Monday, September 12, 2011

like a porcupine


In today's edition of Is There Anything They WON'T Do to Get Pregnant? (answer: NO), we deviate from our well-worn paths of Western medicine and take an exciting detour into the fine world of acupuncture!! Woohoo!!

And by 'we,' of course, I mean 'Matt.' Homegirl is not about to go all porcupine style on you. Nope. Not this week.

We thought about doing acu awhile back. There's a bit of research indicating that acu can have positive effects on MFI. We thought about it, looked around...and then just pretty much dropped the ball. I don't know why. I remember like 4 months ago being all gung-ho to start, then we just sorta forgot about it. Anyway, with a good friend beginning acu lately (for infertility/PCOS) and having lots of exciting stories to tell from it...it got the ball rolling in my brain again.

Then I got a lot of support from some trusted friends/advisors regarding acu in general, and then it was pretty much settled. We all know I'm reluctant/hesitant/scared to death to start IVF. Here's a sort of last-ditch, maybe-this'll-work, it's-cheaper-than-IVF option we can try. Count me in.

Plus, it doesn't involve weird drugs. Unless you count the supplements they sold Matt today:

Come on. "Man's Treasure"?? Is there any guy who isn't excited about taking a supplement called Man's Treasure??? Right, that's what I thought.

So he had his first (of many, evidently) appointment today. Unfortunately, I couldn't go with him. That's actually not unfortunate, because I would probably pass out if I had to watch him (or anyone) get needles stuck into them repeatedly. I do wish, however, I had been a fly on the wall to listen to Matt's conversation with his needle guy. From what Matt told me...that sounded like a super awkward convo/interview. I mean...think about it. We're dealing with MFI. Obviously he's going to ask questions about...doing it. HAHAHAHA. Sorry,  but for as traumatized as Matt seemed coming away from that conversation...I bet it was hilarious.

Anyway, all other aspects of the appointment seemed to go well. The needles didn't hurt. The music wasn't bad, mostly bongo drums. There wasn't any weird chanting or Eastern spirituality thrown in. And Matt even got a nice long list (and verbal commands) about random health and nutrition things. Apparently the dude would put in some needles, leave for about 10 minutes, come back in to 'check on things' and throw out some random advice: "so...try to eat lots of almonds and pine nuts. But not hotdogs." That's a direct second-hand quote, friends. Take it to the bank. Almonds and pine nuts (how the heck do you eat pine nuts other than in pesto??)...not hotdogs. As though those things are normally consumed together, like peanut butter and jelly. Whatevs. And he even got an 'appendage massage' at the end (which Matt specified to me included ONLY arms/hands and legs/feet...not other, manly appendages...) (only Matt would feel the need to clarify that, btw)...and he was a big fan of the massage.

So! That's the big update. It seems I have found yet another way to procrastinate IVF! And one that actually doesn't involve ME doing anything (besides waiting around to get knocked up)! Sounds like a win-win all around.


6 comments:

  1. Amanda told me the part about how it seemed to Matt like the guy was googling things and then coming back in to report what he'd found - made me laugh out loud! (Not LOL, because I am not the LOL type... just clarifying.)

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  2. YAY so glad it went well! And I'm thinking I've been cheated because I haven't gotten any type of massage at all... just needles.

    Looking forward to continuing to swap stories with Matt about our needle people!

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  3. I love how at the end of your friend's blog about acupuncture, Matt comments "Erika will blog about it." Sorry, it struck me as freakin' hilarious on the otherwise really crappy day.. I never tried acupuncture for our fertility issues, but I did consume ridiculous amounts of fresh pineapple. :) I'm all about medical orders to EAT! I don't think acupuncture is that far of a stretch, especially for us, because we have routine chiropractic care and do all kinds of things that are off of the mainstream straight a narrow (delayed/selectively vax, homeschool, etc etc.)

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  4. straight *and* narrow *sigh*

    PS: Tell Lola to be expecting an Envelope from the Bee family!

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  5. I hope it helps!!

    In other news, last night we went to a class at church and everyone introduced themselves and one guy said he and his wife just found out they're preg with #1. I teared up. Yeah, I don't think I'll be handling things as well from here on out.

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