Welcome to Stories of Hope: True tales of life, love, and perseverance from the Yes, You Can Get Pregnant community. Because we’re on the fertility journey together.

This month, I am thrilled to share the fertility story of my beautiful patient, Ashley, age 42, who is currently 20 weeks pregnant resulting from a NATURAL conception! But there was a time when Ashley was not so hopeful about her chances of getting pregnant. Read on to learn how she took back her health and fertility by following my protocol.

My associate Heather and I started treating Ashley about two years ago in my clinic.  She was 39 years old, and she and her husband had been #TTC for six years. Over that time she had seven attempted IUIs, two attempted IVFs, and zero pregnancies. She had seen a slew of doctors, who had given her a diagnosis of unexplained infertility.

While doing my complete health history with Ashley, as I do with all my patients and coaching clients, I found that she had a lot of inflammation in her body. Her red-flag symptoms, including allergies, swollen lips, excessive thirst, cold hands and feet, easy sweating, dry mouth, headaches, and anxiety, all told me that she likely had an untreated and undiagnosed  autoimmune disease. In order to make her body hospitable to a pregnancy, first we needed to bring Ashley’s health into alignment.

I referred her to reproductive immunologist, Dr. Braverman, who treats many of my fertility patients with autoimmune issues. When the test results came back, Ashley was in the 50% percentile for autoimmune and inflammation factors and was told that she likely had endometriosis.

At my recommendation, Ashley fully committed to my Body Belief, protocol, focusing on both her emotional and physical health. At the time I was still writing Body Belief, but as all my clients do, Ashley was privy to all my research and protocols. The beauty of the Body Belief diet is that it provides a solid framework for reducing inflammation, but as an elimination diet, it is designed to be tailored to the individual based on their symptoms and bloodwork.  I customized the program for her and tweaked the diet plan as some of her symptoms would flare up and others would subside, to bring her body into balance. When she returned to Dr. Braverman earlier this year, her autoimmune and inflammation levels were normal – a direct result of the Body Belief diet.

During this time, Ashley shifted her focus to the things that made her feel most alive. When recalling how she transformed her mindset, she told me “I decided that I needed to have joy in my life and for me that is dancing, so I started taking dance classes again (1-2 days/wk) five weeks before we conceived.  And I really looked into my heart and said, I know you can do this.”

When Ashley found out that she was pregnant, she sent me this sweet note of gratitude,

“Aimee, I’ve seen 7 acupuncturists over the years of fertility treatment, and you are head and shoulders above the rest in terms of understanding western IVF treatment, autoimmune conditions, and diet approaches to fertility and healing underlying conditions.”

And, she added,“Benefits for me from the Body Belief plan besides GETTING PREGNANT include: I had been getting painful flares in my finger joints for a couple years, those are now gone; my sense of smell (which I hadn’t had since a child) returned; my seasonal allergies did not arrive in spring 2017 and so far (knock on wood) in spring 2018; and I stopped belching, which my husband is very pleased about!!”

Ashley’s words made me cry with gratitude. I continue to support her, and she continues to follow the Body Belief protocol so that she can achieve the healthiest pregnancy possible. I am incredibly proud of the work that Ashley did to get to this place. Though I guided her with my diet and lifestyle recommendations, it truly was her commitment to the protocol (including supplements, acupuncture, lifestyle adjustments AND diet) and her willingness to shift her perceptions that allowed her to shift from a place of doubt to a place of hope and possibility.

If you are ready to take back the power over YOUR fertility, I can help you! In addition to my acupuncture & wellness services in my clinics, I offer private online coaching, so if you want to work one-on-one with me to achieve all your health & fertility goals, I am here to help you.

Take a look around my website to learn more about my books, my online workshops and guides and my amazing Yes, You Can Get Pregnant E-Course, which allow you to work with me from the comfort of your own home and receive support from an amazing group of women on the #TTC journey.