IVF & Egg Freezing Glossary: Fertility Treatment Terms to Know
If you’re in the midst of the IVF or egg freezing process, be prepared to be hit with terms like IUI, ICSI, AMH, FSH, and more… It can feel like a fertility alphabet soup. Learning fertility terminology may feel akin to learning a new language, but understanding these terms is a big part of advocating for your own care. Luckily, we at Sunfish are laying it all out for you in words that make sense.
Having a comprehensive IVF glossary on hand that you can refer back to can make the journey much less overwhelming, compared to decoding complex egg freezing or IVF terminology during a clinic consultation.
By familiarizing yourself with these fertility terms, you'll be better equipped to ask the right questions, understand your doctor's recommendations, lab results, or cost estimates, and feel confident about making the best decisions for your family-building goals. Now, let's dive into the definitions you need to know.
The Baseline Basics:
IUI: Stands for Intrauterine Insemination (also known as artificial insemination), a procedure where sperm are placed directly into the uterus right around the time of ovulation. Because it helps the sperm reach the egg more easily, it is a common, less invasive, and less expensive first step in many fertility journeys before moving on to more complex treatments.
IVF: Stands for In Vitro Fertilization, a multi-step form of assisted reproductive technology in which mature eggs are retrieved from the ovaries and fertilized by sperm in a laboratory. Once an embryo successfully develops, it is carefully transferred into the uterus.
Egg Freezing/Oocyte Cryopreservation: A proactive method of preserving your fertility for the future. The process involves taking hormone medications to stimulate the ovaries to develop numerous eggs, retrieve the mature eggs, and freeze them (without fertilizing them)so they can be safely stored for use another time.
Egg Retrieval: A procedure in which a fertility specialist carefully collects the mature eggs that the ovaries have developed. During this brief (15-30 minutes), minimally invasive outpatient procedure, you will be under anesthesia. Using ultrasound guidance, the specialist gently extracts the eggs from your ovarian follicles, after which you'll wake up and head home to rest and recover.
Live Birth: In the world of fertility treatments, a "live birth" is the ultimate milestone and success metric. It simply means the delivery of a living baby. When fertility clinics talk about their success rates, they are usually referring to their live birth rates, which are typically reported per IVF cycle or per embryo transfer.
Through the Sunfish IVF Success Program, we can provide a partial refund if your IVF journey doesn't result in a live birth, ensuring your financial resources are protected as you navigate your path to parenthood.
Hormones & Testing (The Bloodwork):
Ovarian Reserve: Equivalent to your current "bank" of eggs, the quantity of eggs remaining in your ovaries. Because women are born with all the eggs they will ever have, this reserve naturally decreases over time. Knowledge is power: Testing your ovarian reserve gives your doctor a baseline understanding of your reproductive timeline and how you might respond to fertility medications.
Diminished Ovarian Reserve (DOR): This diagnosis means that the number of eggs remaining in your ovaries is low. Unfortunately, there is no generally accepted criteria for diagnosing someone with DOR. While hearing this can feel overwhelming, it is important to remember that DOR is about quantity, not necessarily quality. Many people with DOR go on to have healthy pregnancies, though it may require a more tailored IVF protocol, multiple retrieval cycles, or exploring options like donor eggs, ensuring you never have to compromise on your dream of becoming a parent.
AMH (Anti-Müllerian Hormone): A hormone produced in your ovaries. A simple blood test to check your AMH levels is one of the most common ways doctors estimate your ovarian reserve. Generally, a higher AMH level indicates a larger number of remaining eggs, while a lower AMH level suggests a smaller reserve. It is a key piece of the puzzle when your doctor is designing your IVF or egg freezing medication protocol to see how well your body will respond to the treatment. Very high AMH levels can also be a marker of polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS, formerly known as PCOS).
FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone): A hormone released by your brain that tells your ovaries to develop and mature an egg each month. FSH is typically measured for optimum accuracy on the third day of your menstrual cycle as the amount of hormone fluctuates widely during the menstrual cycle. If your ovarian reserve is low, your brain has to work harder (and produce more FSH) for the ovaries to get an egg ready. Therefore, a high baseline FSH level can be an indicator of a lower ovarian reserve.
LH (Luteinizing Hormone): Another crucial hormone produced by your brain. In the menstrual cycle, a sudden surge in LH is what triggers the ovaries to release a mature egg (ovulation). During fertility testing, measuring your LH levels helps your doctor understand how your brain and ovaries are communicating. In IVF, medications are often used to carefully control your LH levels to prevent premature ovulation before your egg retrieval.
Estradiol: The most important form of estrogen in your body, produced by ovarian follicles as they grow. During initial fertility testing, it is usually measured alongside FSH on day three of your cycle. This is because a high estradiol level early in your cycle can artificially suppress your FSH levels, making them look normal even if they aren't. Measuring them together gives your doctor a much more accurate picture of your ovarian function.
