Once eggs reach the lab, experts examine them to determine maturity and quality. Mature eggs are transferred into a special culture medium, placed in an incubator and within a few hours of egg retrieval are fertilized with sperm.  For IVF, sperm is placed in the culture medium in a small petri dish containing an egg; the sperm and eggs are incubated together in the dish in the lab, allowing the sperm to enter the egg on its own. IVF is conventional method and is used when husband sperm count is high with good motility. Else ICSI is performed. 

If the sperm fertilises the egg, it becomes an embryo. Fertilization is assessed 16 – 18 hours after insemination or ICSI. The fertilized eggs are called zygotes and are cultured in a specially formulated culture medium in incubators that supports their growth. The conditions for embryo development are made similar to uterus. They will be assessed on the second and third day after retrieval. Following this would be selection of embryo for transfer. 

Embryos are transferred on day 3 when they are at the cleavage stage (6 – 8 cells) or on day 5 when they have reached the blastocyst stage. Embryo transfer is a simple procedure that does not require any anesthesia. An embryologist prepares your embryo by placing it in a small tube called a catheter. It’s critical this is done by an expert to disturb the embryo as little as possible. Embryos are loaded in a soft catheter and are placed in the uterine cavity through the cervix.

Approximately 15 days after your embryo transfer, you’ll have a blood test to measure your levels of the hormone hCG. hCG in your bloodstream usually means a positive pregnancy test. If the pregnancy is confirmed positive by blood test then you will be called upon for a followup visit after approx. 20 days for first USG. In USG the yolk sac in which the embryo has started developing shall be seen and you can even hear the heartbeat of your baby !