Why do some people seem to sail through IVF and even achieve pregnancy more easily?
I’m sharing my expert insider fertility coaching ways to help you double your IVF success rates. Many are often overlooked in the process. Especially for first-timers. I love to see individuals and couples actively prepare for IVF success, rather than stumbling in and learning the hard way.
Here are my ‘expert insider’ ways to navigate your fertility treatment more easily. And it’s all based on the success of clients during my 30+ years of clinical practice in fertility therapy and coaching.
An ounce of preparation is worth a pound of cure.
Even with IVF you still need a healthy egg and a healthy sperm to achieve fertilisation. IVF provides the introduction service for sperm and eggs, and ensures up to a year’s supply of eggs are available for fertilisation.
Two out of three IVF cycles actually fail in this wonderful but inexact science – a devastating loss for intending parents.
The physical, emotional and financial fall-out is enormous. Research shows couples who are fully prepared can double their chances of success on the first round, and reduce risk of depression, and relationship issues in the years after treatment.
Fertility is a systemic issue for both partners, and here’s how you learn to be more in control of yours.
Become your own project manager.
Set up an Excel document to maintain clear records of both your medical history, investigations, treatments, medication protocols, reactions, surgery, and results. Include dates and times of visits and a synopsis of what was said. This is an important reference to track your progress on this cycle, to brief a new clinic, or should any mishaps occur.
Clinic liaison.
Find out your clinic’s policy on how they give information updates. Is it a portal or a WhatsApp group? There is usually one team member who funnels info, and fields your questions.
Are there mutually arranged times that suit to contact you, or is it a case of pot-luck calls during your working day? What about support over weekends and holidays? Keep the liaison number handy in both your phones. Note what the procedure is in case of ovarian
hyperstimulation OHSS complications or miscarriage.
Include your pharmacy contact in case of medication issues, changes to protocol, prescribing issues, damage or loss of meds, being away from home and separated from a dose.
Decide who’s in.
Who needs to know you are having IVF? Your boss, line manager, colleagues, your mum, his mum, sisters, girlfriends? You can’t unshare this or swear too many folk to secrecy. It never works.
A good filter to apply is “Will they be helpful and is it really necessary?”
Are you prepared for questions, suggestions and supplying ongoing updates?
Everyone will want updates so choose one town crier!
Time out.
If your organisation has a fertility policy, or you can organise it at work, get time off sorted for clinic visits. Many women choose dawn patrol appointment times for convenience and confidentiality. Consider having your GP or consultant to sign you off for a few days after egg retrieval and embryo transfer. Fertility meds affect people differently, especially on a first round. An option to rest and recover is a sensible back-up plan – and hopefully you don’t even need to use it.
List the medications.
That huge pack of meds now occupying your fridge is daunting initially.
Get familiar with your meds, dosages, timings and how to take them. Learn to self-inject gently and painlessly if your partner baulks at the idea. Doing your injections gives them a way to feel part of the process.
Check in with your doctor if you’re taking otc meds, supplements, or medicinal herbs – they can interfere with fertility pharmaceuticals.
Chart which meds are taken and when they’re due. Stick to the timings and set reminders on your phone.
Keep enough meds in stock so you don’t run out.
Focus.
Focus on ‘being in treatment’, and doing the minimum. Remember that your ovaries are doing a year’s worth of ovulating – injust  one month!
This is no time for a sourdough challenge or a house move. Unless you really have to! (Clients of mine have done loads of challenging stuff during IVF and become mothers at the same time.)
IVF is exhausting, and the meds can play havoc with your moods and well being. Again hypnotherapy minimises these effects incredibly well. Be as gentle on yourself as you’d be with a friend. Meet up to talk about something, and enjoy a break from it all. Cherry-pick who you spend time with. Limit your exposure to anything stressy that derails your mood. Consider guest appearances at events – you mightn’t feel up to a whole wedding weekend, but enjoy the main events.
Fertility in mind.
Mindset is key to navigating IVF and achieving pregnancy. Support, guidance, lifestyle info along hypnotherapy get clients into the fertility zone to optimise treatment results and minimise anxiety. Research by Dr. Ali Domar and others show the measurable benefits of mind/body sessions to double the odds of IVF success. My preconception protocol is designed to optimise chances of conceiving, either naturally or with IVF. This is an individually tailored process for individual needs. We look at lifestyle and nutrition adjustments, well-being, sleep hygiene and mind/body care.
‘Hypnosis has been known for many years for producing central relaxation, and has even been used before surgical interventions to calm patients’ – E. Levitas. If Professor Eliahu Levitas has his way, women undergoing IVF treatment will all have the benefit of a hypnotist at their bedside.’
According to Levitas’s team at Soroka Hospital in Beersheva, hypnosis can double the success of IVF treatment. Levitas’s study of 185 women found that 28% of women in the group who were hypnotized became pregnant, compared with 14% of those who were not.
Sometimes people forget the benefits of focussing on eggs and sperm health for IVF to work – and to get pregnancy ready. This is turbo-charged by an expert fertility care program for IVF.
Belgian research at this year’s European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology conference reveals that clinics give ball-park figures of success for younger patients. Patients simply don’t believe it applies to them – their cognitive bias kicks in, and they expect double the chance of pregnancy given by their clinic. The study urges clinics to provide more realistic stats to manage expectations and reduce the shock of failed cycles.
