Just going through Invitro Fertilization (IVF) is stressful. Now, add in the fact that you don’t know the results all of the shots, sonograms, and time will yield. What you can do is prepare your mind and body to ensure you have a successful IVF cycle. With the help of friends and people in social media groups who have gone through the same thing, I was able to learn a few things that I could do to improve my chances of having a successful IVF cycle. Now, that I’m having an IVF baby, I’m confident in sharing what I did to ensure I had a successful IVF cycle.
I Changed My Diet
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Fertility health starts from within. In knowing that I began to eat clean. It wasn’t easy because I love food, especially butter and cheese, and it hurt to give up those things. But, I did it because I knew what I wanted and imagine having thousands of dollars go down the drain because I couldn’t control my eating habits. It doesn’t make sense, right?
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I started off with J.J. Smith’s 10-day Green Smoothie Cleanse, to not only lose a few pounds but to also rid my body of toxins. It also prepared my body to accept clean eating. After the 10-day Green Smoothie Cleanse, I began Whole 30.
Whole30 is tough but worth it. I say tough because you have to commit to cooking and preparing meals a few times per week. I thought that giving up butter, cheese, bread, and alcohol was going to be hard, but nope! Try it, there are some really good recipes out there.
I Switched to Clean Beauty and Body Products
What you put into your body is just as important as what you put on it. I changed things like my skincare, soaps, and deodorant. You’ll see I love using CRYSTAL deodorant. I’m probably never going back to using regular deodorants.
Related: Ditch Harmful Deodorants and Switch to CRYSTAL Deodorant
I Made Sure I Was Taking Supplements to Improve Fertility Health
A good friend of mine who had done IVF a few years ago told me that in addition to my prenatal vitamins to also think about adding CoQ10 to the supplements I was already taking.
CoQ10 is supposed to improve egg quality. According to my reproductive endocrinologist, I have a great AMH level (Anti-Mullerian Hormone), which determines my ovarian reserve. The ovarian reserve determines the capacity of the ovary to provide egg cells that are capable of fertilization resulting in a healthy and successful pregnancy. But, I can have all of the eggs in the world, and if the quality of the eggs is poor, it wouldn’t make a difference. So, I took CoQ10 up until the day of my retrieval.
Note: It takes at least three months to see results from CoQ10.
I Stayed Hydrated
Keeping hydrated during an IVF cycle and after is extremely important. The injections and growing follicles can lead to dehydration. Plus, growing follicles need the added hydration to make them nice and “juicy”.
During my cycle, and even now throughout this pregnancy, in addition to water, I use Liquid I.V. Oh. My. Goodness, this stuff was a lifesaver post egg retrieval, especially since I had a mild case of Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS). The electrolytes in the Liquid I.V. helped a lot.
I Didn’t Sweat the Small Stuff
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Going through infertility of any kind can be stressful, especially when you don’t know the cause. Then add fertility treatments and the possibility of it not working to the mix, along with stress from work, etc. Enter what could be stress city. As hard as it was, I had to think positively and just let the things that were out of my control just be what they were. Because I had bigger things to think about. The end goal was to have as many quality eggs as possible, and then a successful transfer that lead to pregnancy that stuck.
The Outcome
Come retrieval day I learned what I did to ensure I had a successful IVF cycle worked. I had 25 eggs retrieved, 24 (96%) of them were mature, and 22 (88%) fertilized. Of the eggs, fertilized, 50% (11/22) of them made it to the day 5 embryo stage, which, according to my reproductive endocrinologist, is great! I currently have 10 embryos in storage for later use if we plan on having another.