Solo. Single. One. Only. Singular.
I want to talk about planning IVF as a Solo Mum to be. Not only am I a Solo Mum to be I’m also self-employed.
I knew planning IVF maybe a little bit of a logistical nightmare however I wasn’t too worried about it as my job is quite flexible however coronavirus came in to the world threw everyone’s plans into disarray.
My original plans were that I would stay at a friend’s house the night of egg collection as due to sedation I’m not allowed to be on my own for 24-hours. However, because of coronavirus, and the current guidance I think its a little unfair to put that on them, especially when treatment is happening sooner rather than later. Add into this that I actually need to isolate from Cycle Day 9 until embryo transfer its unrealistic. This is a clinic requirement.
So realistically where does that leave me? I live alone, I am doing this by myself, yet I have to isolate but, cannot be on my own for 24-hours after egg collection. It all contradicts itself.
In the end I have decided that my mum and I will stay in a hotel near the hospital for 1 to 2 nights. Depending on the time of egg collection we will stay the night before and the night of or or we will stay the night of a collection and the night after. Normally I drive everywhere, my parents don’t drive and I have no siblings, so really staying over in a hotel seems to be the more sensible option rather than breaking the isolation with yet another person who would have to come and pick us up to bring me home.
Planning the time off work has been quite simple. My cycles are quite regular so I’ve been able to plan up to when I should be isolating, I may have to do a little bit of jiggling but overall all I’ve not stressed about it.
I’m quite a well-planned person so knowing what’s happening in advance is helping somewhat. I don’t know exact dates of what’s happening but I have time frames of when it’s happening and that’s really help me plan which is been great. I may have had some stress about it a little bit more had been employed, and coronavirus is showing me that not working for potentially 10 days whilst I’m isolating for treatment isn’t going to break the bank when I’ve managed to do 14 to 16 weeks lockdown.
There is no denying that my IVF cycle with coronavirus still around is different to what it would have been without coronavirus but we just have to adapt. Now I’m starting on countdown.
Solo Mum Overload 