I’ve been thinking about natural remedies and alternative medicine and it’s relationship to miscarriage / infertility. Do you have any experience with natural remedies and miscarriage / infertility?

I am writing as I consume the last of my apple cider vinegar in water (not too tasty, in fact, I would say YUCK).  Why am I drinking this yucky ACV?  What could possibly worth it?  It is the one of the so called natural remedy I have started over the past few years.

More importantly, my drinking apple cider got me wondering about  natural remedies and miscarriage and  infertility – and why didn’t I think of this before?

About 2 1/2 years ago I  exchanged daily seasonal allergy remedies (used to take them 365 days/yr, and it wasn’t enough) for acupuncture.  I go every 2-3 weeks.  I feel WONDERFUL post treatment!

I use a netti-pot to also help with allergies.  I had heard of netti-pots for quite some time (remember how Oprah loved them), but to be honest the idea grossed me out.  It took a while before I tried it.  In fact the only reason I tried one was because I was desperate to breathe on a business trip (you know bad air plane air and all).  Now I don’t start the day without using the netti-pot.  If you haven’t tried one, I strongly suggest it (get over the gross thinking, like many things the anticipation is worse than the reality).

This past weekend I started to take ACV and acidophilus for acid reflux.  It has only been a few days, but things are looking up.  And I feel great!

Today I went for a laser treatment (quick, in office procedure, no pain) – seems I have a (sorry this might be TMI) a little fungus on my toenail (a very mild case, not like what you see in the “before pics”) —  seems one too many pedicures.  Oh, the tragedy of it all…  how do I survive without my mani-pedi?    My podiatrist suggested, if I MUST still get a mani-pedi, I should bring benedictine (you know that little brown bottle, when you were little your parents likely put it on your cuts), and put a few drops in the water.  Even if I see someone clean the basin, I should not be satisfied.  That is because, there is water inside the unit, in the jets and they can’t clean in there…  yuck.  The dr really knows how to ruin a good mani-pedi.

So if I am willing to subject myself to drinking ACV (yuck), getting stuck with pins (actually this isn’t so bad), flushing my sinuses, choosing a laser over meds (which I hear can have some not so great side effects), and foregoing mani-pedis (sob), I wonder what natural remedies people have used for miscarriage and infertility.  And I wonder, why didn’t I ever think of this before???

So, I am off to learn more (my first quick search on google resulted in over 288,000 pages).  If you have any ideas, please post, or visit me at OurHopePlace.com (contact us).  Not sure what I will learn, but it should be an interesting journey.

 

My miscarriage story: 5 miscarriages, insensitive people, but now I have two great children

From a recent contact at www.OurHopePlace.com,

I delivered a healthy daughter the first time I was pregnant. But I suffered five miscarriages before I had my second child five years later. I was diagnosed with a translocation (two chromosomes with switched parts, frequently leading to early miscarriage) and underwent IVF in attempt to pick healthy embryos — it didn’t work (I had a miscarriage anyway). Eventually I was able to become and stay pregnant naturally.

I think that when you’re suffering from secondary infertility people can be even more cruel, mostly out of ignorance. People assume that if you have an only child that it’s just by choice, especially if you’re young. They’re always peppering you with questions about when you’re going to have another. I was also around so many shallow women who would say things, such as, “I only want a girl.” But perhaps most upsetting were the inconsiderate things people who knew my situation said, including doctors (“You should just be glad you have a child already”), insinuating that wanting two children was greedy or that you obviously didn’t appreciate your first child.

Good luck to those who are trying. Try to find at least one sympathetic ear that you can vent to (not a spouse) – it does feel better to talk to someone who understands.
-Jennifer

 

Information helps, miscarriage is bad… Try this fertility assessment…

If you are here, then you too know the devastation of miscarriage…  when I had my miscarriage I searched the internet for answers, but there were none – no one will ever be able to say “this” is why you had a miscarriage.  So I must move on…  been moving on for over 4 years now.  Thought this was an interesting fertility assessment that I found on Conceive Online Magazine…  just helps remind you to make sure you are in good health and that you need to take care of yourself to help with conception (is this the be all end all, no, but it is a good reminder) – check it out.

http://www.conceiveonline.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=197

Be kind to yourself, be in good health, and I will look forward to hearing more from you all…  let me know what you think of the assessment.

 

Curvy women with “child bearing hips”, might be a good thing

As I sat in my gyn’s office waiting to take a test to see if my latest procedure was successful (will know in 3 weeks), I was reading the most recent issue of Conceive.  They had a short article, “curvy women, brainy babies”.  The long and short of it is that women with big hips and small waists have higher IQs and smarter babies.  It has to do with the fat on our hips and thighs contain omega-3 fatty acid that helps nourish the brains of both mother and baby.  Who knew?Of course there are other articles in the same magazine that discuses weight gain during pregnancy (saying less is best), and another article on being at your optimal weight is best for conceiving and staying pregnant…  will read those tomorrow…  for now I am happy with my curvy hips (and trying to lead a healthy lifestyle)…  more to come…