Your Fertility
Your fertility is a precious gift.
It’s also completely individual, with each of us having a unique experience and presentation.
For some of us, our babies are conceived easily….surprise!
For others they are lovingly planned and spaced out - and I would love to help create that story!
And for some of us, well, it’s a bit harder.
None of us imagine we’ll bring our babies into the world after years, and years, of trying.
Or with the assistance of IVF.
Or after the loss of an earlier exquisite heartbeat.
Or later in life because we’re taking our fertility into our own hands, or we’ve only just met the other half to our whole.
But sometimes, this is exactly how it works out.
I’ve had comprehensive experience working with individuals and couples to support their fertility, and have worked collaboratively alongside GPs, IVF specialists and other allied health professionals during that time.
I’ve helped couples to gently detox and plan & prepare for their pregnancies. I’ve also helped couples achieve their ‘miracle’ babies, by looking just a little bit more closely - at further investigations, environmental exposures, thyroid health, sperm cell DNA fragmentation, auto immunity, uterine alignment, the vaginal microbiome and more.
Wherever you are up to, and whatever your experience has been, I will review your fertility with great care.
Preconception care
Preconception care is all about preparing individuals and couples for their pregnancy. The aim is to work toward optimal health, with special emphasis on hormonal balance, egg and/or sperm cell quality, and uterine health. And the outcome? To support a healthy conception, to maintain that pregnancy, and have a healthy baby at the end of it all!
Research confirms that the three months prior to conception may actually be the most important time of a pregnancy. And that's because the health of your egg and sperm cells are contributing factors to a healthy pregnancy and baby. It is this very precious time that can reduce your baby’s chance of developing asthma, eczema, learning difficulties, diabetes & obesity and remarkably, of reducing the chance of your grandchildren developing those conditions as well!
It makes sense, healthy parents are more likely to have healthy babies.
A dedicated preconception approach to reducing risk factors associated with poorer fertility (eg. increased weight, smoking, excessive coffee and alcohol consumption) has also been shown to act as a conception ‘boost’, improving fertility outcomes.
The timeframe for preconception is the 12 weeks before you start trying to conceive. This special window is the time it takes for sperm cells to be formed and to mature, and for egg cells to mature before ovulation. And during this time, sperm and egg cells (respectively, the very smallest and the very largest cells in the human body), are maturing in the environment that we create for them - the air we breathe, the fluids we drink, the foods we eat, the products we apply to our skin.
So during this time, we want to make sure we are nourishing those cells as best we can, with positive dietary and lifestyle considerations, and appropriate individualised herbal or nutritional supplementation, to provide egg and sperm with all the building blocks they require to be as healthy as possible.
Preconception healthcare is valuable for all of us - young or old(er), with a history of fertility problems or without, preparing for a natural conception or an IVF cycle.
And really, don’t you sometimes feel the preparation for something is half the fun…?!
IVF support
IVF rocks! It’s an incredible technology. Such a great way to get egg and sperm together where natural conception attempts have been unsuccessful or aren’t possible, for example with blocked fallopian tubes, or when using donor egg or sperm.
But IVF doesn’t address egg quality, sperm quality or uterine health. It doesn’t always address underlying health conditions that may be contributing to reduced fertility.
Utilising naturopathic treatment and philosophy prior to and alongside your IVF cycle can improve your outcomes. Having someone thoroughly assess your overall health, your reproductive health including the outcome of any prior IVF cycles, and look even more closely for anything else undiscovered that may be contributing to your picture, can make all the difference.
Three months preparation time before an IVF cycle is ideal, but every little thing you do counts. Come on in if you already have a cycle booked, but want to make sure you’re doing all you can to try and get the most out of it.
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you”
— Maya Angelou
Infertility & miscarriage management
The sad truth is
1 in 6 couples have difficulty conceiving
1 in 5 women will miscarry
1 in 20 couples will experience two miscarriages in a row
And there are many contributing factors to these sobering statistics:
age at conception (male and female age) ✴︎ hormonal imbalance ✴︎ endometriosis ✴︎ weight management ✴︎ poor sperm parameters ✴︎ lifestyle habits ✴︎ problems with folate metabolism ✴︎ auto-immune issues ✴︎ thyroid conditions ✴︎ genetic variants ✴︎ clotting abnormalities ✴︎ infection ✴︎ vaginal microbiome dysbiosis
Usually, it’s a combination of factors, and it must be remembered that egg and sperm contribute equal amounts of genetic material to each pregnancy - men as well as women should be investigated and supported.
Your fertility can be improved. Miscarriage risk can be reduced.
A couple-focused preconception period, with comprehensive investigation, should absolutely be considered.