Birth Intuitive - Pregnancy success

Excerpt from Wisdom On Call, September 2000, newsletter written by Christiane Northrup MD author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom, published by Philips publishing.

Q: I am in my early 40's and a mother of two teens from my first marriage. Now that I am married to the man of my dreams, We've both had tests that indicate there should be no problems with conception for either of us. Even my menstrual cycle is like clockwork, yet after more than a year of trying, no luck. My doctor is recommending assisted reproductive measure, but I feel uncomfortable forcing my body. I am doing everything I can to create health so I can get pregnant on my own. Can you recommend any additional readings or resources?

A: I recommend four things:
Read the book Inconceivable: Winning the Fertility Game by Julia Indichova, a 43 year old who was told she'd never get pregnant without assisted technology. Very inspiring and medically accurate.
Begin using Fem-gest creme at midcycle-right after ovulation. Rub 1/4tsp per day on your inner thigh or abdomen. Stay on the cream until your period is due- approximately 14 days- then stop.
Consider having a phone consultation with Teresa Robertson, a Certified Nurse Midwife. Teresa is a "birth intuitive", so she works in that realm, in addition to the medical sphere. (303)258-3904
Follow a diet that keeps your insulin low, such as the one outlined in the book Protein Power. Too much insulin can result in hormone imbalance, leading to more estrogen being turned into androgen.

BREECH
Many women call me when they learn that their baby is in a breech position.
Carol called me upon learning her second baby was breech during her 31st week of pregnancy. Her first baby, despite attempts at turning, remained breech and she had a c section birth.
Carol very much desired a vaginal birth. Upon connecting with Carol's little boy, we learned that he felt that there was not enough room or welcoming space lower in Carol's pelvis. Further discussion with Carol revealed how her sister's daughter had died shortly after birth.
Carol's fear about losing her baby, and wanting to keep him safe closer to her heart contributed to causing constriction and tightness in her lower uterus and pelvis. Carol connected with her pelvis, released and let go of holding this pregnancy in so tight.
Upon my suggestion to either receive some Rolfing or Chiropractic work; she visited with a midwife who was also a Rolfer who did some gentle releasing of the muscular layers in her pelvis, creating more physical space in her pelvis.
During these sessions with the Rolfer, Carol concentrated on making room in her pelvis for her baby; and on releasing the fear and safety issues we had identified in our session.
Carol contacted me at 36 weeks, to inform me that her baby boy, Nicholas, had turned head down. One week later she went into labor, went on to have a very healing, satisfying vaginal birth.

HIGH FSH, CHRONIC PAIN
Very often fertility specialists neglect to determine if their client experiences chronic pain, or has had some trauma to her body. Often, these women are fearful about pregnancy increasing their pain. Additionally, chronic pain often results from and contributes to chronic inflammation. This in turn can raise insulin and stress hormone levels, which then can adversely affect reproductive hormone levels. In addition to the mind/body/spiritual work I offer; I find that these clients do well with body therapies such as, acupuncture, visceral manipulation and craniosacral therapy.
30% of fertility challenges are diagnosed as unexplained by fertility specialists.
Ana was one of those who fell into this group. She was referred to me by her fertility specialist after her In Vitro Cycle(IVF) failed. She was intrigued by mind-body approaches, and knew this was something she desired. She knew she needed to be in a different place--physically, emotionally and spiritually before she could attempt another IVF cycle. During our first session, when I was intuitively scanning her body, I discerned lots of inflammation in Ana's mid back. What Ana's fertility specialist did not know or address, was that Ana experienced chronic back pain. After four sessions with me and concurrent sessions with a naturopath/acupuncturist, she was pregnant!
The twist to Ana's story, is that the month before learning she was pregnant, she had revisited her fertility specialist and, after a disappointing series of numbers and tests, began planning on a donor egg in-vitro cycle.
What happened with Ana was that she really learned how to relax and let go. The ability to connect with and dialogue daily with her unborn baby increased her confidence in her body and her fertility. She was then able to become a participant with her fertility, rather than a victim of it. What was important about her attitude, was that she was quite content with her mind/body/spirit work before conceiving, because she knew she needed to feel differently inside herself. As a result, she was enjoying relaxing and meditating to nourish and strengthen herself, and then she conceived. She didn't approach relaxing and meditating as a goal or tool whose sole purpose was to get her pregnant. The more Ana grounded, relaxed and connected with her body and unborn baby, the more her pain diminished. She went on to experience an enjoyable pregnancy and gave birth to a healthy baby boy born around his due date.

