Starting IVF - essentials/things you wish you’d bought

[LJ1995]

Hi all,

My friend and her husband are due to start IVF in the summer after multiple years trying and multiple years investigation. I’d love to get her a basket of bits to help her/them on their journey.

Can anyone of you answer what you’d wish someone has bought you, or something you bought yourself that at the time you couldn’t live without? Just anything really.

Hi, this is a lovely idea and very kind of you. I find heat holder slipper socks or any kind of warm slipper sock good for egg collection as your feet are warm and you can walk around but aren’t messing around with slippers. Just normal sized ones are perfect not knee high ones. Then I have a nice notebook I keep for appointments etc - you can get IVF specific ones if you google but a normal notebook works fine too. Then maybe a face mask/ bath soak and some chocolate just for self care during the process.

This is a lovely idea. What a thoughtful friend you are!
My friend bought me a really cute box to store all my medication/syringes etc and I got great use out of it.
Fluffy socks are a must
A calendar and nice pen as you need to be really organised with dates ,maybe a notebook too.
A reusable ice pack (which she will thank you for because it helps during the injections)
A hot water bottle.
Self care bits; face masks/hand cream etc

When she is going in for egg collection, they advise no perfumed products so maybe a few of the simple or sanex range so she can be organised.
I remember running to a Tesco the day before my egg collection trying to find a non perfumed shower gel because I completely forgot that you can't wear anything perfumed or strong smelling.

X

Lovely idea! I bought myself an IVF diary from Etsy which was great to write all my appointments in, medication reminders, questions I had, how I was feeling, how much water I drank etc. I also was given a fertility wish bracelet and some IVF positive affirmation cards by friends which I really appreciated.

It's a lovely idea but I don't know if I had of received a gift package would I have felt under more pressure/spotlight during treatment?

What I would have liked perhaps is a girlie afternoon tea somewhere just to be able to talk (if I wanted to) about it (I found the lack of interest from friends and family the hardest bit about treatment when sometimes I just wanted to be able to talk) or conversely just to get out and think about something different for a while

But I guess if gift parcel is what you are going for then agree about the fluffy socks, if she's a reader then a book to read (scans often run late so a lot of waiting around), copious amounts of chocolate.

What a lovely idea! You sound like such a thoughtful friend and it really does mean a lot when you get little things along the way.
My best friend who lives in a different part of the uk sent me a post card which had the words "the best is yet to come" and that for me was one of the sweetest things. I kept it next to the kettle as a reminder every day. A work colleague also bought me some fertility gem stones which came in a little bag so I could keep them in my pocket. Another work colleague gifted us a voucher towards some lunch/dinner out which I appreciated, it's very easy to get lost in the ivf process so finding time for each other is so important.
Another nice idea might be some little socks/slippers for egg collection and transfer, strangely your feet seem to get so cold on those days! - Etsy do some lovely ivf bits on there. The day of transfer the clinic like the lady to rest so a little pamper box or treats may be another nice idea.
Some other bits I had myself which were lovely keepsakes -
An ivf diary/notebook
Ivf milestone cards
Have a look at the "a little strength" bracelet

I'm not sure if your friend does this but maybe watch out for how she associates her ivf journey as she goes along, I collected a lot of rainbow and elephant things, I don't even know why 🙈 but when we were finally successful with our ivf our closest friends and family clocked on to it and I still get little things with them on when it's a special occasion which really means a lot.

Hope that helps ☺️ x