the healthiest looking embryos are either:

  • Transferred into the woman’s uterus
  • Transferred into a surrogate
  • Frozen for later use

When embryos are placed into the uterus, they will hopefully implant in the uterine lining and further develop into a fetus – resulting in a successful pregnancy.

When to Consider IVF

IVF may be an option for you if:

  • You have problems with ovulation due to conditions like polycystic ovary syndrome.
  • Your fallopian tubes are scarred or blocked
  • You have endometriosis.
  • You have had several failed IUIs

What to expect during treatment

A typical IVF cycle is divided into 7 steps: (Graphics to come)

  1. Priming: During this phase you take oral medications to prepare the ovaries and uterus for IVF.
  2. Ovarian stimulation: In the stim phase you take daily injections of medications that cause your ovaries to produce multiple eggs.
  3. Egg Retrieval: This involves removing the eggs through the vagina.
  4. Fertilization or ICSI: This step involves fertilizing the eggs. With ICSI, a single sperm cell is injected directly into an egg.
  5. Growing the embryos in the lab and selecting the healthiest embryos
  6. Embryo transfer (or freezing embryos): This is a simple procedure that involves transferring the healthiest embryo back through the woman’s vagina.
  7. Implantation/pregnancy

If you are pregnant, we monitor the pregnancy with blood tests for your beta HCG levels and use ultrasound to be sure the pregnancy is in the correct location in the uterus and is going well.

Support for IVF

IVF support at Ocean View Fertility can include:

A complete fertility evaluation including blood tests and imaging of your uterus and fallopian tubes.

Preparing you for your egg retrieval by monitoring your ovarian follicles during treatment. We measure the ovarian follicles until they are large enough for retrieval. The IVF team at Olive Fertility Centre communicates the timing of the ultrasound and, once we know when you need to be scanned, we fit you in for their appointment. Usually, bloodwork can be done on the same day, and we coordinate with the IVF nurse to ensure the test results get to Olive by midafternoon to ensure there is time for medication instructions to be given if needed.

Preparing you for a frozen embryo transfer. If you have frozen embryos ready for transfer, we can help with surveillance ultrasounds of the endometrial thickness. This ensures optimal timing of the embryo transfer. This also shortens the time you need to be in Victoria or Vancouver as you only need to be there for the time required to do the procedure.