stupid question??

[mountainpuddles]

Hi, I am new to IVF. For some reason I thought that the semen were injected directly into the egg to be fertilized. Someone told me they have the two in the same petri dish and wait for them to come together by themselves to fertilize?? Can someone clarify this for me??
Thank you, B

[Tracii]

Hi...you are correct in both accounts....the normal IVF is when they allow the sperm to fertilize the egg 'naturally'...the second method is called ICSI where they inject a single healthy, sperm into the egg for fertilization. ICSI is usually used if there are issues with the sperm (i.e. low motility...). ICSI does cost more then the norm IVF.

We had ICSI done because we only had 2 eggs retrieved and didn't want to risk non-fertilization...but keep in mind that although ICSI is used it does not guarantee egg fertilization. Sometimes the egg may be overripe or immature. Of our 2 eggs only 1 fertilized....luckily she is a figher and our expecting our little girl in November

[NickiMark]

IVF= in vitro fertalisation, which is latin for fertalisation in glass (test tube)
ICSI= is the one where they inject the sperm to egg.

Good Luck with it all, x x

[kristiA]

My clinic tends to automatically do ICSI. We didn't have any sperm issues and I had 12 eggs retreived....and they still did ICSI. They did ICSI on all 12 of them (injecting one single sperm into the egg to help it fertilize). Of the 12, 8 of them fertilized. So even with ICSI it doesn't guarantee that they will fertilize, but I believe it gives better results then letting them fertilize naturally in a tube or dish.

I'm pregnant with twins now.

Good luck to you with IVF and/or ICSI!!

[mountainpuddles]

Gals, thank you so much for your expertise!!!
B.