Although Craig and I have been blessed with this new pregnancy, and Dexter was conceived naturally, I have hundreds of friends who have relied upon IVF to grow their families. Having struggled with our own TTC journey, I found myself earlier this year researching IVF and exactly what it entails. It turns out the theory behind it is relatively simple, but the science and technology is truly fascinating. Having recently had two very close sets of friends successfully grow their family through IVF (managing 3 children between them) their babies are healthy, happy and the product of something so miraculous, they’ll always be very special in my eyes.
The first test tube baby was born in 1977 and since then more than three million children have been born as a result of reproductive technology. Human pregnancy is the mostly studied area as compared to all the other mammalian pregnancies, and as such conception maybe achieved as a result of sexual intercourse or assisted reproductive technology. This technology which has been proven to work provides relief for a lot of people and has opened up the possibility of pregnancy for those who may be unable to properly ovulate or produce sperm, a single parent or a couple of the same-sex.
A test tube baby is formed when a sperm from a man and an egg from a woman is removed and fertilized outside the mother’s body, it is an egg fertilized with sperm in vitro. The tube has the same nutrition conditions and warmth as compared to that of a mother’s womb. After a short period of time when the unicellular zygote is formed it will later be put inside the mother’s womb. As with the with the normal development of a zygote, the baby forms after the period of nine months. In other words, a test tube baby is the procedure of uniting the ovules and sperm cells in another place which is not the womb, and lets the zygote to form there, later on it will be restored into the mother’s womb so as to ensure of the development of the normal zygote.
Image source: DrMichael Flynn
In the case of normal conception, a viable zygote is formed as a result of the union of the female ovules and male sperm. The fertilization takes place in the womb of a mother from the beginning to the end. The child is usually born after 38 weeks commencing after the period of conception. Through the first eight weeks after conception an embryo is developed as an offspring and later on the term foetus can be used until the birth of the child. The human pregnancy is divided into three trimesters the first carrying a high risk of miscarriage. The second involves the development of the fetus which can be monitored and the third involves the ability of the foetus to survive with or without medical help.
It really is amazing how far technology has come. It’s certainly true to say that in vitro fertilization (IVF) may help you finally achieve your pregnancy dream.
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