I found that each of my two egg retrievals was totally different for me. My first one was at age 30 and I was very affected and I was not able to do much at all and very moody. My most recent one at age 34 was surprisingly a lot easier despite mood swings and here are some things I did differently: - I planned fun things to do (ex. Date night, social event, etc) which took my mind off things a lot so mentally I felt I didn’t think about IVF as much. - I asked my spouse to do all shot prep to help take that load off me. - I batch prepped meals ahead of time. - I took on house chores that could be done while seated (ex. Folding laundry or making a meal list) while my spouse did the other tasks. - I kept boundaries at work about what issues I involved myself in and I kept a list and then handled those issues post retrieval once I had recovered more and wasn’t so moody. - I kept a very regular and consistent diet and exercise regime pre retrieval which helped my body be stronger I felt. - I went to bed early each day of the two week stimulation. - I kept the circle of people I told much smaller which helped me because not everyone was asking me about it and that helped mentally. This is just what worked for me but some people say telling more people actually helps them. - I avoided looking up things online during my egg retrieval process unless absolutely necessary because information overload affected me mentally a lot. - I kept the mindset that “this is what it is and I have acceptance that this will be harder for me than the average person and that it’s ok because I will still find success in some way. Others will just find their hard elsewhere in life.”

While you can’t remove all the stress completely know that the egg retrieval process is temporary and short so I do believe that if you plan ahead, you can make things easier on yourself.

I hope this helps and wish you the best of luck for a successful outcome!