When Maria first came to me she told me that she’d always wanted children and after ten years of trying, four IVF attempts, two of which ended in miscarriage she was beginning to lose hope.

“My periods have always been quite heavy but no one can explain why I can’t get pregnant, there seems to be no reason and I can’t come to terms with the fact it might never happen – that’s why you go from one thing to another. If they told me I’d have to stand on my head every day for an hour I’d do it.”

Maria told me how for the last 18 months she had begun to feel more and more lethargic, with no motivation to exercise. Blood tests showed that she had no problems but she felt she was putting on more and more weight for no reason. She wondered if the fertility drugs may be partly to blame, but felt little desire to do a lot about it in case they wanted to try IVF again – and yet, she also knew that to get pregnant she needed to lose a couple of stone. Catch 22! She added,

“Life without children isn’t worth anything to me; some people can have a career, work in an orphanage or something. I couldn’t do that. I am devastated by it – when you hear about people getting pregnant so easily and not even wanting to…. Once, we came out of the scanning room and I heard someone saying ‘oh dear, it’s another girl’, and I felt devastated.”

Maria and I talked all about her health problems and how she felt about them. She had been adopted as a baby, had a happy childhood, albeit with quite a few anxieties and I discovered that as well as a bit of hay fever, and acne, she hadn’t slept well for a long time,

“I just replay things in my mind every night, think about whether we’ll ever have a baby or whether we should adopt”.

Now, as a homeopath, the patient I’m treating right then is always my most ‘important’ patient, but I really felt for this lady. Some stories reach in and tug our heartstrings just that little bit more. The good news for me was that there seemed to be no apparent physical reason that Maria couldn’t get pregnant. The bad news was that she’d been trying for ten years and was now in her mid to late thirties. Working her case through I came to a remedy which wasn’t especially known to help with fertility problems – but I felt it fitted her, and so I gave her Natrum-phos.

Maria returned after a month or so, saying that she felt much better. They had moved a couple of weeks ago and she felt she handled it all well and had lost over half a stone. She was pleased – but, although I was aware that this was a good start – she already felt happier and more motivated, really it was that little blue line that Maria wanted, showing that she was pregnant.

Maria returned a couple of months later. She had now started going to the gym three times a week and she looked great. She felt more optimistic about a lot of things but was impatient to get pregnant! I could understand that after more than ten years of trying. She told me that they’d discussed trying IVF one more time if this didn’t work, but they’d decided to wait another 6 months. On taking her case this time I changed her remedy to Sepia, which is a great hormonal remedy and I hoped this would help within the six months I’d been allotted.

Maria cancelled her next appointment with a phone message, but sounded quite upbeat. She didn’t actually return for another four months – and yes – she was already looking rather round and was actually glowing. I was delighted – it was all I could do not to hug her and do a happy dance! Maria had a few minor problems, she was uncomfortably hot and sweaty, had some indigestion and a bit of morning sickness still, but she sort of delighted in those symptoms. Her greatest problem was the anxiety she felt about the baby staying healthy, but as time went on that had improved, and it was perfectly understandable of course. I didn’t give her another dose of Sepia – that had done its job. Instead I gave her some cell salts which are excellent during all stages of pregnancy.

Maria delivered a healthy little boy, just over a year after I first saw her. She later described her post birth experience to me:

“I can’t explain it – that first night I just sat up all night looking at him. I can’t ever imagine feeling that excitement or happiness ever again”.

Being a part of Maria’s journey was thrilling for me, just to share a little of her happiness still gives me a lift now, years later. Maria now has two sons, her second pregnancy happening without any treatment at all. If you or someone you love is struggling with infertility give me a call on 07725 520476to see how homeopathy can help you.