IVF and Work - what are you doing?

[Punpkinspice]

I’m planning to start the process of IvF in July. I’m 39 and this will be my first attempt. Work is pretty full on - I have lots of meetings, lots of stuff to deliver and a boss who has very high expectations. I just can’t get my head around how all of this works with IVF. I have PCOS and endometriosis so I already struggle with fatigue and pms. For anyone going through it currently, how have you managed? Did you flag it with your HR or boss? Have you taken sick leave or holiday? I want to make sure I’m as well rested as possible to try and maximise our chances

Hi there - I am also going to be starting my first round in early July which will be ISCI. I am v lucky that I have a 2.5 yr old DS already and this is secondary infertility.
I work for a big law firm and am lucky that I get 3 days paid annual leave extra per cycle (up to a max of 6 per year). Sounds like maybe you work for a big corporate so maybe check your policies?
I have been really upfront with bosses and told them it's going to be time off and I won't be able to tell them exactly when and they've been supportive. Haven't flagged to HR yet. I'm going to use my 3 days off around the egg collection date and then probably use an annual leave day for transfer (friends have said you can just have this in the morning and go into work but have also said you might be quite excited, so to have it off).
To be honest I've thought about if the first round or two doesn't work that I'll ask for 2 months off unpaid early next year and do a full round without work and the stress to see if that would make a difference (obviously here I am being pessimistic as it will hopefully work before that!)
Good luck!

I’ve told my boss, but I have a clinical job and it would be impossible to juggle without saying anything. He was really lovely about it and checks in to see if there are any side effects he needs to watch out for etc. We don’t get any specific days off, he’s said to use sick leave for the procedure days and I’ll probably take a couple of days AL too. My clinic said they will do scans very early in the morning for monitoring so that I can get to work without telling anyone so perhaps you could manage that if you have a bit of say over your diary. Then you just have to think about how you personally are likely to handle the emotional / mental side of it

I told HR and my managers. I work in a customer facing role (think like a supermarket, but it isn't a supermarket), work on my feet, carrying things etc all day long. Work has been unmanageably difficult for me.

I also have 3 paid days for fertility care - capped at two attempts a year. I've used those, and been off sick.

Be careful thinking you can use annual leave. I've done one egg retrieval and 3 transfers in 6 months (currently blessed to be pregnant from the 3rd, today was my OTD). I have also had two losses this year. Unless you have an exceptionally generous annual leave policy you will run out. I haven't used any annual leave for IVF, as otherwise I will have none left for anything pleasant, and frankly IVF is hard enough without it taking all your annual leave!

I needed time off around the end of stims/after egg collection. I've been signed off at various points for loss, and also for the entirety of this most recent 2WW which I haven't regretted at all, it made it so much easier for me, and helped me manage my stress.

Everyones job is different, and maybe if you work somewhere you can WFH etc you might be able to manage better than I have. Wishing you so much luck with it all.

Hello, we’ve just had funding approved so expect to start in the next few months and have been wondering the same.
we’ve been TTC for ages and had quite a lot of appts for tests etc, and for these I’ve just said “medical appt/procedure”, but not specified what.

for me, I’ve got a lot of autonomy at work and manage my own diary, and they are pretty flexible. So part of me things I can probably carry on working flexibly and just saying I’ve got appts/procedures. I don’t know if they’ll suspect what it is though?
On the other hand, I live quite far from work (and the clinic is about 45 mins away) so appointments will take a good chunk of time.

We have an IVF policy which gives 3 days off per cycle, so I’m not sure it’s worth telling them so I can use special leave rather than medical (not sure when they’d question lots of medical leave).
I also wonder if telling work means they’ll be more forgiving if I’m not giving 100%.

My job can be quite emotionally intense too though so I wonder if I’ll want more time off to not be stressing at work. I know people say they like work to keep them busy but I think I’d just stress and could keep busy away from work.
I hate lying about though so feel I either have to be vague or need to tell them why 😬

I don’t really want to use A/L if I can avoid it, as I think that time is so valuable for rest and recovery and we’re losing so much due to infertility already, I think we might need some of that time to recover later on.

My work is very supportive. The first time I told my female manager from the beginning due to having so many appointments and we had to do a risk assessment early on due to my type of work. This time I have a different male manager who's just as understanding. I was explaining today I'll need time off for appointments and scans with little notice and I want some AL after transfer but can't give a date, and he said work is just work and family is the most important thing which is lovely. I get my IVF appointment times paid for no limits. I'm very lucky and I feel it's a weight off my shoulders having my manager onside.