Something that baffles me greatly is how little attention is given to the emotional impact of IVF and yet it is vital to your IVF Success.
This is what I want to help you with today. You see one of the best things you can do is ensure that you are mentally prepared before your IVF Treatment commences. This is a really important step because it lays down a strong foundation both mentally and physically for your IVF Success.Research has shown in fact that including a Mind/Body Connection process into your IVF preparation, has the potential to double IVF Success Rates.*
*These studies have been small and should be seen as interesting and something to be explored rather than proof.
SUCCESS THINKING
Something I often hear from my clients, is that they are afraid to get their hopes up, as it will hurt too much if their IVF treatment is not successful. Unfortunately this is very confusing for the part of them that is making sure that their body responds to their treatment, because what it hears is “I don’t want a baby”.
That’s weird isn’t it? But you see our emotions tell our body what to do and our body can’t differentiate between the fear of your IVF not being successful and the fear that you are in physical danger. If you were in physical danger the last thing you would want is to get pregnant, hence the conflict.
I am sure you are now asking yourself how to avoid this from happening, because of course it is a very real fact that you are scared of your IVF treatment not being successful.
The answer is knowing that you can handle the pain if that happens and in relation to this there is something really important I want you to know.
PREPARING FOR FAILURE DOES NOT STOP THE PAIN.
You are going to hurt whether or not you accept ahead of time that your IVF treatment may not be successful.
Therefore instead of not getting your hopes up, it is better for you to say to yourself that whilst you are going through IVF there is HOPE that you will become pregnant and if that doesn’t happen, you will work through the pain in exactly the same way you have worked through any other emotional pain you have had to deal with in your life.
Let me prove to you that you know you can handle the pain.
It's because you have had pain in your life before haven’t you? Difficult situations that whilst you were going through them you thought you may never get over. Perhaps situations in which if someone had told you that you would have to deal with, you would have said you could never cope with and yet you have. So, the first thing I want you to do is write out the following statement and place it somewhere visible for you to see every day.
"Whilst I am going through IVF there is HOPE that I will become pregnant and if that doesn’t happen I know I can handle it because I have handled everything life has thrown at me to date.”
SUCCESS STEPS
Going through IVF can be overwhelming can’t it because there is so much to do isn’t there?
- Injections that you have to work into your daily life.
- Appointments that can be hard to explain away, especially if you are having to take time off work or cancel appointments at short notice when no-one knows that you are going through IVF
- Procedures that can feel scary and emotional, either because they are the first time you are having them or because you’ve done it way too many times before.
- Waiting when time seems to stand still.
Whenever we feel overwhelmed the best thing we can do for ourselves is make a plan. When working with my Fertility Clients we lay out what I call Success Steps to plan out how they are going to handle all of these things. It is worth you working through the logistics so that you feel in control. Depending on where you are at on your journey right now you may not know some of the detail at this point which is fine. Plan out what you do know and add to your Success Steps as you find out more.
STRESS RELEASE
I take my clients through a lovely relaxation session showing them how to take a ‘Soothing Soul Break’ whenever they need.
What this does is show them how to do a progressive relaxation down through their body. This is really useful because when we are stressed our muscles get tight and sore don’t they? This makes all aspects of IVF treatment more difficult.
Relaxing your muscles also has the added benefit though of calming your mind, This is because you simply can’t have one without the other. So, I strongly recommend that you focus on relaxing your body to help with this.
SELF-CARE STRATEGY
Having a daily Self-Care Strategy is another way to help relax both your body and mind. I teach my clients three ways to do this.
- Let it out – at least once a day spend some time writing out all the negative thoughts in your head. It is as simple as dumping out everything that comes up – a flow of moans if you like. This is NOT journaling which is more about focusing on what you want. Think of it as dumping out all of the toxic thoughts in your head.
- Let yourself go – my favourite way of doing this is to stick on a great tune and have a boogie and my clients love it to. Give it and go and see how it lifts your mood. `
- Lay down and rest – at least once a day plan to take at least half an hour to listen to something relaxing. This is where the Soothing Soul Break comes in again for my clients.
SIXTH SENSE
This may sound a bit woo but your gut instincts are always spot on about things, we just let the noise of our worries drown them out.
Your gut instincts are really easy to tap back in to though.
All you have to do is take a nice relaxing breath in, then ask yourself the question you need an answer to around what your next best steps are.
As you breathe out notice what comes in first YES or NO. I want you to be mindful though that as soon as you get that first answer the analytical part of your brain will kick in and start questioning that.
This is why the breath is useful because it quiets the mind so that you can hear that first answer. All you hae to do is make sure you LISTEN to the first answer.
This can be useful if you haven’t yet decided on elements of your treatment. If you are early on with regards to this process it could be about what clinic to go with, a particular protocol, and even what holistic support you may want to use, like working with a Fertility Coach, having Acupuncture, Reflexology, seeing a Nutritionist, etc.
SUMMARY
What I want you to take away from this, is not to underestimate the importance of your emotional well-being and the Mind/Body Connection, in relation to the preparation for your IVF treatment and its potential success.
Giving consideration to and implementing these 5 simple elements in to your life, prior to commencing with IVF, has the potential to greatly increase your chances of success.
Here’s a reminder of what they are.
- Successful Thinking – ensuring that you are sending the right messages to your body about wanting a baby.
- Success Steps – to avoid overwhelm.
- Stress Release – to ensure that both mind and body are relaxed.
- Self-Care Strategy – to ensure that you are emotionally calm throughout your treatment.
- Sixth-Sense – to tap into your gut instincts and make sure that you make all the right decisions for you.
I hope you find using these 5 essentials to prepare for your IVF useful. If you'd like to find out about other ways that utilising the Mind/Body Connection can help your IVF Success, email me at help@danygriffiths.com and I will arrange for a Freedom Fertility Specialist to have a FREE Call with you to discuss how they can help you further.
If you feel like you’ve got the strength to go it alone then check out my posts on ‘How to Survive the Emotional Stress of IVF’ and 'How to Double Your IVF Success Rate'. This will help with how you are feeling emotionally throughout your IVF treatment and it will also enhance your chances of IVF success.
You may also like to join my Facebook Support Group for individuals struggling with fertility issues, where I have a FREE Workshop - Laying a Strong Foundation for Change.
