Our Top Tips For Increasing Your Fertile Window - Some we bet you've never thought of!

Working out when you are at your most fertile can be very confusing, especially when you have few fertile signs to tell you that you are at your peak fertility.

Here at My Fertile Body we teach couples to recognise any imbalances, and treat them to increase energy into your fertile window. Listening and responding to your body's signs is really the key to conceiving. Bear in mind that given the right environment sperm can last inside you for up to 5 days, where as when an egg is released from the ovary it needs to be fertilized within 24 hours. So here are our top tips to increase your fertile signs & make your fertile window even longer;

1. Drink plenty of fluids (Filtered water) especially in the morning, aim to drink at least 1 litre before lunchtime. If it's winter and cold, try warm water instead of cold.
2. Sleep, sleep and more sleep! Trust us when we tell you, sleep is paramount to your fertility. If you don't sleep well, or have an interrupted sleep pattern, this has a knock on effect on your hormone balance.
3. Balance your hormones, if your cycle is irregular it is much harder to determine your fertile window, try getting acupuncture, and reflexology to help get you back into a regular cycle
4. Use our Acupressure points, (subscribe for free) Yin-tang has a direct balancing effect on the endocrine system, great for those with high FSH levels, or low cervical mucus.
5. Keep your Vitamin C levels up, this helps keep your cervical mucus more watery therefore more sperm friendly.
6. Avoid wearing thongs/G Strings, these can reduce your cervical mucus because of the constant close contact. You don't have to wear Bridget Jones knickers, there are plenty of sexy undies out there!
7. Trying swapping Tampons for sanitary towels for 3 cycles and see if this helps increase your cervical mucus, it generally does.
8. Men; make sure they are taking a really good quality multi vitamin, sperm needs good nutritional support to be healthy and fertile.
9. Eat a diet full of lots of fresh, organic energy rich foods. Snacking on seeds and nuts really help to keep your blood sugar balanced.
10. There are plenty of herbal supplements that can really help, Agnus Castus, Evening Primrose Oil are two examples that help balance and promote a healthy fertile window. The longer your fertile window, the greater the chances of conception.
11. Lastly and so importantly, manage both of your stress levels, stress has an enormous negative impact on your fertility. It can even be the cause of irregular ovulation. So look into ways to de-stress. Learn to Meditate, take up Yoga, Tai Chi or Qigong. Treat yourself to a massage. Start to take regular gentle exercise.

We hope these tips help, remember it takes 3 months to see a marked improvement in both of your fertility so be kind to yourself, relax and enjoy.

Our Create A bump on-line Course offers everything you need to take control of your fertility and conceive in a positive stress free way.

Katie Murphy Lic AC MTCMCI

Secondary Infertility From A Chinese Medicine Point Of View

When trying for a second baby, it’s really worth taking a step back, and reviewing your current energy status. Why? In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) it is recommended to leave the body re charge for at least 2 years before even preparing to have another baby. Yet here in the western world, we tend to want more babies as quickly as possible. Many women that come to us feel guilt that their son or daughter doesn't have a sibling, and that they are getting older, and can be affected by peer pressure from family and friends.

What Is Jing?

In Traditional Chinese Medicine Jing is the primal life force in living beings. It is our genetic stock and it determines the power of our life. Jing is a fundamental determinant of our potential for a long life. A person with an abundance of Jing will most likely be healthy, strong and resilient, and can achieve great longevity. Unfortunately, for those who would like to live forever, Jing is depleted by life itself, moment by moment and day by day. All disease, minor or major, diminishes Jing; and in turn, in a vicious cycle, reduced Jing makes us more susceptible to disease, degeneration and general ageing. As Jing slowly or quickly runs out, we age, degenerate and then die. All death is ultimately associated with the loss of Jing.

Pregnancy and birth especially if either or both were more draining than others, for example if you suffered with bad morning-sickness, pre-eclampsia, or had a traumatic birth. When any of these happen to our body, they create an extra drain to our energy/Qi.

At conception, the Prenatal Jing (Essence) is passed to the foetus from the parents.

Prenatal Jing (together with an energy derived from the Kidneys of the mother) nourishes the foetus during pregnancy. So if the mother is exhausted going into another pregnancy, then this can lead to complications, especially post-natal, where we see women hit a wall of absolute exhaustion.

