IVF Treatment: Timing is Everything

As you begin your journey of conceiving through IVF treatment, there are a few things to keep in mind. Though it is an exciting time, exercising patience is an important part of the process. At Pacific Fertility, we pride ourselves on keeping you in the loop.

Our incredible staff keeps our intended parents up to date and informed. But what can you expect in regards to timing, results, retrievals and transfers? Here’s a guide with a general timeline for a journey through IVF treatment that involved a set of parents using an egg donor. 

Consults and Appointment 1

After an in-depth consult with our doctor, you will have decided on what plan will suit you best. The doctor will set up an appointment for you to come in and have your blood drawn. This will be sent to the lab so we can learn what your genetic mutations are.

This is important when using a donor, as we will have the donor tested for these mutations as well. Based on the mutation results and if you both have the same genetic carrier traits or not, we will move swiftly along.

The doctor will have created a plan for the sperm donation as well. Sometimes a fresh sample is required, and other times frozen samples can be sent in advance. What’s important: we will have all of your blood work for infectious disease, carrier traits, and your sperm samples ready to go. 

Your Donor’s Preparation

Meanwhile, your donor will start her preparation. After we receive her psychological and genetic assessments, we can bring her in for a meet and greet. We will do a full work up and check her ovaries to count resting follicles. We will also draw blood and send it to the lab to see what her genetic carrier traits are.

It does take around two weeks to get lab results back. Sometimes parents get anxious to find out what the results are and if the match can progress. We simply have to wait for the lab to return the results, which is when our nurse coordinator will contact you for ultimate clearance stating that your match is ready to proceed.

The Donor’s Menstrual Cycle

We then plan the hormone treatment around your donor’s following menstrual cycle. Based on when this falls in the month, this can happen within a few days, or within a few weeks of lab results. We try to have the medications ready, shipped, and the donor equipped with the information on how two start them. 

On day two of her period, the donor begins hormone injections. Around the 9th day of treatment, we bring the donor in for a very exciting day: the egg retrieval.

The Great Retrieval

Once the eggs are retrieved, we will send you an immediate report of how many eggs were harvested. We will then fertilize the retrieval immediately with the best technicians in the IVF treatment world. We will notify you how many fertilized normally.

This is an exciting time as we wait for the embryos to develop and asses their quality on day 5 or 6. You are sent a new report then with the update. Based on whether or not you are performing PGS testing, we will either perform a transfer or freeze the embryos for a future transfer when your surrogate is ready. 

Surrogate Prep

The intended mother or surrogate will have been undergoing uterus prep during this time as well. Based on your plan and timeline, the intended mother or surrogate will come in for a fresh transfer when the timing is perfect- also based on her menstrual cycle. 

When it comes to IVF treatment, many moving parts and periods are at play. When we all work together, a beautiful IVF journey is accomplished that ends in a pregnancy. We move things along a quickly as we can to help you achieve your dreams of starting a family.

Aside from factors completely out of control, an IVF treatment timeline is usually fairly reliable. We want to help your cycle progress, and will always update you when updates are available. Our team at Pacific Fertility is incredibly responsive and on top of things, so you’ll feel cared for and up to speed.

When you’re ready to being IVF treatment, contact us today for a free consult.