Most Commonly Asked IVF Questions

And I guess the first one to start off with is, what is IVF? So let's just talk about what IVF stands for.

IVF stands for Is Very Fun.

No, it doesn't stand for that.

It actually stands for in vitro fertilization, and it's basically the process of taking an egg...

Oop, I'm dropping my egg.

Egg.

See? Egg.

And sperm, and putting them together and making an embryo inside an IVF lab.

Clearly, basketball was not my sport.

And then this is basically what an embryo looks like.

So this is a beautiful watercolor painting a patient had made for me as a gift.

And her babies are now, she actually had twin boys, are now, uh, one year old.

So happy birthday, guys.

So during the process of IVF, if you haven't thought through what's involved, what side effects to look out for, do make sure that you know these things before you start.

And the reason why I try and be as thorough as possible is because I don't want anyone to feel like something's going wrong when it's an expected side effect.

I'll give you an example.

I've gotten calls, for example, at, uh, you know, 10 o'clock at night, "Oh my gosh, Dr. Aimee, I'm experiencing this egg white cervical mucus and I think I'm ovulating." Well, I, since I, I had gotten that call once, I actually now try and explain to patients that as your estrogen levels go up, your body responds to that hormonal shift and you react in a similar way as in a natural cycle.

And so what that means is you will notice egg white cervical mucus as your estrogen levels go up.

But it doesn't mean you're ovulating like in a natural cycle.

And the reason is we give women medications to prevent ovulation from happening.

Let's get to more questions.

How soon can we begin treatment? Well, that's a really good one.

And what I tell patients is, "Your timeline is mine." So there are certainly things that I do.

Voila, Tushee method.

Hello.