When deciding on IVF, a woman worries about pain. The most common questions are the following: does IVF hurt, is there bleeding? These fears are understandable, but in order to dispel them, you need to know a little more about this procedure. It is also very important to know where is the best place to do IVF. In this case, you should ask for the opinion of experienced people, find out more information about existing clinics.
IVF program stages
How IVF works:
- The first stage. Superovulation is stimulated. With the help of special medications, maturation in the ovaries is stimulated not by one, but by several eggs at once. This is done in order to increase the chance of conception. The first stage begins on the first day of the cycle and continues for a crescent. The growth rate of follicles is constantly monitored using ultrasound and hormonalresearch. Depending on the situation, the doctor may change the dosage of the drugs. Around the 13th day, the doctor can already estimate when ovulation will occur, after which the second stage of IVF will begin.
- Second stage. Mature eggs are released from the ovaries. For this, a puncture of the follicles is performed. A woman is given short-term anesthesia for 3-4 minutes. During this time, each follicle is pierced with a long needle and fluid is sucked out of it along with the egg. All these actions are carried out under the control of ultrasound. After the puncture, the woman comes to her senses in a short time and after 1-2 hours she goes home. During the collection of eggs for in vitro fertilization, a woman experiences discomfort, as the procedure is performed by transvaginal puncture of the ovaries under ultrasound control. Therefore, the doctor uses mild sedatives to relieve pain.
- Third stage. The process of fertilization takes place. In the laboratory, the taken fluid is visible and the eggs are in it. They are fertilized with the sperm of the husband or a donor. After that, each fertilized egg is placed in a separate cell in a special thermos. Their development is examined daily, if the cell is not fertilized, then it is sifted out, the rest are carefully looked after.
- The fourth stage. One or two embryos are implanted into the woman's uterus. In this case, anesthesia is not done, since the procedure takes a couple of minutes and does not bring discomfort to the patient. An hour later, the woman can go home. Generallythe IVF program ends at this procedure. But doctors highlight one more stage, the final one.
- The fifth stage. After the onset of pregnancy in the early stages, maintenance therapy is carried out. Since in the next two weeks the embryo is attached to the wall of the uterus, and this is considered the most important moment in artificial insemination. Once this has happened, IVF can be considered a success.
All these stages can be completed with high quality and with a guarantee at the family planning and reproduction center on Sevastopol Avenue in Moscow, for example.
Feelings of the patient during the puncture and egg collection
During egg retrieval, a woman may feel pain, especially for those who are too sensitive. Therefore, in this case, local anesthesia is usually used. Rarely intravenous anesthesia is performed. According to patients, after these manipulations, all pain disappears.
Patient feelings during embryo transfer
After determining the date of transfer of the embryo into the uterus, the woman must appear on time for the appointment. This is usually done on the 2-5th day after the puncture. The transfer is done at the blastomere stage or a little later, at the blastocyst stage.
Does IVF hurt?
Before this, the patient must mentally prepare herself, discard thoughts of pain and the presence of blood. The replanting procedure itself, as the women write in the comments, does not bring pain, the maximum that can be felt ismild discomfort. For this reason, doctors do not do anesthesia. The woman lies down on a chair, the doctor inserts a gynecological mirror, and under his control a catheter is inserted into the cervix. Through it, embryos are introduced into its cavity, which are in a drop of nutrient medium. The whole process is viewed on the ultrasound screen monitor. Usually, two or three embryos are replanted, but no more, since in the event of a multiple pregnancy, this condition can threaten the patient's he alth. The remaining embryos are frozen in case of a failed pregnancy on the first attempt.
Total IVF numbers
2 weeks after embryo transfer, an hCG test is done to determine if you are pregnant.
In total, the IVF program takes about 4 weeks:
- 11-13 days superovulation is stimulated.
- One day puncture lasts.
- Within 4-5 days, the eggs are fertilized and the embryos are grown.
- In 1 day the embryos are transferred into the uterine cavity.
- Pregnancy support provided for 14 days.
When can a woman feel pain?
During embryo transfer, the patient may experience pain only in some cases, namely:
- When a woman's muscles tense, when they unconsciously resist the procedure.
- With physiological anomalies in the structure of the reproductive system, for example, in the presence of a bend in the uterus.
- With low qualification of IVF specialist.
If, with all the manipulations, a woman experiences severe pain and she has bleeding, then, most likely, in vitro fertilization will not be successful.
What should a patient do during a transfer
The doctor will ask the patient to relax as much as possible and not to worry during the embryo transfer. To make it easier for the doctor to insert the embryo transfer catheter, the lower body should also be relaxed.
When the whole IVF process is completed, the patient should not immediately get up from the chair, she will need to lie down for another 20-30 minutes. Depending on the rules of the clinic, a woman can be left under the supervision of doctors for the next day or be allowed to go home the same day. A prerequisite is that the patient must be accompanied.
In the reviews, women write that after the procedure, you should not become alarmed, every minute think about the consequences of IVF. If the doctor noticed excessive excitement in the patient, then he has the right to leave her in the hospital for several days under the supervision of medical personnel.
After Embryo Transfer
After the procedure, the woman should not feel pain. All doctor's appointments must be followed, especially regarding the intake of hormonal drugs. Two drugs are usually prescribed:
- "Progesterone";
- "Chorionic gonadotropin".
It is also worth remembering that negative emotions can affectthe survival of embryos in the uterus, so you should surround yourself with only positive emotions.
Every day you need to carry out such activities:
- measure body weight;
- to control the process of urination, to observe the amount of urine excreted and the frequency of urges;
- measure the circumference of the abdomen;
- watch your heart rate.
In addition, it is necessary to record all the sensations in the IVF protocols. If there are any deviations from the norm, the appearance of pain or blood, you should immediately seek help from the IVF center.
The presence of pain during embryo transfer and the actions of doctors
When wondering if IVF hurts, it's worth looking at the statistics. As this science shows, there are very few cases of severe pain during the IVF procedure, they occur only with a large bending of the uterus in the patient. If there was no pain, while the woman's he alth remained normal, then in this case the chance of successful fertilization is doubled.
If there was pain and bleeding, which is not so common, or the procedure itself was unsuccessful, then next time the doctor should think over the sequence of IVF to the smallest detail. Sometimes you may need to expand the uterus or change the catheter.
If pain occurs during the insertion of a flexible catheter, then the doctor should insert it as gently as possible and give the patient time to get used to the foreign object inside her body.
The blastocysts themselvesare transferred to the uterus quickly and quite simply:
- A catheter is inserted through the cervical canal.
- Then embryos are injected into it with a syringe.
After the transfer, the woman must lie down in the same position.
IVF gives many women a chance to find the happiness of motherhood. But in the reviews, the patients indicate that one should not hope too much that everything will work out the first time, as well as worry too much about failure. The fear of possible pain during the procedure is also inappropriate. If physiologically everything is fine with a woman, then there can be no talk of any pain, only mild discomfort is possible. Does IVF hurt? The answer to this question is: no, except in extreme situations.
Family Planning and Reproduction Center
There are many good clinics for the procedure, one of them is the Center for Family Planning and Reproduction on Sevastopol Avenue, 24a. This is a multidisciplinary clinic that manages pregnancy and childbirth, provides assistance to patients with various pregnancy pathologies, and also performs the IVF procedure. The IVF department was opened in 1996 and became one of the first in the country. It has the latest equipment for high-tech procedures.
