Ovulation

Before egg and sperm can ever meet up in the fallopian tube, the egg must be matured and extruded from the ovary in a process called ovulation. Since many women who seem unable to have children owe their problems to a disturbance in ovulation, and since part of the IVF procedure involves stimulating the ovaries to prepare many eggs for fertilization, we should understand how the repeatable, monthly series of changes leading to ovulation occurs naturally in the ovary. Later we will unravel the hormonal events of the menstrual cycle, which regulate the clock-like orderliness of ovulation.

All of the hormonal events taking place during the month between menstrual periods are directed at preparing the egg to be genetically ready for fertilization, and preparing the uterus (womb) and the cervix for the moment of ovulation, so that the sperm and the egg have the best opportunity for joining up to form an embryo, which can then implant in a properly prepared uterus and result in successful pregnancy.