Everything You Need To Know About In Vitro Fertilization

The Sperm Preparation

It is during the third stage, that the male partner is requested to provide a sperm sample. Typically, sperm is provided the same morning as egg retrieval. Occasionally, the sperm is collected in advance and frozen until needed. When providing sperm the day of, it is best to abstain from sexual intercourse for at least two days prior to the IVF procedure, but no longer than 6 days for optimal sperm quality. If the sperm are deemed normal, sperm capacitation takes place, where technology is used to give sperm the ability to fertilize an egg outside of the woman’s body. If there are issues with the sperm, steps are taken to help inject the sperm into the egg using technology known as intracytoplasmic sperm injection or ICSI micromanipulation.