Dr. Riki Dayan's five tips for making 2025 a fertile year

1. Get a referral to see a fertility specialist right away. Not pregnant in 4-6 months? Talk to your GP and get referred as it can take a couple of months to get an appointment. This wait is hard but during that time Olive will get your records and have you do some testing so you can “hit the ground running” when you have your first appointment.

2. Don’t over-test yourself - it causes stress. The most stressed patients seem to be the ones monitoring their basal body temperature and charting their cervical mucous. It is important to ovulate and to have intercourse at the right time, but excessive testing is counterproductive.

3. Check your urine for LH. Use ovulation predictor kits you can buy at a pharmacy or online (they are much cheaper online). Start testing around cycle day 10 and if by the 16th or 17th day of your cycle, the ovulation kit is not positive, let your Olive doctor know. They can help you figure out if/when you are ovulating with blood work.

4. Be patient. This is the tough part. Olive gets daily emails from patients saying things like “here’s a picture of our new baby, thanks for not giving up on us.” Sure, many people get lucky with the first IUI or embryo transfer, but most people take a few attempts. Hang in there!

5. Trust your fertility doctor! Olive is one of the largest fertility clinics in Canada with among the highest pregnancy rates in North America. Your Olive team has got this - let them carry the heavy load of infertility with you. So, if you have a question or need reassurance - call your nurse, email, or call your doctor.

For more information, visit https://www.olivefertility.com/locations/victoria.