UNEXPLAINED INFERTILITY WITH HISTORY OF DATE RAPE
L's story is one of those miracle stories which demonstrate to me the power of healing. What I remember about her powerful session with me is the lack of pressure for what we were doing to make it work - coupled with her desire to conceive her baby with her power of being a whole woman.
Sadly, but true, L's experience is not a unique one. More women than not, have experienced a sexual assault. The guiding definition of a sexual assault is any non-consensual sexual contact; which includes, incest, and date rape. Most assaults occur with someone the victim is familiar with.
In my work with teens, it is not uncommon that their first sexual experience is a date rape. There is little research which explores the long-term effects that such a traumatic and profound event has on a woman's long term reproductive health and functioning. Many women, like L push it to the background - saying "I have dealt with it and it is in the past" and never pursue counseling. Many women avoid counseling because of their fear of re-opening and re-experiencing the assault and all of the pain and traumatic sensations associated with it. In my experience, the body does not forget this trauma until it is held and healed and will keep creating pelvic issues (such as PID, ovarian cysts, abnormal uterine bleeding, Pre Term Labor, Uterine fibroids) until healing has happened. Many women find the counseling and assistance of a local Sexual assault center, even years after the event, to be an essential step in their healing path. Therapists trained in Somatic Expression Therapy, EMDR, or other trauma modalities can quickly assist a woman in healing this experience and becoming whole.
It is L's and my intention that her powerful story of emotional courage and healing assist other women in their path to becoming a mother.
A few months ago L gave birth, vaginally, to her healthy and amazing daughter, who, she strongly feels, is the same being we connected with in her initial session.

