Most women spend the majority of their adult lives taking appropriate measures to avoid pregnancy. Yet these days, more and more women trying to conceive in their 30s are turning to IVF treatment to help them achieve that dream.

In the 30 years since Candice Reed, Australia’s first IVF baby was born, assisted conception has come a long way. To think in 1978, two years prior to Candice Reed’s birth, the chances of an embryo turning into a successful pregnancy through IVF treatment was about 2%. Now, IVF is so common there is one child in every Australian classroom conceived through IVF treatment, and the IVF success rate is up to 55 – 60% per IVF cycle.

Societal changes in the last three decades have altered the way we think about families, careers, travel, and the way we go about choosing a partner to settle down with. There are more options and choices available for both men and women, and unlike generations before them, they are more likely to have several long term relationships before they find their life partner – sometimes not until they are well into their 30s. This age predicament leaves thousands of Australian couples every year facing the prospect of IVF treatment.

In today’s celebrity society of 40+ aged mums, there is a common misconception that trying to get pregnant in your 40s is easy, common and natural. IVF treatment is too often referred to as the ‘back up’ if by 40 years of age natural pregnancy hasn’t occurred. In fact, a woman’s age is the number one factor affecting a couple’s chance of getting pregnant. Every woman is born with a finite number of eggs and the number of eggs decline each month with a woman’s menstrual cycle, most significantly after the age of 37 years. Some tests, such as the Anti Mullerian Hormone (AMH) blood test will predict the number of eggs available, and this can be helpful for couples in deciding whether to go down the IVF treatment path. Despite this, there is no way of predicting the quality of eggs, or no way to improve the quality of the eggs, both of which also decline with a woman’s age and will impact a woman’s ability to get pregnant - either naturally or through IVF.

In a woman’s natural menstrual cycle, approximately 20 eggs will be produced, but only one egg reaches maturity (that is, it is able to be fertilized). In IVF treatment, the woman’s ovaries are ‘stimulated’ with the use of hormone mediations to grow more than one egg to maturity, so they can be collected and fertilized with the partner’s sperm in vitro, incubated in the laboratory for two to five days, and then one resultant embryo is transferred back to the woman’s uterus.

Factors that will influence the outcome of the IVF treatment include both partner’s ages, how long they have been trying to conceive, whether either partner has been a parent previously, prior fertility treatment undertaken, and how well the eggs and sperm are likely to fertilise and develop into good quality embryos. So when it comes to IVF success, the advice from the experts is the earlier you start thinking and planning your fertility future, the better.