TREATMENT

In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)

Blossom Fertility and Medical Clinic partners with Olive Fertility Centre in Vancouver to provide IVF treatment for patients in Prince George and Northern BC.

What is IVF?

In Vitro Fertilization (commonly referred to as IVF) is a process in which eggs are removed from a woman’s ovaries and are fertilized by sperm in a laboratory. If the egg fertilizes, it is called an embryo. Embryos are grown in the lab for three to five days, and then the healthiest looking embryos are either:

  • Transferred into the woman’s uterus
  • Transferred into a surrogate
  • Frozen for later use

When embryos are placed into the uterus, they will hopefully implant in the uterine lining and further develop into a fetus – resulting in a successful pregnancy.

When to Consider IVF

IVF may be an option for you if:

  • You have problems with ovulation due to conditions like polycystic ovary syndrome
  • Your fallopian tubes are scarred or blocked
  • You have endometriosis
  • You have had several failed IUIs

Treatment

What is an IVF cycle like?

A typical IVF cycle is divided into 7 steps:

1. Priming: During this phase you take oral medications to prepare the ovaries and uterus for IVF.
2. Ovarian stimulation: In the stim phase you take daily injections of medications that cause your ovaries to produce multiple eggs.
3. Egg Retrieval: This involves removing the eggs through the vagina.
4. Fertilization or ICSI: This step involves fertilizing the eggs. With ICSI, a single sperm cell is injected directly into an egg.
5. Growing the embryos in the lab and selecting the healthiest embryos.
6. Embryo transfer (or freezing embryos): This is a simple procedure that involves transferring the healthiest embryo back through the woman’s vagina.
7. Implantation/pregnancy: If you are pregnant, we monitor the pregnancy with blood tests for your beta HCG levels and use ultrasound to be sure the pregnancy is in the correct location in the uterus and is going well.

IVF Support

We can help you prepare for IVF procedure by ensuring your pre-IVF workup is complete.

At Blossom Fertility we can:

  1. Organize minor procedures in the x-ray department (HSGs) or operating room (hysteroscopies). These procedures are beneficial in confirming that you have a normal uterine cavity before your IVF treatments (these services are covered by MSP).
  2. Prepare you for your egg retrieval by measuring the ovarian follicles. We measure the ovarian follicles until they are large enough for retrieval. The IVF team at Olive Fertility Centre communicates the timing of the ultrasound and, once we know when you need to be scanned, we fit you in for their appointment. Usually bloodwork can be done on the same day and we coordinate with the IVF nurse to ensure the test results get to Olive by midafternoon to ensure there is time for medication instructions to be given if needed.
  3. Prepare you for a frozen embryo transfer. If you have frozen embryos ready for transfer, we can help with surveillance ultrasounds of the endometrial thickness. This ensures optimal timing of the embryo transfer. This also shortens the time you need to be in Vancouver, as you only need to be there for the time required to do the procedure. The Olive IVF team and our team at Blossom coordinate your care for optimum efficiency.
  4. Provide IVF Medication. Over the last several months of providing IVF support, we have found that there are times when clients urgently need fertility medications that are not routinely stocked by local pharmacies. We stock some of the fertility medications at our site and can provide you with them should the need arise during a critical time in your treatment.

Future Plans for Blossom Fertility care

We are exploring ways of doing hysteroscopies in the office to further streamline care.
We are also on the threshold of training our staff to offer more IVF medication. This training program will be implemented in 2020/21.