Something I did not understand prior to starting IVF was the concept of time around fertility treatments. This has been one of the more challenging issues, especially for us who are IVF long-haulers. Some things to consider:
- Everything depends on CD1 (cycle day 1 of your period). Your period may come early, late, or not at all. Timing might be impacted by the fertility medications you are on. Your clinic can best guide you on what to expect. When there are bumps in the road and you are waiting for your next cycle to begin, the wait seems long, and you feel at the mercy of your period.
- Cancellations! I had no idea an IVF cycle could be cancelled. When my first egg retrieval was cancelled, I was devastated. I wasn’t warned that it could happen. Now I understand that my body didn’t respond well to the meds, and that’s ok (cancelled cycles are a great learning experience). But I wasn’t mentally prepared initially, so the blow of the cancellation was really tough.
- More cancellations! If you are lucky enough to get viable embryos and you are doing an embryo transfer, your transfer cycle could get cancelled despite being on meds for several weeks. This may happen if you ovulate when you are not supposed to (depends on the transfer cycle type), or if things don’t look great for implantation. You may have several cancellations in a row (I had four transfers cancelled in a row). It feels like a huge loss of time. It’s a learning experience for your team, but it’s still incredibly hard to process.
- Not every egg retrieval cycle will result in eggs or embryos. Some cycles will retrieve nothing.
- The TWW (two-week wait) after the embryo transfer is an emotional and physical roller coaster. You may be on intravaginal medications which are messy, uncomfortable, and can cause bloody spotting. The hormonal effects on your physical and emotional health are hard.
- Give yourself TIME to process the emotions and grief. It can be a long journey, one without the outcome you had hoped for, or at least in the time span you imagined.
- Your views on your journey will evolve over time. It’s a learning and growth process.
- Here is a breakdown of fertility costs for IVF
FET and me: An Information resource for IVF 