When Brittany Stuart and her husband weren’t having success trying to conceive, they started to explore their options. From adoption to in vitro fertilization (IVF), they decided to embark on the process of the latter in the state of Alabama where they were living at the time.
Stuart describes herself as one of the “lucky” ones, even though the process of IVF is often long, emotionally and physically taxing, and expensive. It begins with ovarian stimulation, where a woman injects herself with hormones for weeks, all while attending various appointments for ultrasounds and bloodwork. Then, she has to go through the egg retrieval procedure. From there, each egg is fertilized by injecting a sperm into the egg, or mixing it with the egg in a petri dish. This fertilized egg is then transferred back to the uterus with the hope of creating a viable pregnancy.
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