Technologies reproductive medicine They are moving by leaps and bounds. Thanks to progress in this area, the diagnosis of infertility is no longer so scary. For example, in vitro fertilization can bring happiness to people who are unable to conceive a child on their own. Women are very interested in the question, is it painful to do IVF? Their excitement is understandable; you don’t do such procedures every day.
In order to answer this question we need to bring some clarity. After all, IVF is only common name artificial insemination technologies. The name means that fertilization will occur outside the mother's body.
Puncture
IVF includes several stages, one of them is quite scary, but painless. We are talking about puncture of the follicles. Using a special needle, oocytes are removed from the ovaries. It sounds scary, but there is no need to worry. This procedure is performed under anesthesia, so only discomfort after.
Follicle puncture is done under intravenous anesthesia, so it is not painful. Replanting
The next stage does not require anesthesia at all, but is still sometimes used here local anesthesia. This stage is called replanting, another name is transfer. Very rarely, minor complications occur when fertilized eggs are transferred into the uterine cavity. If the specialist’s experience is low, he may slightly damage the cervical canal. This will only be known after the transfer, since minor bleeding may occur due to damage. Blood is flowing no longer than 1-2 days.
How is replanting done?
Let's look at this stage in more detail. The doctor will confirm the date of replantation. Usually this is the second or fifth day after the puncture. If the transfer is scheduled for day 2, then embryos that have reached the blastomere stage in their development will be transferred. On the fifth day, the embryos will already be blastocysts.
In this video, an embryologist explains why it is better to transfer a blastocyst:
Important tip! Under no circumstances should you worry about the transfer. Naturally, a woman is afraid that there will be blood and it will hurt. Believe me, this is not true. The maximum that the patient can feel is slight discomfort. If a woman is nervous, stress will trigger the production of cortisol, which can cause a hormonal disorder and the embryo may not take root.
A woman sits in a gynecological chair. The doctor inserts a special flexible catheter into the cervical canal of the cervix. At this moment, the embryos are in a nutrient solution. They are inserted into the uterus when the catheter passes the cervical canal.
This is how embryo transfer occurs. It is done without anesthesia. It's not painful, just unpleasant. Currently, they are trying to transfer one embryo, but to increase the chances, it happens that two embryos are transferred. In some cases, a woman herself wants to give birth to twins with the help of IVF, you will agree that this is convenient, there were no children and there are two at once.
Transferring more than 3 embryos is dangerous; there is a high risk of multiple pregnancy. This type of pregnancy is dangerous for the mother. Typically, reproductive specialists recommend freezing the remaining embryos. If the first replanting is unsuccessful, they may be needed. In addition, in cryopreserved form they can be stored indefinitely.
Actions of a woman during replanting
The woman should not interfere with the procedure. You need to relax your lower abdomen as much as possible. This way, inserting the catheter will be as safe as possible and will not cause discomfort. If the patient is in pain, they will give her time to get used to it, perhaps giving her local anesthesia. After the catheter is inserted, the doctor will press the plunger of the syringe with embryos and the transfer will occur.
When the embryos are transferred, the patient should lie in the gynecological chair in a relaxed state for at least 30 minutes. After this, the woman goes home. Now she should rest, lie down, relax. Do not do household chores under any circumstances. Even minor physical stress or nervousness can prevent embryo implantation. Do you need this? Relax.
What to do after replanting?
Sometimes women who find it difficult to be in calm state at home they remain in a day hospital for a couple of days. Under the supervision of doctors, some feel calmer and more reliable. There is no exact prescription here; it all depends on each patient individually, whether to stay in the hospital or go home.
After the transfer, the woman should not feel pain in the lower abdomen. At this point, it is very important to adhere to a course of hormonal stimulation to support implantation. Adherence to the schedule must be perfect. Typically, the hormones progesterone and human chorionic gonadotropin are used for support.
In this short video, a fertility specialist will tell you what to do after the transfer:
In addition to abstaining from stress and physical activity, you need to measure your weight on a scale every day and monitor your urination (frequency and volume). Also monitor your belly size and pulse. If violations are detected bloody discharge or if pain occurs, immediately report it to your IVF clinic.
