After many years of infertility treatments and giving birth to two sets of twins, Shelly Orr, infertility nurse practitioner at ARMS, shares her thoughts on coping with infertility on the journey to conceive.
Infertility is a very difficult time for couples both emotionally and financially. After going through many years of infertility myself, and working at ARMS for 16 years, I pretty much know what a roller coaster people go through when trying to conceive. I like to let our patients know that they are not alone. I share with patients my own difficulties of having polycystic ovaries and trying to conceive before achieving my goal of parenthood. I also like to remind them of three things that they need to remember when going through treatment. Here is what I share with my patients:
Number 1: Have patience. When I say that, we all look at each other and have a good laugh… Maybe we should scratch that one off the list! By the time our patients come to see us, nobody has patience. We all want our babies yesterday!
Number 2: Find what works for you. Each individual or couple must find the right “recipe” that will work for them, and that could take several months. And to complicate things, everyone responds differently to different fertility treatments.
Number 3: Pray. I believe that you have to pray a lot because I have seen many people with serious difficulties (one egg, a thin lining, low sperm count, etc.) take home a baby. Miracles happen every day here in our practice!
Here is my motto: It only takes one good egg (OK – and one good sperm!)
Rochelle (Shelly) Orr, OGNP is a Nurse Practitioner with Arizona Reproductive Medicine Specialists (ARMS). She has worked as an infertility nurse at ARMS for 16 out of the 40 years of her nursing career. To schedule a consultation at ARMS call (602) 281-9032.
