It has not been proven that bed rest will give you a better chance of getting pregnant, but most clinics recommend that you should take it easy for at least the first few days after embryo transfer to allow the best chance of implantation. Certainly, rigorous activity is not recommended.

You should follow the advice of your clinic and doctor for your particular situation.

The most difficult time of the IVF treatment is during this waiting period after embryo transfer. We advise patients to make plans to keep themselves occupied during this time.

There is no standard set of symptoms for early pregnancy. The range of symptoms differs among different patients. Medication given during the treatment period can cause symptoms (i.e nausea), which could be mistaken for pregnancy symptoms.

There are several reasons for spotting during the two weeks of waiting. It could mean that:

• The embryo is implanting causing implantation bleeding
• The implanted embryo is detaching
• You are shedding your uterine lining i.e. your period is starting

Let your clinic advise you accordingly if spotting occurs. Go ahead with your clinic's pregnancy test even if the spotting is heavy. There is really no way of telling what is happening until you obtain the blood pregnancy test result and confirm the outcome of the treatment.

It is very tempting to do a home pregnancy test before the one scheduled by your clinic but they may not be accurate and either raise hopes or cause unnecessary disappointment.

You could get a false positive result if you had an hCG injection close to your pregnancy test date, and the injected hCG is still be in your system.

You could also get a false negative result if the hCG produced by the implanted embryo isn't strong enough yet or if there has been a late implantation.