Live a little.
Remember you’ve got this far so well done, and you’re now getting ready for pregnancy. Enjoy some stuff you won’t have a chance to do once your baby arrives. Share leisurely breakfasts in bed, baths together, a mutual massage, a bit of pampering, reading a whole magazine. Visualise it – that you’re getting ready to be parents now. It’s all to easy to forget that when you feel like a science project, pin-cushioned full of medications. Doing this helps you focus outside of your own worries and fears.
Eat like a mama and papa.
Delicious healthy food nourishes you to give your baby the best start in life – and to help you have a healthy pregnancy.
Think of Med style eating – sans a bread or olive oil overload! Loads of seasonal veggies and fruit, plenty of fish, meat and chicken for nutrient-dense goodness.
Did I mention fish? Please eat more fresh or frozen whole fish, and maybe throw in some seaweed, too. Powdered versions are a great option for all the goodness with none of the taste! As an island nation here in Ireland we eat surprisingly little iodine-filled foods for fuelling our thyroid gland. Eggs are also a powerhouse of nutrients for growing babies.
Organise food.
You may not feel up for cooking so much during fertility treatment. Tiredness, aches and bloating take their toll. And did anyone mention constipation? A common side-effect of meds that’s uncomfortable, and can contribute to recycling of meds. Keep your natural detox system flowing freely now, and during your pregnancy to reduce risk of haemorrhoids.
Pears, prunes and probiotics are your friends. Fermented foods, like the humble sauerkraut, and loads of fibre also feed your gut microbiome. Ditch the Nutribullet, and eat your fruit whole, as nature intended.
Have a freezer full of great healthy meals so you’re not tempted to ready-made or take-out.
Set up an online grocery order to keep the good stuff coming, and avoid comfort eating crap – you’ll be glad you did.
Watch your weight. Ben and Gerry’s is not your friend. You can rack up over a stone during IVF , so no comfort food, or junk food – you’re getting prepped for healthy parenthood. Save a treat for when you get a ‘BFP’ (big fat positive). Piling on pounds is easy, and trying to shed this resistant type of hormonal weight adds to the misery of a failed cycle.
Caffeine withdrawal.
Diehard caffeine freaks tell me that giving up coffee while you are trying to conceive is better done well in advance of starting treatment. That extra touch of caffeine-withdrawal grumpiness might disturb your usual zen state when blended with the hormone-emotion overload. Caffeine reduction is advised going into pregnancy.
Prenatal vitamins.
Folic Acid, (or its natural step-cousin-twice-removed, Folate, if you have MTHFR GENE)Â along with CoEnzyme Q10 and Omega-3s help improve egg quality.
Iron is a staple to keep energy levels up while L-Arginine preps a welcoming thick uterine lining for implantation. Avoid supermarket supplements. I cannot stress enough that you get the quality you pay for. A good supplement covers all these bases – and then some – and I believe the investment is non-negotiable for fertility treatment success. For women, and men.
Build your support network.
Folk love to help, and to feel included – when they know what you want. Do you want company on a clinic visit if your partner can’t make it? Long phone chats? Your Other Half may also be new to the strange world of fertility treatment, and feel helpless, or side-lined.
Dress for the occasion.
The reality of bloating, sweating and actual weight gain – and stripping for scans – brings a whole new appreciation for the floaty cottons of M & S. Consider a (brief) affair with elastic waistbands, along with cashmere or fleece socks and wraps. Stay warm to support hormones and let soft layers keep you cosy during clinic visits.
Sleep routine.
‘Sleep Debt’ studies show over 70% of people don’t take enough sleep. Sleep is something you can do something about.
Payback time for sleep debt is now, so ensure you take the time to ensure you get a proper night’s sleep. Most nights.
Your partner needs plenty of good quality sleep to produce healthy sperm – as well as for impending parenthood.
Forget being passive about sleep, ‘hoping’ for a good night. Plan a sleep habit menu that benefits your fertility and well-being.
Getting sleep back on track is part of my sessions for IVF patients – and hypnotherapy is the fast and most effective way to change it up..
The waiting game.
IVF is a waiting game of so many hurdles, ratcheting up stress levels. Women continuously ask themselves: Will it work? How many eggs are maturing? How many fertilised? Will they make it to transfer? What are my hormone levels? Is my uterine lining thick enough?
Men fell the stress too, and may react differently. The toll of IVF on mental health is underestimated by most couples. Most fertility clinics bow out after the pregnancy test at the end of the 2-week wait, whether it’s a pregnancy or a failed cycle.
Women are more at risk of post-natal depression after IVF pregnancies, while men’s post-natal depression is only recently recognised thanks to the work of Mark Williams and the NHS.
How do I help?
As well as advising and supporting couples to prep for IVF, I guide them every step of the way. Family and freinds may be too close, or don’t understand what IVF entails. And no, you don’t have to ‘think positive’ to achieve pregnancy.
Superstitious thinking: ” I mustn’t jinx my chances with negative thoughts” is not accurate.
Fertility coaching covers all the bases, working off your unique needs – for clarity, balance and confidence.
Having a baby doesn’t always erase the anxiety of infertility or a previous failed cycle, so it’s good to have the support you need to ease you into a happy pregnancy.
How can I help you?
Book your free discovery call with me now
