One in eight couples struggle with infertility, which is defined at a woman not becoming pregnant after a year of trying. This is the complaint that I hear most often, that couples are feeling discouraged because the process is taking so long!
Have you ever grown a bamboo tree? Just like any other plant the bamboo seed needs water, sunshine, and fertile soil. After one year of care there really is no sign of growth, now I am not a gardener but I would be worried. Continuing onto the second, third, and fourth years there is still no visible sign of tree growth. I don’t know about you but if it were me by this point I probably would have quit or been very frustrated to say the least. However during the fifth year the bamboo tree grows 80 ft, that’s right 80 FEET in 6 weeks!
Do you think that the bamboo tree was dormant for 4 years or do you think that it was growing a large root system that would be able to withstand the amount of growth it needed for the 5th year? The bamboo needed to grow a strong foundation in order to then grow 80 feet high.
THIS is what chiropractic care does with fertility. The program that I use in the office builds the foundation so the body is ready to become pregnant and grow a baby. I ask couples for 120 days, this should be thought of like the first year of the bamboo tree though! It takes 120 days for a woman’s egg to turnover, in those first 120 days we want to make sure that we are making this the best, most viable egg. The protocol that I use in the office focuses on the health of the couple and not on becoming pregnant however once you are healthy and the body is functioning properly this nearly always tends to happen. It may take years of doing this work to get pregnant, building a healthy body takes time; each person differs in physical, chemical, and emotional stressors that have been put on their bodies that need to be worked through.
Working with couples on their fertility is so rewarding, I love when I am told that there will be an addition to the family. It will take time but it makes the miracle so much more worthwhile. If you would like to hear more about the protocol used in office we do have workshops, consultations, and blog posts available.
-Dr. C