10 replies to this topic

[gummybear16]

Hi, I am considering IVF and wondering what people's experiences were with cycling and working, looking after an older child, etc....Are you expected to do bed rest after the transfer? Should I be asking my husband to take days off work to help out? Thanks for your input!

[amp77]

Your husband, or someone, will need to be there for retrieval as you will be sedated. I took three days off work and hubby took one day off. Transfer day, I was just told to rest that day and I worked the next. Hubby does not have to be there.

[#3@44]

For my cycle that worked, the retrieval was on Halloween.  Plus they went through my uterus do the position of my ovary (much less comfortable).  I have two older children.  I remember wondering what would be worse - walking around the neighborhood with them or continously getting up and down off the couch to hand out candy?  I went with the latter.  I write a lot and don't have to move around a lot - but I was back at work the next day after my retrieval and transfer.  I didn't do much physicial stuff though for a week afterwards but getting around was totally fine.

[amazing grace]

I was told just recently that they do not recommend bed rest after a transfer anymore. This was after my last failed cycle. My RE now seems to agree that bed rest is not needed but taking it easy is. Retrieval is totally different and I cannot speak on that since I am using donor eggs,

[mouse]

Current research suggests that there is insufficient evidence to support bed rest after transfer and that it may in fact be associated with increased chance of a negative outcome.

 

http://www.sciencedi...301211512005386

http://www.ncbi.nlm....lth/PMH0031973/

http://www.ivf1.com/...ss-and-bedrest/

 

Fingers crossed!

[Bibbs]

Hey,

 

I can't answer your question, because I'm still on the birth control phase of my first cycle. But we are planning to work as much as possible. I may end up working from "home" for a week if its absolutely nescessary, but that's mostly because I'm going to a clinic in Victoria and I'm in White Rock/Work in Surrey (saw your name so I know you'll understand what that means in terms of travel).

 

good luck!

[gummybear16]

Thank you for your input, everyone! Good luck to you all on your IVF endeavors! I went to my consult last week and got a lot of questions answered, but there are still more questions....

 

I am planning to go to a clinic in Vancouver and I live in South Surrey - I see when I am taking stims they will have to monitor me, and since I have an older kid who is in school I don't think I will be able to do the morning bloodtests/ultrasounds and be able to take my kid to school. So I am thinking of waiting until summer but time is ticking!

 

I really am appreciating what women go through with IVF, much more than I ever did before. I didn't realize just how much work it is - physically, mentally, emotionally...you are all strong women!

 

 

[s00n]

I feel your pain - I haven't had any trouble taking care of my kids while doing IVF, and they're 4 and teenaged.  A baby to lug around may be a different story - but overall there were no real restrictions, no bedrest etc.

 

If it's not too many days of monitoring (and I don't recall that it was toooo bad) would you be able to have another parent bring your kid in the mornings you have monitoring?  OR - could you bring your kid into the clinic (rules vary) and then drop kiddo at school after?

 

I know for us we often time it so that we're just dropping kids off and then straight to appointments.

 

Good luck!!!

[mouse]

Totally unrelated to the topic but s00n - just saw your avatar pic SKWEEEEEEE!  Fingers so crossed!!!!!!!!

[s00n]

Thank you Mouse. Early days - but I've never seen a +hpt before. 

 

 

To add for the poster of this topic - if you have a fresh IVF and end up needing to go on to a frozen transfer later - there is much less in the way of visits.  I believe we just went in for about 3 with this one. (FET transfer day, lining check day, and bloodwork right before starting medications.)

[Clairey]

It really depends on the type of job you have (can you be late? Take half days? Make up the time?), how fast your clinic is at in-and-out of patients during monitoring, and where you live in proximity to your clinic.

It seems a lot of people can mask most of the cycle from their everyday work life but it's not possible for some others.

With an older child, if they are in daycare or school during appointments it's much easier.

My husband takes off the retrieval day, and I make arrangements to lay low for a few days afterward. I get pretty sick from the drugs and I also feel my work is a little too intense for the precious days following the transfer. He has always joined me at the transfer but doesn't have to be there.

I had a lot of your questions too and found sitting 1:1 with the nurse/doctor at the beginning of the cycle eased my mind to cover a lot of these questions and help make plans. They will be honest about general timelines and how to figure out what will be best for YOU, as that's a big part of the process. For example, I switched clinics. One clinic had only one doctor in total to do everything including procedures, and the other had 3 or 4 on all the time. Obviously the clinic with one doctor working it and less staff overall (one ultrasound tech for everything) was much more of a daily time expenditure throughout cycle monitoring. This needed to be accounted for as I tried to figure out work.