Game Changers
Here’s a list of what I consider to be game changers. They were for me, but that might not be the case for you. In the end you have to listen to your mind, body, and soul. You have to do what makes you feel right. You can read about 100 different experiences, but they’re all going to be different then the one you are going through, or about to go through. Trust yourself, trust your doctors, and above all else never lose faith.
Your time is coming.
Game Changer #1: One Hour, that’s all you get.
I’ve said it before, it is totally normal to Google everything under the sun. Most fertility patients do. You are are dying to find someone who has the same exact story as you, so you have someone to relate to, so you can prepare yourself for what might come next. You might find some similar stories, but you will never find the exact story. Trust me on this one. I personally believe the things I was reading on Google filled me with more negative energy than positive. I came to a point in this journey where I realized I was letting this whole process consume my every second, and it was unhealthy. I decided to make a deal with myself. I gave myself one hour every day to obsess over whatever I needed to obsess over. I used that time to read, write, talk to Michael, talk to my Mom, that was my hour. After that, I moved on with my life. Every day it got easier, and every day I started to feel more and more like myself.
Game Changer #2: Vitamins
Vitamins played a huge role in our fertility journey. Aside from my prenatal, I took a GNC probiotic (to help me digest all of my vitamins) 2,000 IU of Vitamin D, occasionally Vitamin B-12 (I am a vegetarian, this helped supplement what I know my diet might have been missing on a particular day) and 600mg of CO-Q10 - which I believe is SO important prior to your egg retrieval. On top of that, I also took a prescribed Metformin pill every day, which helps with PCOS. I took this every single day until I hit my 12 week pregnancy mark. I could not wait to say goodbye to Metformin, it just made me feel BLAH. As for my hubby, he takes a daily men’s vitamin every day (still) and all the way up until we found out we were pregnant he took 200mg of CO-Q10 every day. I cannot stress this enough guys… CO-Q10 is the reason his count went from being so/so to right where he needed to be every single time he had to hand over a collection. It works. You see everything your woman is doing, right? Suck it up and take your vitamins.
I kept up with all of my vitamins until I knew 100% we were moving forward with a transfer. Once I received my transfer date, my vitamins consisted of my prenatals, occasionally Vitamin D and B12, and at least 200mg of Fish Oil every day. Once I learned I was pregnant, I stuck with my prenatals, occasionally I’d pop some Vitamin D, and occasionally some Fish Oil. I only took the Fish Oil and Vitamin D, if I knew I did not get enough via diet.
I know what our results were like before and after vitamins, which is why I will always recommend those TTC to take vitamins seriously.
Game Changer #3: Pineapple
I’m on the pineapple train. Supposedly, eating at least 1/5th of a pineapple (including the core) every day leading up to (and day of) ovulation will help with implantation. Pineapples contain bromelain, which is a natural enzyme that may have an anti-inflammatory effect, so it helps in terms of making the embryo implant to your uterus. What does this mean for the fertility patients who do not have the slightest idea of when their ovulation day is, or if they ovulate at all? Good question. I ate pretty much an entire Shop Rite cored Pineapple (including the core) every single day for 4 days leading up to my transfer, and 3 days after. One week, and yes, 7 pineapples. No idea why, but it worked.
Game Changer #4: Socks & Warm Foods
My Chiropractor/Acupuncture Doctor told me cold feet, means a cold uterus. He said you want everything in your belly region to be nice and warm so it becomes a cozy place for the baby to live. I would take socks to work, and put them on every time I was sitting at my desk. Any chance I could, including when I went to bed (sometimes in the middle of the night I’d manage to kick them off) I had socks on. Make sure you get yourself a nice pair for your egg retrieval and transfer. My hubs hooked it up with my good luck sucks. You can see the pair I wore here. I also made sure I was eating ‘warm’ whenever I could. I love raw veggies and salad, and I didn’t completely eliminate that from my diet, but as often as I could I would try to sauté my veggies, make warm spinach salads, and I ate a lot of soup.
Game Changer #4: Acupuncture/Chiropractor
In the special thanks section of my blog, you will see a shout out for Coastal Chiropractic & Acupuncture. They deserve the shout out. They helped me in so many ways. Dr. Chang, cares so much about his patients and truly puts all of his energy into healing them. This journey is very overwhelming and stressful, and can create a lot of unnecessary anxiety. Dr. Chang helped me to avoid that. He helped me with breathing exercises, diet, sending energy to the right places, and alignment, which I believe plays a huge role when you are trying to conceive. He is honest and sincere in his treatments and will only adjust and care for what your body is truly asking for on the day of your visit. Maybe you’re not near Dr. Chang’s office in Galloway, but I encourage you to research offices near you that offer the same type of care. I went for acupuncture and an adjustment every week up until our transfer. I did acupuncture twice a week the week of my egg retrieval, because my doctors recommended doing it the day before, or morning of. Same thing the week of the transfer, I went twice. If you can, I think acupuncture the morning of your transfer really helps. After the transfer I stopped. Dr. Chang said if I had really bad morning sickness, or felt really achey to stop in and see him, but otherwise to let my body and the baby do its own thing, so I’ve been following that advice. The next time I stop in, will be to show off the baby bump and share my gratitude for the role he had in our success story.