Don't go to work, let it wait! To do this, you will be given sick leave for 12 days. All this time you need to stay in good mood and peace. If your doctor considers additional rest necessary, he will extend the sick leave.
Pain during transfer
Statistics indicate that pain after transfer is very rare. If there is pain, the woman may have a large bend of the uterus. Lack of pain after the procedure and good health are signs of a successful transfer.
Cases of damage to the cervical canal and subsequent pain and discomfort are very rare. If the transfer is unsuccessful, the next procedure should be well thought out. You may need a different shaped catheter or dilation of the uterus.
Here main tool for embryo transfer - a catheter. Today, the IVF method has ceased to be something fantastic and has gone beyond the walls scientific laboratories into everyday life. In vitro fertilization fulfills the dream of many couples who, just a couple of decades ago, were doomed to an infertile marriage.
The IVF method, if we consider it without details, includes only 4 stages:
1. Stimulation of multiovulation (for the maturation of several follicles in the current cycle).
2. Puncture of follicles.
3. Fertilization of eggs and cultivation of embryos.
4. Embryo transfer.
14 days after the embryo transfer, an hCG test is performed to understand whether pregnancy has occurred.
After embryo transfer, the doctor gives recommendations - both on drug support and on lifestyle and behavior. The recommendations are very general, for example: “limit sex life, physical exercise, but do something that will distract you from waiting for the pregnancy test result.”
Of course, when preparing for the IVF protocol, doctors focus directly on the procedures up to point 4 inclusive. When preparing for IVF, women most often worry about hormonal therapy (“will I suddenly get fat?”), about physical pain and, in fact, about the result—whether it will work or not.
I’ll tell you about my experience; perhaps my story will change someone’s view of the procedure and help them prepare better.
My experience is 4 IVF attempts (one of them is cryotransfer, that is, the transfer of previously frozen embryos) within one year.
Up to a certain point, I believed that IVF would never affect me - it was something from another reality, like flying into space. Circumstances turned out differently and in vitro fertilization became my only way to become the mother of my own child. The option of having an adopted child always exists, but I was not ready for it either then or now.
Stimulation of multiovulation is a very simple step. Just give injections at a certain time every day and periodically go for monitoring. This hormonal stimulation had no effect on weight. Follicle puncture scared me only the first time, but this is also a fairly simple procedure from the patient’s point of view. Follow all the doctors' recommendations and everything will go smoothly. Conducted under general anesthesia, the recovery for me personally went quickly, no consequences, no painful sensations - I slept under anesthesia, lay down, got up and went about my business.
Stage 3 - fertilization and cultivation - occurs without the participation of the patient; the doctor, at some intervals, simply notifies about the progress of this stage by phone - how many eggs have been fertilized, how many and what quality of embryos have been produced.
Embryo transfer takes only a few minutes and is no more unpleasant than a regular gynecological examination. After the transfer, it is recommended to lie down for about half an hour and then you can go home and do your usual activities, following the recommendations.
In my opinion, the most difficult stage is the one not announced by doctors, the fifth is waiting for the result. What to do 14 days before the pregnancy test? Those women who are forced to resort to the IVF method, as a rule, have already gone through all 7 circles of hell on the way to motherhood and really count on positive result. However, the result here cannot be guaranteed by anyone! The success of the procedure depends on too many factors; neither doctors nor patients can foresee and know everything! And if there is no pregnancy after IVF, doctors can only guess what exactly went wrong, but not know for sure.
I recommend preparing psychologically for the fact that the 14 days between embryo transfer and hCG analysis will become your personal hell. It is impossible to be 100% distracted from thoughts about what is happening inside you. Even the most microscopic thought about this grows to catastrophic proportions. I am not a suspicious person at all, I stand firmly on the ground, I am a realist, I know how to manage emotions due to professional deformation, my strength is logic and composure.
However, in the first protocol, waiting for the results knocked me off my feet, I was simply going crazy! Every second I worried - what if I stood up too quickly? What if I ate something wrong? What if my negative thoughts have an impact? I dreamed bad dream, what if it doesn’t work out because of this? God, I sneezed, what should I do, they could fly out of me! Plus, the protocol was unsuccessful, that is, pregnancy did not occur. Despite my motto: “We hope for the best, but prepare for the worst,” I was not ready for such a trip. Physically I wasn’t hurt at all, but mentally... I was ready to go out the window...
