This explains your physical role in infertility and in IVF, but it does not explain your role as comforter of your wife. This is a painful process . The woman will undergo a lot of physical pain. She will go through a stage when she will have menopausal symptoms and will be difficult to live with and will be depressed a lot of the time. Many marriages do not survive IVF, and you play a very important role in protecting yours. Even though this is emotional for you, you must be strong and be patient with her and help her through the truly difficult parts.

If you reach a place where you feel that a counselor could help you or both of you survive this, by all means seek that counseling. It has been demonstrated in several studies that counseling helps relieve the stress, which helps make the IVF work better. She will not be in a position to make some of these decisions, so you will need to be strong and make them yourself. You need to take over and see that she gets the help she needs. Some of that is simply your understanding and support. She will thank you after it’s all over and you have a precious baby as the result.

However, if the IVF is not successful, then your role as comforter is even more important. She will need understanding as never before and she deserves it for all she’s going through to obtain a baby for both of you.