Acupuncture + Wknd

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.