An IVF pregnancy due date is typically two weeks shorter since there is no two-week buffer as with a natural conception, and no need to account for the body’s egg release and ovulation once an embryo is implanted. Calculate your potential IVF due date below and learn answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about IVF and embryo transfers.
Every pregnancy is different regardless whether you conceived naturally or via IVF. The dates provided by the calculator are estimates and should only be used as a guide to when you are likely to go into labor.
Your IVF due date is different than if you conceived naturally
The average pregnancy lasts approximately 40 weeks. For a natural conception, the date is calculated using the first day of the mother’s prior period. In IVF patients, the date of the egg retrieval or, more commonly, the date of transfer into the uterus starts the calculation.
Every pregnancy is different regardless whether you conceived naturally or via IVF. The dates provided by the calculator are estimates and should only be used as a guide to when you are likely to go into labor.
By day 5/6/7, a normally developing embryo, is a rapidly dividing ball of cells known as a blastocyst. Allowing an embryo to develop to this stage allows us to identify and select the embryo with the highest chance of success.
We do not differentiate between due dates as they are all considered frozen embryo transfers at the blastocyst stage.
Before an embryo can be implanted, successful fertilization must occur. When a couple conceives naturally, the head of the sperm attaches to the outer edge of the egg, allowing the sperm to push through and enter the inside of the egg. It is here, at the cytoplasm, where fertilization occurs, and an embryo is created.
However, in some instances, sperm cannot get through the outer layer of an egg. It may be due to the overall thickness of the egg. It may also be because the sperm is unable to swim as it should. Regardless, through IVF, a procedure called intracytoplasmic sperm injection or ICSI can be performed.
One sperm is injected through the outer egg wall directly into the egg’s cytoplasm during this procedure. This process ensures that the sperm fertilizes the egg. ICSI has no impact on the due date calculation since only fertilized eggs are implanted.
The date for embryo transfer is dependent on where in her cycle a woman is. Suppose she has been undertaking estrogen and progesterone therapy to build the uterine lining. In that case, the transfer will typically occur five days after the commencement of progesterone supplementation.
On the day when the transfer is to occur, the frozen embryo is thawed. The thawing process generally does not affect whether or not an embryo will implant.
