In vitro fertilisation. IVF. Have you ever heard of this? Do you have any idea what it is about? Let me explain it to you.
In vitro fertilization is maybe one of the most widely known types of assisted reproductive technology. It works by using a combination of medicines and surgical procedures to help sperm fertilize an egg and help the fertilized egg implant in a woman’s uterus.
The process is complex. To begin with, the woman, hopefully future mum, needs to take medication that makes several of her eggs mature and ready for fertilization. Then the doctor takes the eggs out of her body and mixes them with sperm in a lab, to allow it to fertilize the eggs. Then they put one or more fertilized eggs, or embryos, directly into the woman’s uterus. Pregnancy happens if any of the embryos implant in the lining of her uterus.
This reproductive technology has many steps, and it takes several months to complete the whole process. Whereas it sometimes works on the first try, the truth is that for many couples, they will need more than one round of IVF to get pregnant. If a couple has fertility problems, this process definitely increases their chances of pregnancy, but there’s no guarantee, obviously, as everyone’s body is different, and some processes won’t work for everyone.
Sounds complicated? That’s because it is. In the 70s, it was even more complicated. Actually, for much of this decade, it was impossible.
How did it all start, you may be wondering? First things first. Lesley and Peter Brown were a couple from the UK and for years they suffered from the fear that they might never become parents. Lesley’s infertility had a reason - blocked fallopian tubes.
At that time, no one had ever managed to have a baby following such a complex scientific procedure. All this was still experimental, but in November 1977, the doctors decided to take a chance on this process without telling the parents that it had never been successful before. These doctors were British gynecologist Patrick Steptoe and scientist Robert Edwards and they had started their collaboration 10 years prior to this experiment.
The Browns were incredibly happy about the confirmation of their pregnancy, but they weren’t prepared for the media to give them unwanted attention and basically this pregnancy made headlines around the world. Not only that, but it raised various legal and ethical questions.
Indifferent to all of this, in July 25, 1978, Louise Joy Brown was born at Oldham and District General Hospital in Manchester, England. The healthy baby was delivered shortly before midnight by caesarean section and weighed five pounds, about 2,3 kilos. The first baby ever to be conceived via a scientific procedure had arrived to the world. Louise made History.
Out of curiosity, Natalie, Louise’s sister and the Browns’ second daughter was born several years later, also through IVF. Also, in May 1999, Natalie became the first IVF baby to give birth to a child of her own. The child’s conception was natural, and it proved people wrong, as many alleged that female IVF babies were not able to get pregnant naturally. In December 2006, Louise, the first “test tube baby,” gave birth to a boy, Cameron John Mullinder, who also was conceived naturally.
Today, In vitro fertilisation is considered a normal and frequent medical treatment for infertility, with hundreds of thousands of children around the world being conceived using this procedure, but in the 70s it was nothing short of a miracle!
https://healthengine.com.au/info/in-vitro-fertilisation-ivf https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/pregnancy/fertility-treatments/what-ivf
Comments