Please or to access all these features

Infertility

Our Infertility Support forum is a space to connect with others in the same position, discuss causes, treatment and IVF, and share infertility stories of hope and success.

Lack of support and understanding with IVF

7 replies

EL8888 · 21/02/2021 12:51

My fiancé and l are doing our 2nd round of IVF in April, we are going abroad to have this. It’s my mother’s birthday in about 2 months and it falls on a crucial part of it right near egg collection. My mother is increasingly sick of lockdown like the rest of us and has got it into her head that restrictions will all be lifted soon so she can have a family birthday. I have made clear we won’t be free due to doing IVF and the timetable of this. Plus l doubt restrictions will have eased much by that point where we all live -my brother lives abroad. My mother and l live 100’s of miles apart, both in area’s especially badly affected by COVID.

My mum is very unhappy with my response. Basically she thinks l am selfish and “not making enough effort”. Can l not defer the IVF for a week was one of her questions? I have tried to explain it doesn’t work like that but it’s falling on deaf ears. My fiancé thinks it’s one of those things and she needs to suck it up, it isn’t a big birthday of my mum’s for clarity. My brother in contrast thinks l should be more accommodating, even though when l explained how IVF works then he realised there isn’t a massive amount of flexibility. Unless we defer for a month or 2. Typically l am more boundaried with my mum as she can be demanding at times, whereas my brother is keener to jump through the hoops she sets up. There are back stories to this, my mum for a while has made it clear she’s doesn’t wish to talk about IVF and she thinks us doing IVF is waste of time (conversely doctors think we are good candidates and the odds aren’t that terrible). Whenever l have mentioned IVF even before this then she rapidly moves conversations on and gives it no air time. Consequently l feel very unsupported by her

I am not expecting any solutions to this, l more wanted to ventilate! It is a medical thing we are doing, l like to think she would be less blinkered if l was have a back operation or another gynaecological procedure

OP posts:
ButterscotchBabe · 21/02/2021 13:42

I think that's really selfish of your Mother to suggest you delay your IVF treatment because she has a birthday. Having a child is a much bigger priority, you can always celebrate her birthday next year.

Roo45 · 21/02/2021 13:55

Ugh I'm so sorry to hear about your mum's attitude! It sounds very selfish tbh. It sounds like you've already explained how rigid the timetable is, and there's absolutely no guarantee by April you'll be able to visit for her birthday anyway! I think you've done what you can and need to put yourself first in this situation. Just concentrate on keeping yourself in a good place mentally whilst getting ready for your cycle xx

EL8888 · 21/02/2021 15:16

@ButterscotchBabe exactly, l don’t think IVF etc is ever “convenient”. If we played it that way there would never be a good time e.g. with work commitments, MIL’s birthday, fiancé’s birthday etc. Plus medication has been ordered and paid for, time booked off work, deposit paid to clinic etc

OP posts:
EL8888 · 21/02/2021 15:20

@Roo45 it’s been made crystal clear how the timings work but she’s not really taking it on board as she doesn’t like the answer. She’s acting like we are having something delivered from John Lewis or similar Confused I agree we need to put ourselves first but she clearly doesn’t. For clarity we aren’t a family who go all out for birthdays typically but she often wants that for her own birthdays. I’m going to try to not give it anymore headspace and like you said, try to get myself in a good headspace for the IVF

OP posts:
Marty13 · 21/02/2021 16:36

Good grief, she sounds like she enjoys the drama and attention. Ignore ignore ignore. Good thing you live hundreds of miles away ! My mother is not unlike yours so I know how difficult it can be. I've gone low contact and don't regret it.

EL8888 · 21/02/2021 19:11

@Marty13 yep drama is often rarely far away! I won’t bore you with my wedding date drama -she didn’t like when, where and how we planned to do it. Nothing l ever do is “right” in her opinion e.g. my degree choice, job choice etc. It feels like this is another thing for her to be negative about and try to interfere in. We went NC for about 6 months when my dad died, as her behaviour and attitude were so bad. I may need to move to LC

OP posts:
FingersXssd83 · 21/02/2021 20:03

How unsupportive. IVF and infertility is one of the most traumatic things you can go through. She should be bending over backwards to accommodate and help you. I would distance myself from her. It doesn't bode well if you have failed cycles and can't turn to her. Focus on you x

New posts on this thread. Refresh page