ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter, two ‘trajectories’ were described in order to illustrate how the choice to opt for IVF is framed in relation to the disruptions posed by infertility, and subsequently how an IVF cycle poses its own disruptions. It was argued that descriptions of IVF itself as an ‘obstacle course’, a set of ‘hurdles’ to be negotiated, a ‘way of life’ and an experience that ‘takes over’ and that ‘makes something of you’ all are indications of the way IVF functions as a rite of passage. IVF is described as an experience structured by a model of achieved conception, in which determination to succeed, and faith in the enabling potential of technological assistance are definitive features of the trajectory established by the procedure. It has been argued that the importance of recognising these features of the experience of IVF must be contextualised within an understanding of IVF as a process: a process which is entered into with expectations that change as the procedure ‘takes over’ and becomes a ‘way of life’. Definitions of success and failure, for example, are changed in the process of undergoing IVF.
