I’m Angela, and I am a thirty six year old female living in Canada. When I was twenty five I got pregnant for the first time. I never thought I’d be a mom. My own mother didn’t think I would have any kids. I was hardcore into horses, had a career, and babies were not on my radar. At the time I was working as a Radiation and Environmental Technician at a nuclear site, I had my horse, I had found the love of my life, and then, I was unexpectedly pregnant. As you will see, I had to navigate afterwards a number of issues related to fertility, until I found naturopathy.
Unfortunately for me, I was one of those unlucky women who got to experienced debilitating morning sickness and had to go on disability from my job. When we were finally able to get our first ultrasound, we got hit with very unexpected news. Our baby was diagnosed with amniotic band syndrome. As unsetting as it was, we remained optimistic that we might still be able to have a viable pregnancy. It wasn’t until we saw a specialist, that our hopes and dreams disappeared. Not only did our baby have amniotic band syndrome, he/she was also missing limbs. The pregnancy was terminated at 15 weeks with a D & C procedure.
A few months later we decided we needed a fresh start and moved into the country so I could keep my horse at home. Once we were settled and into our new lifestyle, the timing seemed right to try again. Try we did, but to no avail, only a chemical pregnancy that left more emotional baggage to deal with. We got pregnant so easily the first time, why were we not being successful now?
We tried for nearly a year then finally decided it might be time to try a fertility clinic to get some answers and solutions. So down that path we went. What we discovered was the “issue” was me, not my partner. I wasn’t ovulating at the correct time. They came up with a treatment plan, but it didn’t sit well with me. The clinic wasn’t in my community, and they required regular visits and testing in the mornings, which wasn’t at all practical with my job. I didn’t want to take fertility drugs to force my body to cooperate and basically have my life fully revolving around this “solution”. It didn’t work for me, so I opted out.
Not too long after that I heard an advertisement on the radio for a naturopathic doctor that specialized in women’s health and fertility and was in my community. I honestly didn’t know much about naturopathy or its relationship with fertility. I reached out and made an appointment.
Working with Kristi was very different from the fertility clinic. She was warm, very hopeful, informative, and had a practical plan that worked with my lifestyle. She used the information from the fertility clinic to get a head start, and agreed with their diagnosis that I was not ovulating at the correct time.
By the time I started seeing Kristi I was in and out of depression and not eating well, so I needed to clean up my diet, and we talked about my emotional health. She put me on a few supplements that supported ovulation and would help correct my out of balance hormones that were likely due to the first pregnancy from years ago. She also advised that I stay away from radiation work (radiation attacks rapidly growing cells, which is why it works as treatment for some cancers, but from a pregnancy perspective, radiation can kill an embryo). One-two cycles later, I was pregnant.
My experience between the fertility clinic and the naturopathy approach were night and day. The clinic approach made me feel like a faulty person, and their solutions were very strict and regimented. I felt worse about myself and felt like I had failed. To be frank, the experience was cold, uncomfortable, discouraging, and the people working there had a god-like complex.
Seeing Kristi gave me such hope and encouragement. She saw me as a real person and created a solution specifically for me. She treated me as a human and not a lab rat. The fertility clinic did not take my lifestyle, occupation, diet, and emotional state, into account; Kristi did.
Working with Kristi changed my perspective with the healthcare system. Rather than hand out drugs hoping for effectiveness, naturopathy got down to the root cause of my fertility issue. If it wasn’t for Kristi, my path to parenthood would have been very different, if it would have even happened at all. We now have a beautiful son who is so amazing, and fills us with love and joy, and I am forever grateful to her for helping us to become parents.
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