The needle enters the follicles and removes the follicular fluid which contains the eggs. The fluid is then examined under a microscope to identify the eggs. Egg retrieval can take anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes. Medications are used to relieve the pain of the needle, but many women cannot feel the eggs and follicular fluid being drawn. Because of the pain medications you will receive that day, you should not drive.
Egg retrieval is a very safe procedure and serious complications are rare.
But on average, six to 12 eggs are developed. As soon as the eggs are identified under the microscope, they are placed in petri dishes which contain a culture medium. The prepared culture medium is a composition that so closely resembles your own body's fallopian tube secretion that the eggs, and subsequently the embryos, will develop in the test tubes just as they would in your body. Around the time of egg retrieval, the male partner will collect his sperm by masturbating into a clean cup. The semen is then washed and processed to remove the seminal fluid to get the highest quality sperm possible.