Over the next 3 days, which I spent in tears, cigarettes (and I haven’t smoked for more than 10 years!) and coffee, I lost 10 kilograms. Fortunately, my family and my husband provided strong support. My husband and I made a long-term plan for further treatment. Drawing up a plan, step-by-step actions and always discussing them with your spouse helps a lot. Thus, you say out loud that life does not stop there and the future is in your hands! After the protocol, the body needs rest to recover.
I went on vacation, new experiences and a change of scenery really helped me recover mentally. Your IVF budget should include a provision for recovery, for example through holidays. The main thing is to switch your head!
I approached the next protocol with a more sober head and was not particularly focused on a positive result. Of course, it was impossible not to think about the outcome of the protocol at all during the fifth stage, but thanks to the fact that my husband devoted these crazy 14 days entirely to organizing our leisure time, everything went much calmer.
In the third protocol, I finally understood the reason for our failures. Before that, I thought a lot, because there are a lot of factors and success is influenced by both the quality of the embryos and the ability of the female body to accept a “foreign element.” The third, cryoprotocol, also did not bring us the long-awaited news of pregnancy. If we think logically, then in standard protocols the woman’s body is first subjected to very cruel tests and one can consider the possibility that for some reason it rejects the embryos. In the cryoprotocol, embryos are implanted into my completely healthy and rested body.
But they simply don’t survive and my body has absolutely nothing to do with it. Exceptional quality of embryos. Logical thinking helped me turn off my emotions this time and prepare for the next protocol. Logically, we “entered” the fourth protocol with preliminary preparation and elaboration of my theory. Since, after all, my worldview is based on logic, I was afraid of only one thing - that my conclusions would turn out to be erroneous. In this case, I simply didn’t know what to do next.
After all, I could spend my whole life trying in vain! Is this life? I gave myself an instruction - in case of failure, try a couple more times in order to make sure of the futility, and then give up all attempts and learn to live without thoughts of procreation. With one eye I even read some articles and interviews on the topic of forced, barren life. From a physiological point of view, our fourth protocol should have been unsuccessful. Just before the transfer, something went wrong with the previous patient in the operating room, I saw the condition of my doctor. Although she tried her best to hold on, it was clear that their situation was far from standard and the doctor was nervous.
After the transfer, I was driving home and almost got into an accident, I was very scared. Then, for 14 days of waiting, I worked like hell, not thinking about the result at all. But it turned out that logic won and we saw the coveted two stripes. By the way, I was completely unprepared for two stripes, as I was too carried away by “running in circles” and trying to get pregnant. All I knew about pregnancy was that it lasted 9 months. I learned all the stages and subtleties already in the process.
To summarize briefly:
1) get ready for a strong psychological attack of negative thoughts, while your own consciousness will go on the attack, and it’s the hardest thing to fight!
2) include funds in your IVF budget for the restoration of the body in case of failure, for example, for a vacation (preferably if it is some kind of non-standard vacation, that is, if you usually prefer beach holiday— take a sightseeing tour).
3) it will be difficult without the support of your spouse; make sure in advance that he is your rock, fortress, feather bed, warm waves and gentle sun.
4) think in advance that you are facing the worst 14 days of your life and work out a plan for how to occupy your thoughts during this difficult time of waiting.
5) make plans for the future, carefully think through and calculate what and how you will do to achieve your goal (several IVF attempts, use of donor material, adopted child), be sure to discuss these plans with your spouse. Why is it important to discuss every nuance with your spouse? For example, you may be ready for an adopted child, but he is not. This is not his fault; it is difficult to make such a decision in 1 minute. Discuss everything.
IVF is the same natural disaster for a family as the first joint renovation, vacation, buying an apartment, or organizing a wedding. But, if you are each other’s support and are moving towards the same goal, then this will only strengthen your relationship, regardless of the result. And in an ideal case, it will also increase your family.
Today I look at my child, whom I got through a long and difficult path, and cry with happiness, no matter how trite it may sound. This beautiful little man is definitely worth all the nightmares I had to go through to meet him. I have already begun to forget how for more than 10 years I cried every month at the onset of my critical days. All the bad things will be forgotten sooner or later, and this happiness will remain in our family forever.
