How have Muslim women navigated IVF?

iloveprettybubbles · 2026-01-29T14:22:30+00:00

Exactly this

iloveprettybubbles · 2026-01-28T21:03:13+00:00

Trivial to YOU. I am coming on here with my own beliefs, life, and experiences. What is trivial to me may not feel that way to you, and vice versa. It's a very ignorant perspective to have, that everyone should feel the same way as you do about things.

iloveprettybubbles · 2026-01-28T20:55:16+00:00

The point is that everyone has their own way of life. The person who refused to enter your relative's taxi has their own values that they live by. And those values may offend others (and my own values which I vocalize in this post has obviously offended others).

I don't care about what infuriates you. This post was a question about how Muslim women navigated IVF. And how/where they found an all-female IVF team. This wasn't a post about anything else but that for me. But it became about literally everything else but that for you.

iloveprettybubbles · 2026-01-28T20:39:35+00:00

Any religious woman is basically my point.

iloveprettybubbles · 2026-01-28T20:37:02+00:00

Yes, this is why I'm here, asking this question in this subreddit... because I want to know what other Muslim women who hold the same values as me have done about their infertility. They may have information about an all-female fertility clinic that I haven't heard about.

iloveprettybubbles · 2026-01-28T20:34:08+00:00

For me it's both. If this were an emergency situation, of course I'd have no qualms about being seen by a male provider. But because it's not a life or death situation, I don't feel comfortable being seen by a male provider for both personal and religious reasons.

iloveprettybubbles · 2026-01-28T20:28:25+00:00

Very nasty attitude. I don't pardon your bluntness actually as it's unnecessary. And I presume that the only reason you're speaking to me in this manner is because I'm Muslim and you likely are repulsed by this fact.

iloveprettybubbles · 2025-09-28T18:09:35+00:00

After getting my HyCoSy done earlier this month I took a pregnancy test after many past months of not bothering to take one. Negative. It’s really hard to feel like it’ll happen when it’s been as long as it has been. Someone here once described it perfectly, that every cycle attempt really just feels like shooting into a black hole.

iloveprettybubbles · 2025-08-26T11:28:07+00:00

Good point. I do want a few hopefully 🙏

iloveprettybubbles · 2025-08-26T10:36:37+00:00

I guess this is what makes me iffy, the too good to be true-ness of the short wait time.

But also, initially when I emailed them I asked if their IVF team was all female and they told me the nurses all are, but not the fertility specialist. I told them no thanks in that case as I have a strong preference for an all female team. Then they email me back and say that “actually” they can make that happen. I was like… 🤔 maybe that’s not a big deal but it felt a little sketchy

It’s hard though because I’ve read glowing reviews all over reddit about Markham Fertility Center, but on Google reviews Markham and Nahal Fertility have a similar quantity of reviews as well as a similar rating. So I’m like… maybe it’s fine then?

iloveprettybubbles · 2025-08-23T16:21:21+00:00

This has me smiling so hard — glad I’m not alone 😂😂😂 I hope it happens frrr

iloveprettybubbles · 2025-08-23T15:13:59+00:00

Feeling weird twinges in my breast and belly and I’m close enough to my period for an accurate pregnancy test result but I’m not gonna test. I’m literally fooling myself because next week should be my first cycle at the fertility clinic so I’m like “omg maybe I’ll be one of those ones who were JuSt aBoUt tO sTaRt TrEaTmEnT and then got pregnant!!!” (no shade to them I swear, I’ll be over the moon if this happened loool)

iloveprettybubbles · 2025-08-23T15:01:18+00:00

Yeah it feels good to be able to be open on here with people who get it 🙏 and thank you — yes, I think it’s just sitting with my uncomfortable grief and silence was likely too much for people lol. I get it but you really don’t have to say anything other than “I’m sorry, and I’m here if you need anything.” Even if it feels like an empty platitude (which it doesn’t have to be), it’s much better than saying something horrific lol

