Acupuncture + Wknd

Monday, March 08, 2010

Sorry I haven't updated since Thursday. I think if I hadn't had acupuncture on Thursday afternoon, my head would have exploded during work on Friday. Ever have one of those days?! Aren't Friday's supposed to be easy?

And this weekend was great- don't really know how else to summarize it- !

But anyway, back to acupuncture. LOVED IT!!! I got a very good feeling from my practitioner- she is tall, thin, has the most beautiful hair I have ever seen, left a corporate job to begin a more fulfilling career in acupuncture, and is exactly the type of person you would think practices yoga and acupuncture and eats super healthy. Not to mention, I think she knows her stuff, too (lest I appear superficial!!!!).

She said my kidney pulses are weak. And, in acupuncture, kidney pulses are very related to blood flow, which is very related/important to healthy reproduction systems. (Those of you who are doing acupuncture, I'd love to hear your take/experiences!) So in addition to some other points, she did three points which are very strong kidney points, and out of the 10-or-so needles, I felt the ones at the kidney points when they were going in and getting taken out! Sort of a warm tingly feeling! She said that is a good sign. (Yay!) I felt very relaxed and just really... good after the appointment. I am already looking forward to this Thursday!

(And incidentally, I tried a yoga dvd that I could watch instantly on Netf.lix yesterday afternoon and really liked that, too! I will do all the positive-energy-focusing-things possible! I don't think the one I tried was very high-level, but yesterday was my first try ever at yoga, so I didn't think I needed to take the master class. I am going to try to do yoga every other night.)

(One more aside. My practitioner was telling me that in Eastern Medicine, any pain or stress is viewed as possibly indicating imbalance. Case in point, I didn't mark cramps in the "Women Only" section of the data sheet becuase my cramps are nothing to write home about, and I figured that those are a given for women during their period, and I should only mark the box if they are interfering with my life or something. She said that in her practice, pain or stress doesn't have to be serious or intense for it to be considered. So, my question is, do people who practice acupuncture have no cramps during their period/is that the goal?!)

And the weekend was one of those where I was having such a great time (positive vibes here!!!) that, not like blogging is a negative thing, because I definitely don't think it is, but I just felt like I was on such a roll with things around the house and yard, that I just wanted to keep that going!! And at night on Saturday, Mr. A and I were having fun just hanging out, so I didn't want to have my nose stuck in the laptop. AND, I recently got the book "A New Kind of Christianity", and I am loving it so far!

The most awesome thing I did this weekend (that gave me the most joy!) is that I finally made excellent hand-made wheat bread from the wheat berries we ground ourselves. I want to share alot of details, so I'll write a whole post about that soon. But the bread is SO GOOD!!!

I am really trying to be positive and hopeful about our IVF. But I think it was so therapeutic for me/us to have such a rockstar weekend that had nothing to do with trying for a baby. It was so refreshing and soothing and uplifting!! (Except that Mr. A came down with a crazy cold yesterday and has been 100% miserable since about 5pm yesterday.... luckily he hasn't had a fever, so his detailed SA this morning should be unaffected....God bless him for still going over there....)

I feel really good about incorporating acupuncture and yoga into our routine this time. I am already a positive/hopeful person, but in some ways, I think Eastern Medicine validates my inclination that outlook is important. (ETA: Not that my Christian faith does not indicate that outlook is important- my hope is definitely in/from God.) It is sort of hard to think/accept that relaxing might very well help the problem (since that is such a cop-out reaction to IF), but if I have to admit that maybe stress does create interruptions in our bodies, then I'll admit it.

16 comments:

Praying for Hope said...

Sounds like a really good experience. I've never heard anyone say they regretted trying acupuncture.

Brigittemarie said...

Did Mr. A have a "man cold" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbmbMSrsZVQ.....What yoga did you try on Netflix?! Isn't it super relaxing?! Praying for you and happy you had such a great weekend!!

Jessica said...

I really think acupuncture & yoga are going to help me get through my IVF cycle more peaceful. Glad you are enjoying it!!

Leah said...

So happy you liked acupuncture. I heard you either love it or hate it, and I LOVED it! The whole experience for me was so relaxing and tranquil. . . exactly what I needed. Glad you had a positive experience as well. :-D

Anonymous said...

I've seen how directly stress has affected my cycles, so I'm a believer in the eastern approach to mind/body connection :). I'm glad you enjoyed your acupuncture! It is great, isn't it? n I have a sluggish liver, myself :).
I never thought about yoga on Net.flix!!! I'll have to try that this week.
Glad you had such a nice, relaxing weekend :).

Mrs. Chapman's 2nd Grade Class said...

Sounds like a great weekend! Glad the accupuncture was so great. We asked our RE about it and he has soemone that he recommends to his patients so we might check into that if we continue IF treatments.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you had a great experience with acupuncture! I will have to give it a try. Yoga is amazing and I wish I had time to go to more classes. Hopefully using both will just increase the success of your upcoming IVF cycle!

The Wife said...

You're so brave for doing acupuncture! I don't think I could ever do it. And I'm not usually squeemish or hating shots.

Melissa said...

I keep on wanting to try acupuncture but am so scared too. After reading your post, I think I am.

Your weekend sounded so perfect!

BelowAverageAthlete said...

I am so glad you had a great weekend! So important to have fun. I always see yoga and accupuncture as things I do for myself to make me feel good. This is such a hard process anything you can do to make yourself feel good is great. BTW, legs up the wall pose is a great yoga pose for getting blood flow to the uterus. I did it for 20 minutes a day prior to my FET. It is super easy to do and is pretty relaxing. Glad you are feeling good.

Shanny said...

I don't know much about accupuncture but I'm glad it went well and that you liked it =)

And I can't wait to read about the bread, that sounds sooo cool to be able to do!

Dear Diary said...

I hope acupuncture does wonders for you. I want to try it soon, well after next cycle if Im still not pregnant. Hope you feel better =)

Alison said...

So glad you liked the acupuncture! It is so relaxing, isn't it? Glad you had a good weekend. I'm really excited for your next step in this journey and so very very hopeful!

Hillary said...

I had thought about looking into acupuncture for our IVF cycle, but it came up so much faster than expected that it just never happened. It's great to read about your experiences!

TeeJay said...

I so want to try accupuncture...just wish my insurance would cover it. It sounds like you had a great appointment. And a lovely weekend. I'm thinking of trying some yoga at home myself. It's good for the mind and the body so it should help the process, right?

Basic Girl said...

Yay for loving accupuncture, isn't it amazing?? And I recently started yoga too, and felt so great afterwards. I'm all about getting mentally and physically ready for IVF too. Have you changed your diet at all, I've read lots of protein is good for egg health, and stay away from salt and sugar to avoid hyperstimulation. I'm trying to start now while I'm still on bc, but it's pretty frickin hard!!