MY FERTILITY STORY
When I was about 30 I realized it was time to have children. Bill and I had been happily married for two years but together for about 8. I had been teaching elementary school for about 10 years and was working on a graduate degree and the timing felt right. When we stopped birth control I expected to get pregnant right away, after all my sister had, and so had most people that I knew. When it didn't happen, I talked with my gynecologist to see if there was anything that he could see that might point to a problem. He mentioned no problems and encouraged us to keep trying.
We had intercourse with no birth control for about a year after we moved to Colorado and I began to pursue a doctoral degree. During that time I began to get a little frustrated so I slowly educated myself on the ovulation cycle and we tried to time things right (Weschler, 1995). I was amazed at what I didn't know and was learning about my body. At 32 years old, there was much to learn! When after about a year, that didn't seem to work, we sought professional help. I went to an infertility doctor. I preferred to call them fertility doctors. I wanted help with my fertility and to call it infertility was insulting. I would find that such is the way with much of the medical terminology surrounding women's issues.
Looking at my history, this specialist found no real reason for our infertility and began some basic tests. The hysterosalpingogram proved that both of my tubes were open. The doctor reasoned that we try intrauterine inseminations (IUI). Maybe we needed help connecting the egg and sperm. But with the IUI the whole intimacy of creation was removed. It was all broken down into a scientific experiment. I felt like a cow. But I tried also to reason that if cows get pregnant this way, maybe, so could I. Just the thought of the whole process and testing was overwhelming and I needed to take some time to think about it and consider this approach. In that time we continued to try naturally and I continued to research on my own. We found out that one of the most successful in vitro doctors was in our local area and came to find out that we knew quite a few people who had great success with him. We made a visit..
At this visit it was explained that the protocol was to try IUI first for three cycles and then see about in vitro. Each step was very expensive and taxing emotionally. Again we were back into the tests and scientific/medical realm of conception. Everything seemed to be going fine but after two cycles I still was not pregnant. I was still on the roller coaster of waiting for my period and becoming devastated when it arrived, but adding to that the barrage of tests and doctor's visits in between.
After the second IUI and ultrasounds, they had found a recurring follicle on my left side and wondered about endometriosis. I had read about this disease and as I read more I was freaked out. This was in people who were harboring issues and had unresolved problems (Northrup, 1998). Problems, I wondered. Could it be that my hunch that the sexual abuse I encountered in high school had lasting damage and residual and long term effects on my life? No, that couldnít be. I had dealt with that. I have a loving husband who supports me! That is all in my past! But my hunch remained in the back of my mind as I had to undergo surgery to have the cyst removed and the endo cleared away.
Once the surgery was complete the doctor wanted me to quickly return for another IUI cycle as we would be sure the endo wouldn't have grown back already. But laying there on the table holding my husband's cleaned up sperm in a test tube in my hand to keep it warm while I waited for the nurse to inseminate me, for some reason I knew in my heart that this was not going to work this time either.
It didn't work. I was tired of the emotional rollercoaster. I began to put all my energy into the dissertation I wanted to finish. So we decided to take some time off. Completing my doctoral degree took all my creative energy, time and life. Though we didn't stop trying to get pregnant my energy was focused elsewhere. We skipped the regroup with the doctor in August and didn't return to this in vitro specialist in October like I had planned. I wrote and wrote. I defended my dissertation with great success on December 8th. I was exhausted from pushing that work to completion. I often compared it to a birth as I was birthing a creative piece that was very important to me. Once this was complete my plate was cleared and I had room to consider going back for that regroup that we missed in August. We scheduled it for February.
We sat down with the doctor who, not surprisingly, said the logical next step was in vitro fertilization and the process was explained again in depth. Because I had endometriosis I was asked to join a study to examine the effects of lupron in stopping the cycle to aid the effects of the in vitro. Again we were in this whirlwind of medical jargon and rules and tests. But it had been a long time since we were last in this office. As the doctor said, "You're 37, and not getting younger." So I worried about my age but also began to get cold feet.
I began to consider and think about some natural alternatives to in vitro. I had some time and was reading Christine Northrup's text Women's Bodies Women's Wisdom. I began to give a little more credence to what my heart was telling me, all the while going forward with the in vitro. But I talked with Bill and we agreed to investigate some alternative and natural routes as well. About this time a friend sent me a card saying that I might consider talking to Teresa Robertson, a Birth Intuitive. I had no idea what that meant. She claimed that Teresa had helped her greatly with the birth of her son. Honestly, I was at the point where I would try anything to help me do this on my own. My feet were getting colder to in vitro.
When I investigated further into Teresa's www.birthintuitive.com website I found something that I had been looking for; someone who connected the spiritual aspect of conceiving and carrying a baby with the physical and emotional. This was holistic in the true sense. I made and appointment thinking at that time that she could help us through our upcoming in vitro fertilization.
My first visit with Teresa was groundbreaking for me. As Teresa is a Certified Nurse Midwife as well as a Birth Intuitive she had heaps of information. In the past when I went to the doctors I would bring along a copy of my fertility charts (Weschler, 1995), where I had documented the details of my cycle including my waking temperature and quality of my cervical fluid and so on. After telling the doctors that I had these charts they just smiled at me, but never asked to look at them. I was surprised that they wouldn't examine all of the information available to them about my fertility while investigating my infertility. The way I understood it, this was a window into whether or not I was ovulating and when, among other things. Well, for the first time in years and years someone was interested in my charts! Teresa looked at my charts and told me that I was probably pregnant in a few of them and that they looked really good and definitely were promising! There was hope!
