IVF Milestone: Egg Retrieval

Egg retrieval is one of the key phases of in vitro fertilization (IVF). After multiple follicles in the ovaries have matured sufficiently (i.e., have reached at least 15 mm in diameter), your doctor will instruct you on when to have the ovulation trigger shot. (The timing needs to be precise.) The egg retrieval takes place about 35 hours after this shot.

The last ultrasound that you’ll have prior to the procedure would give you a fairly good idea of how many eggs to expect. Often times the actual number of retrieved eggs is smaller than anticipated because not all eggs had matured on time. In other cases, your doctor will be able to retrieve more eggs than initially visualized (some might have been hidden from view).

The procedure itself is brief (roughly 15–20 minutes) but typically requires general anesthesia and is thus conducted in a hospital setting. You will be asked to arrive an hour early so that you can be admitted and prepped. Plan on spending a total of about 2.5 hours in the hospital before you get released.

Since you will be sedated, you will feel nothing during the procedure, but you will feel cramping and abdominal pain for the rest of the day. Light vaginal bleeding is also to be expected since the vaginal wall has been punctured by a needle. Needless to say, you will need someone to drive you home.

Here is a bit more about the procedure itself: To retrieve an egg from a follicle, a needle is inserted vaginally into the follicle with the help of transvaginal ultrasound visualization. As the needle aspirates fluid, the egg (which has been loosely attached to the wall of the follicle) gets detached and suctioned out of the ovary. The fluid containing the eggs is then transferred to the IVF lab, and drops of it are placed in dishes, which are then placed in incubators after fertilization.

Though most mature follicles will contain an egg, not every egg will be mature. Expect your doctor’s team to call you a day after the procedure to notify you how many of the retrieved eggs have been successfully fertilized and have survived the first day. Your doctor’s staff will continue to inform you of the status of your embryos until it is time to either freeze or implant them.

You can opt for chromosomal/genetic testing of the embryos before they are implanted. To read more about this option, visit my post “Preimplantation Genetic Screening (PGS): Why You Should Do It.”