When’s best to have time off - after egg retrieval or after embryo transfer?

[Decaffe]

As in the title really!

I should be given some time off work (five days) for IVF and I’m just trying to work out when it would be best to take it.

All advice and wisdom appreciated. Thank you 🙂

i would say have a day off before ET and then the rest of the days off after. Also recommend acupuncture just before and just after transfer (twice in one day). I’m an acupuncturist so a bit biased but lots of good evidence for it.

I’ve also had IVF.

I’d have a day off after the egg retrieval, and the rest of after the transfer. My clinic advised me not to fly for 24-48 hours after the transfer (I did ivf abroad) and after the emotional rollercoaster it was nice just to have a little quiet time whilst secretly thinking to myself that even if the embryos don’t stick, at this point in time I’m currently pregnant and this is further than I’ve ever got before.

Good luck!

Thank you, that’s such a good idea.

Plan on at least one day after egg retrieval. I felt dreadful the first time but it wasn’t so bad the second time.

good luck!

I second the above :) I felt better than I thought I would after retrieval but I was a bit overwhelmed so needed the day after off, I had transfer on a Sat but was grateful for the weekend, so I'd recommend taking a couple of days then too. Do you want to/can you save any for your test day? I tested early (I know, I know) but you might want to stay in your bubble then for a bit too :) x

Is it five days per round that you get, or five days per year or in total forever for all IVF? If not the former I'd consider not taking all the time this round, in case you need to do another.

If your job is physical then you need time off after ET. I was quite uncomfortable and made it worse by moving around too much.

I'd have the time off after egg retrieval and 1 day off after embryo transfer. I was horrendously bloated after egg retrieval. After embryo transfer I was fine.

Five days per round. Both rounds will be later this year.

In that case, based purely on my own experience, I would take:

2 days for egg retrieval (physically, it was tough for me)
2 days for transfer (emotional time and lacking concentration)
1 day for testing (surprising, less emotional than transfer, hormones?)

Good luck, no matter how you choose to split up the days.

I think this is very good advice.

Also OP where do you work?! And do you have any vacancies lol x

I've done many IVFs.
On my successful round, I took a couple of days to relax, both before and after embryo transfer. I really appreciated having time to process the upcoming embryo transfer, and feel relaxed going into it.

My egg collection was physically difficult. Some things went wrong and I lost a lot of blood. Could not have gone to work. Even if it goes well, the anaesthesia is a lot to deal with, it’s like an operation.

Egg transfer is not physically a problem, but the drugs that go with it make you very emotional. If you can’t get time off for both things, I’d take it off for the retreival, but don’t do any important meetings / presentations etc while you’re on the egg transfer drugs. I was crying while watching sitcoms, at the time I thought they were incredibly moving 😅

Good luck!