This post is near and dear to my heart. As someone who has experienced fertility challenges and ALL the feels that go into something like that, as an RN who has been entrenched in the allopathic paradigm for the last 16 years, and now as a health coach who works with women going through those very same fertility challenges, I feel its my duty to share some pretty powerful things that have come up over the years, both personally and in my work with clients.

No, this is not a post hating on modern medicine. There is awesome work that they do, and there is definitely a time and a place. Also, I regularly thank my lucky stars that we all get to live in a time where this type of medicine is available to us.

But when it comes to fertility (and honestly, women's health in general), I have a bit of a bone to pick.

Fertility is SO MUCH MORE than conceiving a baby when you want to conceive one.

Fertility is, in my opinion, synonymous with VITALITY. With HEALTH. With VIBRANCY. With BALANCE.

A woman in her highest expression of health is experiencing health on ALL FRONTS.

She's hungry in the morning.

She's sleeping well at night.

She's pooping every day.

She's able to digest her food and feel good after eating her food.

She's happy and content and experiences stable moods.

She's able to deal with stressors in a productive way.

She's not overly hot or overly cold, or overly sensitive to heat or cold.

She's got a good, strong appetite throughout the day.

And YES, she's got a healthy menstrual cycle and she ovulates regularly.

When a woman realizes she may be experiencing troubles conceiving, it usually goes something like this:

She and her husband have been trying for awhile. She hasn't become pregnant yet. She thinks its a good idea to go to her OB to see if everything's okay. That OB will likely tell her that there's nothing to worry about until she's been trying (unsuccessfully) for a year. After that amount of time, the doctor refers her to a reproductive endocrinologist at a fertility clinic. The fertility doctor tells the couple that their options are a few cycles of Clomid or Letrozole to help the body ovulate; if that is unsuccessful, they will try a round of IUI (intrauterine insemination); then if that's unsuccessful, they will move onto IVF (in-vitro fertilization). They will also analyze the husband's sperm to see if anything is amiss there.

It is a harrowing journey of timed intercourse, medications that involve a slurry of effects (I HATE the term side effects -- lets be honest here for a minute -- A SIDE EFFECT IS A DIRECT EFFECT OF TAKING THE MEDICATION YOU'RE PRESCRIBED. UGH. Lets call a spade a spade, here!!), meds that can only be taken for a short period of time due to ovarian hyperstimulation (Clomid can only be taken up to 6 rounds), procedures, more meds, injections, and trips to Interventional Radiology for egg retrieval and other complicated steps involved in the IVF process.

I know that assisted reproductive technology (ARF) has been a blessing for many families who would have otherwise not been able to conceive, and again -- what a testament to this day and age we live in where we can create families this way. Amazing!

But. And I have heard this from MANY clients through the years -- there is very little to no discussion at all about the woman's nutrition status, her lifestyle, her stress levels, her mineral balance, her exposure to estrogenic toxins, her metabolic health, her nervous system, her medication history, etc -- and THIS RIGHT HERE is so much of the problem with why there is SUCH struggle with fertility today!

Wouldn't it be incredible if, before couples had to go down the route of ARF, they really really gave their bodies the best possible shot at optimizing fertility through means like nutrition, lifestyle, stress management, etc?

There is a LOT to the path of conception where modern medicine just really misses the mark. And the pillars of our life -- the daily pillars and practices and habits that actually create and build health every single day -- THIS needs to be the place where we start.

What if instead of immediately offering clomid or letrozole, these reproductive endocrinologists had a thorough discussion about how a woman is nourishing? What if instead of forcing the body to ovulate through pharmaceutical means, they asked the better question of WHY the body isn't ovulating in the first place?

(The body does NOTHING by mistake, remember. If you're not ovulating, there is a reason.)

Is she not ovulating because she's not eating enough calories during the day
Is it because she's underweight?

Is it because she's on a particular diet or restricting in any way?

Is she undereating carbohydrates?

Is she drinking alcohol regularly?

Is it because she has a history of disordered or restrictive eating that has created a sense of unsafety / instability in her body?