Prenatal Jing determines basic constitution, strength, and vitality. It is fixed in quantity, determined at birth: it cannot be added to, only conserved and used up more slowly. It is stored in the Kidneys.

You and your partner’s Jing are carried to your baby, and how you both are physically and mentally at time of conception really does make a difference. So if you have a toddler and they aren't sleeping through the night, or any other issue that is draining you both, please address this before you start to try again.

The way to conserve Prenatal Jing is by striving for balance in all life activities. Balance meaning moderation in diet, work/rest, and sexual activity. Irregularity or excess in these areas wastes Prenatal Jing.

Certain exercises help conserve Prenatal Jing, such as breathing exercises, Taiji (Tai Chi), and Qi Gong. Acupuncture is perfect to re balance both of you.

What we really want to instil in you is to make sure you have the energy to conceive and carry a baby right now, and if your answer is no, then we recommend taking steps such as our 90 day egg boosting program (exclusive to Create A Bump), getting extra sleep, and eating nourishing foods that replenish your lost energy.

Join Create A Bump

Yoga And Your Full Potential - Natasha Al-Riyami

 Yoga and your full potential

Natasha Al-Riyami

One daughter, three miscarriages, a divorce, finding the love of my life and one son later… The gift of yoga

I have been practicing yoga since I was 18. I had a little break when I had my daughter and didn’t practice during one of my unsuccessful pregnancies. Although my journey to having two beautiful children has been a rocky one, I can honestly say that yoga gave me some serious suspension! The journey over that rocky path felt much smoother than it may have done had I not had my practice.

Yoga is the practice of unity, to join ones physical body with their spiritual body. Everybody's experience of yoga is unique, but the fundamental benefits are the same: yoga calms the mind and strengthens the body

When we are given tricky situations to deal with, we can either feel out of control or we can utilise that experience to make us stronger and wiser. Yoga kind of reflects life in that we may find certain postures (asanas) difficult and challenging, but if we stick with it we can learn so much from one posture. Our body and mind can adapt and evolve, we find our place of calm within the struggle.

I am in no way saying I am perfect. I can only go by what I have experienced and try to pass that on in a way that might be helpful to others, but please don't think I am flawless… Nobody is!

Now there are lots of articles out there that will tell you that if you eat a certain food/take certain supplements/practice yoga you will get pregnant. But I think we both know that this isn't the case. Of course by doing all that you can you may increase the likelihood of conceiving, and making the best choices you can will benefit you and your baby. However, when you do make certain choices, I would recommend allowing yourself some flexibility. Health is flexibility and ability to adapt. Being too ridged about things creates stress and can also make us feel like everything is in our control, which often isn't the case. Sometimes we just get dealt a bad card, it's not our fault and there is absolutely nothing we could do to change that outcome… We can, however, change how we deal with it

I would recommend anyone to take up yoga, especially those of you that are going through the stressful experience of trying to conceive. Stress gets in the way of all sorts. It can stop you from enjoying your life, reaching your true potential and can even effect the likelihood of conception. By improving the way we deal with stressful situations, we can eliminate all of the nasty side effects of stress. We can enjoy our life and find our true potential, no matter what we have thrown at us. I wish you the very best on your journey. Namaste

You can Follow Natasha for more pictures and inspiration

@yogascension      Yoga and Pilates with Natasha

Are We Making Ourselves into Emotionally Ticking Time Bombs? Ovarian Reserve Test (AMH)

Ovarian Reserve (AMH) Test

What is this? Egg reserve test

Women are born with their lifetime supply of eggs, and these gradually decrease in both quality and quantity with age.

Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) is a hormone secreted by cells in developing egg sacs (follicles). The level of AMH in a woman's blood is generally a good indicator of her ovarian reserve.  AMH does not change during your menstrual cycle, so the blood sample can be taken at any time of the month - even while you are using oral contraception

To interpret the level you should compare your own level with other women of the same age.

Many women are getting their AMH Test done before undergoing IVF, or after a period of time trying for a baby. Low AMH result can mean early menopause, or a poor response to the IVF cycle. A high result can indicate polycystic ovaries.

·      However, here at My Fertile Body we don’t tend to put too much “worry” into an AMH result. I have personally treated two patients whose AMH was 0.1, one was 41yrs old, having had 2 children previous to this. She got pregnant naturally after 3 months having acupuncture, and still to this day her consultant in Dublin can’t quite believe it, especially now she has just had her 4^th baby 6 months ago!!!!

