Dalia’s Story: Twins Conceived Naturally after 3 Failed IVF’ & 4 Failed IUI’s.
“…I learned so much about myself and had so many epiphanies with the OVUM work. Working with Julia helped me in moments in which I absolutely had lost all hope…”
By Dalia Davis
I had my first daughter 5 years ago and had no trouble at all conceiving. However, when my husband and I tried to have a second child we found ourselves catapulted into the incredibly painful world of infertility. After 6 months of trying, I was worried and ran to the medical world looking for fast results and was willing to try any drugs offered me. I was told that I had high FSH despite being relatively young and that was why I was experiencing secondary infertility. The RE, quite matter-of-factly told me that I would likely go through menopause at around 40 and had about a 2% chance of conceiving naturally. I was incredibly devastated and after days of crying, I dove into IUI—I went on do this 4 times, without any conceptions. After the failed IUIs we moved on to IVF. We did 2 IVF cycles both of which failed and neither of which produced even a single fertilized egg!
My devastation and desperation grew and I began to search incessantly on the internet for any solution to high FSH, despite the fact that the RE had told me explicitly that there was no way to lower one’s FSH. I then stumbled on a blog post in a discussion about FSH that mentioned Julia’s book Inconceivable. I got the book as fast as I could it and read it voraciously. Suddenly, I felt like there might be something I could do to change things and to heal. I immediately looked up Julia online and decided to attend her workshop in Woodstock. It was such an emotional experience for me—I remember when we were doing imagery and singing, my tears were just endless and I felt deeply drawn to her work.
This was the first place I had been during these years in which it was ok to cry and to feel. In fact, the RE almost canceled my third IVF cycle mid-way since I seemed “too emotional”—apparently it’s not ok to cry when receiving bad news in her world. I had already started my third IVF cycle at the time and figured I would go through it while doing Julia’s work. I bought a juicer, Julia’s cds, and supplements, and began. However a few weeks later my third IVF cycle ended with a miscarriage at 6 weeks. We had only had one fertilized egg so it felt to me like we were back to square one. To make matters worse the RE handed me a prescription for Valium, and told me there was nothing left they could do for me and shooed us out of their office as quickly as they could. She said we needed to move forward to adoption, donor eggs, and a clinic for really severe cases. I experienced deep mourning after that loss and felt completely hopeless. In that moment I emailed Julia and I she replied that she believed I could turn things around. I wasn’t sure about that, but I was willing to follow her and try.
I joined the Visionary Moms Circle and began working much more deeply. I learned so much about myself and had so many epiphanies with the OVUM work. Working with Julia helped me in moments in which I absolutely had lost all hope of conceiving and participating in the forum and phone circles removed my deep feelings of isolation and gave me a healthy way of walking towards my babies. It allowed me to use the pain of my miscarriage to mourn for the loss of a loved one for whom I was afraid to mourn because the feelings were so intense at the time of her passing. It allowed me to make my body stronger and healthier by changing my diet and helped to actually lower my FSH. I never did call the clinic for “more severe cases” nor did I pursue egg donation since I felt like the way forward was not to put myself in situations that were emotionally unhealthy for me. If not for Julia’s work, I am sure would have called.
A year and a month after my miscarriage I got pregnant the old fashioned way with much OVUM work and acupuncture. When I found out I was pregnant, I was amazed, elated, and terrified that it wouldn’t last. Every night I did “blanket of reassurance” and even slept with a particular blanket that to me was my blanket of reassurance (even though it was not really appropriate for the weather). This imagery helped me reach the point at which I was able to see a heartbeat and know that I really was pregnant. What was even more incredible, was that when we saw the heartbeat—there were actually two! We had conceived identical twins!
Unfortunately my pregnancy was not smooth and uneventful, but we actually hit a crisis in the pregnancy in which we were at risk of losing both babies. I reached out to Julia and again she was there for me, suggesting imagery and offering her wisdom and support.
I am overjoyed that we are now past all of that and are at home with two beautiful baby girls. If I had not had Julia and her work in my life, I would not have come to my girls in the way that for me feels truly beautiful, healthy, and healing. I can’t thank Julia enough for helping in my journey towards my girls—for being an incredible teacher and supportive presence through the devastating downs and astounding ups of this life-altering fertility journey.