Our first visit consisted of an intensive interview and through that interview there was an almost overwhelming exchange of information. I learned so much. For example, there are vitamins for the male and female proven to aid conception (fertility blend). These were one thing that I quickly added to my routine. In this interview, Teresa gathered more information about my history and health than any doctor before. Besides gathering all kinds of new information that were relevant to my personal case, something else really important happened.
Teresa began to read my energy through a guided meditation. This was not too foreign to me as I had been practicing yoga for a few years and was practicing meditation. On this day I really pushed to open myself as much as I could to her through this meditation. It wasn't all easy. At times I was trying to do things perfectly and not just letting it come on its own. However, Teresa guided me through it and was in very close contact with my inner thoughts. She would ask me to bring energy to a certain place in my body and she knew precisely when I was able to reach that place, even though this was internally accomplished. After reading my energy she explained that I had a major block in my pelvis, my second chakra. This made sense to me. Energy was not reaching just the place that I was trying to make a home for a baby to grow. This was probably a major cause of my infertility and needed to be worked on. Presenting this problem was hopeful to me. For some reason, after talking with Teresa, I felt as though I could conquer this blockage and be open to accepting and receiving energy in a place that had been traumatized as a young woman.
During the interview Teresa addressed issues never before addressed by any doctor that I met with regarding my fertility. She was the first to ask me if I had been sexually abused. Having her address this in our initial meeting made me realize that the connection that I was trying to ignore probably was very important to this process. After talking with her about my experiences as a 14 and 16 year old, she directed me to therapists of all sorts and books that really helped me begin to work through the trauma I experienced (Levine, 1997; Matsakis, 1997). She connected my energy blockage to this trauma and I agreed that it was a major issue that was unresolved. I understood more about my own personal fertility.
Teresa took our first session even farther. She began to see a girl above my left shoulder who was the spirit of my baby. This little person was ready to come into our lives, but with my energy blocked I wasn't letting her in. I came to realize through talking with this girl that I needed to create a safe place for this spirit to become flesh and blood. Knowing that she was waiting for me and that she felt as though I could overcome this difficulty was the major push I needed.
I went home SWIRLING! I was thankful for this spirit. I was thankful for this opportunity to change my life trajectory and move out of the past into the future. I was also devastated at the realization that my past was coming back to haunt me in such a significant way. There was much work to be done.
I spent a week crying and grieving the trauma with my husband to embrace this past event as never before. We connected on deeper levels in trying to think about how to deal with this new information that something from my past was interrupting our lives now. He gave me space to meditate and think. He was brutally honest with me about our own relations which also had been affected all along. He stuck with me and talked about this and thought about this with me deeply for about a week. Through our talks we began to communicate in new and deep ways. I came to realize that he loves me regardless of my marred past. Our relationship grew so much stronger through our conversations surrounding this tough spot..
I began to realize that those bad experiences are a part of who I am today. I embraced them. I went to a therapist who helped me to realize that I had never healed that 14 year old girl and that the comforting she needed was sorely overdue. As a 37 year old woman, I had the ability and the wisdom to do that now, and I did. I wanted to integrate my whole being from past to present. I worked intensively everyday at it. It brought me to emotional lows I hadn't yet experienced. I had no patience for other things. But I kept working. I wrote in a journal. I created artistic renditions of my feelings and thoughts, I practiced yoga and meditated and forgave myself.
On the physical level, I took the vitamins that I ordered on-line and my husband did too. On the spiritual level, I stayed connected with that spirit that was over my left shoulder giving me the hope I needed. I did not want to lose her or have her lose faith in me and my ability to create a safe place of acceptance in our lives. After reading Teresa's website about baby alters, I realized that this might be a way that Bill and I could stay in contact with her everyday.
I created a baby alter. I placed photos of me as a baby and Bill as a baby on a dresser top in our bedroom. A blue candle was placed on a cloth that my grandmother had embroidered long ago. We placed a small silver knife with a daisy on it that was Bill's grandmothers to symbolize safety. A silver heart given to us by Bill's mother was added to symbolize love. A wedding photo of us together showing the strength of our bond and unity was centrally placed. Rocks gathered from special places were added as well as some shells to remind us of the strength of the natural world. Every night before climbing into bed we would light the candle and silently pray, or talk with the spirit. We assured her of the love, peace, acceptance, and safety that we could provide. Sometimes we would talk about our funny baby pictures and the other objects we placed there. Every night we would say good night to the babies as we snuffed out the candle.
To complete this tale, two weeks after my first visit with Teresa, I was slated to go in for the final testing before the in vitro and I got sick with the flu so I canceled the appointment. When Bill and I had worked through some of these things and were able to be intimate again we found a heightened level of intimacy in the bedroom as well as in our communication and openness with one another. We conceived our baby, due on December 8th, two and a half weeks after my initial visit with Teresa after many, many years of the infertility roller coaster. We still visit the baby alter each night and have added new things as we think about the baby's growth in her safe place inside of me. I am almost six months pregnant and have had all good reports from the doctors. Our future is looking brighter and brighter. With Teresa's help this spirit has already taught us so much about life, love, and taking care of our spirit as well as following our intuitions. We can't wait to hold this little girl in our arms.