Question about stims

[Anonymous]

We are starting stims in a month. My husband has a busy schedule and I wanted him to assist. Dr. says he can work around it and give me birth control. Why do we need BC? I have never taken it before and I am worried.

[Anonymous]

You would take birth control before you start stims so you can pick when stims start. Your RE probably understood that your husband would only be available for the ER/fertilization at a certain time and using birth control will allow you to line up the ER with his availability hopefully. But in reality he's just going to have to be flexible.

[Anonymous]

do you mean my doctor or DH?

Yes, doctor understands end of July. I will go into the office when I get my period in July. We said end of July, I am so worried now.

[Anonymous]

Your husband is going to have to be flexible.

Taking birth control is a very common part of a stim cycle. Its not something to worry about. I haven't started my first ER cycle yet but I have my plan. It involves taking 10-14 days of birth control before starting stims for 7-10 days depending on how my body responds.

What specifically are you worried about?

[Anonymous]

I am worried about the timeline because when my husband is busy he can't help me around the house, etc. He is free from end of July until mid-September.

[Anonymous]

I’ve done 5 stim cycles, you’ll be fine, trust me. He needs to be there for emotional support and to give a sample (unless you freeze a sample), but you’re not going to be incapacitated and unable to function.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve done 5 stim cycles, you’ll be fine, trust me. He needs to be there for emotional support and to give a sample (unless you freeze a sample), but you’re not going to be incapacitated and unable to function.

This is true! And to drive you home after retrieval. You will feel crummy the last day or two of stims, but nothing unmanageable.

[Anonymous]

Whenever you get your period in July, you will likely have two weeks of daily injections. Will DH be out of town? Even if he is busy, hopefully he has a few minutes to administer the injection, if you would like his help with that. If not, plenty of people do that themselves. For me, the stim phase was emotionally draining, but not physically. I was able to function as before, including all normal chores, exercise, etc.

Two weeks after period starts and stims start, you will have your retrieval. Not sure if that is mid or late July, but it is tied to your period. If July is a concern, can you ask your doctor about beginning with the August period instead?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whenever you get your period in July, you will likely have two weeks of daily injections.

I'm not sure this is correct. The OP said she would be taking Birth Control pills. Usually you take those for CD1-10/14 and then move to stims for 10-14 days. So it will be 20-28 days after her period starts that she will be doing the ER. That is the day you need DH to be in town. DH will go with you to provide his semen sample (unless you use frozen) and then will need to drive you home since the ER is done under general anesthesia.

[Anonymous]

Your husband really only needs to be present to give you the trigger shot and to drive you home from retrieval.

[Anonymous]

Your husband needs to be flexible. What if you need to do more than one cycle?

And what if it works and you get pregnant / have a baby?

I'm sympathetic to IVF being unpredictable and requiring a lot of appts (I did it too) but it's something both people in the couple need to prioritize.