For many women, the main goal in life is to have children and raise a family. We have been led to believe since adolescence, that before doing that, we need to get our life in gear, have a career, a perfect partner, and financial stability. So we start our journey, and with this, also start a full fledged birth control regime to prevent pregnancy before we are ready.

For the average woman, this period of time, in which we actively prevent pregnancy while “creating a successful life” is around 15 years…this whole time, we are scared to death of getting pregnant right… “Oh my god, I would die if I got pregnant right now…I can’t even imagine what I would do”. We struggle to find the right partner, the right job, the right age when we feel like we can settle down. Then, although the feeling of being quite “ready” seems to elude most of us, the time somehow arrives when we just know we are supposed to get started. We stop taking this miraculous pill or other birth control device that we believe has prevented us from becoming mothers of 10 before our time, and of course we are going to get pregnant!!!! We think that since we have been preventing it for so long, getting pregnant should occur almost instantaneously as we start trying.

For many women pregancy will be instantaneous, but for a whole bunch of us, it will not, and this is a big shock.

For me, the fact that we can use a preventative measure for years and years, go off of it, and not instantaneously achieve the result that we have been preventing is a little humbling. After a few months of trying to become pregnant, most women become really really frustrated. Because we are ready, and have decided that this is the right time, it doesn’t mean that our bodies are ready also. It doesn’t mean that they never will be, it just means that a little TLC and a jump start may be in store.

Being a practitioner of Traditional Chinese medicine, an acupuncturist and herbalist specializing in women’s health and fertility, I see this situation a lot.

For most women, the inability to not get pregnant exactly when they want drives them into panic mode…and understandably so. Now that we have waited till everything is perfect, we are on a very strict time schedule right?! That is right, but your body is trying to tell you something, and for the benefit of yourself, and your future babies, you need to listen. So before you reach for the Clomid and a syringe filled with your partner’s sperm, please give your body a chance to get itself back into balance.

This is where acupuncture and Chinese medicine come into play. With this ancient medicine, your body’s energy (Qi) can be manipulated so that it returns to a balanced state.

For those of you who aren’t into this sort of alternative mumbo, acupuncture regulates your hormones, brings blood to your reproductive organs, and makes sure that your hypothalamic-pituitary axis is functioning correctly. With acupuncture and herbal medicine, and insight about our natural cycles, we can help optimize healthy ovulation, bring back absent periods, lengthen the luteal phase, and a whole bunch more. If you can get pregnant naturally, you will have better chances of having a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby…your body will thank you for it!

Not to say that Western Medicine doesn’t have its place in the world of fertility.

For instance many women have fertility problems that can only be fixed with surgery, In vitro fertilization, or donor eggs and sperm. With the help of Western medicine and reproductive endocrinologists, they have been able to fulfill their dreams of having a family. The goal of this article is to help you give yourself a fighting chance first. With acupuncture, herbal therapy, dietary guidelines (Eastern and Western), and lifestyle advice, pregnancy can be achieved, and your family will be a lot healthier along the way