NMCM All Things Family Blog

The following extract is from a series of parenting articles and videos about IVF procedures …

Medical science is constantly researching new procedures to help couples who are dealing with infertility. In vitro fertilization, while it has been around for sometime now, has been able to help people who have not been able to get pregnant. While the first IVF technique was carried out in Britain in 1978, the first successful in vitro fertilization procedure in the United States took place in 1981. Since that time, IVF has been responsible for the births of over a quarter of a million babies!

IVF is a method where a man’s sperm is introduced to the woman’s egg in a laboratory dish where it is then fertilized, for about forty hours. After this time period they are checked to see if fertilization has indeed occurred. This IVF process is one type of infertility treatment and is also known as assisted reproduction. After the woman’s egg has been fertilized, the embryo is then transferred into the womb and allowed to mature normally. When the implanting process takes place, 2 to 4 embryos are normally placed into the uterus or womb.

During the early years of in vitro fertilization and sometimes still today, the children born of this technique are referred to as “test tube babies.” The first test tube baby was born in England in 1978. IVF is normally used as a treatment when a woman has blocked tubes, severely damaged tubes or has no fallopian tubes at all. However, it can also be used when the couple trying to conceive has endometriosis or if the male involved has a low sperm count. There are also instances that IVF is used when other fertility methods and fertility drugs have failed.

In vitro fertilization has made it possible for women, who once thought were unable to conceive a child, to become mothers of their naturally born offspring. Even mothers over the age of forty have a success rate of around 13% with in vitro fertilization. It should be noted that reproductive health is not all that has to be taken into account when dealing with assisted insemination. If the female faces other medical issues, this can raise a problem. A number of factors such as age, overall physical health and medical history should be considered before IVF or any other infertility procedure is practised.

For more resources on fertility solutions, go here: IVF

Tags: Fertility and Pregnancy

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