Thanks to assisted reproductive technologies, which are rapidly developing in modern medicine, many infertile couples have the opportunity to experience the happiness of parenthood. One of the most popular and popular techniques is the procedure in vitro fertilization. Expectant mothers often wonder if IVF is painful and how they can reduce the discomfort during the procedure.
To give the correct answer, it is necessary to understand how exactly the resulting embryos are transferred. Doctors convince patients that the procedure is painless and does not take much time, so anesthesia, in most cases, is not used. Anesthesia for IVF is necessary in special cases, which we will discuss in detail below.
It is not surprising that many expectant mothers are interested in whether it hurts to do IVF. Reviews from those who have undergone this procedure from experienced doctors assure that embryo transfer causes only minor discomfort. To carry out the manipulation, the patient is asked to sit comfortably on a gynecological chair, after which the doctor inserts a flexible catheter into the canal.
Actually, the embryos will move along the artificially recreated path into the woman’s uterine cavity. According to standard protocols, two or three embryos that have best performance viability. The remaining cells are cryopreserved so that if the first attempt fails, another in vitro fertilization can be performed.
Transfer of embryos into the uterine cavity through a catheter
If it hurts during IVF, this means that the woman is poorly relaxed, her muscles are tense and resist. Therefore, doctors do everything necessary to future mom During the manipulation I felt comfortable and at ease. In situations where the muscles of the lower abdomen are too tense, severe pain will be felt when the catheter is inserted.
Upon completion of the entire procedure, the woman must remain in her original position on the chair for approximately 30 minutes. Depending on the general condition the doctor will tell you whether the expectant mother can go home after this time, or whether she will have to stay at the clinic for another day.
Feelings after the transfer
Answering the question regarding the IVF procedure, whether it hurts or not, doctors assure that in vitro fertilization is painless. It is also worth understanding that if the manipulation was performed by an experienced specialist, then discomfort there should not be any after the embryo transfer itself, when the catheter is removed from the canal.
If the protocol was successful and the desired pregnancy did occur, which can be confirmed by a blood test for CNP and ultrasound diagnostics, then pain may be felt in the lower abdomen and lower back during the first 12 weeks. The first 7-14 days of discomfort is caused by the process of implantation of the fertilized egg into the uterus and endometrium.
Next, the chorion or future placenta is formed. This process takes three to four weeks. During 5-6 weeks of pregnancy, blood flow to the uterus increases, and the pelvic vessels are completely filled with this fluid. Only starting from the seventh week does the body begin to produce the hormone relaxin, which helps reduce any discomfort or pain.
Also, during the first 9-12 weeks, the uterus and its ligamentous apparatus, which leads to minor reductions and painful sensations. After the embryo transfer procedure itself, doctors prescribe maintenance therapy, which includes the use of medications such as Progesterone and Human Chorionic Gonadotropin.
Causes of pain
When women repeatedly undergo in vitro fertilization protocols that do not result in pregnancy and are accompanied by unpleasant sensations, they begin to wonder whether embryo transfer can be done under pain relief.
Doctors always carry out the first attempt without using any anesthesia, since, according to studies, this procedure is not accompanied by pain and lasts a short period of time. Yes, there are cases where expectant mothers complained about severe pain during transfer, but this only happens in those patients who have an anatomically strong bending of the uterus.
This is why anesthesia during IVF, reviews from women confirm this, are almost never used. If the girl was in pain and bleeding was noted, then most likely the protocol will not be successful. This means that next time the doctor will have to use a different catheter with the ability to adjust.
However, the question of whether IVF is done under anesthesia or not remains open. IN Lately doctors began to practice pain relief of this type in patients who, due to psychological factor cannot relax, which makes it impossible to gently insert a medical catheter. If the expectant mother is calm and relaxed, and there is no strong bending of the uterus, then it is better not to use anesthesia.
Tatiana K.
My name is Tatyana, I am 28 years old. In 1998, in St. Petersburg, I underwent the procedure of in vitro fertilization, but the result, alas, was disastrous.
