What You Should Know Before an IVF Procedure

If you’re thinking about pursuing IVF treatment, you’re taking an important step toward getting what you want. Because of this, it’s only natural that you’ll have a lot of questions, concerns, and fears that you’ll want to discuss with your doctor or IVF Scottsdale AZ clinician. When you consider IVF treatment, it’s important to have all the facts in front of you so that you’ll know exactly what to expect. From side effects to end results, you’ll want to be talked through everything before you begin treatment. That’s why there are a few important things you should take into consideration before having your first consultation. The more you know about the procedure, the more questions you’ll be able to ask your doctor beforehand. Before you start IVF, here are a few things to be aware of.

It Could Take a While

Anyone who has been through IVF treatment knows that patience is extremely important. Going through a treatment can take up to two months and involve a lot of stress on your body. When you get your first IVF treatment, you’ll need to inject hormones or take a birth control pill so that you’ll be able to control and predict your menstrual cycle more accurately, allowing you to release your eggs at the most fertile moment possible. This whole process could take around a month from start to finish. After you’ve ovulated and the doctor has collected your eggs, they’ll be left to fertilize for about a week, after which time only one embryo will be selected for an implant. After that point, you’ll wait about a week to see if it took. In between all this, you’ll be visiting with doctors, taking hormone shots, and monitoring your progress. Even though two months might not seem like a long time, when you’re ready to get pregnant, it can seem like ages. The important thing is to take it one day at a time and try to be as patient as you can with the whole procedure.

It Can Be Stressful

Being monitored closely, as well as being in a constant state of suspense about your pregnancy, has certainly been known to cause stress levels to spike. This is an unfortunate but largely unavoidable part of the process. Feeling stressed is totally normal and there’s no reason to think otherwise. However, the idea that stress is bad for fertility is neither helpful for mothers-to-be nor based in fact. Stress is a necessary byproduct of the treatment, and unless it causes you to treat your body poorly, it should not have a relationship to the outcome of the procedure. What anyone who’s gone through IVF already will tell you is that self-care will become extremely important during the procedure. Don’t forget to take care of yourself and do what you can to ease your stress during the day-to-day, even if it feels indulgent.

You’re Likely to Feel Moody

Because you’re dealing with hormone shots that are working against your natural ovulation cycle, it’s possible that you’ll be feeling a bit all over the place once you start receiving treatment. Don’t worry, this is totally normal. Your body is dealing with all kinds of hormones it’s not used to, and creating an internal atmosphere that’s going to be conducive to pregnancy means amping up all those hormonal responses you’re used to only having to deal with around the time of your period. Again, don’t be hard on yourself: Although the mood swings that come with IVF have been known to put stress on relationships, there’s no reason why keeping open communication between you and your partner shouldn’t see you through the worst of it.

You Might Have to Go Through Multiple Cycles

You may be aware that IVF is the best way to get pregnant for couples who can’t conceive without help. What you might not know is that it’s not an all-or-nothing experience. Don’t feel like it’s all over if you didn’t get pregnant on your first try: That’s normal. In fact, most women don’t get pregnant until after two or three cycles. Even though it can feel discouraging after a few failed tries, remember that the odds are in your favor: women going through their third cycle of IVF treatment have a 63% chance of conceiving, so keep going strong.

You’ll Need a Strong Support System

As with any procedure that affects your hormones, your body, and your stress levels, keep a support system close at hand. Don’t feel shy about reaching out to talk. IVF is a stressful process, and you’ll need close friends and family by your side through it all.