I have been absent for some time; but with good reason. I mentioned in my last blog on eggs about how my energy was being used elsewhere. Well that energy was and has been used to create a special new addition to the Knight family. I DID IT! I CANNOT BELIEVE I ACTUALLY DID IT! NO DRUGS, NO SHOTS, NO TURKEY BASTER! That’s right folks I’M PREGNANT!!!! Just writing that gives me chills and makes me want to cry. For 3 and 1/2 years my husband and I tried to create life and for 3 and 1/2 years we changed both our life style and food choices until we found what worked best and wow did we find it! What an amazing adventure and I wouldn’t change all we went through; because if we hadn’t experienced what we did with infertility I wouldn’t know what I do now and our little sprout was worth the wait! 😉 (Here is some back story about my struggles with menstruation.)
Now if you are experiences infertility yourself and are reading this you might be saying, WELL HOW DID YOU DO IT?! I would read blog after blog, book after book and just couldn’t get the answer. I wanted someone to tell me how to get pregnant. You do this and eat this and then boom your pregnant! Nope, it doesn’t work that way. What I can tell you is what worked for me and share my process of becoming pregnant. Get comfortable, this is going to be a long one 😉 We are talking about 3 and 1/2 years here!
Over 4 years ago and 6 months before my husband and I got married we decided that I should stop taking birth control. We made this decision because at the time I worked in a childcare center and heard a lot about the struggles woman had trying to conceive after getting off the pill. My husband and I had been dating for almost 8 years and engaged for 3 so we felt ready to start a family. We had a whole plan of having one child for 4 years and then having more later on. So I got off the pill and that is when my life started going a little haywire. At the end of November of 2007 I took my last birth control pill of my life! (will explain this more later) 7 months later I got my period for the first time. That was a very painful 7 months. Not only was I constantly waiting for my period but I was also planning a wedding and a honeymoon. I was happy we stopped taking the pill when we did but my body was going through so many hormone changes at this time. I had been on the pill for 6 years, so for the first time in 6 years my body had to figure out hormones for itself and it was not cooperating with me.
We had an amazing wedding and honeymoon and we were ready to start a family, but obviously my body was not. I started my first cycle in July of 2008 and then didn’t get another for 3 months after that. This continued for 2 years, never knowing, always waiting. I started doing my research and changing some things about how we were living. At the time I was a vegetarian and thought my diet was perfect so I didn’t think to consider that first. I went to the products my husband and I were using on our bodies first. I learned that certain things you put on your skin can create hormone altering properties. So we used up what we had and then went strictly to Organic soaps, shampoo’s and lotions etc… and used no more perfumes. I then switched our food to only Organic because the pesticides on food are hormone altering as well as just plain bad for you! “This is it” I thought, “we will get pregnant now!” At this point it was 2009 and obviously I still did not get pregnant.
My next step was to do the ultimate healthy challenge, or so I thought. We were going to be Vegan! I had been vegan for a time as a child and loved it, so I thought this is exactly what is going to work! After over a year of being Vegan in late 2010 we called it quits and went back to being vegetarian. We were eating amazing local fresh vegetables and fruit and in what appeared to be great health but I was still not menstruating and we both were suffering from serious digestive issues. These issues didn’t start until about 6 months into our new diet. My husband lost 15 pounds (down to 140) and was looking a bit anorexic. He spent all his time in the bathroom and I started bloating up to look like I was pregnant which just really frustrated me beyond believe. So again I hit the web and the books. I played around with going gluten-free off and on but never fully committed because it scared me. NO BREAD ARE YOU CRAZY!!! Then one day when I had been sick for over 2 weeks I gave in. In January 2011 I went completely gluten-free. If you read my past blogs you know this was a huge life changing move for me. We also made another huge move in February of 2011 when we started eating meat. We started eating local, grass-fed organic meat. This was probably one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make but I wouldn’t change it. We became the healthiest people we have ever been. Eating local meat, vegetables, raw local dairy, and of course for me gluten-free. My husband also went completely soy free due to research findings that it can drop sperm count dramatically. Knocking on some serious wood right now but I also haven’t been sick since making these changes. I use to be sick all the time! I also started getting my period more regular and with a lot more predictability. I had a crazy amount of energy. I was eating lots of fat (good fat, meat from a factory farm is not the same kind of fat you are getting from your local grass-fed meat or diary) for the first time in my life my waistline was actually shrinking and I was not trying.
