Happy 4th of July, TCM update

July 4, 2015,

Happy Fourth of July!!!

Well, feverishly packing to get ready for our lengthy trip to visit my family. My son has been counting down the days to visit and I'm excited too. I had a last TCM appointment yesterday and left a bit deflated. My pulses were bad which I anticipated from lack of sleep.

They kind of sat me down for a heart to heart and said I absolutely must go back to daily herbs. I'd switched to every other day to save money and they weren't cutting it. They know my financial concerns and suggested I stop the acupuncture. When I reminded them I could be doing a FET in a few months there was a lot of back and forth quick talking in Chinese that I struggled to make out by facial expression.

Basically, they wanted me to start coming every week for new herbs and acupuncture. I'm leaving for MI though, so it was decided they'd do a super charged acupuncture session yesterday and give me a month of herbs. When I get back, they'd do weekly acupuncture to get my womb ready for transfer. They cut me a break too...half price acupuncture sessions. Thank you, God! I swear if I could get on an insurance plan that accepts acupuncture and chiropractic care, Heaven would really be smiling down on me.

For acupuncture, they did a two fold session. Normally, I just lie on my back and get the fertility acupuncture going, but yesterday, they had me start on my stomach. She put the needles on my back to really get my kidneys and kidney channel working. After a half hour she had me flip. The needles were a slightly different configuration and concentrated on pulling the menstruation energies down. She also did them straight up my scalp to the top of my head to increase Qi.

Afterwards I chatted with them a bit about my situation. Basically they said Qi is like a river behind a damn. When it breaks, it should flow quickly, freely and strongly downstream. Mine was trickling. "Soooo...basically, I'm so intuitive I'm like my environment, right?" He looked at my quizzically. "I'm in a drought. I need rainfall." For some reason, he thought that was hysterical. "Yes yes yes. Drought. You're in a drought."

Well, I was sent away and instructed to relax relax relax which is kind of MY mantra they've prescribed me. I also have a boat load of herbs to drink up. It's sad, but they don't even taste bad to me anymore. Never in a million years would I have believed them it was an acquired taste, but I drink it the same as someone would drink coffee in the morning.

I halfheartedly said maybe my body will cooperated and fall into line before our transfer and he said "I wish." Sometimes sensitivity is lost in translation, so I will interpret that as "That is my wish as well" and remove all the negative connotation I placed on it.

They insisted I give my mom a hug and discussed some health issues she was having. I had to chuckle. He said she should avoid surgery and get acupuncture, that they might help, but not as well as he would, "of course." I appreciate his confidence in himself ;)

Well, off to pack my bags. I'm really looking forward to our trip. It's the longest we've gone back, ever. Three and a half weeks. I'm not sure what will happen with our embryo adoption journey and when we'll be able to head back again, so I want Reed to get a good healthy dose of family. TV filming should be picking up right as we get back, so I won't miss but a week or two of auditions, and fortunately I can carry my "day job" with me anyway. With my husband traveling five days a week, some good family time is just what the doctor has ordered.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July! Much love.

God Bless.

Yoni Steam or "V Steam"

July 1, 2015

Well, it's been a while since I posted because I really had no new info. I spotted for a good 11 days which I'm starting to think is my "period." I spotted 10 days last time and both occurred at 45 day intervals. My gut tells me I'm just not building up enough endometrial lining to have a proper "bleed."

I know many of you will think I'm just plain batty, but hear me out. A while back in a mommy group someone posted a link of Gwyneth Paltrow and how they thought she was off her rocker for getting a V-steam. (Exactly what it sounds like folks, a vagina steam.) There was one girl who'd tried it...more about her later. As I looked more into it...it made sense to me. Maybe it's because of all the TCM, acupuncture and Eastern medicine alternatives I've been living in accordance to, but encouraging adequate blood flow down there is integral to reproductive health.

I saw the post, saw the horrified reaction to it and kind of forgot about it. Fast forward a few months. I was at a birthday party and a fellow mom asked me how my infertility issues were going. She had seen my post during National Infertility Week and messaged me privately about having to grab a cup of coffee...we needed to talk. I told her, kind of same old same old. Well, listen to this, she said.

