The Two Week Wait

Just after an embryo transfer, we wait. If you are a woman or an intended parent waiting through this dreaded two week time period, it can be one of the hardest things to do. Many people spend countless hours on the internet, looking for answers, looking for similar stories, and looking for facts that might offer some insight. If this is relaxing, then it may work, but if this produces more “fertility fear” experience, it may not be the best route. What to do then? Some experts in the field suggest one thing: self care.

Why self care? Not only will it increase your health and help to encourage your body to function properly, optimizing fertility and one’s ability to conceive, but it will also help us to feel better.

What is self care? There are some basics to self care. Rest, relaxation, eating well and healthfully, avoiding stressful experience, stressful people (this is NOT the best time to answer that phone call from your mother-in-law, or trigger person in your life), as well as stressful thoughts that we create ourselves. Yes, we create and add to our stress experience. And just as we can  add to it, we can interrupt this process it, and minimize it, and enhance our joy experience. The more we can enhance our joy experience, the more our very neuroplastic brain can download these experiences and access them more easily, helping us to create and re-create positive, healthy experiences in the near future, which only support and help to aid our reproductive system, helping women to conceive.

Self care might not always be about eating wild-caught salmon and steamed veggies for dinner, or drinking plenty of water or avoiding alcohol and caffeine.  It might also be indulging in buying that cocktail dress you’ve had your eye on, or baking your signature cookies for a sick neighbor, taking with a bestie or awesome partner, or taking a much, much needed afternoon nap. Anything that helps to create joy or relaxation can help helpful!