GnRH (Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone): Think of GnRH as the "master switch" of your reproductive system. Produced in the brain, it signals the release of both FSH and LH, which in turn tell your ovaries to develop and ovulate eggs. During IVF, your doctor may prescribe medications that temporarily suppress this master switch (using GnRH agonists or antagonists) so they can perfectly control the timing of your cycle and prevent you from ovulating prematurely before your retrieval day.
AFC (Antral Follicle Count): While AMH and FSH are blood tests, an Antral Follicle Count (AFC) is a visual test. Using a transvaginal ultrasound at the beginning of your cycle, a fertility specialist will physically count the number of small, resting follicles (antral follicles) on both ovaries. This count is one of the best predictors of how many eggs might be retrieved during an IVF or egg freezing cycle.
Injections & More (Pre-Retrieval):
FSH (Follicle-Stimulating Hormone) medications: In a natural menstrual cycle, your body produces enough FSH to grow and release just one egg. During IVF or egg freezing, your fertility specialist wants to safely grow multiple eggs at once. Medications like Gonal-F and Follistim AQ are injectable forms of FSH that act as the primary fuel to stimulate your ovaries, encouraging several follicles (the fluid-filled sacs that hold the eggs) to grow simultaneously.
hMG (Human Menopausal Gonadotropin) medications: Menopur, or HMG, is another injectable medication used during the stimulation phase of your cycle. Unlike Gonal-F or Follistim, which only contain FSH, Menopur contains a combination of both FSH and LH. It helps to further nourish the growing follicles and promote the development of high-quality, mature eggs.
GnRH Antagonists: As your follicles grow larger from the FSH/hMG injections, your body's natural response might be to try and ovulate (release the eggs) on its own. GnRH antagonists such as Cetrotide and Ganirelix, act as a crucial "pause button" on the process of ovulating. By adding this daily injection to your routine partway through your cycle, it prevents premature ovulation, keeping the eggs safely in your ovaries until they are fully mature and ready for your fertility specialist to retrieve them.
Trigger Shot: A very specific hormonal injection of a medication such as Ovidrel, Pregnyl, Novarel, or Lupron, that you will take at an exact time - usually about 36 hours before your scheduled egg retrieval procedure. It "triggers" the final maturation of the eggs, preparing them to detach from the follicle walls so a fertility specialist can successfully collect them.
We know that opening that first box of fertility medications can be intimidating, and the journey to the milestone of “trigger day” is full of ups and downs. Sunfish is here to ease the logistical and financial burdens associated with medications, offering lowest price match guarantees on medications for Sunfish members.
In the Lab (The Science)
ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection): In traditional IVF, millions of sperm are placed in a lab dish with an egg, and typically one sperm cell naturally fertilizes the egg. ICSI is a more precise method where an embryologist selects a single, healthy-looking sperm and injects it directly into the egg. ICSI is often used to overcome male infertility factors or to maximize the chances of fertilization.
Blastocyst: An embryo that has grown and divided in the lab for about five to six days after fertilization. By this stage, it has hundreds of cells and is highly developed. Because it has survived and thrived for several days, a blastocyst is the ideal stage for an embryo transfer or for genetic testing.
Day 3 vs. Day 5 Embryos: This refers to how long the embryos grow in the lab before being transferred to the uterus or frozen for cryopreservation. A Day 3 embryo (also known as cleavage stage) has about 6 to 8 cells. A Day 5 embryo has reached the "blastocyst" stage with hundreds of cells. Day 5 embryos are generally stronger and have a higher chance of resulting in a pregnancy, but some fertility specialists may recommend doing a Day 3 transfer depending on your individual situation.
Assisted Hatching: Before an embryo can attach to the lining of the uterus to implant a pregnancy, it has to "hatch" out of its outer shell (called the zona pellucida). Assisted hatching is a lab technique in which an embryologist creates a tiny, microscopic hole in this shell to help the embryo break out and implant more easily.
Egg Storage: Post egg retrieval, once your eggs are collected and frozen, they are kept in specialized, ultra-cold tanks (using liquid nitrogen) at a fertility clinic or a long-term storage facility. They can remain safely frozen in this suspended state for years until you are ready to thaw them, fertilize them, and build your family.
Embryo Banking: Involves going through one or more IVF cycles to create and freeze multiple embryos, the same way that eggs are frozen, for future use, as opposed to transferring them right away. This is a great option for people who know they want to have more than one child eventually and want to invest in the family of their dreams down the line, or for those who want to secure their fertility as soon as possible.
Genetic Testing
PGT-A Testing (Preimplantation Genetic Testing for Aneuploidies): A specialized screening performed on embryos before they are transferred to the uterus or frozen. It checks for chromosomal abnormalities—meaning it ensures the embryo has the correct number of chromosomes (46). Transferring an embryo with a normal chromosome count significantly increases the chances of a successful implantation, reduces the risk of pregnancy loss, and helps you achieve a healthy pregnancy faster. This test can also determine the sex of each embryo.
