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OB/GYN & Fertility Doctor Shares Her Story Going Through IVF: What She Learned & Her Complications

The Doctors Bjorkman

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Doctor Sarah Bjorkman, a board-certified OB/GYN and trained Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility specialist, along with her husband Kurt, who is a board-certified Pediatrician, use this week's episode to VLOG about their experience with In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) including details about Sarah's complications and the most important things they learned along the way.

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0:00 - Intro
1:00 - Infertility Workup & Getting Started
3:21 - Male Factor Infertility
4:45 - Starting Treatments
7:25 - The Shots
8:44 - Egg Retrieval
10:15 - Major Complications
14:00 - Embryo Transfer
14:40 - Thoughts from the Male Partner
15:40 - After Transfer
18:17 - Most Important Lessons Learned
19:12 - How to Find a Great IVF Team Near You
21:54 - Final IVF Wrap-Up

Also be sure to check our video on
The Two Week Wait -- THE TWO WEEK WAIT: Week 3 Pregnancy Vlog

Intro Music: A WAY FOR ME - Nicolai Heidlas by Chem Ocampo

Keywords: pregnancy update, the doctors bjorkman, pregnancy vlog obgyn, pediatrician, pregnancy spacing, infertility, trouble getting pregnant, IFV, time to try again, negative pregnancy test, fertility specialist

20 Comments

@vikkicarpenter5080 2 years ago

I appreciate your guys transparency. It’s helped us feel less alone. This is very stressful and having you guys as a resource has been a game changer.

@SkiRacerMinnesota 4 years ago

Are there studies on the long term effects of doing IVF? Does the large amount of hormones involved cause any reproductive cancers?

@LauraAnn1980 4 years ago

Tomorrow is my first transferversary with my 4 month old baby girl. I remember everything you guys are going through so, so acutely. I did the every 3rd day PIO and it wasn't too terrible......I'm a nurse and I trained hubby well lol! It's so weird to be just a regular pregnant patient after all the super close monitoring with IVF. It makes the whole journey of pregnancy a little more anxiety provoking. I don't think I took a breath and really allow myself to believe it was really real until I got to about 26 weeks. At that point I knew her survival chances would be good if anything went wrong. You are so right in needing that support team there for you. Essential! I ended up with placenta previa which I know is higher risk in IVF pregnancies. I had a planned c section at 37 weeks which.......is a whole other story LOL. My baby girl was 100% worth every minute of every appointment, every penny we spent, every shot that I took, and every tear I shed and I would do it again for her.

@KLKosi123 2 years ago (edited)

Progesterone in oil tip — warm the syringe up with a heating pad to thin out the oil (but you want the oil warm, not HOT). Dart the needle in quickly but press the oil in slowly. Then, hold the heating pad to the injection site for a good 20-30 minutes. It doesn’t make it painless but it does decrease the likelihood of muscle knots and such.

@RC-zm2xm 4 years ago

Oh my goodness. Congratulations on your pregnancy for baby no.2. That's amazing news. Super happy it worked out for you guys! 🥳👶

@Gracemccord414 6 months ago

I was single by the end of the ivf road and had to give the progesterone in oil shots to myself. But it was worth it! Baby is due in two days.

@thehonestvet7633 4 years ago

As a fellow IVF mom: thank you for sharing your journey in such a genuine way. It means a lot💗

@rachell2168 4 years ago

Thanks for sharing your journey with us. It's so brave and gives us so much courage. We really appreciate it.

@AlexandraVincent 4 years ago

I’m so thankful for your channel. In April, when we first had our IVF consult I literally scoured the internet for tips and tricks and everything, not knowing when/if I would even get to transfer. Fast forward to egg retrieval and we ended up with 6 embryos. That’s when I found your channel. I was looking up things about transfers and meds and the whole thing. Having you (and Mac Dingle, too) help me through was huge. The med tutorials, the explanations. All of it. I had my first beta Monday and I’m officially pregnant! Second was this morning so I’m waiting on numbers. I was getting positives as early as last Thursday though. Nobody knows what this is like unless they go through it too and it was great to feel like we were in this together. I’m so happy for you guys and cece too

@oliviannadi334 4 years ago

Congratulations on baby #2! I have been following your journey over the past year and I’m so happy for your growing family!!!

@drleewhite 4 years ago (edited)

Thanks for sharing your story. We did the whole embryo creation part of IVF only to discover big challenges getting the uterine lining ready to receive an embryo transfer. We’re also both physicians and it was a big reality check – unpredictability and challenges at every step of the way.

Would love to see you do a video on a guide to IVF and what patients can expect along the way.

@g.g9158 4 years ago

With my first transfer I hated the progesterone shots. I ended up doing some on my own. Then my son developed a complication that is sometimes associated with progesterone. With my 2nd transfer I used the progesterone tabs for a few days then stopped all together. My 2nd son was born in March without the complication that my first had. I am so lucky as I only had two embroys and both worked

@haleycastro1316 4 years ago

I'm so happy you're pregnant!! All worth it!

@violetdolly 1 year ago (edited)

A lot of people seem to have secondary infertility, and my theory is that first time parenting is so stressful that it impacts fertility lol. Wow this journey sounds soo rough, it's made me think about whether I'm even willing to go through it. I can't believe you were bleeding out!! OMG!! sounds like torture.

OKay edit, CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

@rebeccazeman9309 4 years ago

🤣🤣🤣 I love your response his "complaint" of no help for the seman analysis. I rolled my eyes when my husband said that too!

@claudiajade624 4 years ago (edited)

Thankyou for being so open and sharing this journey. I missed the announcement last week, so many Congratulations! 😊🥳💜

@michellegleason7259 4 years ago

Congratulations guys! Love all of your info and insight about these topics ❤

@fungalhyphae 4 years ago

Thanks so much for this video! I’m a fellow doctor (pathology) and start stims tonight! I’m so hopeful and appreciate you sharing everything that you do. It really helps especially hearing it from the side of a medical professional.

@sarar4901 4 years ago

Thanks so much for sharing your story. We're approaching the end of our workup and testing and not finding answers so far, so hearing IVF demystified is so helpful.