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While you don’t need to undergo IVF treatment, it could be beneficial to preserve your fertility for the future. If you would like to have a biological child in the future, completing egg vitrification in your late 20s to mid-30s will improve your odds of success.

It is generally recommended to seek advice from a fertility specialist after one year of trying to conceive under the age of 35, and 6 months if you are 35 years of age or older. Women over 30 are often encouraged to undergo an infertility workup after 6 months of unsuccessful attempts at conception. For the female partner, tests will focus on ovarian reserve, ovulatory function, and structural abnormalities. Due to the high prevalence of male factor infertility (~40-50%), the male partner will undergo a semen analysis. It may be beneficial for women 40 and over to meet with a fertility specialist shortly after deciding to have a child. The sooner you seek advice, the better.

Some IVF programs may set an age limit for various reasons. It is important to discuss your individual case and treatment plan with more than one clinic, if possible. Unfortunately, success rates decrease with increased age. Seeking advice from fertility specialists will maximize your odds of success.

The short answer is no. In a natural cycle, women ovulate several eggs each month regardless of any medication(s) that facilitates follicular growth. Fertility drugs bring forward eggs that were destined to die off, referred to as atresia, that month. Use of fertility drugs and oral contraceptives doesn’t affect the age at which a woman will reach menopause.

Although frozen embryo transfers tend to have higher success rates than fresh embryo transfers, that does not mean fresh embryo transfers are not successful. Historically, success rates with fresh embryos were higher than frozen due to the risk of cryo damage in the thawing process. Significant improvements in vitrification (egg or embryo freezing) technology has resulted in ~99% embryo survival. Now, patients are advised to proceed with frozen embryo transfers as it allows your body and its hormones to normalize after stimulation and egg retrieval. Stable hormone levels should improve implantation and pregnancy development.

Historically, physicians relied on transferring multiple embryo transfers to increase success rates. The rationale was that if you implant more than one embryo, then the best one would succeed. Sometimes this led to multiple births. With advancements in technology, such as extended embryo culture and pre-implantation genetic testing, it is now recommended to transfer a single embryo to reduce risks of twins, high-risk pregnancies, and miscarriages. Albeit rare, transferring a single embryo still presents a ~1-2% chance of it splitting and becoming a monozygotic twin.

Good question! Typically, gestation or pregnancy lasts 40 weeks or 280 days if you conceive at home with no medical assistance. An IVF pregnancy due date is typically 2 weeks shorter since there is no need to account for your last menstrual period, so your pregnancy will last ~38 weeks. For example, if you had an embryo transfer (fresh or frozen) on September 8, 2023 and today is exactly 4 weeks after the procedure, you are ~6 weeks and 5 days pregnant with an estimated due date of May 26, 2024. Please explore the IVF and FET due date calculator below.
https://flo.health/tools/ivf-due-date-calculator