She had been trying for several years to conceive her son. Her doctor finally ran labs on her and her FSH came back at 33. For all us POF ladies, we know what that means. POI / POF diagnosis was imminent. She scheduled a consult with a fertility doctor, but there was a three month wait so she continued her acupuncture and TCM and heard about this crazy thing called a Yoni Steam. She decided to give it a whirl...couldn't hurt. So, she went to a little spa in Korea Town and had a vagina steam. Low and behold, she conceived that cycle. Two years go by and she is trying for number two. Knows it's near impossible but thought, eh, I'll have it done again, see if it works. Has it done, and PRESTO! Now, that can be purely coincidental I know, but she told me as crazy as it sounds, seriously just try it.

So, I thought back to that thread on Facebook, searched it, found the girl who'd tried it and messaged her. She looked back through her emails to when she tried it and found out it was the month before she'd conceived her son. She says she has no clue if THAT is what did it, but the timing was uncanny.

I talked to my husband about it, expecting he'd be horrified and in stride he just said, "Do it. It can't hurt." And, he's right. I priced out two spas that do it in town and prices range from $60-$90 for a V-steam. The gal on Facebook did it herself so I started looking into that. I was worried where I'd get the proper herbs, until I ran across the site Vibrant Souls. This site not only had amazing info on the Yoni Steam (more pleasant and anatomically correct than V-steam) but also had the herbs for sale and very reasonably priced.

For $15 you get three steams and if you sign up for their monthly membership it has free shipping and their guided meditation. My friend who did it at home said she paid $5 for the herbs in store, so the price was identical, but Vibrant Souls uses all organic certified herbs in the amounts that are correct. I figure why not.

I contacted the owner and asked if I could get a sample to review for you and she's popping it in the mail. I'm really hoping I love it and I plan to sign up for the monthly membership. I figure one acupuncture session is $40 and I go twice a month. If a Yoni Steam promotes blood flow and health down there, that's a fraction of the cost to steam three times a month. Whether it miraculously causes a spontaneous pregnancy, or just prepares my womb to carry for our embryo adoption, it's a win win.

As soon as it arrives and I'm able to give it a try, I will definitely let you know how it goes and what I think. I'm really excited to try it. I've tried all other holistic routes and after seeing how beneficial they've all been, I can't help but think, as crazy as it sounds to someone not rooted in holistic treatment, that I see the vast possibilities in it.

I'll write more about it and how it benefits when I post my review.

In other news, I'm off to the chiropractor in a few minutes to get cracked before boarding a plane for a nice lengthy vacation with my son. I'm trying to fit in TCM on Friday before I go as well. I know I should probably have a nice acupuncture session and get stocked on herbs.

EA is still on stand still. I knew we wouldn't hear anything until August, but I catch myself getting nervous and excited. I started an online course in epigenetics. It's way way way above my head because it talks about all the DNA coding and how and why it varies. My interest is more in the EA aspects of how epigenetics would apply to embryo adoption and the mother carrying the baby. I was told by the instructor later lectures would be more applicable, but it was important to know the science behind it.

I feel like I'm in a Charlie Brown world with the teacher going "wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wa." Thankfully, I'm doing it for knowledge, not accreditation. I can kind of pick and chose what I pay attention to. There is also a great documentary on it on youtube. Although that one covers the science of it in the beginning, it is in layman's terms ;) They get more into the EA aspects toward the end.

In a nut shell. Everyone has genetic coding, but there are things that "turn off" certain genes and "turn" others on. Although an embryo may have coding for blue eyes, they could be light or dark depending on what "turns" on that gene. So, a genetic sibling to a baby I carry may have light blue eyes and my baby have dark blue eyes because that is what I have. Same with hair, personality traits, medical issues. All very fascinating.

They are finding that for people outside EA, it is incredibly applicable that how your great grandmother ate may affect your medical issues now. Something I thought interesting in terms of POF. I personally feel that as generations from us are born we will see some adverse effects from the toxins in our environment, food and medicines. I'm excited more research in the field is being done. Diseases like Alzheimers and Diabetees they are finding may be fueled by epigenetic factors.

Any who, I went off on a nerd tangent.

As always, keep the Faith and God Bless!

·         Tap