More than 8 million babies have been born thanks to IVF, and IVF accounts for 99% of all assisted reproductive technology (ART) procedures today.
At The Fertility & Gynecology Center - Monterey Bay IVF, our infertility specialist, Dr. Edward J. Ramirez, and dedicated team offer IVF and a full spectrum of ART services in our Monterey, California, office.
We’re IVF experts who well understand both the severe pain of infertility and the intense joy of conceiving a much-wanted child. Our IVF care walks you through the entire process with compassion.
We find that our patients feel most confident and comfortable when they understand the whole IVF journey from the start. IVF is a process rather than a one-shot treatment. With our many years of ART experience, we’ve learned that approaching IVF in a precise way yields the best results. Here are the main steps in the process.
At the beginning of the process, you meet Dr. Ramirez and have a comprehensive infertility screening. He reviews your medical history and provides personalized recommendations about how to maximize your odds of IVF conception. For example, taking nutritional supplements, exercising, and avoiding substances like caffeine and alcohol can help increase your chances of pregnancy.
You’ll then work with our clinical coordinator to get prescriptions for various infertility tests. Through testing, such as blood tests and ultrasound, we can ensure you’re a good candidate for IVF and detect any problems that might need treatment before starting your treatment. Male partners undergo a semen analysis.
After testing, you meet with Dr. Ramirez again. During this appointment, you discuss the process ahead, ask questions, and sign your consent forms.
Normally, your body creates just one egg in every ovulation cycle. With IVF, our goal is to create extra eggs and make sure they’re high quality so we can have more potential embryos and boost your odds of conception.
Before stimulating ovulation, you take medication to suppress your menstrual cycle and prevent premature ovulation. Then, super ovulation involves daily injections (you administer them yourself at home) that help you produce additional eggs. This continues for about two weeks.
You’ll have a human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) “trigger shot” after that. This shot helps your eggs fully mature and get ready for the next step: collection.
Egg retrieval typically occurs about 36 hours after your trigger shot. You’ll receive intravenous (IV) sedation for your egg retrieval procedure. Dr. Ramirez uses advanced ultrasound guidance to precisely insert a needle into your ovary and extract the mature follicles (the fluid-filled sacs containing the eggs).
Your follicles go directly into a sterile tube, which travels directly to our embryology lab through an airtight chamber. We monitor you in a recovery room for a short period, and you can return home after that.
Our embryology lab team harvests the most mature follicles and fertilizes them using your partner’s sperm. We monitor your embryos in our lab for the next several days, until they’re ready to transfer.
Depending on how the embryos develop, we typically schedule embryo transfer on day three or five. Dr. Ramirez chooses the optimal day for transfer based on your cycle and body.
During transfer, Dr. Ramirez uses a thin tube to deliver your embryos directly into your uterus. The number of embryos transferred depends on your personal needs. Some women have single-egg transfers, and others have multiple-egg transfers.
The transfer process is fairly short and doesn’t require anesthesia. You may need mild sedation to help you relax.
Two weeks after your embryo transfer, we take a blood sample to measure your hCG levels, which rise when you’re pregnant. If positive, you repeat the pregnancy test in two days for confirmation.
We perform ultrasound imaging two and four weeks later to establish whether the embryo is surrounded by a gestational sac. If so, Dr. Ramirez recommends taking supplements and following a personalized pregnancy health plan.
The 10th week of gestation is a big milestone in IVF: It’s when we refer you to an experienced OB/GYN. Of course, we welcome updates, and we love getting newborn photos.
Although these are the main steps, every IVF journey is unique to the individual. We use the most state-of-the-art technology and innovative techniques to give our patients the full spectrum of ART options, and we’re happy to help you plan your path to parenthood.
Call our office at 831-649-4483 or reach out online to connect with our team of IVF experts in Monterey now.