Firstly, the entire process - from the moment of collection necessary tests and until the last stage - lasted from October to July. The embryo was implanted into the uterus on May 14. After this, the results of two pregnancy tests turned out to be radically opposite: a blood test showed a positive result, an ultrasound said the opposite. In the end, an ectopic pregnancy was determined. The result is surgery and elimination of one pipe. All this happened only on July 24th. So my memories are not the best.
Even now, when I write these lines, I feel terribly painful - despite the fact that a lot of time has passed, and, it would seem, everything should already be in the past. What I felt after the operation is very difficult to convey to someone who has not been through it all, so that they can truly imagine and understand my experiences. God grant that no one has to experience what I experienced. This trauma - and not so much physical as moral - I think will remain for a long time.
The hardest thing for me then was that the people involved in this procedure could not give any answer as to what was happening to my body, and only two months later the diagnosis was finally made. Don't worry, I don't want to blame anyone. Of course, it’s clear: everyone does their part of the work, we are all human and no one is immune from mistakes. But what is it like for a person who puts himself at the complete disposal of doctors, entrusts his life, his destiny into their hands?! I would like to make a small but very important request to all medical workers directly related to IVF. Please arrange psychological assistance women who went through this whole process and learned about negative result. Do it for free, because you probably know that we, who came to you, have already spent a lot of effort, health and money. Many of us have been saving for years in the hope that this last chance will bring good luck. Listen to the person who was destined to go through all this.
I apologize if I offended anyone in any way. I just briefly told my IVF story - unfortunately, unlike a fairy tale, it does not have a happy ending. Good luck to everyone and good health.
“I succeeded in IVF!”
Natalya A.
The feeling of happiness and joy that our son gives us takes the painful days and years of waiting and failure far into the past. Our son is already 6.5 months old. Our first attempt at IVF was successful.
Over the course of 5 years, my husband and I underwent various examinations and courses of treatment. We consistently tried everything: hormonal therapy, laparoscopy and much more, leaving IVF for ourselves “for last” - as the very last option. Doctors had long advised us to take this step, but I stubbornly resisted. I believed that this was unnatural, that this sacrament should happen as nature predetermined, I was afraid for the health of the child, I was afraid of the strong hormone therapy, I just couldn’t imagine how a child would be conceived within the walls of a laboratory, and not in my body. And even with the help of people strangers to me. What effect will this have on the child’s attitude towards me and towards his father? Will he be a stressed child?
But we had no other way, we found ourselves in a dead end - as it turned out, a happy one.
We were told in detail how the whole procedure would take place and what elements it consists of. It turned out that to increase the likelihood of a positive outcome, a gentle dose of hormonal stimulation was enough for me. It must be said that the most unpleasant physiological sensation in the entire IVF procedure is the retrieval of eggs. The procedure is painful, it was carried out without anesthesia, but the pain is short-lived.
I turned out to be a “fruitful” woman - 7 eggs were taken from me at once. Then there was a painful wait. I couldn’t shake the feeling that part of me remained in the hospital. As it turned out, out of 7 eggs, only two were fertilized by my husband’s sperm (by the way, I always dreamed of twins), and they were implanted in my uterus.
Embryo transfer is completely painless, but the waiting is painful. Both my husband and I were very skeptical. But - lo and behold! - menstruation was delayed by 2 days, a hormonal test confirmed the presence of a singleton pregnancy. I continued to not believe, and neither did my husband. But the miracle really happened. One embryo implanted.
Pregnancy was absolutely no different from normal. I felt great, but due to the low location of the placenta (as doctors say, low placentation) and the associated threat of miscarriage, I had to be very careful. I was in the hospital several times, I was very nervous, which resulted in high uterine tone. And now I understand that I should have enjoyed every day of this long-awaited pregnancy.
Doctors advised me to give birth with the help caesarean section, in order - due to the same low placentation - to reduce the risk to a minimum. I really wanted to give birth myself and at least in this way be natural in front of nature and the child. But the situation was in favor of a caesarean section. Now I don't even regret it.
