For many, the journey towards starting a family isn’t always easy. If you are considering IVF as an option, or aren’t sure which path to take next, this page will tell you all you need to know about treatment.
There are many options down this route, and, with our wealth of experience, we want to help you find the method that is right for you.
IVF (in-vitro fertilisation) is a method used to fertilise an egg with sperm outside of the body in a laboratory. It is becoming more and more common as a way for people to conceive who have otherwise struggled to do so. At the Zita West Clinic, we offer a range of IVF treatment options bespoke to you, so that your desire of starting a family can have the highest chance of success possible.
While we offer various options when it comes to your IVF treatment, the fertilisation method remains the same throughout.
Once you are happy to begin your treatment, we will stimulate ovulation using hormonal medication. The goal is to produce as many eggs as possible, and once this has happened, they are carefully collected from the ovaries.
Once collected, the eggs are fertilised in a test tube or petri-dish, and if the fertilisation has been successful, the most promising eggs (usually one or two) are inserted back into the uterus. The whole process, from the first hormonal treatment to the final pregnancy test, takes around seven weeks.
IVF is a very common fertility treatment for anyone struggling to conceive. Despite this, it can still be a daunting prospect. No matter who you are or what you need, our experienced doctors are on hand to help you. If you think that IVF is the right option for you, we would love to speak with you and get you started on your journey.
There is no right or wrong time for you to start considering fertility treatments if natural conception isn’t working or isn’t an option for you. At Zita West Clinic, we will guide you through what we think is the best treatment for you based on our many years of experience. Depending on your timeline or personal circumstances, we may offer bespoke holistic guidance before we suggest IVF, but we will always advise you on what we believe is the most promising method for you, personally.
If you think that IVF may be a good option for you, book a fertility consultation with us. In a consultation, we will discuss all aspects of your lifestyle with you, understand your specific fertility issues, and finish by giving advice on your best options. While each stage of this process is completely bespoke to you, these are the typical first steps:
Your IVF treatment can begin as soon as we have had a consultation with you, discussed medical history and current health, and come to a decision on the specific treatment that is most likely to help you on your journey to starting a family. We will discuss the timeline of the procedures thoroughly with you, and make sure that you are comfortable with each step of the process.
Before anything else, you will need to book a personal consultation with one of our Zita West Clinic fertility specialists. From this, we will make the decision together about which treatment is best for you, and talk you through any questions you may have at this point.
Once we have decided on a treatment, and providing this treatment contains no extra steps (such as those involved in Reproductive Immunology), we will start by stimulating egg production in the ovaries using fertility medication. The way this medication is given differs depending on the person and the needs, but we will go through your specific regime with you before your first treatment.
Once your fertility medication has had time to take effect, our doctors will monitor your progress closely to know exactly when your eggs need to be collected. The monitoring phase lasts between 3-7 days on average, depending on the person, and when the time is right our experts will let you know when to take the ovulation-inducing medication. Around 36 hours after you have taken this, you will be ready for the next stage of the process.
Collecting the eggs only takes around 30 minutes, and is a procedure our doctors are extremely familiar with. To retrieve them, we use an ultrasound to guide a needle into one of the ovaries, and extract the eggs from the ovarian follicles. It’s a very straightforward procedure, but we do recommend a short rest at the clinic afterwards before you go home, so we can make sure everything went smoothly.
We usually require the sperm sample to be provided on the day of the egg collection. If necessary, we can retrieve this surgically, and the sperm can then be used to fertilise the egg through IVF alone, or using ICSI. We will discuss these options with you in the initial consultation.
Once the eggs and sperm have been successfully collected, we will fertilise the eggs with the sperm in the ideal environment and temperature conditions. The fertilisation will form embryos, which are then grown carefully until they are ready to be placed into the uterus. The development from fertilised eggs into embryos doesn’t always happen on the first try, but our clinic experts will be monitoring the process extremely closely to ensure that if the development goes well, you will be able to go ahead with the next step at the perfect time.
Like the egg collection, this procedure is very straightforward. Once the embryos are at the correct development stage, a specialist will transfer them into the uterus. The equipment used is no more different to that used in a smear test, so it is nothing to worry about. The process usually takes around 15 minutes, and we will ensure that the embryos have been successfully transferred before you leave the clinic.
It may seem like a long time to wait for such a potentially life changing result, but the two weeks after your embryo transfer are very important to the IVF process. It is vital that you regularly take a prescribed progesterone hormone to prepare the lining of the uterus correctly, but apart from that, make sure you relax during this time. If you feel anxious about the result (which most people do!), our friendly team is always here to support you.
14-16 days after your embryo transfer, we will perform a routine pregnancy test. If the test comes back positive, we will invite you into the clinic for an ultrasound around 4-6 weeks later to monitor the progress of the pregnancy and check for a heartbeat.
If the test comes back negative, we understand how upsetting this can be. Our doctors and nurses will be here to provide support, and will be available to answer any questions you may have, or just give you a shoulder to lean on. If you feel like you want to try again, we will be waiting for you when you are ready to talk through the other options available.
Our London IVF clinic has a great reputation for successfully helping those who have previously struggled to conceive. Our medical director, Dr Simone Rofena, has a wealth of experience in the area, and has helped countless people start their families.
Just as there is with all medical procedures, IVF doesn’t come without risks. However, we will do everything we can to complete your treatment without problems, and you can talk to your doctor at any time if anything worries you. The potential risks include:
If you feel particularly concerned about any of these risks, our team would be more than happy to talk through them with you to set your mind at ease.
At the Zita West Clinic, we know that fertility treatments aren’t ‘one size fits all’. In your consultation, we will take you through the various options we offer and make sure that we cater to your specific needs. We offer two main variations of IVF treatment, and we will work with you to decide on which treatment has the highest chance of helping you start your family.
ICSI involves injecting a single sperm into an egg to fertilise it, and is now used in nearly half of all IVF treatments throughout the UK. This procedure is usually used when we have reason to believe an egg would not be fertilised through IVF alone.
This approach includes stimulating egg production during your natural cycle to collect anywhere between one and seven eggs, unlike with traditional IVF where we’d look to collect as many as possible. This natural IVF process can be with or without ICSI, and is appropriate for some as an assisted form of treatment.
At Zita West Clinic, we understand that each individual person needs an individual approach to starting a family. From the moment you walk through our door, you will receive personalised and comprehensive guidance and advice to help you through your fertility journey: the future of your family starts here.
From Despair to Joy – My IVF Story by Becky Wilson
Here is Becky Wilson’s story of her journey through despair at being told she would probably not be able to have a baby to the joy of giving birth.
After being told that she may not be a good candidate for IVF Becky came to the Zita West Fertility Clinic for a second opinion and through our testing found out that she had low AMH – a measure of her egg reserves. We developed an individualised plan of action with her and after having IVF with us she gave birth to her beautiful daughter Ella.
Get in touch with one of our dedicated IVF advisers and see how we can help you conceive.