Today, I wanted to talk about IUI tips – I have six tips for anyone about to embark on or who is currently in the two week wait for an IUI.
Here are six tips that I have for anyone who is going through an IUI. Now, the first one is for anyone who is in the near future going through an IUI or thinks that they might be in the future, and that is that the real work for an IUI is in the 90 days beforehand. I have six IUI tips here, but if you can only do two things, focus on nutrition and stress and how you’re really coping on this journey. Make sure that you take some action to really optimize those things.
optimize nutrition
When we optimize our nutrition, we’re really maximizing our air quality, our uterine lining, all of those things to really make them receptive to IUI. It doesn’t matter whether it is male factor infertility, female factor infertility, diminished ovarian reserve, whatever it is, put that aside, you can always upgrade your health through nutrition and through stress management and general wellbeing.
Doesn’t matter if … You might be like, “Oh my God, but I don’t have 90 days, I’ve only got 10 days, Robyn,” that’s cool. Start feeding your body and doing all the right things as soon as you can. If you’ve got some time up your sleeve, then that’s when you really want to focus on it. Don’t be one of those people, though who, which totally, guys, like I’ve done this, who does actually nothing and then doesn’t get the good results that they want, then feels like they’ve wasted all this money and time and that they should have done it before, just make sure that wellbeing is at the top of your list.
5 tips to help you implement a fertility diet
decrease stress
The number two thing that I think you should do during … in the process of IUI is when you actually get to being in the IUI cycle, start to just take it easy, and I mean kind of in all areas of your life. I’m not just talking about like physically or I’m not just talking about emotionally, but just try and give yourself a pat on the back, appreciate how far you’ve come on this journey, appreciate how well you’re doing on this journey, and just take it easy, like don’t push yourself to try and break world records with anything. Be just in this moment, try and be present in this moment, and take it easy on yourself. Take the bath, do the Netflix marathons, do things that make you feel happy and rested, and things like that. You’ve put in the hard work, and especially if you’ve spent the last 90 days really going for it.
Managing the stress of trying to conceive
eat nourishing foods
This is where I love the traditional Chinese medicine approach to fertility, it’s because it just makes so much bloody sense to me. Nice warming foods, nourishing things like veggie chili and miso soup, things that when you feel like it warms your heart, those are the kind of things that you want to eat. Then, when you think of the opposite, which is maybe like a three day juice cleanse or something really drastic that doesn’t feel nourishing, that’s not what you want to go for.
Think of your beautiful little embryo implanting into a nice juicy, warm, cozy place. Those are the foods that you want to eat because that’s kind of the feeling, the emotion that you want, and those are the foods that are going to support an uterine lining, and the energy that’s required to do this miraculous kind of thing because it is a bit of a miracle. It’s essentially creating a life out of nothing, so it’s not a small deal. If you can eat nourishing and hearty foods that are nice and warm, that definitely supports IUI.
do gentle exercise
When you’re in the middle of an IUI cycle, just don’t push yourself. Don’t anything too strenuous here, don’t be lifting super heavy weights or anything like that. Go for walks, do some yoga, do some things that feel really nice and gentle and calming for you.
From a traditional Chinese medicine perspective, they would say, my acupuncturist used to say, “Gentle walking only.” This is a beautiful time in your cycle to just nourish yourself.
How to set SMART fertility goals
get the pregnant mindset
It’s simple: act as though you’re pregnant. I want you to feel hopeful, like this is completely possible and complete doable for you.
When you wake up in the morning, I want you visualize what it feels like in that moment. I used to visualize things implanting. I can see it still so firmly in my mind, this vision of me walking down the street away from the camera or the person looking or whatever it was, holding the hands of a little girl, walking down a cobblestone street. Envision that and embrace that feeling of what it feels like to have what you want and what you want to happen on this particular cycle. Really get into that zone.
Really act as though you’re pregnant, act as though this is happening, get into perspective with your life about what your values are, what’s really important, and things like that. I don’t mean put your life on hold? You still need to keep moving on with your life, keep striving toward your goals, but act as though you’re pregnant.
Try and embrace that feeling of what it feels like to be pregnant, don’t have the mindset that I’m never going to fall pregnant, this is going to fail, this is going to fail, this is going to fail because if you always think it’s going to fail, then it probably always will fail. Be hopeful that this is working for you. Give yourself some grace, take your foot off the pedal of perfection because perfection is a unicorn, it never exists. Don’t have that crazy desperate energy of feeling like you need to constantly be looking on YouTube to find the next magic bullet or like you need to eat pineapple for breakfast every day, there’s no magic bullets, there’s no magic cures. You’ve done the work, you’ve put in the work.
use common sense
This is probably the most important of my six IUI tips, so I’ve saved it for last. Use your common sense.
I know that you know, with your common sense, that you should be eating healthy foods and not eating junk food all day. I know that you know that if you never, ever, ever, ever drink Coca Cola and then have one glass of Coca Cola, that actually that probably doesn’t make a huge difference to anything at all, but that there’s no magic cure and there’s no little silly thing. If you use your common sense, like eating a ton of pineapple is probably not going to be the make or break to whether or not you do or don’t fall pregnant. People say to eat pineapple core because it contains bromelain, but the amount that you would have to eat would be a huge amount.
If it doesn’t sound like common sense, then don’t sweat it. If you feel like you would like to and it’s no sweat, then do it, but don’t feel like you have to do every last thing all the time. If you do, give yourself some grace.
Common sense, but act as though you’re pregnant and try to really embrace that feeling of pregnancy. Take it easy, reward yourself, try to enjoy your life as much as you can during this process, and easier said than done, but try to detach yourself a little bit from the desperate energy that we can so often embrace during the two week wait.
Finally, go to my website and sign up for my free two-week wait challenge. You get a daily email from me with a beautiful little affirmation, a mandala to color in, and a little note or a funny story or a quite embarrassing dancing video from me, you have to see that one to understand it, but just little things that will make your day and give you something to look forward to in a time that can otherwise be quite an anxious time.
These tips will help you if you’re going through IUI this month, and I’m sending you lots and lots of baby dust! I want to hear your stories, so let me know on Instagram. I would love to know if this was your month!