A wonderful boy was born, weighing 3,950 kg and very similar to his dad. The thought that when the baby was born, I would be under anesthesia, I wouldn’t see him, I wouldn’t be able to put him to my breast, and he would be taken away from me and left alone was depressing. But I tried to quickly get to my feet and take the baby to my room. And the milk came quickly, although they say that after a caesarean section it appears later. Now, when I look into my son’s eyes and see with what love he looks at me and his father, all my worries that I wrote about at the beginning seem stupid, I am happy that I decided on IVF. Ours is growing healthy baby, and thank God that my husband and I had enough patience, understanding and health to reach the end, that highly professional doctors helped and guided us along this path, thanks to whose great desire and efforts our dream became a reality.
Most expectant mothers are very worried about whether IVF is painful, what the expected sensations are, and whether bleeding is possible. Therefore, in order to get rid of fears, it is necessary to analyze the replanting process in detail.
Woman's behavior during transfer
The doctor decides how the embryo transfer should take place. You shouldn’t think that transferring embryos into the uterus will be painful. The procedure is completely painless, only slight discomfort is possible. For this reason, anesthesia is not used.
The patient is positioned on the gynecological chair, and then a flexible catheter is inserted into the canal. It is along this path that the embryos follow. Basically, two or three embryos are implanted, the remaining surviving embryos, after successful fertilization in the hospital, are frozen. If the procedure is unsuccessful, the woman can freely rely on frozen embryos and try again in the future.
When embryo transfer is carried out, the expectant mother should not tense up, her body should be relaxed as much as possible. The patient is advised not to strain the lower abdomen, so the catheter will be inserted more gently. As soon as the embryo transfer is completed, the patient remains lying down for about half an hour and does not get up from the chair. After the procedure is completed, some mothers remain in the hospital for 24 hours, and some go home, but with an escort.
You should not constantly think about the result of the procedure. There are times when a girl is very nervous at the moment; if she wishes, she has the right to stay in the hospital for several days. This process is influenced by a psychological barrier, the state nervous system. Some people feel good at home, where their relatives are nearby, while others feel more comfortable staying under medical supervision.
Post-transfer period
Embryo transfer does not hurt at all. After the procedure itself, there should also be no sensation of pain. It is imperative to follow all doctor’s recommendations regarding hormonal support. These instructions are provided by the doctor, this is a clearly indicated schedule.
Basically, after the transfer process, progesterone and human chorionic gonadotropin are prescribed. An important point is to keep yourself in control, not to worry, not to be nervous, and also to receive only positive things from the life around you.
Every day the woman weighs herself and controls how often and in what quantity she urinates. Pulse and abdominal size are also measured. If certain abnormalities or bleeding occur, you should immediately contact the IVF center.
At the center, the mother receives sick leave for ten days. This is necessary so that she is completely calm during this period. Further, if sick leave is needed, the pregnant woman contacts her gynecologist.
Painful sensations when replanting
According to studies, there is no pain for the patient when embryos are transferred during IVF. These are quite rare situations that occur only in the presence of a strong bend of the uterus. If the process was painless, then there is every chance of a successful result. If pain and bleeding occur, it turns out that the replantation was unsuccessful, therefore, next time the doctor should think through everything thoroughly.
There are cases in which it is necessary to dilate the uterus and use another catheter. After the insertion of the catheter is painful, the girl needs to be reassured, she should get used to foreign object in your body. But for the process to be truly effective, the doctor uses the right treatment.
In cases of infertility, extracorporeal embryo transfer is used female uterus. This is artificial insemination. Naturally, you want the procedure to end in a successful pregnancy, but each stage of the procedure is performed with full responsibility and compliance with the doctor’s instructions. After the procedure, the patient is recommended to remain in a supine position.
When women come for IVF, they have already undergone certain nervous disorders, tension, stress. Therefore, whether IVF is painful or not depends on overcoming the psychological barrier. When a girl is completely calm, not worried and in a good mood, then she sets herself up for a positive result.
Thus, speaking about the topic of whether embryo transfer during IVF is painful or not, it should be noted that, first of all, the expectant mother can endure unpleasant sensations, but not pain. Needed positive attitude, belief in effective results. The presence of stressful situations, nervous experiences, and hysteria is not desirable. It is recommended to communicate with friends and relatives, not to exert yourself physically, and to avoid unpleasant moments and bad moods.