Around August 2011 something also changed in me. I started focusing less on becoming pregnant but furthering the healing in my body. I was very focused on getting my cycle under control once and for all and I was so close to getting it! My normal for the past year had been 3 cycles on and one off. I was hoping to get even better. With a diet that finally fit my body as well as my husbands, a switch from a traditional OBGYN to a midwife and a clear mind I was ready. The blog supergojigirl.com aided me a lot in this process. I cannot thank you enough Camille for your wisdom with food as well as the women’s body. I got some amazing books she recommended. My favorite and most enlightening is “Her blood is Gold” and “Honoring Our Cycles” I knew the minute I opened these books from the box they were shipped in that I was going to find what I was looking for.
In October of 2011 I had 3 months of having a normal to the day cycle. I was in my fourth month and due for my cycle in the middle of the month. The day came …nothing….the next came….nothing. I was trying to stay calm, spent more time in my garden and on my yoga mat but still nothing. Could I be pregnant? NO WAY I wouldn’t even let myself think it. I was not going to take another test and get my heart ripped out again. A whole month went by. Then the symptoms came. Complete tiredness, unbelievably sore breasts, and I spent even more time making trips to the bathroom than I usually do. One day at work I was standing with a few co-workers and all of sudden had the sharpest pain in my breasts that I actually had to grab them in front of my co-workers! One of women looked at me and said “hmmm Pregnant?” I laughed at her and said No way, I am just well due for my period. That night I was so tired I thought I must be coming down with something but still my co-workers words stuck in my head. I shut myself off and told myself, “If I have no cycle by the end of the week then I will take a test.” Well of course all that night I started thinking about the last month and how things didn’t add up. When my alarm clock woke me up I ran in the bathroom and took the last test I had saved … and look what I saw!
I have never cried so hard in my life. My poor husband thought I was dying. I couldn’t even tell him I was crying so hard, I just held out the stick and loved the look of pure shock that came over his face. We both remained in shock until we saw our little sprout on the monitor for the first time. Today I am 14 and 1/2 weeks. 
The day we meet our amazing gift is July 11. I can barely hold back the tears as I write to you now. What an amazing journey this has been. I started this blog not only because of my digestion issues but as a way to release the pain of infertility. Some days I felt like what I was saying was a bunch of bull! I always told myself, “if I get pregnant then I know that what I’ve been talking about proves that nutrition is the best medicine.” This was a triumph in so many ways for me. A triumph that I have been afraid to talk about until now. I have written this blog in my head for about a month; but it wasn’t until my last doctors appointment on Friday that I knew it was time to share. Hearing Little Sprouts heart beat is the most amazing thing I have ever heard. We heard it beat a month ago but this time it was 10 times louder and moving! This little sprout has the energy of his/her mommy and daddy:-) I look forward to sharing more of this adventure with you all, because holy moly is pregnancy an adventure!! The most amazing adventure I will ever be on, one that my body is finally able to make.
I hope to share and build on my experiences and help others going through infertility. It is not something you should go through alone and if you feel like fertility drugs are not the answer for you then there are other options. It is not a quick fix but one that is worth the exploration. Was there one thing that enabled my body to create life? I have no idea! However; since making bigger changes to my diet starting in January 2011 I would say I got pregnant rather quickly 🙂
Peace, Love, and I’M PREGNANT! 😉
Ashley
Ashley's Healthy Palette 