PGT-M Testing (Preimplantation Genetic Testing for Monogenic/Single-Gene Defects): A highly targeted test looking for specific single-gene disorders, rather than chromosome count. If you and/or your partner know you are carriers for an inherited genetic condition (such as cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, or the BRCA gene mutation), the lab can create a custom probe to test your embryos for that exact mutation. This allows a specialist to select and transfer only the embryos that are unaffected by the condition.
Viable Pregnancy: A pregnancy that is progressing normally and safely. Typically, a pregnancy is officially considered viable when your doctor can confirm a gestational sac and a steady, healthy fetal heartbeat via ultrasound, usually around the 6-to-8-week mark.
The Transfer
Fresh Embryo Transfer: Takes place just a few days after your egg retrieval, using an embryo that has never been frozen.
Frozen Embryo Transfer: Involves freezing your embryos and transferring one in a later cycle. Frozen embryo transfers have become increasingly common because they allow your body time to recover from the stimulating medications, and they provide the necessary time to perform genetic testing (like PGT-A) before the transfer. Your fertility specialist will help you decide what is medically best, and our care coordinators can support you with the logistics of booking all the clinic appointments. Sunfish’s IVF Success Program includes unlimited embryo transfers.
ERA (Endometrial Receptivity Analysis): A specialized diagnostic test used to determine the absolute perfect time to transfer an embryo into your uterus. By taking a small biopsy of your uterine lining, the lab can analyze your genetics to pinpoint your unique "window of implantation." This helps your fertility specialist personalize your transfer schedule down to the hour, which is especially helpful if you have experienced previous unsuccessful transfers.
Surrogacy (Gestational Surrogacy): A path to parenthood in which another person (the gestational surrogate) carries a pregnancy and delivers a baby for the intended parents. In gestational surrogacy, the carrier has no genetic link to the child; the embryo is created via IVF using the eggs and sperm of the intended parents or from donors, and then transferred to the surrogate's uterus.
Two-Week Wait (TWW): The infamous "two-week wait" is the roughly 14-day period between your embryo transfer (or IUI procedure) and the day you go back to the clinic for your official pregnancy blood test: the beta hCG test, which measures the pregnancy hormone, hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) in the bloodstream. It is notoriously one of the most emotionally challenging and anxiety-inducing phases of the entire fertility journey, as you wait to find out if the treatment was successful, which is why Sunfish is with you every step of the way as a financial and caring, supportive safety net.
Financial & Logistical Terms to Know
Out-of-Pocket Maximums: In traditional private health insurance, this is the absolute limit on what you have to pay for covered services in a given year. However, because many fertility treatments aren't covered by standard insurance, patients often find themselves paying entirely "out-of-pocket" for their care, with no cap in sight. Sunfish helps you understand exactly what your insurance covers and what it doesn't. For the costs that fall outside your coverage, our loans and guarantee programs provide a predictable, manageable way to pay, effectively creating a safety net for your out-of-pocket expenses.
Planning Partner: Sunfish is more than just a financial platform; we are your dedicated Planning Partner. From your very first consultation to your embryo transfer or egg retrieval, we work alongside you to map out the costs, explore your options, and build a sustainable financial roadmap. We handle the financial and logistical heavy lifting so you can focus entirely on your health, your treatment, and your growing family.
Flexible Payment Options: Fertility treatments shouldn't require draining your life savings or maxing out high-interest credit cards. Flexible payment options allow you to break down the daunting total cost of treatment into smaller, manageable monthly installments that fit your real-life budget. Sunfish offers highly competitive, flexible fertility loans with terms that work for you. Whether you need to finance a single egg freezing cycle or a comprehensive surrogacy journey, we provide transparent rates and customizable repayment terms, giving you the financial breathing room you deserve.
Shared Risk Programs: Also known as refund programs, these are financial plans offered by some clinics where you pay a flat fee for multiple IVF cycles. If you don't bring home a baby, you receive a partial or full refund. It "shares the risk" of IVF being potentially unsuccessful between the patient and the provider. We take this concept to the next level with our IVF Success program. We don't just share the risk; we actively protect your investment. Not only do we guarantee a second cycle if the first does not yield the projected amount of eggs, but if your full treatment doesn't result in a live birth, we provide a refund up to $15,000, preserving your hard-earned savings so you can explore other family-building options without starting from scratch.
Fertility Financing: To us, fertility financing isn't just about lending money—it's about unlocking access to parenthood. Sunfish fertility financing is a specialized, compassionate approach to funding your family-building journey. We combine low-rate loans, Success Guarantees for your egg retrievals and embryo transfers, and expert financial advocacy to remove the cost barrier, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to build the family of their dreams.
The Sunfish Solution: Though it may feel like it initially, you don't need a medical degree to learn the terms that are essential to building your family via IVF, egg freezing, or surrogacy. Sunfish offers comprehensive educational guides, real-time resources, and dedicated care coordinators to translate complex medical and financial jargon into language that is easily digestible. Let us be your trusted guide and financial partner every step of the way.
