After a year and half of medical intervention, an operation to remove left fallopian tube, two failed IVFs, a chemical pregnancy and a horrific bout of OHSS, Leslie turns to Circle + Bloom’s IVF/IUI Mind + Body Program for help and gets pregnant. Here is her story:
“When you’re trapped in the soul-crushing cycle of infertility, you’ll do pretty much anything and everything to up your odds of conceiving. At one point, about a year into our struggle, I would estimate that 85% of my daily decisions revolved around the question, ‘Will this help me get pregnant?’ From what I ate and drank (Only organic! Cooked veggies instead of raw! No caffeine or alcohol! Red raspberry fertility tea!) to how I worked out, from acupuncture to massage, from ultrasound checks to therapy, I quite literally didn’t take a step without contemplating its potential ability to help us make a baby. It’s a miserable way to live, and I don’t for a second doubt the research showing the IVF patients experience higher rates of stress than cancer or AIDS patients.
When I heard about Circle + Bloom, I jumped at the chance to try the DVDs. I’m a freelance health writer for multiple mainstream women’s magazines, and had just started writing for Natural Health, who had assigned me a story on complementary approaches to fertility. I’m a huge believer in guided imagery and meditation, and had had success in the past with biofeedback and sleep/anxiety. I believe in the body’s ability to help itself and wanted to tap into that. Most of the treatments and therapies I had been using involved someone else doing something to me: Physicians prescribing me drugs, my husband injecting me with hormones, my acupuncturist moving my chi. This was a chance to do something on my own.
Every night, I’d kiss my husband and roll out of bed and into the family room, where my laptop lay waiting, Circle + Bloom DVD queued up to the appropriate day. With the lights off, I’d lie down, pull a blanket up to my neck and hit “Play.” Just like the woman with the soothing voice would tell me to, I’d imagine a calming halo of light surrounding my feet and moving up my ankles, or cream dripping through the cracks and crevices of my brain, and I’d start to feel lighter. Then I’d picture my ovaries working diligently and productively – or, if we had just finished a round of IVF, the embryo snuggling into my uterine wall.
We’re currently 26 weeks pregnant with a little girl, after a year and half of medical intervention, an operation to remove my left fallopian tube, two failed IVFs, a chemical pregnancy and a horrific bout of OHSS. I attribute the pregnancy, first and foremost, to IVF and the skill of our fertility doctor. But I know I helped us get here by taking positive, proactive steps, like the Circle +Bloom DVDs. They were empowering at a time when I felt out of control, comforting when life seemed unfair. I’ve since passed them on to a friend who’s recently embarked on her own journey and hope they bring her the same sense of peace, strength and potential which they brought to me.”
Do you have a Circle+Bloom success story to share?
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