In vitro fertilization
When a couple intends to become parents but numerous problems arise, one of the most common and widely used solutions is in vitro fertilization. Do you want to know what it consists of?
There is a time in life when couples decide to have a baby and problems can be encountered , such as infertility, that can jeopardize parenthood. For this, there are techniques that help a woman to live motherhood even if there is some kind of problem for the pregnancy and the subsequent birth of the baby to occur.
One of those solutions is in vitro fertilization . It is a laboratory technique that allows a pregnancy to occur by joining a sperm with an egg outside of a woman’s uterus. It is usually used when there is an infertility problem , either in men or women, and when assisted reproduction has not been successful for fertilization . For the pregnancy to occur there may be different combinations once there has been a prior consultation with the specialist and, with the diagnosis in hand, put a treatment: woman’s egg with her partner’s semen, donor’s egg and sperm from your partner, the woman’s egg, and donor sperm or both from a donor.
IN VITRO FERTILIZATION FOR COUPLES WHO HAVE DIFFICULTY PARENTING
If a sperm donation is necessary, it may be because you want to live single motherhood , because your partner is also a woman or because your partner’s sperm are not of sufficient quality to fertilize your egg.
In both cases, it must be taken into account that Spanish legislation establishes that the donation must be anonymous, so we will never be able to contact the person who has donated their egg or semen. To be able to donate, you must meet a series of requirements and have a few marked care so that the donation is suitable, therefore do not worry, since the quality will be good . In the case of semen, it will not only be its quality, but also the amount of sperm contained in the fluid.
Index
HOW IS IT DONE
To carry out an in vitro fertilization, the following steps must be followed :
– As normally each woman in each menstrual cycle produces an ovum, in the first place the ovaries have to be stimulated through hormones so that there is more than one and thus be guaranteed greater success. Through ultrasound the size of these is controlled and once it is believed that they are optimal for fertilization, their release is caused .
– To extract the eggs, a small intervention by puncture will be necessary that will last about 15 minutes and that will require anesthesia through sedation. Once extracted, the eggs are kept for a few hours in culture medium. In the event that the egg used is from a donor, obviously, the woman will not have to go through these two phases to get pregnant .
THERE ARE SEVERAL IVF OPTIONS TO CHOOSE FROM
– To introduce them, the gynecologist will use a fine catheter and place them at the end of the uterus . For this practice, no type of anesthesia will be necessary. The law only allows a total of three pre-embryos to be introduced, although normally two are introduced. Of these two, one usually settles, so only one baby will be born, in the event that more than one are implanted, a multiple pregnancy will take place. Subsequently, it has to be faced as a normal pregnancy in the event that the result is the desired one .
As not all embryos are used, they are cryogenized with liquid nitrogen so that, in the event that there is a new infertility problem when facing future paternity , these can be used without the woman having to go through everything again the process, only the pre-embryos will be implanted in the uterus .
RISKS
– Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. This occurs because the ovaries do more work than usual to produce more than one egg within the period . Symptoms are abdominal pain and bloating, diarrhea, and vomiting. They usually last a week and are caused by inflammation of the ovaries. In very rare cases, more intense symptoms such as weight gain and heaviness occur .
– Tubal ectopic pregnancy is another consequence of this practice. This occurs when the egg, instead of implanting in the uterus, does so in the fallopian tubes .
– Multiple pregnancy . Normally the gynecologist will implant only two embryos of the three that the legislation allows, of them, it is normal that only one is the one that finally ends up being a fetus. It is possible that the two end up implanting in the uterus and the pregnancy ends up being multiple .
– Abortion . Through this type of fertilization, abortion is more present during the beginning of pregnancy , the risk is greater than if it were a natural fertilization .
PRICES AND SUCCESS RATE
A normal in vitro fertilization is around € 2,000 in Spain and is 20 % effective . This is in the event that there is no infertility problem in either member of the couple. In the event that there is, it would increase the price, but also the effectiveness of the treatment . If a donation of semen were necessary for the woman to live her maternity, the price would amount to € 4,500, but that semen could be used more than once, and on subsequent occasions the treatment would be cheaper .
If it is an ovum, we would already get € 6,000. In both cases, the effectiveness would be 60%, multiplying by seven the possibility of living paternity in couples over 40 years of age with the implantation of a donor egg .
Dr. Tabriella Perivolaris, Sara's mother and fan of fashion, beauty, motherhood, among others, about the female universe. Since 2018 she has been working as a copywriter, always bringing to her articles a little of her experience and experience as a mother and woman.