·      The second patient was one of a twin, her AMH was 0.1, her IVF produced only 1 viable egg, amazingly it fertilised and survived to a 5 day blastocyst. She went on to have a healthy baby girl. This particular patient also had a surprise baby 2 years later, completely without any medical intervention!

The negative impact on a patient can cause incredible stress and devastation having been just told their AMH is incredibly low. We see this a lot at our Clinic’s, yet more strain and worry. Instead My Fertile Body focus on getting the body as healthy and baby viable as possible;

·         Increasing the blood flow into the uterus and ovaries – through self-acupressure, abdominal massage, breathing techniques.

·          Reducing stress levels – through Meditation and changing the mind-set.

·          Introducing a diet that is full of anti-oxidants, vitamins, and minerals that will help this body produce a viable egg.

AMH tests don’t tell us what quality our eggs are, only the quantity. As my dear Grandmother used to say (I was small) its quality Katie not quantity!

Join us at www.myfertilebody.com subscribe for free, enjoy our meditation, and discover our incredible on-line course Create A Bump, starting soon.

  

Katie Murphy Lic Ac

Why You Need to be Healthy to Have a Baby - Lucy Townsley

What your healthy body should be like according to Traditional Chinese Medicine:

•         You should have good physical and mental strength to carry out all the stuff you need to do during the day without any problems.
•         Always having an optimistic view and positive attitude when carrying out tasks no matter how hard or tedious they are.
•         Sleep really well
•         Rest during the day
•         Good strong immune system
•         Not over or under weight
•         Good posture
•         Bright eyes, no red in the whites and pupil reflexes are good.
•         Teeth are white and clean, no bleeding gums and no pain
•         Skin and hair are in good condition shiny and glossy
•         Taking regular exercise no pain in skin muscles and bones.

Are you trying for months with no positive outcome?

Your body is not in balance, your body is telling you because you haven’t conceived yet.

Warning signs of poor fertility and health

•         Low energy
•         Anger and frustration
•         Sluggish brain, hard to concentrate
•         Hard to motivate yourself
•         Can’t get out of bed in the morning
•         Constantly tired and sleepy
•         Poor digestion
•         Hoarse voice or a weak voice
•         Low immune system
•         Insomnia
•         Over work
•         Stress
•         Increase or loss of body weight
•         Smoking
•         Drinking too much alcohol
•         Irregular menstruation
•         Anxiety
•         Irritable bowel syndrome
•         Frequent urination
•         Dizziness
•         Hot flushes/night sweats

If you answer yes to any 4 of the above you need to seek help!!!!!! www.myfertilebody are experts in helping women and men achieve their dreams of starting a family with their  8 week on-line course “create a bump”. Or there  1 to 1 VIP Course. Sign up now for lots more information on how you can help yourselves achieve your goal of having you own brand new baby.

Lucy Townsley Lic Ac MTCMCI

Let's Talk About Sex.......Baby

Baby sex – love it or hate it, many of us have done it. Over the last 11 years treating couples trying to conceive, I’ve come to the conclusion that baby sex doesn’t work.

Why?

We spend our late teens, early 20’s doing everything within our power not to become pregnant. Early 30’s come along, we fall in love, find “the one” (or thereabouts), we decide to go un-protected. At first it’s exhilarating, liberating, we feel like naughty teenagers. That’s the first few months. Job done, delighted, we start looking out for signs of early pregnancy, that we googled. Yes we have tender breasts, nipples have changed colour (maybe).Then our good friend period arrives, just a day late.

Little do we know that a healthy 30 year old trying to conceive only has a 20% chance of conceiving each month. But we think it’s going to work right away – sure look at Mary in accounts, 4^th baby on the way, she says she only has to look at her man, and boom, another baby comes along.

All of a sudden making love becomes staged, forced and sometimes painful. Here’s the thing, a woman’s monthly cycle is pretty amazing, but sometime ago many of us lost the ability to listen to it.

Day 1-5 generally for most women is menstruation, after this every woman’s cycle varies. We reach for the ovulation sticks to show us a smiley face, instead of listening to our bodies, watching for our body to tell us when it’s fertile. For example our cervical mucus changes, becoming clear, our sex drive increases, but putting a stick with a flashing smiley face in front of your partner, chances are he may do two things, run a mile, or fail to perform.