Is she eating foods that are devoid of anything nutritionally beneficial, like processed foods, TV dinners and other junk?

Is it because she's working out too much?

Is it because she has an asinine amount of stress in her life?

Is it because her body's demands for energy have exceeded what is coming in in the form of fuel (food)?

These are only some of the questions I ask every single fertility client I work with, and the amount of information I glean from simply asking, holding space for them to share anything and everything that feels pertinent, and really listening to them is truly mind blowing and tells me SO MUCH about the WHY behind something like ovulatory health.

I understand that there are some couples, despite pristine diets, low stress levels, clean living and dialed-in nutrition, who will have trouble conceiving naturally for whatever reason and ARF may be the only option for them to have a biological child. I can't explain why this is true for some and not true for others. Again -- what a blessing to live in a time where this is an option.

Even so, I fully believe that being nutritionally sound, metabolically robust and well-mineralized DOES set a woman up for better success with ARF if that is the route she takes to becoming pregnant. Wouldn't it make the most sense to be as healthy as possible prior to going into something as huge as ARF? Wouldn't we want to be in our highest expression of health BEFORE undergoing something like ARF?

Things That Influence Fertility That ARF / IUI / IVF Cannot Circumvent

Body-wide inflammation

Poor egg quality

Hormonal imbalances

Nutritional / mineral deficiencies

Sperm that need some help (low count, low motility, abnormal morphology)

There is so much to consider when it comes to having optimal fertility. If there are other issues at play like the above listed issues, ARF can only do so much. It can only take you so far. I actually think its irresponsible of medical doctors NOT to address these issues prior to recommending all the things like clomid, letrozole, IUI, IVF.

When I work with clients to optimize their fertility, we focus on the following areas to really create a holistic, nuanced, individualized approach that is unique to the client and their circumstances / situation:

Nutrition

Nervous system

Stress management

Lifestyle

Home Environment

Mineral imbalances

Metabolic health

Digestion / gut Health

Emotional work

Movement

Mind / Body / Spirit connection

When we dial in all of these areas, when we learn the wisdom behind her symptoms, her challenges, her imbalances and when we understand the story that the body is telling us, we really do create an internal environment that is extremely amenable to new life.

This is my story. I had unexplained infertility, random and very sporadic and irregular ovulation, PCOS and severe adrenal dysfunction. I was told conceiving naturally was likely not going to be in the cards for us. They told me to get in touch with an endocrinologist when we wanted to start our family. None of this sat right with me. I knew I wasn't broken (despite being told I was by my OB), and I truly believed that if I gave my body what it needed in the form of excellent nutrition, managable stress levels, meaningful movement, connection to nature and sunlight, adequate rest, and working on the unseen pieces of my heart that needed their own healing -- that we would get pregnant one day.

And after 8 months of exactly that... we did. We conceived our son in May of 2022. And my body, as a testimonial to the good work I was doing on healing myself, coming BACK to myself, and allowing myself the time and space to welcome in new health and vitality, responded with regular ovulation, regular cycles, happy harmonized hormones, and then one beautiful May evening, a miracle conception that 9 months later became our son.

I am only one story. I am but one example of what is possible when we give the body exactly what it needs to heal and return to balance.

So to sum up:::

2 things can be true: we can be grateful we exist in a time where ARF is an option for families who would otherwise have no other option for having a baby, AND we can appreciate that there is so much more to fertility than clomid and IVF. That there is SO MUCH MORE to fertility than just does she ovulate every month.

When we are in pursuit of growing our family, of fulfilling a dream of becoming a mother, of creating and stewarding new life that will become the future of humanity, I believe we deserve the best.

We deserve the best chance at being our healthiest, our most vibrant, our most vital, our most balanced, our most robust, our most grounded and sound versions of ourselves so that we may be in that space to receive the gift of new life.

I am taking new clients at this time! If you are on a fertility journey and would like some support to have the family of your dreams, please click here to book a free discovery call with me. It would be my honor to help you in your healing journey!

Yours In Abundant Health,

Xoxo

Emily 😊