Our Advisory Board member, leading fertility nurse Francesca Steyn, spoke to us about what you might want to know before your egg collection.
Before egg collection
Your clinic will give you a comprehensive list of instructions on what you need to do to prepare for egg collection. It is important to be aware that egg retrieval is a surgical procedure, and sedation is administered. Read up about it, and ask the team treating you any questions you may have.
What to expect on the day
You’ll be admitted to the unit, and you’ll see one of the staff to go through some checklists with you just to make sure that you’ve taken your trigger injection and that you have followed all the instructions. You’ll be given a gown to wear and made comfortable. You may be seen by an anaesthetist who can talk to you about sedation. The doctor will come around and talk to you, and then you’ll have a little needle put in your arm to give the sedation to relax you, and you put you into a sleeping state. If your partner is providing a sperm sample, they’ll be taken into the production room so they can provide their sample.
Where does egg collection take place?
It takes place inside the theatre, which you may not have seen before. It is an operating theatre, often a lot smaller than you expect. You’ve got a quite a big team who will all introduce themselves and make you feel as comfortable as possible.
What are the different types of sedation that people might have?
Different clinics may offer sedation in different ways. Some clinics may give a full general anesthetic for an egg collection procedure, which means you’ll be completely sedated. Mostly you’ll have something called conscious sedation which may be administered by an anaesthetist or an operating department practitioner. You’ll have a mild forms of conscious sedation so you won’t be completely anaesthetised, but you will be comfortable and won’t be aware of things. You can recover from it quickly as it’s short acting.
How long does egg collection take?
Usually around 20 to 25 minutes. It may go on longer if you have lots of follicles, but generally it’s quite a quick procedure. A very fine needle is attached to an ultrasound probe, and the fluid which contains the egg is sucked out of the follicle. The fluid is put into what is looks like a little test tube, and the test tube is taken into the lab. The embryology team will look in the fluid and collect any eggs which are put in a dish in the incubator.
Would you expect to get an egg from every follicle you’ve seen on the scans beforehand?
No, you’d hope to get eggs from most of the follicles, but not every follicle will contain an egg. Some may not be mature so may not contain a viable egg.
You can find the full interview with Francesca Steyn on our YouTube channel here