OUR JOURNEY TO PREGNANCY
"Mark & I were married in 2002 and our plan was to start a family straight away. Well, as we now know, things don’t always go to plan. After six months of trying to fall pregnant I found out that I had severe endometriosis and had two operations to have it removed. The doctors told us that there was no reason that we couldn’t go on to have children as the endometriosis had no effect on my “baby making” organs.
So we tried for another six months without any success. The doctors at this point started to get concerned, to get pregnant I had to stay off the pill thus increasing the chances of the endometriosis coming back. It was suggested to us that we needed to try IVF as time was of the essence for us. So we started on the road to IVF. After being pumped full of drugs through needles in my stomach I felt like I had handed my body over to science and had put all my faith in the medical system that this would work.
After the first attempt I ended up being hyper stimulated because the drug dosage was too high. We had three failed IVF cycles. That was it for me; I couldn’t jump on the emotional roller coaster again. So we gave up on IVF. They could give us no reason why this wasn’t happening for us so we would give it all a rest.
Well in November 2006 we found out I was pregnant, naturally!!! The shock and excitement that this had actually happened was overwhelming. We were finally having all of our dreams come true. At seven weeks pregnant I had some bleeding and went for an ultrasound to find that our baby had no heartbeat. It turned out to be a Molar pregnancy. Not only did we have to deal with our dreams being crushed, but we also had to wait another year to make sure the Molar pregnancy didn’t turn cancerous!!! We couldn’t believe it, just our luck.
After a year of blood tests (well almost) we started trying again. I had always wanted to try an alternative to medicine (such as a naturopath) and had seen Ruth Sharkey on the TV being promoted as the “Baby Maker”, so I started looking into going to see her. Then my Dad rang me one day and said, “Guess what I saw today?” I went past my old family home in Riding Road and they have opened a clinic there to help women get pregnant.
I just had to contact Heather Bruce and make an appointment straight away. I believe in fate and this was definitely a sign that we needed to do this. Mark was really skeptical coming from a background of studying science, but was willing to give anything I wanted to give a go. Heather told us BOTH of us were needing to improve our health as BOTH make a baby so Mark, whose sperm were ordinary, embarked up on the adventure with me.
After seeing Heather for a very short amount of time she was able to establish that my luteal phase was too short for the egg to implant, something that five years of medical investigations hadn't picked up. After Mark and I had regular treatments and took Heather’s magic herbs and changed our diets it wasn’t long (about 4 months) before we had fabulous news that we were expecting a little miracle.
Then I started bleeding. Heathen had warned me to keep an eye on my basal temperature still – and if it were to go down, to stay home. So I reran what happened last time and panicked!! I went in to see Heather who felt my belly, told me there was too much cold in there and cupped it – what a shock. She assured it me it was quite safe, and after moxa and needles and more herbs, and a few more visits – and a scan to check a heart beat was still happening – it all settled down.
Mark was to keep using moxa on my back at home and I continued having regular acupuncture. Then I bled again!!! More of the same – and after several panics eventually it was discovered at 21 weeks that I have a polyp near the cervix and that is the trouble – baby was fine.
Needless to say Mark had lost some of his skepticism and was now quoting Heather when I wasn’t eating the right thing, e.g. “You should be drinking cold water Kirsten” and “What would Heather say about that?” Thanks to Heather I am now 32 weeks pregnant and we are so excitedly awaiting the birth of our first child. We cannot thank Heather enough for her support through the whole pregnancy. I am sure that with all the preparation that we have done with Heather, Baby Perry will arrive safely and content with the world. It’s been a long journey but things are sent to test us and we come out stronger at the other end. I can’t wait to hold that precious bundle of joy in my arms and finally feel what it’s like to be a Mum. Our special day is fast approaching (end of 2008)."
Mark & Kirsten
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Pregnancy Stories 
