Innovative Fertility accepting insurance 3500 N Sepulveda Blvd #130, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

How stuff works: Gender selection with IVF

Fans of John Legend may agree that the singer “deserves a little girl.”

IVF and Gender selection His partner Chrissy Teigen told People Magazine that she chose to pursue PGS with gender selection in mind. Among the tweets that she received after the “It’s a Girl!” announcement, this one prompted our Manhattan Beach fertility center to blog about the topic:

How exactly does picking an embryo work?

Gender selection is a well established practice among leading US fertility centers like ours. It is performed in conjunction with IVF to determine the sex of an embryo— among other essential markers—prior to transfer to the uterus. Some couples or singles also opt for what’s called family balancing to add either a boy or a girl to even out family dynamics.

You can read more about gender selection and family balancing on our website.

A typical cycle of IVF includes five steps.

  1. prescribing fertility drugs to coax the ovaries to produce more eggs
  2. taking those mature eggs out of the ovaries
  3. mixing the eggs and sperm in a petri dish in the IVF lab
  4. waiting until multi-cell embryos form and
  5. delivering the embryo back into the mom-to-be’s uterus.

Gender selection takes place between step 4 and 5 when we add PGS.

PGS for gender selection … and for peace of mind

Preimplantation genetic screening takes a close look at the cells of a growing embryo. Inside the nucleus, the chromosomes are neatly lining up—one from dad and one from mom in 23 pairs. A peek inside tells us whether this embryo—or that one—will have the best shot at growing into a healthy adult, and for sure whether John and Chrissy need to decorate the nursery for a boy or a girl.

John and Chrissy underwent IVF and opted to have PGS.

They know the sex of their baby, and that’s brought this couple great joy. PGS has many benefits, and Dr. Rispler offers this advanced IVF lab technique to his patients in Manhattan Beach and surrounding towns. He also sees patients from countries that do not allow PGS for sex selection or family building. (Oh boy)

To John and @ChrissyTeigan: Congratulations on your little girl. We are #tickledpink for you!

If you would like to learn more about the IVF options available to you at our Manhattan Beach fertility clinic, contact us here.