How IVF Could Impact Your Relationship

In vitro fertilization is mostly a treatment option for couples who are infertile. It can be helpful in cases where a woman’s fallopian tubes are blocked, or a man’s sperm count is low and various other reasons. Whatever the reason, IVF treatment is out there to help couples. Nonetheless, it is said that this treatment can be financially, physically and emotionally demanding for the couple.

Couples embarking on a course of IVF treatment are going to find themselves under an incredible amount of stress and this can have an unexpected impact on their relationship. Whether IVF is successful or not is not important, when considering the impact it has on people’s relationships and the pressure they go through during the treatment.

In this article I will discuss some of the ways that IVF can affect a relationship and offer tips on keeping it together at this difficult time.

Financial Burden

IVF treatments are obscenely expensive and can put a drain on people’s financial position. On average, nationally, a “fresh” IVF cycle costs $12,000, before medications, which typically run another $3,000 to $5,000. This round off to almost $20,000 for each cycle you undergo. Usually you have to go through an average of 3 cycles in order to conceive successfully.

This is likely to put a dent on the couple’s financials as well as their relationship. The financial pressure provokes arguments and fights within the relationship. You could avoid these clashes by calculating the estimate of the treatment beforehand and taking into account the possibility of spending on repeating the cycle in case of a failure to conceive.

Also, most of the in vitro fertilization clinics offer various treatment plans accommodating multiple IVF cycles at a discounted price and sometimes a partial refund, if the treatment is unsuccessful. You should look for such an in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic to be on a safe side.

Emotional Drain

IVF doesn’t offer a 100% guarantee for conceiving. There have been various cases where the treatment often failed. Plus, it may also take a lot of time.

Majority of the couple’s journey is filled with frequent disappointments when the cycle fails again and again. When they finally are able to conceive, their happiness and excitement suddenly plummets because of a miscarriage or some other problem with the baby. This frequent sense of loss, false hope and inability to blame someone causes severe stress and tension. Couples often take it out on each other by picking unnecessary fights. Not only it strains their relationship, it also affects their relationship with friends and other family members who are around. Often people going through IVF treatments say that they get jealous with their close friends who are able to conceive during the first cycle of IVF.

This shows that not only could marriages and relationships fall apart, IVF could also spring jealousy and other sorts of ill-favored emotions. To put together your emotions, I would advise you to seek help from counselors employed by the IVF institutions. They help you cope with the undesirable emotions and help you battle to come out of depression.

Overwhelming process

As I mentioned, IVF is a demanding treatment. There are countless options of treatment plans, IVF clinics and various other things that require the couple’s consent. All of this tends to get very overwhelming. After deciding on the best options, there is a lengthy time period of waiting and hoping for it to be successful. But it’s an imperfect world. Things don’t come easy.

Men and women react differently to this. Women tend to bury themselves in depressing thoughts while men feel helpless to make the situation better. During such times, both of them fail to realize that the best they could do is support each other.

Couples should communicate and share their feelings so that the other understands their perception and what they think. There are various IVS support groups which you should join to vent out your frustration and learn about what other people are going through. It will make you feel better.

Thus, IVF seems to have a lot of detrimental impact among relationships. However, what people fail to realize is that it also strengthens and solidifies their relationship in the end. This is because they go through this difficult period together and come out of it stronger than ever.