What is Vitro Fertilisation?

What you need to know about preparing your body for conception, how the baby-making business works, and what to do if it doesn’t…

The lowdown on… In Vitro Fertilisation

1 Around 6000 babies a year are born in the UK as a result of In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF). The success rate is around 15% per treatment.

2 There are several different techniques used, but the main process involves taking fertility drugs to stimulate egg production. The eggs are then harvested, fertilised in a lab, and then placed in the womb.

3 ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection) is a recent innovation where a single sperm is injected directly into an egg.

4 IVF increases the chance of multiple births by 25%, compared to one or two per cent of normal births.

5 Only 18% of IVF treatments are on the NHS, and availability varies. Going private costs up to £2000 per cycle. For more information, visit www.hfea.gov.uk.

1.87
is the average number of children born to British women, up from 1.8 in 2005, to its highest in 26 years. More women in their thirties and forties having children is thought to be responsible for the surge, thanks in part to more successful fertility treatments.

My success story

Reader panellist Kerry Scott, 34, struggled to conceive for three years but is now 28 weeks pregnant with her first baby

‘I have polycystic ovaries, so although I knew I might have a problem trying to conceive, it was still a massive disappointment when, after a year of trying, nothing had happened.

I started having Clomid injections to stimulate my ovaries but they didn’t work either, so I tried acupuncture, improving my diet and cutting down on alcohol. Still no luck. We then moved away from London and I decided not to work and focus all of my attention on IVF.

At our first appointment, we were told to come back when my next period started. But my period never came! I did five pregnancy tests and they were all positive – we just couldn’t believe it. I think settling down and forgetting about it for a while meant my body relaxed and nature took its course.’