What happens in the laboratory?

All usable eggs are extracted from the patient's ovaries (follicle puncture). This procedure can be carried out under a light anaesthetic or general anaesthesia (performed by an anaesthetist). The patient will be asked to empty her bladder before the procedure. The puncture is followed by the fertilisation using IVF or ICSI. In IVF, eggs and sperm are concentrated in vitro. In ICSI, one single sperm is inserted into the egg using a hollow needle.

Some eggs will fertilise and others won’t. The fertilised eggs are recognisable because they have two pronuclei.

The fertilised egg has already developed to a two to four-cell group. Now we decide whether to put the embryo(s) back into the female uterus (embryo transfer) on day 3 or 5. You will receive a phone call from the KinderWunschKlinik laboratory today to make the date for embryo transfer!

The fertilised egg may have already divided itself into an eight-cell group. Either we insert it (them) into the female uterus today or we wait until day 5.

The morula stage is reached.

The embryo(s) is (are) in the blastocyst stage and is (are) inserted back into the uterus today at the latest. This procedure is completely pain-free, similar to a gynaecological examination and requires no anaesthesia. The patient is asked to arrive at the KinderWunschKlinik with a full bladder!