The Fertile Soul

For three weeks now I've been seeing an acupuncturist.  And for seven weeks I've been on a new diet to support the work my acupuncturist is doing to promote my fertility through Traditional Chinese Medicine.  The quote above is actually an edited photo I took of a wall hanging in my acupuncturist's office.  It really inspires me and helps me to look at my situation differently and helps me to take on this new challenge head on.

So, as I've alluded to in previous posts, I'm basically trying to incorporate some holistic Eastern healing methods in with our Western medicinal approach.  We've been down the route of IUI, surgery, diagnostic testing and Western Medicine has left us infertile for over three years and with a frustrating diagnosis of "unexplained infertility."  The doctors say we have a 3% chance  of conceiving on our own and that our best hope of achieving the family we want is to do IVF, which costs $13-23K and is not covered by health insurance.

We decided to try something completely different as kind of a last ditch effort before financing IVF next year, so based off high recommendations from other women in our infertility support group, we decided to read The Infertility Cure and I scheduled an appointment an acupuncturist in our area who specializes in infertility and actually collaborates with Dr. Randine Lewis, the author of The Infertility Cure, as a member of The Fertile Soul group.

The Fertile Soul is a body, mind, spirit program of deep internal healing based upon Taoist and Chinese medical practices. They treat infertility by integrating Western expertise with Eastern acupuncture, dietary modifications, traditional Chinese herbal medicine, and healing movement such as fertility yoga.  This blend of therapies helps you heal and strengthen your body and reproductive system by overcoming obstructions to the creative life force, helping people take control of their lives, recognizing causes of imbalance, and obtaining inner peace and harmony. 

As I said above, I've been on the new diet for seven weeks and have had weekly acupuncture appointments for three weeks now.  So far I'm really enjoying the program and looking forward to sharing my thoughts about this experience in a series of future blog posts.  Topics I would like to cover include:

1. The book and TCM philosophy
2. The diet and weightloss, and how it effects fertility
3. How acupuncture can help fertility
4. The herbal treatments
5. Charting your cycle
6. Changes I've observed in my body and outlook
7. Getting the support you need
8. Fertility yoga
9. Meditation, relaxation, and mindfullness
10. Financial considerations
11. Our modified plan for TTC & ART

It's going to be a busy Fall with work and personal life events but I'll do my best to check in as often as I can and chip away at this list of topics I'd like to explain as I explore this exciting new approach to our infertility journey!

Egg Sharing Program - Would you do it?

Denise Everett-Keene is able to see exactly when the sperm connects with the eggs through this monitor in a lab at The Hugh Wynter Fertility Management Unit at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Mona, St Andrew.

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/UHWI--baby-factory--gets--700-m-expansion_11455333#ixzz1vcQj7NPq

I read this article about a week ago which mentions a clinic in Jamaica that offers an "egg sharing program" that is in such high demand that they are expanding their clinic.  The egg sharing program "allows older couples who are having difficulty conceiving, to receive healthy eggs from younger couples who are in need of fertility procedures, in exchange for their footing the bill for the donor couple's treatments."


I instantly got excited and wished that B & I could do it.  Well, I suppose there is nothing stopping us from looking into it, but I instantly wondered if it was that safe to do this there rather than in the U.S.  I started wishing that I could find such a program in the U.S.  But then I suppose it would become political and people would get all up in arms about.  


I've read recently about Indian surrogacy and how many people think that Western couples are exploiting poor Indian women.  But there is another side to that argument.  Some say that these women are getting money they desperately need for the their families and helping to share the joy of parenthood with another couple who needs help.

Couldn't this egg sharing program be seen the exact same way (on both sides of the argument)?

Then I started wondering, would I want a child of mine being raised by someone else?  What if the other couple's procedure worked with my egg, but mine & B's did not.  Then they'd have my child and I wouldn't.  Could I live with that?

Then I came across an article about egg donation: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/14/infertility-egg-freezing_n_1515792.html, and remembered that a lot of young women donate their eggs as a way to earn money in college.

I started thinking, what if I donated eggs a few times to earn enough money to do IVF in a few years?  Then I wouldn't have to worry about the risk of the other people getting pregnant with my eggs while I do not (like I might in a shared egg program).  And, I'd be helping another family struggling from the same hardships that B & I have been going through.

These programs prefer proven fertility, but it is not required.  And from what we can tell, our issues are probably male factor infertility (I have a clean bill of health on every infertility test I've ever had).  The programs do have an age limit though, so I'd have to hurry if I want to do it.  And I think they require a lower BMI, but I've kicked started a new effort to shed the extra lbs already. So maybe this could be an option for us in a year or so if we are not pregnant naturally (meaning B's surgery would have been successful!).

When I mentioned it to B, his first concern was that if I take all those hormones and give up all those eggs, it might jeopardize my fertility for us in the future.  Valid concern.  And since I'm 30 now, my eggs and time are both dwindling.

A shared program would probably combat that issue if could donate some of my eggs during the same cycle that we are using the rest to do IVF.  But do we have to go to Jamaica to do it then?  Maybe some more research in a year or two would be a good idea.  

Best to focus on the results of B's surgery for now and hope that we get pregnant naturally I suppose.  But I can't help but worry that time is running out for me if we need to consider other options.  I'm such a planner (and a worrier) and want to be prepared.  I don't want to look back and wish "if only we had...."

So now I'm wondering, how many others out there, who either are now or have in the past experienced infertility would consider something like this?  Either an egg sharing program or a few cycles of egg donation to earn money toward their own ART expenses?