10 Things People are Surprised to Learn about IVF.

I was lucky enough to have no trouble getting pregnant with either of the Little Hueys. And as I have since told many a young woman, remember in many cases, it only takes one go!

This is not the case for many of my friends including the fabulous @KerriB

As she embarks on her next attempt to have a child (her second after the super cute Master Max), using IVF, I wish her and her husband much luck, but along with lots of other people I really have very little idea what they are about to go through.

Kerrib sent me a list that I found pretty interesting, and if you have a friend or family member, you might find some of the IVF lingo helps when chatting to them about how they are going.


10 Things People are Surprised to Learn about IVF.

1.     First step is to go on the ‘pill’ while not necessary in every case; often the first course is to start on the pill so the females cycle can be regulated.

2.     In Victoria the Victorian Police need to give you the all clear first. (Edited to add: This disgusts me, but that is a whole other issue)

3.     Babys first name is blastocyst

4.     Fresh or Frozen? Yep that is really the lingo they use when talking about a transfer of embryo that has not been frozen verses treatment from a thawed (yes they use that lingo too!) embryo.

5.     AFT, IVF, ICSI, IUI, PCOS, GIFT...  Infertility centres are the masters of the acronomyn

6.     7 weeks is benchmark for being ‘truly’ pregnant

7.     Plastic fantastic. IVF stands for in vitro fertilisation, sure you already knew that, clever you! What you may not know is that ‘in vitro’ actually is actually from Latin origin meaning ‘in glass’, these days the science of assisted reproduction is not cultivated in glass beakers and test tubes but rather in plastic Petri dishes but we think IVF has a nicer ring to it than Plastic dish fertilisation.

8.     Boy or Girl? In Australia, legislation exists to prevent embryo sex selection during IVF treatment except if it is to avoid a genetically inherited disease that affects a particular sex.

9.     40/40/20 in 40% of cases the cause is Male related, in 40% its female related and in 20% it is unexplained (also called ‘idiopathic’ infertility)

10.  You pay rent! Frozen embryos are stored in a very high tech freezer. I’m pretty sure it’s not just beside the frozen peas. Rates vary but keeping the embryos ‘on ice’ costs and annual fee of $100+

Did you know most of these things, or if you are on/or have been on the IVF trial, what other things were people surprised to learn about your IVF?