JULY 2014

She was a small, wiry woman with a stern tone. A couple drops of compassion swirled in her vibrant blue eyes, but most of her gaze held unquestionable authority.

“No gluten, no dairy, no sugar, no processed foods, no coffee…” she looked over at my eyes brimming with tears and continued on “NO caffeine whatsoever. No potatoes, no white rice, no dried fruit, no juice. Limit your fruit intake to 1 to 2 pieces per day.”

I gulped. I loved my fruit…..and my coffee.

“You’ll get used to it,” she said frankly “I hardly ever eat fruit now.”

I sat in shock. Is fruit bad for you? My friend had warned me about her. I had expected a strict regime, but not quite to this extent.

“You must eat a lot of good quality protein and you should eat every 3 hours.”

I shook my head. “That’s impossible with my job” I muttered despondently.

Indignation swept across her face. “Well, tell them that you’re receiving fertility treatments and that you need regular breaks and MUST eat frequently. Also, you must stop working night shifts. They need to respect how important this is for your health!”

I kept shaking my head. Lunch breaks are a luxury in my line of work and unless you have a life-threatening condition, it is nearly impossible to get special consideration regarding night shifts.

The naturopath squinted at me through her glasses. She seemed dubious about my level of commitment. I felt small under her stare, like a child making excuses, but I still held my ground. “I’d have to quit my job….”

She sighed and her voice became slightly more gentle. “Alright. Well, make what changes you can. Come on over to the table. I hope you can relax and let go during these treatments.”

I laid, face up, on the massage table. She pulled out a box of acupuncture needles and proceeded to place them strategically on my feet, hands and face. 25 years of experience showed as she swiftly but gently inserted the needles into my skin. I hardly felt them going in. She also placed several needles on each side of my lower abdomen, above my ovaries. She hooked up small wires to the end of the acupuncture needles in my belly and turned on a device that appeared similar to a TENS machine. Subtle vibrations began reverberating through the needles into my abdomen.

I took a deep breath. This was….weird….but kind of interesting at the same time.

Essential oils diffused throughout the room. She put a warm pack on my eyes and pressed play on her CD player.

A smooth, soothing voice began the guided meditation…….

“Your body is a beautiful, healthy, fertile being. You have the perfect flow of hormones. You ARE healthy. You ARE fertile. There is balance within you. An egg will begin to develop and mature…….”