Yes, it's been a while but I have lots to chat about!
First, I went to my first infertility support group on March 18 and I met a group of amazing women. Meeting people who are going through a similar situation makes you feel less lonely. There is definitely a bond there that is hard to explain but even though I only just met these woman once, I know I could call on any of them for support.
Everyone had a different story but the struggles were mostly the same. I had never talked that much about infertility and my issues. I would definitely recommend trying to find a group and checking it out! I found my local group by searching the
Resolve website. There is a tab for "Services and Support" where you can search for a group in your area, either one led by a professional or a peer-led group, which is free to attend. I went to a peer-led group meeting and will certainly be at future meetings!
After the meeting my husband and I talked a lot about our situation and we have pushed up the date of when we would be returning to the serious business of trying to conceive. We have been on an extended break and were going to start things up again with doctors, etc in August but have opted for May, at least to get started with a Naturopath doctor.
We are set to meet
Dr. Pina as
Inner Source Natural Health for a fertility work up on May 10, which happens to be Mother's Day! It is a two-hour visit with both partners and you leave with a plan in hand. She combines natural medicine like herbs, vitamins, etc with acupuncture and changes to your diet.
We want to get started on getting our bodies in gear and then we will move onto the RE doctor, if need be, sometime in the summer when/if we need to. I am happy with this plan...I like easing back into this on a natural path first and then seeing what lies ahead after that.
IMMUNITY AND INFERTILITY
A few things have been coming up about my immunity levels that I need to get checked. Something keeps pointing me in that direction as the reason why we have yet to conceive.
First, my doctor at the
Sher Institute for Reproductive Medicine did a test and determined that my Natural Killer Cells were at a very high level, meaning that my body could be rejecting an embryo as a foreign object. Check out my post from a year-ago
here.
Second, I've had pain/weakness in my left wrist for well over 2 years and it has not gotten any better. I've had an MRI and it shows fluid build-up in my wrist. The doctor I went to see at the time (a hand/wrist specialist) was no help and just said I should stop doing yoga. Well I did and it didn't help. I had to see another hand specialist for a sprained finger on the other hand and I asked about the pain in my wrist. he said the Xrays, etc look great so he suggested I get tested for auto-immune diseases. I have an appt on Monday to see a doctor for some blood work.
After getting all that info, my mother-in-law was watching a local news channel on Long island and saw a report from a homeopathic doctor.
Dr. Garry D'Brant, about adrenal glands and infertility. He suggested that the adrenal glad is often overlooked when doctors are diagnosing infertility. They mostly opt to check the thyroid instead. Adrenal glands can also be impacted by immune issues.
With that said, I will be looking into all of this over the next couple of months with some help from the medical/holistic community!
IN LOVING MEMORY...
In January I lost my grandmother, Julia, who lived a very full life to 91 years old. She was someone I could always talk to and lean on throughout my life. She was the first close person to me who died and although I am happy that she is no longer suffering, I miss her and talk to her often. So here is a tribute to my Grammy G!
"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but Really loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get all loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
--Excerpt from
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
