FERTILITY CLINIC STRESS BUSTERS

WATCH THE VIDEO ↑

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You most likely know this by now — but fertility clinic visits are intense! Let's make them easier with these 3 simple ways to decrease fertility clinic stress so you can feel so much better and up your pregnancy odds too.

These tips are perfect for -

• Your first visit with a new fertility doctor

• Enduring pokes and prods

• Really important moments like IUI or IVF retrievals and transfers

• Waiting for the dreaded HCG pregnancy test

I know you'll feel better with these tricks up your sleeve!

Nicole

Nicole Lange

LICENSED ACUPUNCTURIST
HOLISTIC FERTILITY EDUCATOR

• VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

  Your heart is pounding. Your palms are sweaty. And you look around and everyone in the waiting room seems weirdly calm but you are freaking out.

  Fertility clinic visits are weird and intense. But not to worry. I'm about to share three ways to make them less stressful.

  Tip number one, familiarize it.

  Anything that's new is automatically more stressful. So if you can make something feel more familiar it'll be less stressful. So think about all the ways that you can do this.

  If you know someone who's done what you're about to do, especially at your particular clinic, ask them to tell you all about it.

  If you're walking down the hall with a nurse ask if they can just point out where you'll be doing blood draws, or get ultrasounds, or where IUIs happen. It might sound a little bit silly but even if they point down the hall and say something like, "The ultrasound rooms are busy but they're down there," that does something.

  Now once you have an idea in your mind, even if it's just a picture of a doctor in the waiting room from the website, try to sit quietly and visualize being in that waiting room or chatting with that doctor.

  There's some really compelling research that adding something physical like tapping your hands on your legs in a random pattern while also imagining an experience at the same time genuinely makes that experience way less emotionally charged when you face it in real life.

  So if you have an upcoming IUI you might lay in bed tapping and visualizing everything from driving to your clinic, parking the car, checking in, waiting, being called by the nurse. You get the idea.

  And even if this is your first IUI just picture whatever you can. And remember realistic expectations are key here. If you shift from an eight to a six on your stress scale that's a realistic win and it all adds up.

  Tip number two, be present.

  Most moments are actually fine. It's only when we get into future or past thinking that there's lots and lots of reasons to lose it.

  So when it comes to clinic visits I tend to recommend super concrete mindfulness ideas to help you stay present.

  Now you might not be able to focus just on your breath without your mind wandering away. But you will be able to do something like count the chairs in the waiting room. Or the leaves on a plant. Or the ceiling tiles above you.

  You can also do physical things to stay present like press each of your toes one by one down into the floor through your shoe. Or touch your thumb to each one of your fingertips and count one, two, three, four, then go and reverse four, three, two, one.

  This is especially great if you're doing something uncomfortable, like say, a biopsy. You could even dig your fingernail into each fingertip a little bit which helps with pain relief because it distracts the nervous system from putting all the attention on your main discomfort. And it distracts your brain from freaking out and amplifying those sensations.

  Tip number three, make it you-centered.

  I was once speaking to a group of nurses and one asked, "Do you tell patients to ask questions and want their ultrasound numbers and stuff, Nicole?"

  And I said, "I sure do."

  And she said, "Well that's kind of hard because we're so busy and they ask for print-offs and they want us to read them they're follicle sizes. And it's not really going to change their outcomes, so do you think that they really need this all?"

  And I said, "Yeah. Yes I do." And here's why.

  We live in a doctor-centric medical culture that disempowers and tells people, especially women, that they need to do what they're told and that their understanding doesn't really matter. But that of course is holistically bonkers. Of course it matters.

  Knowing your numbers or what your doctor is thinking probably won't change how many eggs you develop, but we're not just talking about eggs. We're talking about things like preventing trauma, cultivating realistic expectations, and we're honoring that you're an actual human being who has feelings and deserve to not be confused, blindsided, or made unnecessarily overwhelmed when there are ample opportunities to do this better.

  Remember that. And bring a notebook, ask questions, ask for research and data and explanations. Your fertility visits should be you-centered.

  And on that note, I love explaining these things. I cover all of the statistics and numbers and hormones and tests and so much more of fertility in the nine-video Nursery module within The Baby You Want program.

  So remember, you getting more empowered and educated as you navigate infertility is so important and worth the effort.

  I hope this video moves you in that direction.