With this process, a rebalancing of the body is required after. Emotions and hormones are coming to homeostasis. Following the retrieval I stayed away from intoxicants (especially alcohol), slept as much as my body asked for, focused on nutrition and getting my hormones back in balance. I did this by spending extra time detoxing in the sauna with red light therapy, receiving acupuncture, and lymphatic drainage massage.

3 days after egg retrieval I had some major depression symptoms. I imagine what I experienced felt similar to postpartum depression. Moving slow with lots of TLC was necessary afterward. Thank you to my beloved husband for the impeccable love and care he poured into me and to our friends and family for all the prayers and check ins. It means so much to have support in this process, as it can feel really lonely at times.

I will conclude by sharing some of the magic we experienced during this egg retrieval process.

The night before the retrieval we stayed the night in a hotel to be closer to the clinic for the early morning procedure. I was drinking lots of herbal tea, electrolytes and enjoyed a nutritious protein rich, paleo style dinner. The paleo diet and lots of hydration with electrolytes was recommended by my doctor for this process to prevent hyper-stimulation of the ovaries post-egg retrieval. These are questions I have learned to ask doctors (which they don’t usually voluntarily disclose with their busy schedule).

• What is the best diet to follow for this procedure?
• How can I prevent adverse side effects after this procedure?
• What can I expect for the healing process?

I concluded my evening with some really gentle movement (my ovaries were huge, full and ready to dump a bunch of eggs the following morning), including an extended shavasana. Tears streamed down my face. I was nervous for the procedure and also feeling sad for myself to be going through the process. Plus, at this point the hormones were raging and it’s a complete emotional rollercoaster. Tears are to be expected and we need to be gentle with ourselves (reminding myself of this often).

I placed one hand on my heart and the other hand on my womb space and was sending myself, my body, and my eggs a lot of love. At that point I asked Jonah to come sit with me and place his hands on me while we set an intention for the procedure. Together we prayed and envisioned a successful procedure. We then took the visualization a step further and prepared the clinic for my procedure; the doctors, nurses and staff to have a good night’s rest and to arrive the next day feeling calm, centered and ready. We prepared the room where I would have my eggs retrieved, my anesthesiologist, and the nurse placing my IV. We envisioned me coming out of anesthesia easeful and happy with a successful procedure taking place and our drive home being safe, comfortable, and restful.

This really calmed me for a quality night’s rest for the coming day and having my partner involved in the process was even more soothing. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. It was truly everything we envisioned. My nurse was so kind and had even returned recently from a yoga retreat in Italy! The Doctor was friendly, calm and centered. The IV only took one poke (rare for my veins these days) and I even experienced pleasant dreams during anesthesia.

Everything went exactly as we envisioned including the drive home and remainder of the day and through the healing process. We have a lot of power in the outcome of our experiences. We don’t have control, but we do have a lot of influence on how we experience these moments. Visualization is a powerful tool and if we pair it with how we want to FEEL, it really impacts our end result.

We thought you may be interested to hear a different perspective from our egg retrieval and embryo creation journey. After all, the process is incredibly fascinating. I want to share with you some of my views regarding our journey so far.

First of all, wow! The female body is an incredible, miracle making vessel. The mechanics of what the female body endures and is capable of is mind boggling. Women, you are powerful beings capable of creation… what?! Even though the IVF treatments have been around for decades now, and I am sure there is still much to be learned, I never witnessed such responsiveness to medication in a human body in this way. Going to so many check up appointments over the course of a couple weeks was tedious, but amazing to see Brittany’s body respond and change. Brit’s ovaries are highly functional, and I have a new reverence for what women are capable of.

We continue to have more experiences throughout the last several years that demonstrate the importance of support. Whether you receive from; community, friends, family, or your intimate partner. Receiving support is so valuable. This round of egg retrieval seemed very different from our first round, as we are in a completely different place in our lives from late 2021. Regardless, the medications massively impact a woman’s body and hormones through the IVF process. I felt a responsibility to support my wife as best I could. I held space for her emotions, I listened to her without trying to solve her problems, and I gave her every one of her medication injections. I wanted to be there for every step of the process, in support of her and our future children. I could tell that it felt meaningful for Brit, and the theme of support repeating itself to us has taught me that we can make an experience easier (even if just slightly) by showing up for our loved ones in challenging times.

One aspect of this experience that is important to touch on is how grateful I feel. Brit and I have gone through a lot together, and with all the hardships there has always been a silver lining. Thankfully, my wife sees the magic that God bestows upon us all the time, reminding me to pay attention to it. When I maintain the witnessing of this magic, I have many realizations that bring gratitude into my field. We are very lucky to have the resources in order to go through the IVF journey. It takes time, it is expensive, it is tiring on many levels. Yet, Brit and I have the capability to go through this. There is that cliche saying that god only gives you what you can handle; well, I agree, but I also believe that in every challenging circumstance we are given the opportunity to learn or remember life lessons. This process has offered me much to integrate into my life. That makes it so worth it, let alone the fact that it may result in real human children. Whoa!

There is so much we could talk about regarding this process. The wild part is we aren’t done yet. Embryo transfer will be in our future, which will bring its own lessons and opportunities to remember what we have already learned. I’m sure you’ll hear about it when those times come. In the meantime, thank you for reading, for following along on our journey, and for being part of our community. You are so important to us, and so many others.

If you are going through something similar, challenges brought on by the IVF process or otherwise, I can speak for both of us when I tell you that we are here. If you need advice, a listening ear, or support in other ways – please reach out.

We love you,

Brittany and Jonah