Kelly Konrad

Disclaimer: This post contains a lot of information about fertility and a woman’s cycle…not for the squeamish! Haha!

It’s been like more than six months since I started fertility treatment. After getting another pregnancy test, I am doing something I have been meaning to do for a long time. The medications, while helping our chances with conceiving, have been taking a toll on my moods, my energy level, my cortisone levels, and just my body in general. Mark and I decided that we would take a 2-3 month hiatus from treatments and medications, so I can let my body’s natural cycles restore back to their natural rhythms. It is a huge sense of relief!

Yes, we still want in the worst way to have a baby, so we are experimenting with a more natural approach, while still pursuing adoption. I’m finding cool natural ways to promote fertility, like flax seeds and pumpkin seeds in the follicular stage, and sunflower seeds and sesame seeds for the luteal phase. There’s also essential oils from Young Living that I forgot I had. For the menstural phase, there’s an oil blend called Dragon Time, and it helps with pms symptoms, like cramps, moodiness, and others. During the luteal phase, there’s a natural form of progesterone called Progessence plus. These are two of the natural approaches I am learning about.

After almost a year of fertility treatments, I could teach a class about all of this, so I better explain some of these terms. The menstural phase is pretty self explanatory, the follicular phase is the female body growing a follicle with an egg in preparation for fertilization. The ovulation stage is when the egg is released, and then the luteal phase, the sperm and egg hopefully meet, and a blastocyst develops, turning into a fetus.

I’m hoping that by taking a natural approach to fertility, and health in general, it will be more gentle and rewarding, instead of symptom after symptom- at least for now! Overall, these fertility treatments have been a blessing in some ways too. For example, I’m becoming aware of my body’s needs, and I’m better able to nourish myself. Nourishing the body is key to nourishing a healthy baby while he or she is growing inside. This sense of awareness has spread into other areas of health, like nutrition, physical activity, mental health, and others.

I may have taken a break from fertility treatments, but the journey is still happening. We haven’t given up yet. If anything, it feels as if it just took a different, more positive, and hopefully a more fruitful turn.