SEX AND INFERTILITY: ACCURATE TIMING FOR INVITRO FERTILIZATION
All of these techniques depend on accurate timing. Injections need to be given at a certain time, blood tests and ultrasound scans need to be done at the right moment, so it is often a case of early morning dashes to the clinic or taking time off work. That takes either a very compassionate and supportive employer or a decision for the woman to leave her job so she can devote her time to the quest. This in itself is a very expensive and time-consuming exercise.
In the relatively short time that these techniques have been available, they have gone well beyond acceptance in the community. It’s as though it’s become an obligation for infertile couples to give it a go, like you really haven’t done your bit if you haven’t had a few cycles of IVF. Now let’s take a look at the figures. Depending on the clinic and the individual case, IVF has a take-home-baby rate of twenty to twenty-five percent. GIFT is slightly better at around thirty percent, so that means a lot of satisfied customers who beat the odds. What it also means is that three out of four couples will go through it all for nothing more than the satisfaction of knowing that they have tried the best that medical science can offer. But at what cost? Financial considerations aside, there is a huge personal toll.
*90/17/9*
