It Took 3 Men (and a Shaman) to Get Me Pregnant

Well, Life Lovers…we have a new, fabulous little lady joining our ranks…I’m simply over the moon to share with you my news…we’re expecting a little girl in February 🙂

While this is fantastic news, it’s an unexpected surprise. Not in the “oops!” sorta way (although those are wonderful surprises too)…but in the sorta way that we’ve been trying, for a while.
Definitely tough to give it your all at something and truly not have much control over your success. As an ambitious women, I’m definitely used to the old adage of what effort you give will be the bounty you receive in return. Well, if that’s the case, in February, I’ll be giving birth to a three year old, haha.

Not matter what the endeavor, we all have our own story to tell. Whether it be conventional or a wild ride, a smooth highway to success or from the school of hard knocks. It’s your journey none the less.

Two years ago, I was stressed out. Actually it would be better to describe myself as “fried crispy.” I was working three jobs, 6-7 days a week and even pulling some 14-hour days.

Even though I was working as a therapist, helping others, I was simply exhausted by taking care of everyone but myself. My wake-up call came when my husband and I decided to try to fall pregnant and start a family.

Just like any responsible person, before you go on a road trip, you take your car for an oil change, check the pressure in your tires, and make sure that the general condition of your car is good to go. As an avid traveler (31 countries and counting), I decided to take this same approach when having a baby.

I decided to go for a full-body tune-up. At my annual, my gynecologist gave me the green light for baby making. Next, I went to the general practitioner for a wellness check-up. As far as GP’s go, I walked in healthy and after hanging out in the waiting room for an hour, I practically had bronchitis, chicken pox, and the flu by the time I was seen. Still, the GP said, you are healthy as a horse, good to go.

Two green lights and I figured I was ready for baby making. Add black strappy lingerie and a bottle of wine later, I was sure I would be pregnant before the weekend was over. No dice. Sure enough, my period came the following month, and each month for nearly a year.

Despite making a return visit to the GP and gynecologist, everyone kept saying that I was totally healthy. There was no reason why I could not conceive; I should be pregnant any day now. “Just relax,” they would say.

Of course I told a few girlfriends and my begging-for-her-first-grandchild-mother that we were trying.BIG MISTAKE. I had unsolicited advice coming at me from all angles, from stop trying to monitor your ovulation and even my favorite: do a handstand for 3 minutes after sex.

So handstands I did, along with cycle-monitoring (did you know there’s an app for that?),temping, and even booking an exotic trip for “vacation sex” (which I was told was the absolute best way to conceive). On top of all my efforts, all I did was stress out more.

Worrying wasn’t helping (does it ever?), in fact after I had my lab work done, it turned out that all of my stressing and overworking and under sleeping had my neurotransmitters and hormone levels in the toilet. Neurotransmitters are those feel good chemicals that help to keep the brain balanced. Mine were so bad, I should have been my own patient.

Since traditional medicine wasn’t helping me much, I decided to try the road less traveled: Alternative medicine. I met with a doctor who practiced functional medicine, she suggested supplements, stress elimination and thought acupuncture could help along the way.

The next day, I met David. He was in his 60’s, unassuming, and already a father of three. Surely, this man might be able to help me get pregnant. Oh yes, and he was an acupuncturist.

David and I met weekly at first, he was helping my body to find balance, de-stress, and harness my chi. David told me, “No Chi, you’re dead.” Surely he meant business. Most of the time, I felt like I was just taking a much needed hour long nap but after 6 months, I had my neurotransmitter and hormone levels reevaluated. Sure enough, I was a rock star! All my levels had come up to normal or better than average (which feels particularly affirming to a chronic overachiever).

But still, no baby.

I thought to myself, “Well, what else could I try along this alternative-medicine-road-less-traveled?” How about a Shaman?

Are you serious?” my friends asked me. “Surely you are joking,” they said, “where are you going to find a shaman? Is that something like Lord of the Rings?”

Surprisingly, I found a shaman just 8 miles from home. A pleasant, kind, and rather jolly man named Adam. Adam hosted monthly sacred pipe community ceremonies, I figured this would be a fairly noncommittal way to dip my toe into the waters of shamanic healing. In 5 minutes flat, I RSVP’d that I would be attending, plus one for my husband. After my hubs came home from work that day, I gleefully told him that I signed us up to visit a Shaman.”

Curious, he asked what a shaman was, I realized I had NO IDEA. A shaman sounded like the next best thing to do, but I hadn’t a clue what we signed up for. Turns out that the pipe is one of the most sacred items and rituals of the indigenous people of North America. I would come to learn that the community pipe ceremony takes place to send forth gratitude to the spirits and being their attention to where we need help or healing. Sounded good to me, I went that month and for several months after. Whether the power of suggestion or shamanic magic, I began to feel lighter, more relaxed, and things in my life started to really come into a flow.

But still, no baby.

So here I am, still doing handstands, temping, monitoring my ovulation with an app, turned into a pin cushion at acupuncture, and sharing a pipe with a shaman but still, I’m not pregnant.

Before throwing my hands into the air, I decide that if I’m still on my mission for a whole-body (and whole-life) tune-up, my knee has really been bothering me so perhaps I should try a bit of chiropractic. And that’s when I met Nick. Nice guy, from the mid-west, the land of corn and (probably) making babies.

In my first chiropractic examination, Nick mentioned that my left hipbone was a bit twisted and causing my knee pain. He also went on to tell me about research that showed that women who have pressure on their ovaries can have polycystic ovarian syndrome.

According to Wikipedia, ‘Polycystic ovary syndrome is a condition in which a woman has an imbalance of a female sex hormones. This may lead to menstrual cycle changes, cysts in the ovaries, trouble getting pregnant, and other health changes.’ Perhaps that was me…I had an inconsistent menstrual cycle and I was having trouble getting pregnant.

At this point of my two-year pregnancy journey, I had seen 2 traditional doctors, 1 functional medicine doctor, an acupuncturist, a shaman, and a chiropractor, how much more trouble could it possibly be to see a fertility specialist?

Click here to read on about my personal road-less-traveled on MumCentral

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