What Happens Inside the IVF Lab? Your Questions Answered

Are you curious about what it is like to become a surrogate? Have you started looking up how to be a surrogate online to get more information? Many of the ‘How to be surrogate’ blog posts that you find will likely talk about age and medical requirements, as well as costs and legal procedures, but few discuss the IVF process and what it entails.

The surrogacy process can be long and complicated, and we at Joy of Life® Surrogacy are here to inform and educate those who are interested in learning more about how to become a surrogate, including the IVF process. To get started, below are some commonly asked questions about IVF:

What Is IVF?

IVF stands for In Vitro Fertilization, and it is a fertilization process in which an egg and sperm are combined in vitro. It involves a series of procedures, including keeping track of a woman’s ovulation cycle, stimulating her ovulatory process, taking ova from her ovaries, and fertilizing them in a controlled and monitored medium in an IVF laboratory.

What Are the Steps of IVF Process?

The IVF process consists of several steps and takes two to three weeks to complete. It may need to be done more than once.

1. Ovulation induction – The ovaries are stimulated to produce multiple eggs instead of the typical one egg per month.
2. Egg retrieval – A procedure called transvaginal ultrasound aspiration is performed to get the eggs. It involves inserting an ultrasound probe and a thin needle to remove the eggs from the follicles.
3. Sperm retrieval – A semen sample from the male donor is taken to the laboratory to separate the sperm from the seminal fluid.
4. Fertilization – There are two ways to do fertilization. Whether mature eggs and healthy sperm are combined and incubated or one mature egg is injected with one healthy sperm.
5. Embryo transfer – A few days after the egg retrieval procedure one or more embryos are placed into the surrogate’s uterus using a syringe and a catheter inserted into the vagina.

What Should a Surrogate Expect From the Embryo Transfer?

Usually, once the egg and sperm are fertilized and monitored for viability, they are transferred to the surrogate’s uterus within a few days. Sometimes more than one egg is transferred to increase the likelihood of implantation. If implantation is successful, the surrogate is pregnant, and the IVF process is complete. If implantation is not successful, the embryo transfer process may be repeated with additional embryos or the IVF process may need to be repeated to get more embryos for implantation.

We at Joy of Life® Surrogacy know that being a surrogate mother is not easy. Therefore, we guarantee that we will be by your side from start to finish, ensuring that you and the baby are healthy and safe throughout.