30/06/2026
here is what I learnt along the way
the protocol is not the whole plan. what you do in the 90 days before you even walk into that clinic changes your odds far more than most women realise, and it is rarely part of the conversation at your clinic appointments.
advocate for yourself, because if a result gets waved off as fine, you need to be the one asking what optimal actually looks like, since most of the time nobody else will.
know your cycle options too. natural IVF, modified natural, fully medicated, these are not interchangeable and your clinic will not always offer you the one that suits your body, so it is worth understanding the differences yourself.
if your embryos keep arresting on the same day, that is not bad luck, it is data. day 3 arrest points to something specific about mitochondrial energy and s***m DNA integrity, and a repeating pattern deserves investigation rather than being chalked up to chance.
undereating and avoiding fat while trying to conceive is one of the most common things I see and one of the most damaging. cholesterol is the building block for every single one of your s*x hormones, so cutting it out to eat “clean” can work against everything you are trying to achieve.
your natural baseline hormones still matter even in a fully medicated cycle. oestrogen, progesterone, thyroid, cortisol, all of it shapes egg quality before the injections even start, and the clinic is only ever measuring what the drugs are doing on top of that.
comment GUIDE for my 90 day nutrition plan for egg and s***m quality or comment CONNECT if you want to talk about your next cycle.
