Category: IVF Basics
IVF Medications & Injections
An IVF cycle involves a sequence of medications, most of them self-injected. Each has a specific job: Job Drug type When How Common brands Grow follicles Gonadotropins (FSH, LH) Days 1–12 Subcutaneous injection Gonal-F, Follistim, Rekovelle, Menopur Hold off ovulation GnRH antagonist or agonist Overlapping the above Subcutaneous injection Cetrotide, ganirelix, Lupron Mature the eggs…
Can You Ask for Twins with IVF?
You can bring it up with your clinic, but asking for twins isn’t something you order. You can ask to transfer two embryos instead of one, but that doesn’t reliably produce twins — both may implant, one may, or neither. And it’s something clinics generally steer away from, especially for good-prognosis patients, because twins raise…
Sex Selection with IVF
Sex selection with IVF is often called gender selection, by clinics and patients alike. What’s being selected is chromosomal sex, XX or XY, which is what a lab can read from an embryo. Gender isn’t something an embryo has. In the United States it’s legal, unregulated, and offered by most fertility clinics. It also requires…
IVF Genetic Testing: PGT-A, PGT-M, and PGT-SR
There are three types of preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) with distinct purposes. PGT-M and PGT-SR look for a specific inherited condition a family already knows about. PGT-A screens every embryo for chromosome problems. It’s also the most contested and the one most patients are offered. The evidence doesn’t support the promise it’s usually sold on,…
The Risks of IVF
The first IVF baby was born in 1978. Since then, more than 10 million babies have been born through IVF worldwide. In the US alone in 2024, over 100,000 babies were conceived through IVF, roughly 1 in 36 children. It’s one of the most performed, best studied, and most successful medical procedures in reproductive medicine.…
IVF Success Rates by Age
According to SART, for someone using their own eggs under 35 years old, one embryo transfer results in a live birth about 39.4% of the time. At 38 to 40 it’s 21.3%. Over 42 it’s 3.7%. That same report also says for someone under 35, IVF works 68.2% of the time. At 38 to 40…
How Long Does IVF Take?
One cycle, from the first stimulation injection to a pregnancy test, takes about 4-6 weeks for a fresh transfer, and closer to 2-3 months if you freeze first, which most people do now. Testing and planning will take time beforehand. And people often need more than one cycle before they’re finished. Quick timeline Here’s what…
Egg Freezing vs Embryo Freezing
If you’re thinking about preserving fertility for later, you’ll run into two options that sound similar: freezing eggs or freezing embryo. They start out identical and diverge at one specific fork. At a glance The distinction comes down to one question: do you have a sperm source you’re ready to commit to right now? Everything…
IUI vs IVF: What’s the Difference?
Two of the most common fertility treatments are intrauterine insemination (IUI) and in vitro fertilization (IVF). They both help a pregnancy happen when it’s not happening on its own, but they differ a lot in how they work, how involved they are, and what they cost. For many, IUI is their starting point, and IVF…
How Conception Works, and Where IVF Steps In
We all know HOW pregnancies happen (*chuckle*), but most of us don’t know how PREGNANCIES happen. Once you see the normal path from egg to pregnancy, it becomes a bit clearer where it can break down and how IVF helps when it steps in. You’re born with every egg you’ll ever have Egg cells are…