The process of IVF, a great substitute for natural pregnancy.

I will start this post by telling you a very (loud) secret about the childbirth policy in Africa, in Africa, as a woman, you have to get pregnant naturally, a woman who does not carry her own child through the process of pregnancy is regarded as being barren. This evil and old mindset has put a lot of women through depression and untimely death, as they crave, pray and live every day for the moment they will get pregnant and carry their own child. The bad aspect of this tradition lies in the fact that some men are the ones with medical issues and as a result, have childbirth difficulty, but a typical African mother-in-law would go ahead to frustrate the woman with the claims of not being able to give her a grandchild.

Thankfully, we are more exposed now, things are getting better for the African woman, the African woman can now choose what she wants to do with her body and the african woman is now very aware of the available options for her to have a child either she has carried the child through pregnancy or not.
Recently, a popular Nigerian actress announced that she just got her first child through surrogacy and it was a big deal because it is an act that would have been condemned publicly a few years ago, but now, so many people are encouraging her courage.

As a woman, you no longer have to get into depression because you have a medical condition that may not permit you to carry your child through pregnancy, there are several medical options that can be used to carry your own child, specifically in this topic today, I will be talking about in vitro fertilization (IVF).

In vitro fertilization (IVF).

IVF is the most effective and the most common type of assisted reproductive technology (ART), around 2.1% of babies born in the United States every year are born through IVF, it even comes with the possibility of birthing twins as well. The first baby in history, born through IVF is Loise Brown, born in 1978 and the parents of this baby are; Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe.

In the case of natural pregnancy, there is a process of egg development and maturity in the ovary, the process considered ovulation is when there is a release of the egg from the ovary, the sperm then travels through the uterus into the fallopian tube in order to find the egg and penetrate through it, it is this penetration process that marks the fertilization of the egg. The fertilized egg proceeds to attach itself to the wall of the uterus and from there, it develops into a baby.

People choose to go through IVF for either of the following reasons;
Blocked fallopian tubes: In a situation where a woman has blocked fallopian tubes, IVF happens to be a great opportunity for her to have her own child using her own eggs.

Male infertility: There are periods when it is the male gender that has the fertility issue unlike the general mindset of a typical African mother, where it is believed the fertility issue could only be from the female gender. In this situation, IVF will be a better option for conception than trying naturally.

Older patients:IVF is a better option for patients, who are trying very hard to conceive, as a result of the low ovarian reserve present in older women, natural IVF is used to help focus on egg quality rather than egg quantity.

Same sex couple:Same sex couple can have their own baby through donated sperm or one of their sperm depending on the sex of the parent.

PCOS: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), is a syndrome describing hormonal imbalance, these hormonal imbalance creates an irregular menstrual cycle. IVF has been tested to be a success in patients with PCOS.

Premature ovarian failure Some women have endometriosis, this process gives permission for parts of the womb lining to grow outside the womb, IVF has also been a great success story for women with this condition.

Techniques for IVF process.

IVF techniques depend greatly on the clinic, it may take 3-6 weeks for the entire process to get complete, and some patients may have to undergo more than one complete cycle, depending on the associated risk factor as well as the success rate of the treatment. Usually, the process of IVF takes these on these steps;

Superovulation: It is also known as controlled ovarian hyperstimulation, fertility medications are taken in this case, the hormones make it possible for the ovaries to produce more than the expected amount. A transvaginal ultrasound scan is often used to observe and check the progress and growth of the ovaries.

Retrieving the eggs: Medical experts then retrieve or collect eggs through a process known as, follicular aspiration. While the ultrasound guidance is made available, a thin needle is inserted through the vagina straight into the ovary, this needle is linked with the suction device that takes out the follicular fluids as well as the eggs, this process is performed for each of the ovary collected.

Embryo culture: The eggs collected are placed in the same place as the sperm and carefully placed in an environmentally controlled chamber for a few hours, after the hours have elapsed, the sperm and the egg will combine. There are times when the sperm is directly injected into the egg, in a process known as ICSI(Intracytoplasmic sperm injection). When a fertilized egg is used, it is also injected at this stage.

This fertilized egg divides and turns into an embryo, once this embryo gets to the blastocyst stage, lots of fertility centers will offer PGT (preimplantation genetic testing) which is a technique used for the screening of an embryo in order to figure out chromosomal abnormalities. The process of transfer makes use of one or two of the best available embryos. When this is done, the patient is given hormones and some other types of medications that would help prepare the lining of the uterus for the implantation of the embryo.

Transfer of embryo: During the transfer of the embryo, the womb could possibly receive more than one embryo. In most cases, the doctor will transfer just a single embryo but some patients would want more than one embryo to be transferred, in a case where more than one embryo is to be transferred, the associated risk should be carefully considered and adequately discussed with the doctor before proceeding.
The transfer of the embryo usually takes 3-5 days after the completion of fertilization, the process is done by the use of a thin tube and it enters into the uterus through the vigana. Through this process, if the embryo happens to stick to the lining of the uterus, the process is known as the implantation process and it means pregnancy has started and embryo growth continues in the process.

Side effects of IVF.

Unsuccessful procedure: The success of an IVF procedure is certainly not guaranteed and this can be emotionally breaking, some people go through 2-3 processes of IVF and still end up being unsuccessful process, which could be really traumatic.

Multiple pregnancies: The possibility of having multiple pregnancies is as high as 20-30% while using IVF. Multiple pregnancies have associated risks to both mother and child, there is a possibility of premature labor, miscarriage, stillbirth, cesarian, and even problems with the health of the infant.

Ectopic pregnancy: IVF doubles the risk of developing ectopic pregnancy, women with around 1-3% of damaged fallopian tubes, eventually develop ectopic pregnancy.

High-cost: The process of IVF does not come cheap at all, it could be really expensive. Anyone going through the IVF process needs to be clear about the amount before getting into the process completely.

Other side effects: Experiences like abdominal pain, fatigue, irritability, nausea, headache, sore breasts, dehydration, vomiting, and shortness of breath could be experienced after taking medications.