The 2nd most influential factor in getting pregnant

The number one thing that helped me get pregnant was having sex.  Duh.

But besides that, I did something that I truly believe helped me conceive.
I am not normally into new agey or non-traditional treatments for things.  In fact, I don't often go in for treatments full stop.  I would probably put myself in the "suck it up and get on with it" camp when it comes to most things.  Now my husband is not a fan of medications and doctors in general.  He prefers to find natural treatments for ailments.  After I moved to England, I was complaining of my usual little aches and pains and my husband suggested that I try something that he'd used with good success.  My pains were mostly old ballet injuries to my joints which caused them to ache and swell from time to time, as well as a general extremely tight muscles in my shoulders.

Early dancing days

And so I went to see a Bowen Therapist for the first time.  The Bowen Technique has to do with small movements or adjustments performed on muscle groups.  Conceptually, the body wants to be healthy and function properly, but has gotten stuck in a bad habit.  The theory is that the movements "reset" the body, allowing it to heal itself.  (That's the short version, as interpreted by me.)

Ann, the practitioner, commented that I was carrying a lot of tension and mentioned the connection between being physical uptight and being uptight as a personality trait.  I laughed and said, "I don't really think of my self as a tense person consitutionally."  She basically said, "You can't argue with these shoulders.  You ARE uptight."

I had to admit she was right.  After seeing Ann, I started to notice how often I was tensing my muscles (i.e.  standing with my butt cheeks totally flexed, clenching my jaw, etc).  I started making an effort to force myself to relax.  And boy was it an effort!  But as time went on, it got easier and I noticed that I wasn't carrying as much tension.

At a second visit to see Ann, I mentioned that I was very prone to UTIs.  I would get them really easily, and had even had a really bad one that resulted in me going into sepsis.  Yikes!  She did something to my abdomen.  I'm still not sure what it was.  It wasn't really part of the Bowen therapy.  She described it as an "add on treatment" that she offers sometimes.  I think she said she was removing energy blockages.  **Cue my eye roll**  She pressed rhythmically on areas of my lower stomach (forcefully, but not painfully) and made whooshing noises.  I was sceptical to say the least.

A few days later, the area she'd worked on started coming up in dark purple bruises that lasted a couple of weeks.  These were some serious bruises.  And my UTIs immediately got better- in fact, I haven't had a hint of one since then.  My next cycle was totally wonky and made me think I was pregnant and then crazy.  One more treatment after that (which included removing more energy blocks from my abdomen) and I was pregnant.

Coincidence?  Possibly.  But I'm not convinced.  It makes sense to me that if things (energy/chi/whatever) weren't flowing right in an area related to baby making, that it would impact my ability to conceive.  Like I said, I have no proof that this new agey "energy work" helped me get pregnant, but I still believe that it is a key factor.

Did you try anything unorthodox to get pregnant?
Or did you maybe stumble upon something that you didn't think was related to your fertility that ended up having an impact?