Reciprocal IVF

The full reciprocal IVF process with Oma Fertility

The reciprocal IVF process will closely mirror the steps taken for traditional IVF.
You and your partner will have different roles and steps required during the process which your care team will walk you through.

• 1

  Initial fertility testing & diagnosis

  You’ll start with testing and diagnosis to give the Oma team a more complete picture of your health and options.

• 2

  Care coordination & financial consultation

  An Oma staff member will go over the financial side of the Reciprocal IVF process with you. Your clinical team will review your calendar, order your medication, and prepare you for your treatment.

• 3

  Pre-IVF Hormonal Preparation

  To prepare your body for IVF, you’ll need to take birth control pills. It might seem counterintuitive, but birth control helps:

  • Prepare your ovaries to respond better to hyperstimulation medicine
  • Coordinate your cycle so you can plan your treatment around your schedule

  In addition to starting birth control, we may perform additional tests and recommend lifestyle adjustments as needed.

• 4

  Stimulating Egg Production

  During this step, you’ll begin hormonal treatments by either taking a pill or an injectable medication. This medication encourages your ovaries to produce more mature eggs than they would naturally. The end goal is to get at least three mature and fully-developed eggs. We’ll track your egg development with blood tests and ultrasounds. It takes time for your body to adjust to the hormones and nurture your new eggs, so this stage can take several weeks.

• 5

  Ovulation & Egg Retrieval

  Once you’ve produced enough mature eggs, you’ll receive a hormone injection that induces ovulation (releasing the mature eggs). After about 36 hours, you’ll return to our office for the outpatient egg retrieval procedure. An anesthesiologist will place you under IV sedation and our specialists will remove the eggs. This only takes about 15 minutes, and you’ll rest comfortably afterwards in one of our recovery rooms. After about 30 minutes, you’ll be able to go home.

• 6

  AI-Supported Sperm Selection

  Oma Sperm InSight™ and our proprietary AI microscope help our embryologists select the most promising sperm cells for IVF, no matter where they are in the sample. These AI tools also track the sperm as they move within the sample, so embryologists don’t have to rely on hand-eye coordination and fast reflexes.

• 7

  IVF & Monitoring

  We perform the fertilization in our state-of-the-art lab with the retrieved eggs and selected sperm cells provided by your partner or a sperm donor.

  Once the eggs have been retrieved a single sperm is injected into each egg in a process called ICSI to complete the insemination process.

  Our lab specialists closely monitor the embryos as they develop and will give you updates on their progression. During this stage, we can also screen for certain genetic disorders, ensuring only the healthiest embryos with the greatest chance of a successful IVF pregnancy are transferred. If you’d like, we can also reveal the sex of embryos.

• 8

  Embryo Transfer

  The doctor will meet with you to determine the best transfer plan. Our goal is to maximize the chance of a successful IVF pregnancy while minimizing the chance of multiple births. Your age and prior history with IVF will affect your transfer plan.

  Once you and your doctor agree on a plan, we’ll perform the transfer. This outpatient procedure doesn’t require sedation––it’s quick and often compared to the sensation of a pap smear. Any high-quality embryos left over can be frozen for use in future IVF cycles.

• 9

  Pregnancy Testing & Monitoring

  After the transfer, you'll take medications that help support your pregnancy in the early stages. After about two weeks, you’ll take a pregnancy test. If the test is positive, we’ll administer another test soon after to make sure the pregnancy is progressing successfully. If everything goes well, you’ll be well on your journey to building your family. If your pregnancy test is negative, we’ll schedule a follow-up visit to discuss your options.

• 10

  Embryo Vitrification

  Any high-quality embryos that are left after an implantation attempt can be frozen by vitrification to be used in a future embryo transfer. Vitrification is a special way to freeze your eggs and embryos that avoids trauma to the cells. Water is removed from the eggs or embryos and replaced with an “antifreeze”. Then the egg is quickly brought to a very cold temperature. By removing the water and freezing it quickly, your eggs or embryos are safe from damaging ice crystal formation.