As my husband and I stared at each other, knowing it shouldn’t take two years to get pregnant, the rebel in me decided I hadn’t considered all the options. I researched beyond the information I already gathered. I was desperate to try unconventional avenues if it meant saving an expensive trip to the doctor. Old wive’s tales came up under my search options online:
Old Wive’s Tale #1 Honey and cinnamon
Old Wive’s Tale #2 Stress relief
Old Wive’s Tale #3 Watch your caffeine intake
Old Wive’s Tale #4 Cough Syrup
Old Wive’s Tale #5 Acupuncture
Old Wive’s Tale #6 Elevate your legs
The list goes on!
I refused to down cough syrup and acupuncture scares me, so I put honey and cinnamon in my herbal tea, monitored my stress, cut back on coffee and put my feet on the wall after sex and, as you can imagine, nothing happened. How many of us tried these old wive’s tales or perhaps more? Perhaps these have worked on women before, or perhaps those women were fertile to begin with and needed an extra boost of something to become pregnant. Regardless, my husband and I continued to be unsuccessful in the baby making department and had to have a serious conversation.
Fertility treatments came with fears of high cost and uncomfortable procedures. I didn’t know much about it and didn’t do my research on what kind of treatments I’d have to endure. At this point, medical intervention was our only option so I went to my primary care physician. I got my referral to a fertility clinic with a high success rate.
With deep breaths, high hopes and high expectations, my husband and I made that first call.
` - Dianna Nuss