Mythbusters! Stress is bad for IVF

The outcome of a large scale British study has just been released which found that ...women trying to get pregnant via IVF or other assisted reproduction techniques do not reduce their chances of success if they are emotionally distressed...

Study leader, Jacky Boivin of Cardiff University's school of psychology, said that ...these findings should reassure women that emotional distress caused by fertility problems or other life events co-occurring with treatment will not compromise their chance of becoming pregnant. 

Phew - one less thing to be stressed about!  

How many times do you get told while trying to make a baby (regardless of the method) that if you just relax it will happen.  I don't know about you, but it makes me soooo cranky to hear that and then you just feel stressed about feeling stressed!

So stop feeling guilty about it! The proof is in the pudding...or the British Medical Journal in this case (although I'm not really sure why the pudding has proof anyway?). 

Be kind to yourself and know that it's proven to be ok to feel all of the emotions that are part of this wild carousel ride we are on.  Scream, yell, cry, laugh, hope, dream and stress if you need to. We're only human after all.

Image source: elgarboart on Etsy. Love the vintageness of this photo.

IVF is like crack

I'm starting the get the shakes and I think it's because I'm off the assisted fertility bandwagon for the first time in a long time.

It seems a little crazy to be biting my nails over taking a break, but the reality is it feels like I now have even less influence over a very out of my control situation.

At least when I was on the drugs, getting scanned and analysed to the 'enth' degree I felt like I was taking positive steps to making a very wanted baby. Now irrationally I feel like I'm standing by watching opportunity slide by every month.

Whereas in reality, standing on the sideline is probably the very best thing I can do for my triple bottom line (mind, body & wallet!) at the moment.

So I'll continue pursuing other interests and maybe in time I'll stop moving forward looking over my shoulder at what I'm used to doing. Good things are ahead!

Image source: Design Divas Gallery on Etsy. Love this vinyl wall print - I could so do with it on my wall!

Tick tock it's zen o'clock

It's a funny thing, when you go off fertility treatment to have a break and retrieve some sense of life outside of IVF, there are those who think that you are immediately more relaxed about it all and in a state of zen.

Here's the revelation - It doesn't work that way!  I'm still finding myself counting the calender days, checking the state of the mucus (eeuuwww for those who don't understand that it's all about the mucus!) and cheering if it seems as if I've ovulated.  AND of course roping the 'usually quite willing man unless he's really tired' into shagging when I think that it's the 'right time of the month'.

Granted, it's nice not shooting up with a cocktail of hormones and being scanned for popping ovaries. Or being deposed of a good amount of blood every couple of days which is then used to provide a report card on my poor hard working body. But still - baby making is on my mind!

*sigh*

However - I've given myself a 'get out of jail free card' and I'm allowing this state of affairs to continue. After all, I'm at that biologically clock ticking time of life where baby making is on MANY women's mind and just because we are going cold turkey on IVF doesn't mean I can't think about it...does it?

Image source: stasiab on Etsy. This is so perfect for what I was trying to say!

Love this story

Nothing to do with making babies, but this story is about a fabulous Parisian hairdresser to the stars, Lucia Iraci, who once a month offers a bit of glamour and pampering to women from poor districts who are often long-term unemployed or victims of abuse and even slavery. 

Just lovely to read. If I am ever lucky enough to visit Paris again, I would love to get my hair done by Lucia - whether I needed a hair cut or not!
 

Lucia Iraci outside her Paris salon.

Image source: Mindfood

All you need is a good dollop of honey

First period completed post IVF and it was a wild hormone ride!  After being pumped full of progesterone and pregnancy hormones the last three months of 2010, I think my poor reproductive system went into withdrawal - sitting in the corner sucking its thumb while rocking and singing to itself.

So I figured the poor old (no not old - quite young!) thing needed a little bit of a helping hand settling back into a normal routine.

Wanting to stay off drugs (do you blame me?) and after speaking to the famed guru - Swami 'Google' - I came up with a few things I'm starting to do to help my poor harassed hormones settle down.

• Drink red raspberry leaf tea and women's balance tea - red raspberry leaf is supposed to be really good for the uterine lining and balancing hormones.
• Take evening primrose oil (first half of cycle) - helps with the quality of the fertile mucus - and the essential fatty acids are of course good for the brain!
• Eat licorice - Licorice is supposed to help with balancing oestrogen.  You're probably supposed to use supplements, but I've liberally interpreted this to include the molasses sweetened licorice from my local fruit shop. Sooo good.
• Up my honey intake - Honey is of course very healthy but sadly I don't really like it. However, it has a good list of properties that help with ovary function and general reproductive health - so I'm going to LEARN to love it.

I'm hoping that all this, plus a healthy lifestyle and a good dose of time will help get me back on track.

It's alright little hormones...you can stop buzzing around like crazy now...I have some honey for you!

Image source: Hushmouse on Etsy

AND here are some links to the type of info I've been finding. 

http://www.babyhopes.com/articles/herbs.html

http://www.nutritional-supplements-health-guide.com/benefits-of-licorice.html

http://www.babyworld.co.uk/information/trying/getting_body_ready/honey_helps_conception.asp

http://www.gynob.com/fertility-foods.html

One of THOSE stories

A friend recently said to me that I would be one of THOSE stories when I said I was having a break from IVF for a while.

You know the ones where you hear that people have been on fertility treatments for years and then they have a break and BAM! they get pregnant. 

And the confession is I would LOVE to be one of THOSE stories.

I think mine should have a bit of a chick lit flavour to it (happy ever after ending including lots of babies with the man I love), a smattering of fantasy (good vs evil with good winning of course), a dollop of family drama (a la Jodi Picoult) and a good bit of travel adventure (Eat, Pray, Love style - without the love angst and finding a new husband side of things - just the travel).

Who knows...stranger things have happened...

 Image source: thelittlefox on Etsy. Am LOVING her art so much.

Clowning around

I've just read an article headlining - Humour clowns linked to IVF success.  Apparently in a study done by a team of Israeli doctors it was found that the odds of success were greater among women who were entertained by a professional "medical clown" just after the embryos were transferred to their wombs. 

This is hilarious! I'm sitting here imagining Bobo in all his clowning, red nosed, big footed glory jumping around the clinic room popping out a joke or two while I'm sitting there with my legs in the air. (Too bad if you're one of those people who have a phobia of clowns...that would send stress levels sky high!)

However, I'm not that surprised to hear that a bit of a comedy routine could be beneficial in terms of lowering stress levels. And I fully believe that low stress levels could have an impact on success. That being said I swear I was super cool the last three rounds...maybe I need to watch more comedy?

So if we ever end up doing IVF again, I'm definitely going to put in a special request for clowns. Or at the very least, spend the afternoon watching reruns of Friends...

 

Image source: lulisplanet on Etsy When I was looking for clown artwork, I came across so many scary clowns it was a little freaky!  Why can't people draw innocent happy clowns?? I liked this picture because of the sparkly balloons and the clown looked so happy :)