What is Test-Tube Baby, and How is the Process?

Having a baby is the dream of all married couples. Unfortunately, not all couples are blessed with babies easily. So not a few finally decided to do a test-tube baby program to have children. In this way, married couples can have children through medical engineering.  

Then, what is the test-tube baby program, and how is the process? For complete information, let’s see the following article below.

Test-tube Baby Definition

Test-tube baby is a term to refer to babies who are obtained from the process of fertilization of eggs by sperm cells carried out in a laboratory or, in medical terms, called in vitro fertilization (IVF). The test-tube baby process or fertilization creates embryos for future babies. Later from all embryos, the most qualified will be selected to be transferred into the uterus to grow and develop. 

Currently, IVF has been widely practiced in Indonesia and throughout the world. The world’s first test-tube baby named Louise Joy Brown was born in 1978 in England. In Indonesia, the baby born from this medical engineering was named Nugroho Karyanto, born in 1988.

IVF is a method to have children by utilizing science in the health field. Usually, married couples who choose this program have problems or obstacles to getting children by sexual means.

IVF has no difference with other babies born from regular sexual intercourse. The difference is only in the process of fertilization in the womb. Another difference is that babies from this program tend to be born prematurely and have lower birth weight. So, careful preparation for childbirth is needed to avoid the health risks of premature babies.

Who Needs IVF?

IVF is a method that can help couples that want children but have difficulties. Usually, the obstacles occur with reproductive or fertility problems from both the wife and husband. But you have to know that IVF costs are pretty expensive, so no wonder that not many people can use this method. 

Before doing the IVF process, couples usually do a series of checkups. Before recommending this method, one examines how likely it is to get pregnant with sexual intercourse. If the result is pretty small, then IVF is the last option. 

Here are some common conditions that need treatment with IVF:

• The husband’s sperm is of low quality, so that the movement of sperm to the eggs is bad.
• The wife has fertility problems.
• The wife has a low ovarium reserve, so only a few quality eggs.
• Wife has reproductive structural problems, one of them is blocked fallopian tubes.
• Wife has uterine tissue disorders that cause infertility.
• Husband, wife, or both diagnosed infertile without a clear cause.
• Frequent miscarriages
• The wife has a hormonal disorder, polycystic ovary syndrome, which causes the ovaries to enlarge with small cysts on the outside.

The Purpose of IVF

From the IVF definition and the process, the main purpose of this program is to produce healthy babies and avoid medical complications for both the baby and the mother. For those who want to get pregnant the natural way, you need to have good quality eggs, ovulate and get good quality sperm during the fertile period. 

To get pregnant, the sperm cell must meet the egg for fertilization. For that, the fallopian tubes must be opened, and the womb must also be a place for the embryo’s growth. However, for married couples who have obstacles to go through the process, the IVF program can be the best choice to continue to have children.

What are the Preparations for the IVF Program

In order to have children from the results of in vitro fertilization (IVF), many preparations must be done by both the wife and husband. The preparation starts from program planning, such as determining the right hospital and doctor. To get the best hospital and doctor, you can look for references and recommendations from experienced people with IVF programs.

Before undergoing the program, you must also understand IVF requirements, ensuring the body is healthy. In preparation, you can start by eating a balanced diet, maintaining your weight, avoiding smoking and alcohol, and doing routine exercise. The wife can increase pregnancy preparation by taking vitamins.

Another thing that must be prepared in undergoing the IVF is preparing for a mental condition. You have to know that the IVF program doesn’t always promise success. There is also a chance that this program will fail. However, you need to be optimistic to control your mind so that the program’s chances of success are also greater.  

IVF Procedure

In conducting the IVF, the couple must pass many processes, and how long the IVF process also depends on the couple’s condition. However, in general, the procedure can be carried out in five stages as follows:

1. Ovulation Induction

The first stage in the IVF program is ovulation induction. This is the process of egg release by drug stimulation. This method is done so that the doctor can take more eggs that can be taken so that the chances of fertilization are greater. 

2. Egg Retrieval

If the ovulation induction process succeeds, the doctor will take the eggs from the ovarium to be evaluated and assessed for quality. After that, the egg cell will be united with the sperm cell that has been previously taken and placed in a special container. 

3. Fertilization

Egg cells and sperm cells that have passed the evaluation and selection process will be put together in an incubator. This is so that fertilization occurs, which continues with embryo formation. 

4. Embryo Preparation

If the fertilization process succeeds, it will produce an embryo. Then the embryo produced by this IVF program will be evaluated. Good quality and healthy embryos will be chosen for implantation at the next stage. 

5. Embryo Implantation

Successful embryos from the IVF process in the incubator then will be transferred to the mother’s womb after maturity. Embryo implantation is usually done five days after the fertilization process is successful. If the embryo successfully attaches to the uterine lining, pregnancy has occurred. Then you have to do routine pregnancy checks to know the fetus development in the womb so that the growth is good. 

Factors that Determine the Success of IVF

You have to know that this IVF program is not necessarily successful in every couple who does the program. However, the percentage of the success rate of this program is relatively high. Many factors that can affect the success of the IVF program, including:

• Problems behind infertility
• Wife’s age
• The quality and the number of egg cells
• The quality and the number of sperm cells
• Reproduction health condition
• Quality of embryos produced

To increase the chances of success, make sure to prepare carefully and follow all the recommendations suggested by the doctor. If you want to do the IVF program, you also have to run a healthier lifestyle. Moreover, leave everything to God so that the process will be easier and smooth so that your desire to have children can be realized immediately with this IVF program.