David shares his story …

“ My wife and I got married young, we bought a house, and 5 years later we decided to try for a family. Both of us come from fairly large families. The first 6 months were great, but I saw a different look start to appear in Helens eyes. She began to scare me coming up to mid-cycle. I dreaded the text at work telling me her stick said she was at her most fertile. And even if I was exhausted after a particularly busy day at work, I was expected to be in the mood, as soon as I stepped through the front door. It killed it for me I began to have erectile problems, which really worried me. Helen would be a very caring person, but this she didn’t take well, and got more and more frustrated with me. We began to row, especially leading up to mid cycle. When her period came, Helen wouldn’t talk to me to a few days.

Helens friend told her about Katie at The Clonmel Acupuncture Centre, so we met Katie for a consultation. She recommended that we got basic blood tests done, all came back ok. She asked Helen to get rid of the temperature charts, and ovulation kits, and diary for a few months. And explained that we needed to go back to basics, having sex only when both of us wanted, for both of us to exercise, to make sure Helen had orgasms again, to go and have great sex, and re discover each other.

It felt strange at first then one night Helen broke down she said she just wanted me. I believe my wife let go of something, not sure what but our son Jack was born 10 months later.”

See here’s the thing that I see time and time again. When we don’t get pregnant – fear creep’s its ugly head in, fear is the enemy, as is frustration. I believe the way we have sex as a couple has a huge impact on the result.

Baby sex – normally “performed” after the couple have come back from work all day. Its quick, forced, and 9 times out of 10 the woman doesn’t climax, we lose the love. Many women report back to me that they begin to dread mid cycle sex, because there’s a feeling of complete anxiety that they don’t miss the right days, hours.

So what’s the answer?

There is no simple answer. I believe that once you start “trying” for a baby, you can never fully stop. But what you can do is alter your approach.

My Fertile Body’s 8 steps to becoming parents look at all these factors. Our Create A Bump On-line course will help couples to relax and enjoy having a baby. My Fertile Body will help couples get their bodies ready on every level whilst keeping their minds relaxed and strong as a partnership. We will show couples how positive diet changes as well as self-acupressure points will considerably increase their chances of having a healthy baby.

www.myfertilebody.com

Katie Murphy Lic Ac MTCMCI

Agnus Castus - The Pre Menstrual Syndrome Saviour

Agnus Castus

Agnus Castus is recognised more for its ability to help maintain the normal balance of female hormones especially in younger women.  You take Agnus Castus to help your hormones partially progesterone.  Especially for PMS signs with such as -

·         Anger

·         Mood swings

·         Fluid retention

·         Sore breasts

·         Irritability

·         Heavy periods

·         Painful periods

Usually you will see improvements within 1 – 3 cycles. Although we have noticed some women feel the benefit in just a few weeks.

How to take Agnus Castus and what else you can do to help

·         Take it every day of your cycle because it is needed every day to balance your cycle.

·         Once your symptoms have gone you can stop taking it, but if they come back you can start taking the Agnus Castus again.

·         By taking Agnus Castus it will help your body produce more progesterone naturally and when you stop taking Agnus Castus it will encourage your body to produce the right amount of progesterone and if not just go back to taking Agnus Castus again until your body is ready for you to stop.  This is not the same as taking synthetic form of progesterone.

·          Reduce your intake of refined sugars

·         Take a liver support such as Milk Thistle for couple of months

·         If you have heavy periods take iron this will support your iron levels and help with tiredness

·         Take Vitamin B (An all round B Complex is good) and Magnesium

·         Start exercising

·         Avoid Caffeine

Contraindications – do not take Agnus Castus or any other hormone – balancing herb if you are on the pill, taking the mini pill, using hormonal contraception, the coil, or implant or anticancer treatments.  If you have hot flushes, light period, weepy, low mood Black Cohosh is better herb to take.

We usually recommend A. Vogel Agnus Castus Drops, available in most Health food shops or online

http://www.avogel.co.uk/search-results/?cx=003720732158027679253%3Ahh4kmmwovbi&cof=FORID%3A9&ie=UTF-8&q=agnus+castus

Disclaimer: The information contained on this site is intended for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for advice, diagnosis or treatment by a licensed physician. It is not meant to cover all possible precautions, drug interactions, circumstances or adverse effects. You should seek prompt medical care for any health issues and consult your doctor before using alternative medicine or making a change to your regimen

 Lucy Townsley Lic Ac