Thanks for following along in my IVF journey! The format for the next couple weeks is that each day I’ll share something on my heart, and also some practical insight into what IVF looks and feels like. Be forewarned, images of scary needles soon to come.

In November, fresh off a failed IVF retrieval cycle, I heard through the office grapevine that I was being cast as Mary in our parody nativity video for our Christmas Eve services. As I was the youngest woman on staff at our campus, it made sense, but still, come on God. So here I am, the girl who can’t get pregnant, walking around with a pillow shoved up my dress. And of course my husband is also cast in the video so he gets to see me walking around with my pillow baby, not exactly a fun day. Not to mention I was on on worship team for our Christmas Eve services, so I couldn’t exactly hide in the corner when it was screened to the entire congregation multiple times. But hey, I love my church and my coworkers so I didn’t complain and ultimately I was happy to help with a fun project that everyone loved.

But this brings me to an important point, I recently learned the importance of saying no to certain things. This fall, while preparing for my first IVF cycle I made the decision that I was not going to attend any of the 4 baby showers I was invited to. Now this may sound selfish, and honestly, I felt a little selfish. I’ve been attending and throwing baby showers for the past few years without issue, but my nurse recommended this great app ferticalm which gave me the confidence to put myself first when I needed to. It’s a fantastic app with a silly name, but includes tips and advice for all different types of situations, from work, to social events, to waiting at the Dr, two week wait, etc. I was encouraged to just say no to these baby showers, without making up an excuse, and it was fantastic.

Of course I am thrilled for my friends, their families and their sweet babies, but I just knew that it was more important for me in this season to just congratulate from a distance, and that while I was over the moon for them, being at those showers would have brought more heartache than anything else. I also have an incredibly hard time saying no, so being able to do so was a huge victory for me. If you aren’t big no-sayers either, I encourage you to try it. Seriously. It’s great.

So what does IVF look like? While its slightly different for everyone, the first thing it usually involves is a whole mess of supplements and pills. The photo at the top of the page are my daily supplements, some once a day, some twice, some three times.

They are from L t R, Prenatal, r alpha lipoic acid, E, D, Melatonin, CoQ10, C, Folic Acid, Estrace, and DHEA.

An essential part of my army of supplements is my fertinatal micronized DHEA. At $80 a box its not cheap, but hey nothing fertility related is. This brand is mentioned specifically in “It Starts with the Egg“ by Rebecca Fett. I cannot say enough good things about this book, if you’re dealing with infertility, miscarriage, or simply want to better understand how environment and diet affect your reproductive system, read it.

In the following days I’ll talk more about what else goes into the cycle, the acupuncture, the chinese herbs, the shots, the many many ultrasounds and blood draws. It’s not for the faint of heart. To all my IVF mommas, you have my mad respect after seeing this process close up and in person. It’s no joke.

Stay tuned for tomorrow and hear how to cope when it all goes wrong. 🙂