When we’re struggling, reading the stories of others is a way that we can stay focused on the positive. In some of my darkest moments, the light of others has gotten me through. I’ve created this page to showcase some of your stories of hope because I receive countless emails each day that make me humbled by the human spirit.
Let these stories be your light. Sending you love.
Choose the category that you’re most interested in below
Conceiving after struggling
Healing after loss
Conceiving after struggle
Hi Bettina,
I hope you don’t mind me getting in touch. I just wanted to share my fertility journey with you and thank you for the role you have played in my recent good news
After three years of trying naturally, two years of expensive reflexology and not a single positive test in sight, my husband and I decided it was time to follow the fertility treatment route. We started our first round of IVF in February 2020 however, after a week of injections, we were called to say that all IVF treatment was being postponed due to the pandemic. Although devastating, there was so much going on in the world that we felt it was meant to be.
October came around quickly and after a successful egg collection, I was shocked to learn that our first round had failed. Naively it hasn’t really crossed my mind that it wouldn’t work for us, especially as doctors have never found any specific problems with me or my husband along the way.
I was due to try again in February but, having had my Covid vaccine early, was advised to wait til after my second dose – another two months which feel so much longer in fertility treatment months! Eventually, May came around and my first attempt at a frozen embryo transfer. At that point, something seemed to click and I realised that it was not just my physical well-being but my mental well-being that would be vital in helping me get through this next stage. That’s when I came across you & your amazing videos on YouTube. I began to take time for myself every evening in my spare room creating a calming space and flowing your relaxing routines which did me the world of good. I had completely underestimated the importance of learning how to calm myself in times of need and have faith in my own body – thoughts I took with me into my subsequent appointments.
Two weeks later I got my first ever positive pregnancy test in four & a half years and last Friday I saw my baby moving for the first time at our 13 week ultrasound.
I know there’s still a long way to go and the anxiety doesn’t seem to get any easier, but I want to thank you so much for being there for me in a time of real need and for providing me with skills that I will take forward into the near future and beyond.
Best wishes,
Natalie.
My husband and I had our first confirmed pregnancy in March 2016. We were overjoyed and so excited. I was working nights as a veterinary nurse at the time and after a rest break I got up to find I’d started bleeding. I was 9 weeks pregnant at the time. It was a bank holiday weekend and on the advice of the UK 111 service we were advised to go to the emergency out of hours service at our local hospital.
I was so scared and so distraught. The doctor we saw was dismissive. She didn’t examine me, or even really look at me. She just told me I was probably miscarrying and I should just go home and try not to think about it. The appointment was finished with her telling me not to worry, we’d conceive again.
2 days later I ended up being admitted to the same hospital with severe blood loss. I was left in a ward with older women with gynae issues to miscarry alone behind a curtain. No one came to ask if I was okay.
It was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life. I was not prepared for the amount of blood or pain I would feel. We were offered no support.3 months later we thought we were in the middle of our cycle and had just started trying to conceive again, when once again I got up at the end of a night shift to a huge gush of blood. We ended up back in the same out of hours at the hospital where the doctor we saw this time could not have been better. He took blood, examined me and confirmed I was pregnant with a urine test. We were totally shocked. A second blood draw a couple of days later confirmed I was having another miscarriage. The second experience was very different to the first. Nowhere near as much bleeding and the pain was much less. It reminded me of an ‘odd’ period I’d had in the December previously and actually led me to believe we suffered an early miscarriage then as well, though obviously I’ll never know for sure.
We took a little break, sought private help and we’re told we had a low egg count, low sperm count, too high thyroid levels and the consultant also confirmed my clotting disorder was potentially a factor. Off the back of that appointment we left armed with supplements, thyroid medication, progesterone and fragmin injections for when we next fell pregnant.
We caught again the next January and with all the medication had a wonderful pregnancy resulting in the birth of our now nearly 4 year old daughter.
We decided to start trying again when she was a year and half old and armed with all the same medication (except the thyroid meds as that all looked much better) we thought this time it would be a sure thing. I’d discovered your videos and YouTube and was loving doing your fertility yoga classes.
It took us 14 months to conceive and we were over the moon when it finally happened. Through tears of joy we told our families and close friends. We couldn’t have been happier.
Anxiety was a real problem for me so we booked a private reassurance scan around 8 weeks and through lots of tears saw out beautiful baby and a good strong heartbeat. Phew!! It was all going to be okay!
2 days before I hit 12 weeks I started spotting. Another private scan that evening confirmed a missed miscarriage. Absolute devastation. Our baby had stopped growing around 8 weeks so I’d been walking around all that time with my dead baby inside me and never knew. I felt my body had completely failed me.
Our hospital couldn’t get us in for a scan to confirm the miscarriage for another 3 days and I went on to pass my baby at home in the shower a day later.We fell pregnant again a couple of months later and at 6/7 weeks I started getting pain so we’re invited in to hospital for a reassurance scan. Baby was measuring behind (not unusual for me as I ovulate between day 18-20) but the heart rate looked so slow. They also identified a bleed next to baby. I left feeling more anxious and sure enough a week later at the next scan, they confirmed the heart had stopped.
My body wasn’t miscarrying naturally so we opted for medical management and after a week I passed my baby at home again.I felt totally broken and like it would never happen for us. We had multiple small factors and on top of that my husband had turned 40 and I was about to turn 40 a few months later. Time just wasn’t on our side.
I couldn’t bring myself to try again while I felt so down so we took a break. For a couple of months we just did what we wanted – ate and drank what we felt like and put all thoughts of babies to the back of our minds. I started running and fell in love with it. I couldn’t do any yoga or meditation for the longest time because I just couldn’t deal with all the grief and guilt I was feeling.I finally signed up for counselling through a miscarriage charity and that actually made an enormous difference. I learned so much about myself through that process and finally started to feel I could try again.
I discovered cacao and crystals and mindfulness on a new level.So after my 40th birthday we decided to start trying again. We got our positive in July and I’m currently 8 weeks pregnant (according to first day of last period). I’ve come into this pregnancy with a positive and hopeful attitude and for the most part have maintained that. I won’t say there haven’t been some very anxious moments and days but doing your yoga and meditations has been the most enormous support and comfort. We had a reassurance scan yesterday which showed a heartbeat but that baby was measuring closer to 6 weeks. I was expecting to be a bit behind as I ovulated on day 20 that cycle but I must admit it’s left me feeling a little nervous again.
So now the wait for the 12 week scan and hoping this little baby stays with me!
I can’t thank you enough for all your videos Bettina. The fact that you’ve experienced losses as well has meant I feel a real connection to you and although we’ll never meet, I feel like you’re a friend I can rely on to always be there to help me through the anxious times and the happy times.
Gemma.
You’ve also spurred me on to want to help other women the way you do. When my fertility journey is complete I very much want to learn yoga and specialise in fertility and pregnancy yoga. I’d better start saving!!
Healing after loss
