Egg retrieval is a short procedure. A doctor uses an ultrasound-guided needle to collect eggs from your ovaries while you have medicine for comfort, then you rest in a recovery room for a few hours. Afterward you may have cramping, pressure in your belly and light spotting, and you will need someone to take you home. If something feels wrong after you get home, the warning signs are at the end of this page.
Your clinic's instructions always come first, so check the list below with them before the day.
What is egg retrieval?
Egg retrieval is a procedure to take eggs out of your ovaries. It is one step of IVF, and it also happens when you freeze your eggs (see the egg freezing timeline).
During stimulation, daily shots help more than one egg grow at once. Each egg grows inside a small sac of fluid called a follicle. On retrieval day, the doctor draws the fluid out of as many follicles as possible, and an embryologist looks for eggs in it.
The trigger: timing matters
When your scans and blood tests show your eggs are nearly ready, your clinic gives you a trigger medicine plan and an exact time to take it. The trigger helps your eggs finish maturing.
Retrieval is done 34 to 36 hours after the trigger. Because your procedure is booked around that time, set an alarm, and call your clinic right away if you miss the time or think you took it wrong.
Instructions to confirm before retrieval day
Clinics differ, so check each of these with your care team a day or two before:
- Eating and drinking. You will be asked to stop eating and drinking for a set time, because fasting helps prevent problems during anesthesia. If you eat or drink after that time by mistake, call your clinic before you leave home and tell the team when you arrive. The procedure may have to be cancelled for your safety, so don't keep it to yourself.
- Your usual medicines. If you take medicine every day, ask whether to take it that morning.
- Your fertility medicines. Take them exactly as your doctor tells you.
- A sperm sample, if your partner is providing one. At some clinics the sample is collected on retrieval day, and a backup sample may be frozen ahead of time. If you are using donor sperm, the lab thaws it. Ask what your clinic needs, and when.
- Arrival time and place. Ask where to check in, how early to come and how long to plan to stay.
- A driver. You need someone to drive you to and from the clinic.
- Past pain or anesthesia problems. Tell the team ahead of time, so they can plan for them.
Before you go: a checklist
- Trigger taken at the exact time your clinic gave you.
- No food or drink after the time your clinic set.
- Loose, comfortable clothes.
- Photo ID and insurance card, if your clinic asks for them.
- A list of the medicines you take.
- Pads or panty liners for light spotting afterward.
- Your driver's phone number, and a plan for someone to stay with you.
- Help lined up for children, pets or anyone you care for, for the next 24 hours.
- Your clinic's after-hours number.
Sedation and comfort
The anesthesia plan depends on your clinic and on you. Some clinics use mild or light sedation, and others use deeper sedation through an IV that makes you sleep. If your team thinks you should not have anesthesia, other medicines may be used.
The team gives you medicine for comfort and watches you closely during the procedure. Even so, some people have mild to moderate pelvic or belly pain during or after it, so ask what to expect and what pain relief is planned.
What happens during the egg retrieval procedure?
- You get the medicine your team has planned for comfort. You will be asked to empty your bladder first.
- The doctor uses ultrasound to see your ovaries.
- Guided by the ultrasound, a thin needle goes through the vagina into one ovary.
- The needle is connected to gentle suction. It draws the fluid, and any egg, from each follicle, one at a time.
- The doctor repeats this in the other ovary.
The procedure itself is short, usually less than an hour. Plan for a longer total stay, because you also check in, get ready and rest in recovery for a few hours.
Why the egg count can differ from the follicle count
The number of follicles on your scans and the number of eggs collected can differ. Sometimes an ovary is hard to reach with the needle. Not every egg collected can be used, either: the total includes immature eggs, and some eggs may be damaged at retrieval. Your clinic tells you the total before you go home, and how many are mature comes later.
Is egg retrieval safe?
Like any procedure, it has some risks. They include reactions to anesthesia, bleeding, infection, and damage to nearby organs such as the bowel and bladder. Ask your doctor about anything that worries you before the day.
Before you leave the clinic
When you wake up, you may feel cramping or pressure in your belly, and light spotting can happen. If you feel sick to your stomach, clear drinks and crackers can help.
Before you go, make sure you know:
- Which pain reliever to take, and which medicines to start or stop.
- What bleeding and pain are expected, and what is not.
- Who to call, day and night.
- Who is driving you, and who is staying with you at home.
The anesthesia can affect your judgment for a while, so for the next 24 hours, do not drive, drink alcohol, sign legal papers or care for children, pets or another adult on your own. Rest at home for the rest of the day.
What happens to your eggs next?
If you are doing IVF, the lab tries to fertilize your mature eggs later on retrieval day and checks the next day whether they fertilized. You can read about the next days in embryo development.
If you are freezing your eggs, an embryologist checks them, and they are frozen the same day.
When to get help
Call your clinic right away, day or night, if you have:
- A fever of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher.
- Heavy bleeding: soaking a full-size pad with bright red blood in less than an hour, or bleeding heavier than a period.
- Belly or pelvic pain that is sudden or severe, gets worse, or isn't eased by the pain relief your clinic recommended.
- Pain and bloating in your belly, or bloating that is getting worse.
- Nausea and vomiting, nausea that won't go away, or you can't keep fluids down.
- Peeing less than usual, even if you are not thirsty.
- Fast weight gain. Your clinic will tell you its number, but do not wait to reach a weight threshold if you feel unwell.
- Dizziness, lightheadedness, or feeling faint.
- Pain, redness or warmth in an arm or leg.
- Blood in your urine, or pain when you pee or poop.
- Discharge from your vagina that smells bad.
Tell your clinic at your next contact about other milder symptoms that are new, don't go away or slowly get worse. Our guide to egg retrieval recovery covers the next days in detail.