The importance of IVF cycle monitoring

By the time intended parents at our New Braunfels fertility center are ready to begin the IVF process, they have undergone a lot of testing. Women receive testing to determine whether they are healthy enough to support a pregnancy. Men undergo testing to ensure that they can provide a high-quality sperm sample. The doctor explores and identifies the intended parents’ unique fertility challenges to ensure that IVF is their best chance of having a child. All this preparation is essential to a successful round of IVF. However, as the cycle begins, careful IVF cycle monitoring is the most important way our providers promote success.

How IVF cycle monitoring works

An IVF cycle at our New Braunfels fertility center can begin with our providers prescribing birth control pills. This allows us to regulate our patient’s menstrual cycle to prepare her body for ovarian stimulation. The medication and IVF cycle monitoring proceeds as follows.

• Baseline ultrasound. A patient takes ovarian stimulation medications when she begins her period. This ultrasound allows her doctor to ensure that her ovaries are ready for stimulation.
• Ovarian stimulation. The doctor prescribes medication to stimulate the patient’s ovaries to produce many mature eggs in one cycle. The patient also receives medication to prevent these developing eggs from being released before retrieval. These IVF medications are self-administered by injection with a small needle.
• Ultrasound and blood monitoring. We ask that the patient comes into the office every few days during the two weeks or so that she is taking ovarian stimulation medications. We use ultrasounds to ensure that her eggs are developing well. We also use blood work to track her hormone levels. We want egg maturity and blood hormone levels to align to promote pregnancy.
• Trigger medication. When our ultrasound examinations reveal that a woman has multiple eggs in the 18-20mm size range, we administer an injection of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). This tells the body to prepare for ovulation. We time the egg retrieval appointment to begin about 35 hours after this injection.
• Pre-retrieval ultrasound. Before the retrieval begins, our providers do one last ultrasound to ensure that the eggs are suitably mature.

Not everyone receives the same medication during an IVF cycle. The treatment is tailored based on a patient’s fertility challenges, past treatment success and concerns. Patients with regular menstrual cycles can even consider a natural IVF cycle that avoids fertility medication altogether. Regardless of the patient’s precise schedule, IVF cycle monitoring is an integral part of treatment.

Committed treatment promotes success

Patients at our New Braunfels fertility center enjoy success rates higher than the national average. We credit this to our experience and dedication to our patients. We treat every patient as an individual and work to promote the best fertility treatment outcomes.

To learn more about IVF cycle monitoring, or for more information about our fertility treatment options, please contact our office.