Do you plan short trips/travel when doing an IUI or IVF cycle?

Stretchad

I don't know why this hadn't occurred to me before, but if we still pursue assisted reproduction after my procedure on the 17th, it's possible that it could conflict with travel, especially if any cycles are around holidays...

How do you work around the travel? Or do you just not travel anywhere for that month?

Mrkyrain

Honestly, it's one of the hardest things for me about IF. I try to plan around the few weeks that I will need to be monitored but it doesn't always work. We make a lot of plans that can be cancelled at the last minute if they need to be.  Most hotels have a 24 hour cancellation policy.  If we are flying or it's a big trip, we have bought travel insurance.  It's tough.

Mitzi Bishi

I do everything I can to live as normal of a life as I can while going through this. I'm not ready to entirely give up the things I love. It's probably a coping mechanism, because I try to stay as unemotionally involved in all of this as I can. 

We planned a trip this month at the very end of things, which will either be a great distraction should this not work or it will be a place in our memories where we can celebrate the news of a new addition. I will not let IF rule my life and suck the fun out of everything I do. 

madhatterxo

I actually try not to plan anything major when I'm cycling.  I am prone to get OHSS so even after the IUI, I have to wait.  I'm supposed to start cycling when AF comes, and I've made plans for a 4 day trip at the end of the month, but I made sure if I need to, we can back out.  It's hard to plan around IF because you never know what will happen. 

ecleptic

I restrict travel during the two-ish weeks of stims or estrogen priming for FET/the first couple of days after transfer (my doc does 3 days of bedrest though- I don't bother restricting travel past bedrest). I can generally set the start date for the cycle, although the rest is very changeable- so I just set aside a couple of weeks when I know I'll be required to be at the doc every couple of days.

It's not always easy. I had to wiggle my FET dates around so I could be out of town 3 days for my grandfather's funeral- it meant taking the BCP an additional 3 days to shift the lining measurements onto either side of a 3 day weekend. Try to know your calendar well in advance- and give yourself some flexibility.

Aegis2005

I go through spurts where I travel a lot for work. I actually just sent my boss an e-mail this morning telling him what's going on, since I'm going to need a bit more flexibility with my travel schedule.  Hopefully that goes over ok.

For the next month we're planning a few trips, but they're all to family and friends in state that know what's going on.  If we have to make last minute changes, they'll be fine with that.

icedcoffeeluv

I haven't really thought too much into this. I haven't had anything major planned this cycle which is my first IVF cycle.

I did have a camping trip planned over this past weekend. I still went because it was close to home and I was still able to make my monitoring appointments. If I had to cancel the trip though I would have.

I would likely not travel far if I thought it would interfere with any of the time needed for monitoring or procedures. I don't travel often though so it likely will not become an issue.

TotallyLoCo

This is a big issue for me, since I travel a ton for work. When I did my IVF cycle I had to time it perfectly since I had exactly 3 weeks between trips. I had to go on BCPs to get the timing right; if I had to rely on my natural cycle I'd probably never be able to get treatment.  I started my stims the first day I was back from one trip and had my transfer a few days before my next trip. It turned out that my boss had to cover a trip to Europe for me that I didn't know about when I set up the schedule - thank goodness he was very understanding.

When you're doing IVF it's really difficult to travel during the stim phase because of the frequent monitoring. You could slip off for a day or two, but since you don't know the precise timing going in, why take the chance that you'll mess up something. After transfer there's more flexibility. I will be out of town on my beta date and will get it done at a local Labcorp instead of my clinic. I'm not sure about IUIs since I never did one, but I think they involve less monitoring.

Delta04

Mitzi Bishi:

I do everything I can to live as normal of a life as I can while going through this. I'm not ready to entirely give up the things I love. It's probably a coping mechanism, because I try to stay as unemotionally involved in all of this as I can. 

We planned a trip this month at the very end of things, which will either be a great distraction should this not work or it will be a place in our memories where we can celebrate the news of a new addition. I will not let IF rule my life and suck the fun out of everything I do. 

THIS - I used to put everything on hold for IF but felt like I was missing life.  That said, while cycling, I do stay close to home and do not travel because of monitoring; but after ET, I rest for a few days and then do my thing.  One of my biggest regrets is that I began to let  IF take over my life.  But for my own sanity, I had to stop. 

mrslianne

Delta04:

Mitzi Bishi:

I do everything I can to live as normal of a life as I can while going through this. I'm not ready to entirely give up the things I love. It's probably a coping mechanism, because I try to stay as unemotionally involved in all of this as I can. 

We planned a trip this month at the very end of things, which will either be a great distraction should this not work or it will be a place in our memories where we can celebrate the news of a new addition. I will not let IF rule my life and suck the fun out of everything I do. 

THIS - I used to put everything on hold for IF but felt like I was missing life.  That said, while cycling, I do stay close to home and do not travel because of monitoring; but after ET, I rest for a few days and then do my thing.  One of my biggest regrets is that I began to let  IF take over my life.  But for my own sanity, I had to stop. 

I really, really appreciate both of you saying that.  I am starting my first IVF cycle now (starting bcp tomorrow) and this was my plan -- stay in town during monitoring and then go on vacation at the end of September, about 3 weeks after the transfer, which we have had planned for a while.  I started to really go crazy with all of the IF stuff during my IUIs (I had 4 in fall/winter), and since we've been taking a break to get ready for IVF and other things in life, have made a promise to myself to not let it take over as much I can.