How to survive the two-week wait

The IVF procedure is an emotionally hard time, whether your own eggs or donor eggs are used. It is a process full of waiting periods: waiting to see how many of the eggs have fertilized correctly, waiting to see how many of the embryos have reached the blastocyst stage; if you are doing PGD there is the wait for the results of the preimplantation genetic tests; and perhaps the hardest to bear: the two-week wait for the beta-hCG test to see whether your treatment has been successful.

On the internet there are many articles about what to do during the two-week wait, which include important advice such as:

• Spend time with family and friends.
• Carry on with your daily routine.
• Talk to trusted friends, family or a specialist about your feelings and emotions.
• Follow a healthy diet and avoid alcohol.
• Practise relaxation techniques such as yoga, deep breathing or meditation.
• Avoid negative thoughts; although it is not always easy, try to stay positive.
• Make sure you take the hormonal medication prescribed by your fertility specialist.

At Ovobank we want to stress that it is important to follow all the advice your doctors give you. As well as all the good advice, we want to give you some ideas to distract yourself from the obsession with pregnancy tests and the negative thoughts you may be having. That is why we have searched the internet and asked people who have been through the same thing for some interesting ideas.

12 distraction techniques to survive the two-week wait

1. Set yourself a “negative thought limit”. For example, allow yourself to think about it for 7 minutes. You have 7 minutes to obsess, doubt, question yourself, google symptoms, etc. Respect those 7 minutes, use them and stick to them.
2. Spend time outdoors. Nature is healing. Go and explore local trails, walk beside the river, visit the beach, the mountains, the woods. Hug a tree and breathe fresh air. It will comfort you.
3. Go to a comedy club or listen to stand-up. As the saying goes, laughter is the best medicine.
4. Make a list of “standard answers” so that you can handle inappropriate and triggering questions, so you can anticipate them and rehearse your replies. Being able to give an automatic answer without thinking can help you avoid an emotional breakdown.
5. Plant a garden. Gardening can be very therapeutic, and you can create it and watch it grow whatever the outcome. Plant something special that represents and acknowledges your current feelings.
6. Be a tourist in your own town. Make a list of the tourist attractions or places of interest in your city or town. There is sure to be somewhere you have never visited.
7. Take your dog for a walk, or your friends’ dog. Discover new paths and walks in your area.
8. Enjoy free time with your pet: walks, games or cuddles. If you do not have a pet, now is a good time to be an excellent friend and offer to pamper a relative’s or friend’s pet.
9. Clear out your medicine cabinet. Go through all the medicines and throw away the ones that have expired or that you do not use (following the rules for recycling unused medication).
10. Tidy your wardrobe. Donate the clothes you do not want to a shelter or a charity shop.
11. Repot your house plants. It is true that almost all of us neglect our house plants. Remove the dead leaves, add new compost and dust them to bring life and cheer to your home.
12. Clean the fridge. Throw away all the suspicious half-used jars and expired products. If all goes well, pregnancy nausea may stop you doing this for a while.