How I Became Pregnant With Holistic Health Treatments

How I Became Pregnant With Holistic Health Treatments

Barefoot to Baby- How Reflexology Helped a Childless Couple Become Parents

When I first heard the tick-tock of my biological clock turn into a clang, I had been married to Dennis exactly one day. One day was all it took for me to decide it was time to get pregnant. My sweet, handsome husband is the man that I dreamed of marrying for years before actually meeting him. I couldn't wait to have our child to cherish together! We began trying to become pregnant. Wait, let me be honest here... I began trying to become pregnant. I armed myself with ovulation kits, charts and a digital thermometer.

At the beginning of each menstrual cycle, I would calculate the dates of my fertile window. Then I would devise creative ways to seduce Dennis on those days. Gradually, Dennis realized my lusty and insatiable need for him occurred only on days 12 through 16 of each month. If he wasn't in the mood, I became a little militant. I needed seed for my egg, NOW! He began to wear a look a fear when he saw me appear in his office wearing nothing but a determined look. Month after month, I was not pregnant. To make matters worse, it felt like everywhere I went I saw happy women with their pregnant bellies. How my heart ached!

We decided to go for fertility testing. Both of us tested normal except for test results that showed some abnormal sperm motility. His doctor's comment was "The motility could be a problem but I doubt it- this is unexplained infertility". Infertility! Us? We made an appointment with a reproductive endocrinologist and he suggested we try intrauterine insemination with hormone drugs. When the eggs were ready to be fertilized, we would race to the clinic for the insemination. We both found this to be extremely stressful. I had read somewhere that caffeine stimulates sperm so I would ask Dennis to drink extra coffee in hopes that his little tadpoles would swim harder and faster to my waiting egg. He felt pressured and I was very emotional from the hormones.

Is this the way trying to conceive our baby should feel? Our last cycle of IUI, the doctor came in with the prepared sample, shook his head and said "if this doesn't work, I think you guys would be better off with invitro fertilization." Looking back, I never had the strong feeling these treatments were going to be successful, even while undergoing them. And they weren't. I still felt somehow we would be parents one day. My intuition was whispering guidance to me and I ignored it, determined to do the treatments anyway. We put ourselves through this process four times in six months before quitting the intrauterine insemination. My body and mind needed a chance to recuperate if we were going to try invitro fertilization.

The words "invitro fertilization" triggered a sense of foreboding in me. I knew there must be alternatives. I was doing acupuncture with an amazing healer and friend and I was still using kits so I knew our best time for conception each month. What else was out there to help us? I actively researched this online and through health practitioners and couldn't find anything on conception treatments that we had not done. But one thought kept coming to my mind: I wondered if the anti-inflammatory medications Dennis had been taking for several years for his spinal stenosis played a part in the abnormal sperm motility. Referred by our talented and wise acupuncturist, he began working with a functional medicine doctor who was able to help him reduce his need for medications significantly. This change was important because the drugs taken long term were dangerous for his health.

Still no baby... every month when I got my period, I cried. In the meantime, I asked that God remove this desire for children from me if I was not meant for motherhood as it was too painful. Even while I asked this, I knew in my heart that God put the desire for children in my heart for a reason. I prayed for patience and guidance.

Several months went by with no baby and we agreed to give invitro fertilization a try. Nothing and no one prepared me for the horrible effect of the drug Lupron on my body and mind. Lupron is a drug used for prostate cancer and is also used in invitro fertilization to shut down the female reproductive system before overstimulating it with fertility drugs. One night I stepped out of the shower about two thirds of the way through the cycle and felt like I could not breathe. I stood dripping water and literally felt like I was dying. I knew there was no way a healthy baby was going to come to me feeling like this. I talked to Dennis and stopped the medications the next day. I felt like I had just dodged a very big bullet. Again, I continued to pray for patience and guidance.

Throughout my life, I have had moments of intuitive inspiration. I know that they are a communion with God and I think of them as God's guiding grace for my life. I began to spend more time with morning prayer and returned to habits of self-nurturing and meditation. That was when I felt led to explore holistic healing on a deeper level and decided to become a certified reflexologist. Reflexology is a healing art in which the feet are maps of reflex points that correspond to the entire body system. Healing occurs when these points are worked to correct balance in the body. I went to the best reflexology class I could find taught by a dynamic healer. My teacher had a kind graceful demeanor and I was impressed with her grounded healing methods. She had a crowded class and taught effectively and efficiently. She shared with us the importance of a reflexologist's intention when working with clients. This was a new concept to me and a profound one. I became certified as a reflexologist and began using this amazing healing art to help people.