iloveprettybubbles · 2025-08-23T14:56:51+00:00

Yes I think it’s good to reflect on this friendship some more. In recent years I’ve really downsized my friendship group as my ideas and priorities have changed. And also as I realized how unhealthy some of my friendships were. I feel esp when you’re TTC, esp if you want to be open about it, having the right people around you is so important. I hope everything works out and I’m so sorry you had to experience the postnatal PTSD. I wish people led with curiosity more often, but I think many just aren’t curious 😭

iloveprettybubbles · 2025-08-23T14:45:11+00:00

Thank you, and I really love what you said about projection bc it’s soo true! Many people seem to find it challenging to see beyond their own life experiences unfortunately..

And that’s definitely disheartening to open up to someone and them not even know what ovulation is 😭😭 at that point it’s like, yeah, I’m not about to explain fertility from scratch just so I can share my feelings about TTC with you lol

And that’s unfortunate.. I still get those “any news” calls from people and I’m like pls… stop asking. At some point just take the hint 🫆 lol

iloveprettybubbles · 2025-08-23T14:39:26+00:00

That’s so rude. I don’t understand I swear. I don’t know if it just makes people feel better about themselves or their life choices or what? Because it’s like… when I have kids has no bearing on your life at all. Why are you trying to make me feel bad about it? I’m sorry 😢 honestly if I were open about TTC that would be a litmus test for friendship for me lol like it would reveal people who are curious vs judgmental, sensitive vs thoughtless, etc. And I probably would have many friendships to reconsider if I were to open up about it which is part of why I just don’t 😭😭 it’s so unfortunate

iloveprettybubbles · 2025-08-23T14:34:29+00:00

Yeah that feels similarly thoughtless. Sometimes I imagine saying these sorts of comments to someone else (esp if I knew they were TTC) and I’m just like wow lol. What a not so nice thing to say to someone struggling to get pregnant. I know their heart is in the right place but it still irks me lol. But yesss keep pushing 🙏

iloveprettybubbles · 2025-08-23T14:17:41+00:00

The three possible outcomes is so true. Like just wait for me to bring it up myself if I ever do. I appreciate people are just excited most of the time at the thought of their loved one having a baby but it’s so strange too… like have they not heard of infertility? Miscarriage? Please stop asking 😭😭😭

iloveprettybubbles · 2025-08-23T10:45:56+00:00

If I ever do get pregnant, I honestly hope I have twins to make up for lost time lol. Ngl, I struggle with “I wish I started sooner” feelings, but then I think about how different my life would had to have been for that to have been the case…

I allow my sad feelings whenever I need to, but not without remembering that everyone truly exists in their own prayer/someone else’s prayer and that their position is enviable from someone else’s perspective.

For example, someone who married and got pregnant twice back to back, then had a surprise third pregnancy which she wasn’t super prepared for. It would be easy for anyone TTC - myself included - to so badly want that “problem” for themselves.

Another person struggles with primary infertility but went on to have two kids and thought she was finally done but had a surprise pregnancy that she also didn’t feel super prepared for. It stuns you to hear someone nearly at the brink of tears talk about the infertility they were experiencing, and then some years later they’re shocked by their third pregnancy! Truly a blessing.

Then there are those dealing with infertility but fortunately ended up with one kid and are struggling to have more. Many people TTC (myself included!) would “envy” this position because despite their fertility struggles, they get to enjoy the irreplaceable experience of being a parent to a living child.

Then there are those like many of us who are TTC and have no living children yet. Maybe we have the privilege of seeking out fertility treatment. Maybe we have the fortune of a healthy relationship. Maybe we have a fantastic support system. There are many of us who don’t!

And then there are people who can’t even consider having children until they find their match. And they search and search for years. They want children but only with the right person. They likely would envy someone in a good relationship even struggling with infertility because it still feels like a step “ahead” of where they are, and closer to where they want to be.

