Does anyone know about things like invitro fertilization and stuff?

My niece has been trying to get pregnant ever since she got married. She had a couple ectopic pregnancies, and had both fallopeon tubes removed in emergency surgery. They have been saving up for a long time to try to do invitro.

So I guess they harvested 4 eggs. They fertilized and implanted two, and held two in reserve. They just found out the eggs didn't take, and one of the reserves had died. Needless to say my niece is devestated, and was totally inconsoulable to the point they were afraid to let her be alone.

I am just trying to get some understanding here about how this process works. Can't they harvest more eggs and try again? I know that doesn't change the trauma, but my mom (not the best source of facts) seemed to sound like that was the end of their chances. Wouldn't they try to implant the remaining egg also? Or not cause there is only one?

I thought when they were deciding to do this there was some type of guarentee that with this fee they would keep retrying until she had a successful pregnancy for four months. Does that sound right? I will get some facts from my sister tomorrow -- but (even though we love her) mom tends to get facts garbled and I don't want to start the conversation off sounding like a total idiot. Thanks.

I dont know much about it but my SIL has been doing IVF for a year now. She has to inject herself daily than gets her eggs removed after a few weeks then they get fertilized then she gets a call and has them implanted. she has had 3 rounds of IVF and no success yet, she is about to try her 4th time. she hasnt got any eggs laft from the previous times they just start all over again from scratch. It could be different here in NZ though, She doesnt really go in to detail of what happens, thats all i know, sorry i couldnt be more help but im praying that your niece gets that long awaited baby soon. My SIL has been trying for a baby for 10 years but found out 2 years ago that she cant concieve natrually so its been a long road. Fingers crossed.
Its also costing my SIL $8000 each time and can only try every 3-4 months

You basically have it right. The woman has to go undergo extensive drug/hormone therapy (daily shots) to stimulate her ovaries. Actually over-stimulate them if possible to produce as many viable eggs as possible. She's monitored through ultra-sounds to determine the best time to harvest the eggs. I'm a bit hazy on how the egg harvest happens. Her husband provides his sample, which is probably "washed" to leave only the best and the brightest sperm. Eggs and sperm are combined in hopes that fertilization happens. There's even a proceedure that can try to actually put the sperm in the egg.

Not sure what the fertilized egg is called at this point now, but if it/them reach a certain size, they are put back into her (technical term there!). They want to use more than one to increase the chances, because not all will implant most likely. Any remaining egg thingys can be frozen. This is how octo-mom got pregnant. Except all EIGHT of hers implanted and she did not follow through with "selective reduction" which is the proceedure to basically abort any embroys more than two.

If she doesn't have an eggs left, she's either not producing many, not many are being fertilized, or all are being put back in her and none are implanting.

This may be her last chance because ethically her doctors have said after 3/4 failled times, it's not going to happen and it isn't healthy to continue putting her body through the trauma (hormone therapy) and also taking her money. Octo-mom's doctors didn't act ethically in my opinion (I have strong opinions about her! lol).

I have heard of some clinics offering....not guarantees, because you just can't do that, there's no guarantees when you're dealing with infertility....but maybe it's a 2 for the price of one. One try with fresh egg/sperm and one with the frozen.

Mum, NZ prices are cheaper! Here in the States, IVF probably starts around $20,000.

Thanks for the info. They paid $15,000 for whatever they signed up for. This is actually their first implantation of IVF, so maybe it was her mourning the babies that didn't happen, but there can be more attempts. I will call my sister and get the real info. Maybe the guarentee had to do with implantations from the eggs they harvested from this attempt.

I can't totally trust what my mom says, she gets confused. When my niece had the ectopic scares mom told me they removed both her ovaries instead of just her fallopeon tubes, so I looked like the total stunned idiot when my sister told me they were going the IVF route.

I had crazy ideas running thru my head last night that I could carry the baby for her. I had such a terrible time when I was pregnant with Lucy, I can imaging my ob/gyn falling on the floor laughing if I called him up asking about my potential in that area. Sigh.

I haven't been through it myself but I can only imagine what it's like pinning all your hopes on one very expensive proceedure only to have it fail. And then coming down off all those hormone injections might not be nice either.

dolly's momma, my best friend (who turns 39 next week) told me she had a dream that she was a surrogate for me. I just had to laugh (not to her face though) about it. I can't imagine that any doctor would approve of a woman say, past 35, of being a surrogate. Our parts just don't work quite as well! As I know all too well......

I would gladly do it for you, Beth! If only you lived nearer

However, you're gonna get prego

You never know Beth. It took my body over twenty years of, well, not not trying before I got pregnant at 42. Stranger things have happened. But it was just a crazy thought, I have my own health issues I have to deal with right now....


Oh, and about the octo baby doctor. I read an article that he has a 46 year old woman carrying quads who came to him wanting just 1 single child and he implanted 4 eggs and they all took. Makes you wonder about him, if it was all the octomom. Sure she is a willing participant now, but I wonder if it is more than she bargained for, but unlike us she has had plenty of time to come to terms with and embrace the idea....