Game Changer #4: Quit drinking, Quit smoking
Smoking weed messes with sperm count. I don’t care what research says otherwise, I saw it with my own two eyes. I saw my husband’s count before quitting and after. There’s a difference, and he only ever smoked on random occasion. Drinking… Do I think it plays a role in anything? Not really, if I am being perfectly honest, but I will never forget one of our consults with Dr. Sawin when we asked him if we should stop drinking prior to our egg retrieval. He put it like this: You are potentially about to create your children, the children that will be with you for the rest of your life. Why wouldn’t you want to be the healthiest version of yourself? It hit home, and we both knew it was time we started looking at the big picture vs. not being able to drink on St. Patrick’s Day. I stopped drinking for about a month before my first retrieval, and three weeks before my second. When I was drinking, it was no more than two. I wanted to know I did everything I could to make this all work. My husband stopped drinking for about three weeks before my first retrieval and a little over two weeks before my second. During that time, we both drank a lot of water, and ate as healthy as we could. If anything, it helped us both feel really confident going in, knowing we did our very best.
Game Changer #5: Say Bye Bye to Phthalates
After my first egg retrieval, I went a little crazy. I changed my soap, lotions, makeup, shampoo + conditioner, deodorant, cleaning products, dish soap, laundry detergent, and tampons. I went organic everywhere I could. At the grocery store, I only bought organic. It was expensive, because I didn’t slowly replace what I was currently using, I straight up tossed everything and flipped my lifestyle around in less then a week. It takes about 2-3 months for your body to react to these types of lifestyle adjustments, and I wanted to get as much time in as I could prior to my second retrieval. Call me a head case, but I do believe it made a difference. I went from five fertilized eggs on day one to fifteen. I read about removing phthalates in some of my books, and Sarah Armide was also another really big inspiration for me. I follow a lot of her vlogs, and find her super informative and helpful in terms of curing PCOS naturally.
Game Changer #6: Finding Mentors
Journaling my experience, and being open with my family and friends, saved me, but I wouldn’t have been strong enough to do that, or know that if it weren’t for my mentors. I have two cousins, a neighbor, and a girlfriend that went through IVF. These women were my everything. It’s been some time since they went through it, so some things in the medical field changed (for the better), but overall, the emotional, physical, and psychological ups and downs, remained the same. They helped me stay grounded. They helped me feel normal. They were proof that this process does work. They made me feel at ease. This journey will swallow you up and make you feel so incredibly small, if you let it. I challenge you to open up, and seek out family and friends that have been down a similar path. There is a huge community of people out there going through this, that will help make you feel not alone. They will lift you up and make you feel apart of something so much greater. My mentors, you know who you are, I am so grateful for you, and believe full heartedly, I am where I am today, because of you. Thank you for being the reason I now want to pay it forward.
Game Changer #7: Donate Leftover Medicine
I responded really fast to all of my medicine, so I did not use as much as most patients do. I had a lot leftover. In the event this happens to you, please consider donating any unopened leftovers to your fertility office. This way the nurses can perhaps give some to a patient in a pinch, or a patient who is paying out of pocket for EVERYTHING. Even the opened stuff, drop it off to your fertility office. The nurses can use it for training purposes, which is so important. Did you know the medicine alone cost $7,000-$10,000. That’s just the medicine! Don’t just throw it away because insurance covered the majority of it for you, and you’re all done. Think about those who could truly benefit from your donation. And don’t forget to safely dispose all of those used needles/sharps containers. Again, anything unused… Take it to your office. They will appreciate it.
Game Changer #8: Fur Balls
I have a cat and a dog. If you’ve seen some of my how to vlogs, you’ve seen my pup Sasha make an appearance. She’s never far from my side. I had Rajah and Sasha prior to going through fertility treatments, and I must say they are my angels. I don’t know if you like pets, have them already, can afford to get one… I simply do not know, but what I do know is my fur balls made this journey SO much more bearable. They were the silliest distraction, and my most loyal companions. There were days I would literately just sob, and one of them would be right there lying next to me, waiting to snuggle and/or give kisses. On my angriest days, I would come home to the most amusing acts, which ultimately led me to some of the best laughs. On days I felt foggy, Sasha and I would just walk, and somehow she helped me see straight again. Fur balls can’t talk back. They’re just amazing listeners. All they know how to do is love you and be there for you. Having them by my side to make me smile on some of my darkest days, meant the world.
Game Changer #9: Yoga/Meditation
This journey is overwhelming. Whatever you feeling on the outside, times that by ten and that’s what is going on in the inside. I have gotten myself worked up plenty of times. My anxiety was through the roof, how could it not be? It’s all intimidating, scary, and foreign. There were times I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath. My chest was that tight. I wanted so badly to do Yoga, because I love the people and the environment, but the yoga studio I like to go to mainly offers hot yoga classes, and I was instructed by my Doctors to stay away from that for the time being. Unfortunately, I can’t do yoga at home, because I am entirely way too distracted, so I was desperate for an outlet. I bought the Calm App on my phone, and before bed I’d listen to guided meditation. I found it super helpful. I felt more relaxed when I woke up in the morning, and found myself stopping to just breathe throughout the day. Whether it’s 5 minutes, or an hour, allow yourself the time to decompress. Your mind and body have been through hell and back. Treat them both to a slice of heaven.
Game Changer #10: Trust the Process.
That is all.