Understanding The Steps Of North Houston IVF

When it comes to IVF treatment at our North Houston fertility clinics in The Woodlands or Kingwood, there are multiple steps involved that many of our patients may or may not be fully aware of. In this article, we will break down each of those steps so you are well-informed about IVF, should you consider undergoing this fertility treatment.

Step 1: Ovarian Stimulation

At the beginning of your IVF treatment, our fertility doctors will administer hormones that stimulate your ovaries to produce more eggs at a time. This enables us to find and fertilize multiple healthy eggs to maximize your chances of getting pregnant.

Step 2: Egg Retrieval

Once you have completed the course of your hormone injections, it’s time to retrieve your eggs through a minor, painless surgery. In this surgery, we use a transvaginal probe that will enable us to pull the eggs. Though you are anesthetized, you may feel some minor cramping afterward, but this can be treated with medication. At this point, we will also collect sperm to fertilize the eggs. At this point, you can opt to freeze your eggs, or continue to step 3.

Step 3: Fertilization

In our very own fertility lab at our North Houston IVF clinics in Kingwood and The Woodlands, we will combine the egg and the sperm (or donor sperm). This concept of fertilizing the egg outside of the body is what we refer to as In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF), but IVF is also the name of this entire process.

Step 4: Embryo Development

Once fertilized, we will wait until the day-5 embryo stage, which is also known as the blastocyst stage. At this point, we will either proceed with embryo freezing or move onto the next step.

Step 5: Pre-Implantation Genetic Testing

Although this is optional, we highly recommend undergoing genetic testing, a process in which we can test to find out how genetically healthy the embryo is in order to determine how likely it is that you will deliver a healthy baby.

Step 6: Embryo Transfer

The next step is to ready the body and have it undergo the typical hormonal changes a woman’s body undergoes when she is pregnant. Once ready, we will inject the embryo into the uterus with the help of an abdominal ultrasound. The patient won’t feel any pain when this occurs.

Step 7: Pregnancy Test

10 days following embryo transfer/implantation, you will return to our IVF clinic in North Houston for a blood test to determine if you’re pregnant.

Our IVF Doctors In The Woodlands And Kingwood Are Here To Help You Achieve A Healthy Pregnancy

Infertility is a battle, but we take great pride in helping aspiring parents get pregnant and deliver a healthy baby. We are proud of our high embryo quality rates, so if you’re considering undergoing IVF, please request an appointment so we can assess your fertility and recommend a treatment plan.