IVF is usually the last stop at the end of a long journey. You have probably spent years trying to get pregnant every which way. Nothing has worked. And that’s when you find yourself at a fertility clinic talking to a fertility specialist, also known as a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE).

Glow Tip 1. Use Glow Pages to find a great clinic and a compassionate doctor.

After your initial consultation, you (and your partner) will probably be given a battery of tests, called a fertility work-up.  If you think you were going to start IVF right away, you are unfortunately mistaken. Usually it is a two- to six-month process from the word, GO! Even if you feel like you have already done every possible test, your doctor might want to repeat some and ask for new ones.

After all the results come back, and you and your doctor agree that IVF is the way to go, and you decide on a protocol, THEN very often you begin the treatment with the most perverse thing of all: you start on birth control pills. This is done to control your cycle and to decrease the chances of creating cysts. With your cycle right on schedule, you get down to the business of generating as many eggs as possible.

Glow Tip 2. Medicine for IVF is not usually covered. And it can cost thousands of dollars. Shop around--don’t assume that your local drugstore is giving you the best rates.  Glow Pages has a list of pharmacies that specialize in fertility drugs.

In a normal ovulation cycle, one egg usually matures per month. In an IVF cycle, the goal is to have as many mature eggs as possible, as this will increase your odds of success with treatment. In the stimulation phase of the IVF cycle, injectable medications are used for approximately 8-14 days to stimulate the ovaries and produce eggs.

Glow Tip 3. IVF is an intense experience that makes you feel very vulnerable. Surround yourself with people who love you and more importantly, who can tell the difference between when it is the medication talking, and when it is you talking. I

During this time, you will be closely monitored. That means blood work and a vaginal ultrasound either everyday or every other day. It’s a huge time commitment. The only slight positive is that it is kinda cool watching your follicles grow slowly day by day. (You are aiming for them to get over 18mm.)

Glow Tip 4. Start taking notes. No one is more invested in this process than you. It’s important to end every session with the question “What’s next?” and jot it down on your phone. The same with the follow-up calls that nurses make every afternoon. Keep track of everything.

When your eggs have sufficiently matured, you will get a trigger shot. This means that your eggs will be harvested within the next 36 hours. When the big day arrives, you will go to the your clinic where you are put to gentle twilight sleep, while your doctor makes tiny incisions through your ovaries and individually takes out the eggs. You wake up cramping and slightly dazed. Your recently liberated eggs are whisked off to meet your partner's or donor's sperm. Three to five days later (or potentially a whole cycle later), they are put back into you, all fertilized and ready to implant. From this point on, it’s all a numbers game. How many eggs did they harvest? How many were mature? How many fertilized? How many lived past the first day? How many have divided enough to plant back in you after 3 to 5 days? How many managed to implant after 14 days? You can just imagine how nerve-racking each step of this process is. How each step lends itself to failure. They could harvest 10 eggs, and none will be mature. You could have 5 mature eggs and none will fertilize. You could have 3 perfectly fertilized eggs and none may implant.

Alternatively, everything could go beautifully and you could have a healthy, happy baby growing your belly in no time. Your tiny miracle :)

Pursuing IVF treatment is a personal decision and there is no right or wrong – there is only what you feel, what you can endure, what you can sacrifice.