Six months later Dennis and I decided to pursue domestic adoption. We started the process of completing our home study and then joined an online adoption site. Shortly after posting our profile we were contacted by a young birthmother who had just given birth to an adorable baby girl. The birthmother had seen our adoption profile online and was interested in us as adoptive parents! I still remember the joy and excitement we felt of finally having found our child. Dennis was as excited as I was! We fell in love with the mother and her baby and made plans to meet her. Then, just as we were getting ready to fly out to see her, we lost contact. No phone calls, no email... nothing. For three weeks we tried to reach her. We were crushed. About a month went by when I checked my email and saw a message from her in my box! Oh Joy! I read the email and stood up, stunned. The message was from the young birthmother's mother. The mother was writing to let us know that her daughter had suffered a massive stroke due to a congenital heart defect and had been in a coma for weeks and was not expected to live. Her mother let us know that if her daughter died she would be adopting the baby, her grandaughter. She stopped all contact with us. After a month of trying to reach her, we knew that our sweet birthmother had passed on.

We gingerly picked up the pieces of our grieving hearts. Other birthmothers contacted us as adoptive parents but nothing clicked and we were still grieving. Adoption is a beautiful way to start a family and I always encourage people to pursue it wholeheartedly. I have no doubt that it does work well. It just wasn't the right time or situation for us.

Life moved along.Then I began having these intuitive thoughts to contact my reflexology teacher. At first, I ignored the impulse as Dennis and I had enough of the effort of trying to conceive our child. But the thought turned into a gentle urging so I called her and asked her if she treated people for infertility. Her response was "Yes, I have had great results with conception, the key is treating the man and woman together". Really? Energetically, this made perfect sense to me and over the past year, I had seen amazing results with my own reflexology clients so I knew firsthand how powerful these treatments were. We had to wait until the first past of January for our appointment. The first treatment was in a warm low-lit room with candles burning.

It was such a change from the fluorescent lighting and stark white reality of the hospital treatment rooms. We each took our turn melting into a warm bed while she worked on our feet. I felt comforted and hopeful as a deep relaxation overcame me. As she worked on Dennis, she allowed me to observe and take notes. She actually incorporated reflexology with Chinese medical massage and moxibustion, paying special attention to Dennis' kidney acupressure points 1, 2 and 3 and she worked all his reproductive reflexology points. One me, she worked the reproductive reflexology points and made sure my fallopian tubes were clear by dragging her knuckles from the ovary points over and across my ankle to the uterine point. During the week I would repeat these treatments on Dennis. We had two sessions in January 2010 and one session in February before celebrating our 5th year anniversary.

After five hard years of trying to become parents, my husband and I were more than ready to go someplace fabulous to celebrate our anniversary. Why not Italy? We had our third reflexology treatment on Sunday February 21 and then hopped on a plane to Rome on Friday February 26, 2010, our 5 year anniversary. I loved Italy! Eating in Rome was an incredible experience until I got greedy with cream pastries and got food poisoning. A week later (and ten pounds lighter), I returned home. Two weeks passed and my period never arrived. Maybe it was the food poisoning that threw my cycle off. Or maybe....Nope, I was not even going to think about it.

A few days later, I decided to take a pregnancy test. I watched in disbelief as two pink lines appeared in the window! Pregnant at last! Excitement and gratitude swelled up inside me. I sprinted down the hall to tell my husband Dennis with the pregnancy test hidden behind my back. He was on the phone so I slapped the stick with two bright pink lines on his desk in front of him and waited for his reaction. A split second of confusion, then huge joy spread across his face. He jumped up and hugged me with tears of happiness while I stood there smiling and wondering who we were going to call first!

It's now one year from that day. I am writing this with my daughter on my lap and my heart is full of loving gratitude. We journeyed through 5 years of unsuccessful fertility treatments and a heartwrenching adoption attempt while trying to bring our child to us. We had become healthier during this process, but I felt that intuitive urging to use the art of reflexology to help us conceive.There is amazing power in holistic health to change, overcome and thrive.

Then, three reflexology sessions put us into a state of balance that allowed us to conceive. This was divine wisdom. This was following my intuition. I feel truly blessed to be able to share our story in faith that it will help others who are struggling. I know there is amazing power in holistic healing. I know intuition is God's guiding grace for my life, for everyone's life.

When I learned to trust that intuition, it changed everything. Everything!

by: Carolan Deacon