The Nourished BlogI was honored to have chatted with award-winning hormone health coach, Katie Bressack, on the podcast.
Katie opens up about her 5 year journey through infertility and discusses the many different avenues she took to eventually conceiving her twin boys.
Whether you are currently on your own fertility journey, thinking of getting pregnant, or just attempting to understand your body, this episode is incredibly relatable for all women.
Katie’s vulnerability in this episode is SO needed and refreshing.
Below, we summarize 4 pieces of gentle advice, for any of you on your own fertility journeys.
⭐️ Listen + Get Curious
Katie learned that there is so much power in simply listening to her body.
She began to notice that her body was unexpectedly holding on to stress and she was struggling with chronic fatigue. Her periods would skip a month; she was experiencing symptoms of anxiety and overwhelm. And she KNEW there something deeper going on underneath the surface.
There is so much power in slowing down and listening to your body.
Our gut reaction is to judge and fight against our symptoms (which I completely get…), but this only intensifies the experience.
How can you get curious from a place of non-judgement instead?
It’s from THIS, more gentle space, that you can begin to piece the clues together and make an empowered choice on where to seek additional help or resources.
⭐️ Trust your body’s cues
Katie was already a practicing health coach and knew how to feed her body well, but during this time of infertility and tricky symptoms, she had to really learn to trust her body. She explains this so beautifully in the episode!
She decided to support her body during this time by introducing more healthy fats into her diet as well as animal-based proteins. Everyone is individual in this, but trusting and listening to your body is the key piece of information here.
Trusting your body’s cues can also look like collecting information (i.e. journaling, yoga), seeking doctors and other professionals (i.e. getting tests done, making appointments), and connecting with others who have gone on the same journey.
When you begin to feel overwhelmed, this is a good indicator to take a break and return back to step one.
Know your limits.
Come back to stillness and reset to know where you can go next. Decide what information you are going to take with you and what you are going to leave behind that no longer serves you.
⭐️ Continue to Advocate for Yourself
Katie opens up in this episode regarding her first miscarriage.
For months after her miscarriage, she experienced waves of exhaustion, followed by the doctors brushing her off by telling her to just sleep more. Even though she knew something wasn’t right.
Katie didn’t stop there, and decided to visit her naturopath, who diagnosed her with hypothyroidism. She also continued fertility sessions with her acupuncturist. Eventually, her route to thyroid healing led her to taking medication which completely changed the game for her.
She found a balance between Eastern, Western, and Holistic medicine. Understanding that they ALL bring something to the table.
Despite all of her progress, she still felt like there was something underlying that was yet to be uncovered. She was still exhausted, dizzy, and nauseous; now, she was even experiencing painful sex.
After seeing her gynecologist and pelvic floor therapist, her friend referred her to a therapist who performs myofascial release to address the painful sex she had been experiencing (myofascial release is an internal massage that can release scar tissue). After the third session, the therapist was able to find the spot that was causing the painful sex and release the scar tissue to provide relief.
Simultaneously, Katie had been doing IUI, began seeing a doctor who specializes in hidden viruses…and eventually… she became pregnant!
⭐️ Surrender to the process
This was a 5 year journey for Katie.
At many times, there was an immense pressure to control. Katie had to learn to trust her body, trust the journey, and process every day as it came.
Not that every day was easy!
Some days she found comfort in journaling and her yoga practice. While other days, she learned that sitting with the anger and frustration was ok, too.
It was okay to not be okay. A lesson many of us can learn from.
Now, Katie is the mama 2 two healthy baby boys, and we are so thankful she shared her full story on the podcast.
To catch all the details, and hear from Katie, check out our FULL episode below:
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts
Or, listen on your favorite pod app HERE.
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