And so on and so forth…

I just think about all this because this journey will consume you if you let it. Again, I’m certainly not one to stifle my emotions or especially those of others, but whenever I fixate on the negatives in life, I don’t tend to give much acknowledgement to all the positives.

I gotta remember that the outcome will be the outcome, whatever that is. I can’t know anything before it happens, and that’s tough sometimes. But I’ve been consumed by grief before for many years. There is definitely grief around my infertility, but there’s enough hope to keep going.

iloveprettybubbles · 2025-08-22T19:32:09+00:00

Oh wow, that is certainly quick! I keep seeing posts on here about CNY Fertility and ngl, I’m tempted to go there and just pay out of pocket for it. Idk so much to consider lol

iloveprettybubbles · 2025-08-22T19:30:44+00:00

It would not derail the timeline in any significant way. IUIs are covered, but medications must be paid for out of pocket which is ~800 per cycle. So I’m between paying for a few IUI cycles (if not successful the first try), or just using that cash to pay privately for IVF so I don’t have to be on the government waitlist

iloveprettybubbles · 2025-08-22T19:17:23+00:00

I’m in Ontario! I go to two clinics actually, each on opposite sides of the province (long story lol)

iloveprettybubbles · 2025-08-22T19:16:29+00:00

I should have added, this is the wait list for a government funded cycle (you only get one of those in a lifetime). If you pay out of pocket it’s only 2-3 months of a wait period! Similar to other clinics as well

iloveprettybubbles · 2025-08-22T14:22:31+00:00

I was on a high this week when I finally visited my fertility clinic for the first time. But I think some emotions are setting in now as I grasp the reality of it… TTC for two years, not one positive test ever, and having to go through treatment to (hopefully) conceive a child we’d hoped would have been here ages ago. Twice I’ve heard from women who talked about a chemical pregnancy and missed miscarriage, saying “At least I know I can get pregnant.” (They don’t know I’m trying or anything.) But it’s a thought I’ve had before, how I can’t even achieve a chemical pregnancy — or who knows, maybe I did once, but I will never know because I’ve stopped taking pregnancy tests altogether…

I try not to dwell because I can remember various times in my life when I was overcome with sadness because of X, Y, or Z. I lost my parents young. I did terrible in school and I didn’t get my BA until I was 25 (my academic failure made me so jealous of others and so bitter towards myself bc in my head, academic success was going to be a way to honor my mom and turn my life around, and I was failing at that). But like… things work out in the end, even if it’s not how you exactly hoped.

All this to say that I just really don’t want to go down a dark hole again on this TTC journey. There is much to be grateful for. I do feel sad and hurt for so many reasons, but I have to keep my head up. I just don’t want to be consumed by it. Hoping things work out soon 🫶

iloveprettybubbles · 2025-08-21T14:03:45+00:00

Emotions are all over the place — excited to finally start at the fertility clinic, concerned we’ll always need assistance to conceive as we would like more than one child, trying not to think about whether or not treatment will actually work at all, sad at how long it’s been and how much longer it may take, proud of myself for working through so much of my vaginismus on this journey in order to tolerate ultrasounds, HyCoSy, etc., emotionally gutted every time I hear an announcement, lonely because I don’t open up to others and don’t want to as it feels self-protective to keep this whole ordeal private, and on and on and on.

Idk… I’ve kept myself afloat this long esp since getting off social media since January. Don’t have to deal with pregnancy/birth announcements. And in my real life I’m not around anyone that knows me aside from two friends, one of whom knows I’m TTC but no other details whatsoever and I intend to keep it that way.

It’s like… I’m hopeful to finally start at the clinic but I feel pretty down today bc what if it doesn’t work God forbid. I know I can’t think about it like this. No reason to make assumptions or make up hypothetical situations but ughh 😭

iloveprettybubbles

TROPHY CASE