This is a guest post by Hellobee community member, redsmarties. You can follow her on her blog Baking and Babies.

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The majority of infertility success stories that are shared in the media today are those that involve ART, or assisted reproductive technologies. These interventions are wonderful; I love that we have the ability to bring babies into the world for those who may not otherwise have that chance. But for my husband and myself, we knew that ART would not be an option, for a variety of reasons. And unfortunately, for a nurse-practitioner in a rural town, a couple refusing to pursue IUI or IVF was an anomaly. I was told, point-blank, that if I didn’t go to the fertility clinic, I didn’t have any other options. We were slapped with the label of “primary infertility,” and got the feeling that she truly didn’t know what to do with us.

The basal body temperature charts, the ovulation predictor kits, and the symptoms I had so painstakingly tracked were thrown out the window, dismissed by a nurse practitioner who (despite best intentions) had no use for such things. And I followed her advice; we did go to a fertility clinic and have testing done. But I was largely disillusioned with the push towards IUI and injectibles, and I began searching for another method to expand our family. After too many Google searches, we stumbled across naturopathy.

To those who don’t know, naturopathy is a system of alternative medicine that avoids conventional medications and interventions, and instead focuses on the organic causes for an illness. This sounds a little “out there” for most; I understand this. I have been called every name under the sun (and lovingly referred to as a hippy) for pursuing naturopathic medicine, but since it worked for me, I am an advocate.

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After a little research, and some prompting by many women who attended my church, I called the naturopath in our small town. He fit me in almost immediately; a quality I cherished after a three-month wait to get in to the fertility clinic.

My first several visits were full of questions; he had a thousand for me, I had even more for him. We discussed my cycles, my history, every significant or insignificant medical event I could remember. We chatted about diet, exercise, the importance of vitamins and minerals, and even the functions of different organs in the body. We talked about sex (unfortunately), and how we were timing things. We looked at my charts, at my lack of luck with OPKs. And after all of this, after blood tests and stool samples and food diaries, we came to a few conclusions.

I was insulin resistant, which most likely went along with my crazy cycles to add up to Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). I was vitamin B12 deficient, I was dairy-intolerant (which I knew), and because of my fibromyalgia, I certainly wasn’t getting the exercise I needed. I was also about 40 pounds overweight.

Each time I went for a visit, I came home with a list of steps to take. As I followed each of these steps, we reworked the list. But for a good deal of time, this is what my list looked like:

1. Vitamin B12 shots, weekly to start and monthly after that. These helped with energy, pain, and I’m sure many other things
2. Chromium pills, to battle sugar and carb cravings
3. Inositol, to help regulate my insulin and control my blood sugar
4. Alternating seeds: this was a regimen of sunflower, flax, chia, pumpkin, and sesame seeds, as well as evening primrose and cod liver oil to regulate my cycles. These were taken in order according to the phases of the moon.
5. WATER. This never left my list. The number one thing I needed to do was increase my water intake.
6. Low-carb diet – because of my insulin resistance, I needed to avoid foods that spiked my blood sugar. This meant avoiding processed carbs; flour, sugar, many grains, etc.

Some of these sound ridiculous, I realize this. But when given the choice to cut out a cupcake and down a few teaspoons of cod liver oil, or face another month of stark-white pregnancy tests…you’re going to have to make a tough decision. I also started the Couch to 5K program to get some exercise, and I joined Weight Watchers online to give me some accountability in my food choices. I ultimately ended up losing about 25 of the 40 pounds my nurse-practitioner recommended.

Many months were discouraging. I chugged my smoothies full of seeds and oils, and gagged at the texture. I watched as the full moon came and my period didn’t, though the supplements I was taking were pumping me full of things that mimicked my hormones. And I got flat-out exhausted with remembering to follow the laundry-list of ‘Do’s and ‘Don’ts’ that was taped to my fridge. Cycles passed, bringing us closer and closer to the two-year TTC mark.

But as the months went by, I felt better and better. The weight dropped, my sugar cravings disappeared, the blood-sugar crashes ended. And I was seeing cycle numbers that were unheard of for me; 40 days, 37 days, 35 days! After over twenty months of TTC, just the knowledge that my body was capable of working properly was enough to give me some hope.

After six to eight months of following an intense protocol, losing weight, exercising, and charting BBT, I found myself staring down a positive OPK on cycle day 14 (instead of 30+). And a mere fourteen days after that, my temperature spiked, and my slew of home pregnancy tests read “Positive.”

Though the journey didn’t end there, with that plus sign on a pee stick, it gave me an incredible sense of well-being. I defied the odds put against me by my nurse-practitioner, and with the help of natural remedies, I got my body back on track. I’m now twenty-nine weeks into a healthy pregnancy, waiting for our precious baby girl to arrive. I’ve heard wonders about naturopathic treatments for post-partum recovery, so I’m sure I’ll be calling the naturopath once again.

To be honest, it’s hard to know where we would be if it weren’t for alternative medicine. Our self-imposed deadline for TTC was January of this year; if I wasn’t pregnant, we would have begun the adoption process. I’m sure my body would still be doing its own thing; cycles every 45-80 days, weight that just kept piling on, and a general sense of un-wellness. Facing the minimum two-year wait that is domestic adoption here in Ontario, I may have re-evaluated my stance on ART, and caved in to the pressure from our doctors despite our beliefs.

Ultimately, I know that alternative medicine has its fair share of skeptics. But as living proof that naturopathy can work, I’m willing to take a little skepticism. After a total of 24 months of TTC, I’m grateful that I was given an alternative that suited our needs as a family. I’m thankful for the caring hands and listening ears that sorted out the problems in an otherwise-healthy 24 year old. And I’m blessed to have such an exciting story to tell.

Would you consider alternative medicines for infertility?