Trying to conceive? Here's what IVF is really like
Years of trying to conceive and three rounds of IVF taught me how lonely and confusing it gets, and how little of it anyone explains in plain terms. So I've laid it out: how treatment actually works, what really affects your chances, and how to look after yourself through the parts no one warns you about. A consultant in reproductive medicine reviews the medical detail.
Recent guides
- Fertility Treatment and Work: Time Off, Your Rights, and What to Tell Your Employer
How to manage fertility treatment alongside a job: appointments and time off, what to tell your employer, your legal rights, and ways to carry the load.
- Telling Family and Friends About Fertility Treatment: Who to Tell and How
How to decide who and what to tell about fertility treatment, handle intrusive questions and unsolicited advice, and set boundaries that protect you.
- Diet and Lifestyle for Fertility: What the Evidence Actually Supports
An evidence-led, doctor-reviewed guide to diet and lifestyle for fertility: weight, smoking, alcohol, caffeine, folic acid, and which claims to ignore.
- Secondary Infertility: Trouble Conceiving After a Previous Child
Secondary infertility is difficulty conceiving after a previous birth. A doctor-reviewed guide to why it happens, who it affects, and what to do next.
- Egg Freezing Explained: How It Works, Success by Age, and Cost
A doctor-reviewed guide to egg freezing: how the process works, elective versus medical freezing, success rates by age, and what storage and cost involve.
- Donor Eggs, Sperm, and Embryos: When Donor Conception Is Used and How It Works
A doctor-reviewed guide to donor conception: when donor eggs, sperm, or embryos are used, the process, success rates, and legal considerations.
- ICSI Explained: What Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection Is and When It Is Used
A doctor-reviewed guide to ICSI: what intracytoplasmic sperm injection is, when it is used (mainly male factor), how it differs from IVF, and how well it works.
- IVF vs IUI: How the Two Fertility Treatments Compare on Process, Suitability, Success and Cost
IVF vs IUI compared: what each treatment involves, who each one suits, how success per cycle differs by age, and what each typically costs in the UK.
- Recurrent Miscarriage: Causes, Tests, and Support After Repeated Loss
A doctor-reviewed guide to recurrent miscarriage: what counts as recurrent loss, the possible causes, the tests offered, and where to find support.
- Age and Fertility: How Age Affects Egg Quality, Quantity, and Your Chances
How age affects fertility: why egg quantity and quality decline, the sharper drop from the late 30s, and what ovarian reserve tests can and cannot tell you.
- Unexplained Infertility: What It Means, How Common It Is, and Your Options
What unexplained infertility means: a diagnosis of exclusion after normal tests, how common it is, and your options from timed intercourse to IUI and IVF.
- Male Factor Infertility: Sperm Problems, Tests, Causes and Treatment
A doctor-reviewed guide to male factor infertility: what the semen analysis measures, common causes of low sperm count, and treatments including ICSI.
- Endometriosis and Fertility: How It Affects Conception and Where IVF Fits
Doctor-reviewed guide to endometriosis and fertility: how it affects conception, why diagnosis is often delayed, your treatment options, and where IVF fits in.
- PCOS and Fertility: How It Affects Conception and What Can Help
How PCOS affects fertility: why ovulation becomes irregular, how it is diagnosed, and the treatment options from lifestyle to ovulation induction and IVF.
- Causes of Infertility: The Main Reasons Couples Struggle to Conceive
A doctor-reviewed guide to the main causes of infertility: ovulation problems, blocked tubes, endometriosis, male factor, age, and unexplained cases.
- Dealing With a Failed IVF Cycle: Grief, the Follow-Up Review, and Next Steps
How to cope with a failed IVF cycle: why the grief is valid, what the follow-up review with your clinic covers, and how to decide about trying again.
- The Two-Week Wait: Surviving the Days Between Embryo Transfer and Your Pregnancy Test
The two-week wait is the gap between embryo transfer and your IVF pregnancy test. Why symptoms mean little, why testing early misleads, and how to cope.
- Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET): How It Works and How It Differs From a Fresh Cycle
A doctor-reviewed guide to frozen embryo transfer (FET): what it is, why embryos are frozen, the step-by-step process, the timeline, and how success compares.
- Egg Collection and Embryo Transfer: What Happens, Sedation, and Recovery
What egg collection and embryo transfer involve in IVF: sedation, how long each takes, recovery, and what to expect afterwards, doctor-reviewed.
- IVF Medications and Injections: The Drugs, How They Work, and Side Effects
A doctor-reviewed guide to IVF medications and injections: the drug groups, how the injections work, common side effects, and OHSS warning signs.
- How Much Does IVF Cost? UK and US Prices Per Cycle
How much IVF costs per cycle in the UK and US: real price ranges, what is included versus extra, NHS funding and the postcode lottery, plus financing options.
- Fertility Tests and Investigations: What Gets Checked for Both Partners
A doctor-reviewed guide to fertility tests and investigations: semen analysis, ovulation and hormone bloods, AMH ovarian reserve, tubal checks, ultrasound.
- When to See a Doctor About Fertility: How Long to Try First
When to see a doctor about fertility: see your GP after about 12 months of trying, or 6 months if you are over 35, and sooner with known issues.
- How to Get Pregnant: Trying to Conceive Naturally
A doctor-reviewed guide to getting pregnant: the fertile window, how often to have sex, folic acid, how long it takes, and when to seek help.
- Coping With the Emotional Side of Fertility Treatment
A doctor-reviewed guide to the emotional side of fertility treatment: the two-week wait, the toll on relationships, failed cycles, and where to find support.
- IVF Success Rates: What the Numbers Really Mean
A doctor-reviewed guide to IVF success rates: how age affects your chances, why cycle and birth rates differ, and how to read clinic statistics honestly.
- IVF Explained: How In Vitro Fertilisation Works, Step by Step
A doctor-reviewed guide to how IVF works: the stages of a cycle from stimulation to transfer, how long it takes, the risks, the costs, and what to expect.