At North Central Fertility Center we service 3 physicians.  Each one will tailor egg stimulation medications based on your specific needs; these appointments are with your Reproductive Endocrinologist in their office.

When your ovarian follicles are ready, you will have your retrieval under moderate sedation in our clinic, which houses the IVF lab.  You will feel nothing and have no memory of the event, but will not be sedated so much that you need a breathing tube.  An anesthesiologist is on hand to administer these medications via an IV catheter and will be at your side the entire time. 

Using ultrasound guidance, each ovarian follicle is drained one at a time.  An Embryologist inspects the follicular fluid under a microscope for an egg.  After each follicle has been drained and inspected, the pelvic cavity is inspected via ultrasound.  Anesthesia medications are discontinued and the patient is allowed to wake naturally and is monitored until she meets certain criteria, lasting a minimum of 30 minutes. 

The patient is assisted to a recovery room where a light snack is given to make sure you will not be nauseated from anesthesia.  If you're tolerating food/drink and have urinated, your IV will be discontinued and you will be able to dress and go home.

The eggs are fertilized on the same day as your retrieval and monitored closely by the Embryologist.  On day 3 your best embryos will be transferred back to you.  Your spouse/significant other is able to join you in the procedure room on this day.  The transfer takes about 15 minutes, followed by 30 minutes of resting flat on your back.  After this, the patient is given dismissal instructions per their physician and waits for more blood work and finally a pregnancy test 11-14 days after receiving embryos.

Please note, the number of embryos to transfer back is based on many factors such as patient age, history, egg maturity at retrieval, rate of fertilization and grade of embryos.