The Acupuncturist

Spoke to Dr. Lee this morning.  For some reason, she didn't understand from my last call that I told her I was pregnant.  (Who am I kidding, she barely speaks English!)  She was a medical doctor in China, but is retired and practices Chinese medicine -- acupuncture and herbs -- on referral clients only .  She says she doesn't need the money but just does it to help people, especially women trying to get pregnant.  I really like her.  She only charges $40 for Acupuncture and $30 for an initial consultation, then you have all these bozos charging $80 - $150 for family planning acupuncture who don't really get it.  They have training but fake soul - not so with Dr. Lee.  She tells you things like, "Pray, touch your tummy and talk to your baby, tell them you're ready, eat A LOT, anything that you want (except caffeine or too much chocolate), keep your feet warm, NO SEX, and do not lift anything!  She's big on that last one, especially for me because, by the way, I'm 46. Although, I was doing Crossfit for six months leading up to the transfer, so I wouldn't give a single thought to lifting groceries or vacuum cleaners, but she says, NO WAY.  Can you believe that?  I'm going to play it safe and do what she says.

Our embryo was frozen at Cornell on my last cycle there in June 2012, two weeks after my 44th birthday, flown to California in October 2013, thawed, and transferred on January 23, 2014.  Chances are slim I'll make it, but if I do I it will be God's grace, and I will never doubt His power or attention to detail again.  If I don't, I'll still believe in God, but my faith will have been tested, it will be extremely painful, and I will have to trust that God knows best.

Dr. Lee says that because of my age I shouldn't even leave the house or work in my garden, that I shouldn't take any chances at all.  In China, she says, "We have pregnant women lay in bed for the first three months.  We serve her."  I could get used to that.  The problem is that my husband's a doctor and very busy, so he can't serve me to that extent and I can't tell anyone until we get past the beta challenge.

Dr. Lee says that she doesn't want to do acupuncture on me right now and the current vitamins I'm taking serve the same purpose as any herbs that might keep the baby growing.  Her services are best used before the embryo goes in, she says.  I trust her.

Every morning after my warm water - and sometimes at night -  I drink a 16 oz. shake made from blackberries, raspberries, pineapple, yogurt, mango, almonds and spinach, ground inside my Nutriblast.  She thinks this is great but also wants me to eat beef two times per week and solid vegetables with dinner.  I don't really like veggies, besides asparagus.  I love watching it grow.  There's something about gardening that makes you feel that God's right there.  As I said in a prior posts, I should've planted more snow peas.  I only have one plant, which right now has only about six pods on it.

These are my tests today.  The Dollar Tree tests are great (New Choice).  They will pick up 25 mIU/ml HCG.  The E.P.T. Early Pregnancy Test is okay.  It's supposed to pick up 25 but yesterday it was negative and today it's positive, so I'm not sure.  It might've been my diluted urine, but from what I've read online, women don't think it's that reliable and often gives false negatives.  I won't buy anymore of these.  I'm trying to stop testing my urine at all and just have faith in God and talk to my little bean.