IVF

IVF In February I was able to spend the day in an operating room at University of Colorado Hospital. The Advanced Reproductive Medicine Department allowed me to view an oocyte retrieval, and then later see the eggs fertilized by the sperm in the laboratory. The patient had been attempting pregnancy for eight years with her spouse, she was 38 years of age, and had been infected with Hepatitis C for 16 years. All of these factors put an interesting twist on the outcome of the procedure. Before the procedure began, Dr. Deb Smith, the physician who performed the procedure, explained to me that the age of the patient was somewhat concerning to her, but that they would implant three to four embryos, rather than two or three as they do with patients under the age of 35. She also explained that her only concern with the Hepatitis C was the extra caution that all of us would need to take in the operating room, but that it really had no affect on her ability to get pregnant. Dr. Smith was quite hopeful in her success with this particular patient, and said that she would call patient, procedure, retrieval, ovulation, egg, time, smith, injection, explained, dr, after, tests, reproduction, quite, pregnancy, laboratory, gnrh, fertilization, eggs, development, began, age, years, two, takes, take, sperm, simple, room, place, physician, operating, normal, lh, levels