Infertility sucks. And we should be talking about it.
During Infertility Awareness Week, I decided to (finally) start writing about this chaotic process. I assume that you’ve found this site because you’re dealing with fertility issues and you may already know about IVF, but I’m including this info in case your friend is going through IVF and you just want to know more about it. Let’s start with the basics.
IVF stands for in vitro fertilization. What this means is that the fertilization of the egg takes place outside of the uterus (where it typically takes place when a woman gets pregnant). This egg fertilization can take place, for example, in a test tube or petri dish. That’s why you hear some people refer to IVF babies, “test tube babies.”
If you’re lucky enough to get some mature embryos from the process, they then get transferred into a uterus where they hopefully become fetuses which then become live births. That’s the best case scenario, but it doesn’t always work that way. Stick around and you’ll find out why.
Oh, and I should add that I am in no way a doctor—or even a medical professional. I have, however, paid very close attention to my doctors, nurses, phlebotomists, embryologists, pokes, proddings, and procedures over the past few years so there’s that.