Infertility and IVF Q&A Part 2

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Hello, my friends! Thank you so much for reading about our infertility and IVF journey, and I hope that it will help you in some way if you are in the middle of it yourself. First, read part 1 of the infertility and IVF Q&A HERE.

Continued here!

23. One of the more difficult things for me was learning to be an advocate for myself when talking to the doctor. I was so timid, because the subject of infertility is so sensitive. Also, I’m not the doctor, so I thought they always knew best. I wish I had spoken up when I didn’t feel like something was right for me. Do you have any advice on the balance of being your own advocate and listening to the advice of your doctor? There was one time in particular where my clinic made a few mistakes in one week and I had to talk to my doctor about it. My IVF coordinator forgot to order a really important medication and the lab didn’t call me to let me know how many embryos had made it to maturity. I was kind, but it was important for me that they knew that they had made these mistakes because this was my 6th fertility treatment and if they were getting too busy, then they needed to hire more people. Remember that this is your life and your body, and you need to be bold. You can be kind and be bold and strong at the same time, and I think it’s important to make sure you stand up for yourself.

24. How hardcore were you with the vitamin cocktail and caffeine rules? By my 3rd round, I was SUPER strict and did everything perfectly. I didn’t even wear nail polish because I was nervous of any extra chemicals on my body. If you want it to work and have peace of mind knowing that you did all you could, I would recommend being very strict about what your doctor recommends.

25. Do you know of ways to connect with other women struggling with infertility (not a Web forum but maybe something more personal)? If you are big on social media, I would use hashtags like #infertility, #ttc, or #IVF. I connected with incredible women this way who have become great friends. I met one of my good friends Amanda this way. We were able to talk with each other while we were going through it. It’s always nice to have someone who gets it.

26. What diet did you find works best for staying healthy with all the meds and prepping your body for babies? Just eating healthy – fruits, veggies, good proteins. Limit sugar. Lots of water. Really, just eat healthy like all of use should be eating always 🙂

27. If you had it to do over again, would you do IUI’s? I feel like there’s a very small percentage for which this works for. Of course it’s way less expensive, but if you do it multiple times it can add up to IVF. I know many people who have had success with IUI’s and it’s much less invasive than IVF, so I would definitely try that first if your specific infertility diagnosis shows that it could potentially be successful.

28. Once you were pregnant, were you nervous or anxious that something would go wrong with one of the babies? Did you ever feel relaxed in your pregnancy? I was nervous mainly because I was carrying twins which is a lot more risky than carrying one baby. Each appointment was such a relief when I saw both of their heart beats. I started bleeding a lot at 13 weeks and I had to go to the ER (you can read about that and what happened HERE and HERE and what it was caused by). I don’t think that anyone ever feels super relaxed during pregnancy regardless of having gone through infertility or not because so much can go wrong; each baby that is born healthy is an absolute miracle. The babies were born at 32 weeks because I got preeclampsia. You can read our birth story HERE. I think that what helped me the most is trusting is God’s plan for me. That’s what gets me through every hard challenge.

29. Did your doctors require bed rest after your embryo transfer? Yes, I rested for 3 days and I highly recommend minimizing any stress, both physically and mentally, for at least 3 days. Watch movies and take it seriously because it really affects how your body responds to that little embryo!

30. Did you do anything quirky like eat a pineapple or wear lucky socks before/after? I wore lucky earrings during my 2nd IVF transfer. 4 girls that I know had gotten pregnant while wearing them…and didn’t lol! But, if you have lucky socks or lucky earrings, wear them if they bring you more peace and bring you a little sliver of happiness. Do anything that brings you some joy because it’s a hard time!

31. Do you have any tips you learned after going through IVF 3x that will make the process go as smoothly as possible? Follow the doctors orders exactly, and rest as much as possible. I’m the type of person that is busy all the time and I like to work hard. Give yourself a BREAK during this time! Go to the movies on a week day, watch too much TV, play games with your spouse. Enjoy your life!! You have one life. You’ll never get this day back. Try to be happy and give yourself a break.

32. How did your religious beliefs play a role in your decision to do IVF? I am LDS and honestly, I didn’t really look up much what my church thought about it. We wanted to grow our family and knew that was the next step in our progression, so we felt good about seeking medical help to do so. I think it’s very personal for each couple and you need to do what feels best for you. I know God led our path and was with us each step of the way.

33. Can you take us through your whole journey, and everything you guys went through? If you go to the top of my blog, you’ll see an infertility heading. You’ll see the beginning of our journey which includes the first 5 treatments and then the 3rd round of IVF in LOTS of detail with many blog posts.

34. At what point in your journey did you decide to do IVF? We had done 3 IUI’s and since my insurance was so incredible, we decided to move on to the next round. My eggs are poor quality which we later found out, so during IVF we did ICSI which means that they injected the sperm into each egg instead of just putting them in a container together.

35. What were the initial tests you do to narrow down what the cause is? We checked my tubes to make sure they weren’t blocked, my uterus (my first doctor missed the two polyps there and my second doctor found them right away), they do blood work to check for numerous diseases, etc. I’m not sure everything they check for but they thoroughly check both your partner and you.

*I had a lot of questions about how I stayed positive and happy, so make sure to read my first post HERE because I address that 🙂

Also, make sure to go to FertilityIQ.com to read assessments on infertility doctors around America if you are still deciding on an infertility clinic. If you have experience with doctors, make sure to review them here for others. It is an incredible resource!

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Thank you so much to all who have read, commented, supported and sent love and kind words my way. You have brought happiness and joy into my life and I really appreciate it!

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