When you receive an infertility diagnosis, many people may assume that trying to get pregnant by undergoing fertility treatments should become your sole focus.
How are you going to juggle everything along with your fertility appointments? Do you need to quit working?
Sacrificing who you are and everything you’ve worked hard for doesn’t need to be part of the plan.
In fact, working and doing the things you love while you’re going through your infertility journey can help boost your overall health and well-being. Which, in turn, may boost the success of your chosen treatment.
Here’s how you can take control of your life and your fertility treatment by fitting everything you’d like to accomplish into your schedule.
Take Control of Your New Schedule
First, you’ll need to readjust your priorities slightly, so you can fit these extra commitments into your life without giving up on anything you want or need to do.
It’s time to whip out your planner and get to work!
If you already have a list of fertility appointments, start by writing those in. Then, look at the days you have free and start pencilling in all those other activities you want to do. Make Monday night gym night, Tuesday night your night out with friends, Wednesday night your night in with your partner, and so on.
Seeing everything written down and planned will help you take control of your schedule. If you need to move tasks or plans around, at least you’ll be able to see exactly what’s going to and what isn’t going to work for you.
But won’t my fertility treatment take over my schedule?
You may need to fit more time in for appointments as your treatment progresses, perhaps dropping the occasional social event, but it shouldn’t ever have to ‘take over’ your schedule completely.
For example, with a frozen donor egg cycle, you can fit the treatment into your life and schedule quite easily. There are no lengthy waiting times as there’s only your cycle to think about (you don’t have to worry about the donor’s cycle and schedule like you would with fresh donor egg) and you can anticipate fitting your treatment plan into a space of approximately six weeks.
Do you have some holiday time owed to you from work? Or do you have a month or two that are slower than the others?
Then this may be the perfect time to forge ahead with your fertility plans – no compromises needed.
Learn to Say No – and Mean It
Speaking of compromising…
Right now, you need to focus on you, your needs, and your health. Compromising isn’t part of the plan.
If you need to skip that gym class so you can take some time out to relax and unwind before your next treatment session – do it. If you need to cancel on your friends because you’ve got to work late to make up for a doctor’s appointment – do it.
Learning to say no so you can focus on your schedule is essential to maintaining a stress-free, positive mindset throughout this process. Everyone around you will understand, so don’t worry if you can’t do everything.
Make Time for You as Often as You Need It
While taking control at this time in your life is imperative to feeling confident and happy, you need to know when to ‘just stop.’
Undergoing infertility treatment can be overwhelming – physically and mentally. You’ll need to rebalance your body and mindset whenever you feel like you’re starting to run on empty.
Compromising your health and well-being is not an option.
Don’t be afraid to turn to others if you’re struggling to cope. You might want to chat with friends about how things are going, or you may need one of them to run a few errands for you. Equally, you may feel like you need some ‘you time’ – some alone time where you can gather your thoughts and recharge your body.
Listen to your body and mind, and don’t be ashamed if you need to press the pause button for a while. Having even an hour to yourself once a week may give you the boost you need.
‘Finding You’ in Your Pregnancy and Beyond
Many women can feel as though they ‘lose’ themselves during their pregnancy and after they’ve given birth. By focusing so much on their baby and his or her needs, they forget to focus on themselves and their own needs.
However, by following these steps during your infertility treatment, you’ll feel in control of yourself and your life from the start. This will help you retain that approach throughout your pregnancy. So, while you plan for your precious baby you’ll learn how to fit in all the things you want to do and also how to say no, so you can take that much-needed ‘you time.’
For more advice visit Guys & St Thomas.
