Back at home
After you return, there will be a two week wait before you will know whether you are pregnant or not.
The administration of progesterone
On the day before the egg collection, you will start taking progesterone. You must continue taking it until after the embryo transfer, when the DM tells you to stop.
Normally, the progesterone is in the form of vaginal pessaries, which you will need to insert three times a day (8am, 4pm, 10pm). Keeping to the planned progesterone administration schedule at all times and not missing a single scheduled dose is extremely important, including on your return journey. A higher-than-planned dose of progesterone carries no risk, and an occasional capsule too many is better than not enough.
Blood tests
Just as all other IVF patients, you (the woman) need to have blood tests and this on the twelfth and fifteenth day after embryo transfer (pregnancy tests).
The test results must be faxed to us, for the attention of the
DM: fax + 32 2 477 88 89.
If however you have a period in the meantime, a blood test must be performed on day three of the menstruation. It is very important that you do this, as this is to detect any late signs of a possible pregnancy.
Chances of success: Figures and reality |
The most important conclusion from practical experience is that your individual chances of success are very difficult to predict beforehand. Apart from the age of the woman, the type of treatment, the cause of the fertility problem, and chance play a role. Sometimes the exact same treatment will produce results after the second or third attempt. Why not the first time is not always determinable. That is why counsellors nor doctors will respond to questions about the chances of success of an individual treatment. the risk to create unrealistic expectations - or on the contrary erroneously stifle justified hope- is too great. |
Closing your file
A short while after we receive the results of the blood tests (which tell us whether you are pregnant or not) we will send you a medical report regarding the treatment you have received.
If you are not pregnant, we will send you a written recommendation for further treatment. This will not be sent before a month after the results are known, as the proposals are made based on thorough examination of your file by medical staff at the CRG.
Once a form of further treatment has been agreed upon, you can make the necessary appointments (start date and so on) with the planning coordinator. Please do this once you have received written information concerning the number of embryos which were able to be frozen and placed in storage.
Follow up of your pregnancy
If the treatment is successful, we recommend that you have your own gynaecologist monitor your progress. Ultrasounds and other procedures can then be performed close to home.
Pre- an postnatal diagnostic tests After IVF, it is often recommended to have a placental biopsy in the tenth week and an
amniocentesis test in the fourteenth week of the pregnancy. Or you can have a blood test in the sixteenthe week in order to detect Downs Syndrome. This can either be performed in you home country, or in Brussels at the Centre for Medical Genetics (CMG) at UZ Brussel.
In addition, the CRG recommends that all couples let their child be examined by the Centre for Medical Genetics at UZ Brussel in Brussels. Of course for overseas patients, the choice is entirely yours, whether you have these examinations performed in Belgium, or in your own country.
Follow up studies in the CRG
However, we at UZ Brussel will still ask for information on the further progress of your pregnancy and will stay in contact even after the birth. We will send you two questionnaires in this respect. You will receive the first at the end of the first term of your pregnancy. The second is sent shortly after the estimated delivery date.
Our questions are of personal interest: we like to know whether the treatment was successful and whether you have experienced any problems. However, they are also part of the scientific investigation we are continuously performing with regard to pregnancies and children resulting from fertility treatment.
We do this to constantly improve the quality of our treatments and to document the effect of certain changes (e.g. in stimulation medication). We also have to meet legal obligations regarding the collection of statistical data on (the health of) our patients and their babies born from IVF/ICSI or KI(D).
We therefore insist that our patients complete and return the questionnaires. This not only helps scientific research, it also helps many future patients, of which you may be one.
There is no need to worry about your privacy: all data is provided strictly anonymously. There is absolutely no chance that medical or other information you provide can be traced back to you personally.