Posted on 10 August 2017 | By Sunnybank Centre for Women | Fertility

IVF involves taking eggs and sperm, placing them together in a laboratory and allowing the sperm to inseminate the egg naturally. If they fertilize, an embryo will form. The embryo is then inserted into the uterus. If the embryo grows and develops, you will take a baby home 9 months later. 

​These are the steps to get there: 

• We stimulate your ovaries with medications to help your ovaries produce eggs. This usually involves a series of injections which we will teach you how to do. They are easy to manage.
• Once your ovaries have produced the eggs, we collect them in a day procedure called an Egg Pick-up or Egg Retrieval.
• At the same time the eggs are retrieved, the sperm is collected and prepared in the lab.
• The expert scientists at Monash IVF will mix the sperm and the eggs and try to create as many embryos as possible to give you the best chance of achieving a healthy embryo.
• If the embryos fertilise, you will be back about 5 days later to have the embryo transferred into your uterus. 
• Any extra embryos we have, we will freeze for use in the future.
• You will now wait for 2 weeks to see if the embryo will stick to the uterus.
• We perform a blood test to see if you're pregnant.

Dr Joseph Jabbour can discuss this process with you at length. The nurses and scientists at Monash IVF will also make sure you understand the whole process. You will be well supported throughout the treatment.