I had spent most of my late teens and most of my 20’s utterly petrified about ever becoming pregnant, let alone the horror of labour. This changed when a surprise pregnancy rocked up just after I got engaged. We were in shock …. a lot…. but we were ecstatic…. even if our parents were not. Sadly, I miscarried.
After being told there was no heartbeat, we felt floored and waiting for the miscarriage to happen afterwards just made a really sad situation worse. That first experience changed my view on becoming a mum, from that point on I knew I wanted kids.
Over the next few years I had a number of miscarriages which left me feeling powerless and out of control of my own body. The physical and emotional toll of these miscarriages was never pleasant. I would be exhausted, the heavy bleeding left me weak, I felt like I could cry at the drop of a hat and any examination or procedure afterwards felt like another punch. It was hard to ride out such a roller coaster of hormone filled emotions. I remember being in a room of excited strangers and being told that my sister-in-law was having a baby. I was beyond ecstatic to become an Aunt, my first feeling was of great excitement. My second feeling was one of, oh dear god do not cry in front of these people. The truth was I felt lost. I felt like a failure but found that super hard to communicate…. even to my family and friends.
Shortly after this my good friend confided in me about her pregnancy. She was thrilled and so was I. She was very quick to tell me about the wonderful Zita West book she had been recommended to read. With this small snippet of information, my friend gave me hope again. She told me that at least 4 other people we knew had success with it and that I should try it. I was straight on Amazon to buy it that evening.
Without realising it, my dalliance into a more natural and greener lifestyle was clear as soon as I started to read this book. I am not a big book reader, but this book was my holiday read on our annual Spain trip. Front to back in record time. This book became a great influence to me. In it Zita West gives tips on improving your fertility naturally. Up until this point I had know real idea what impact the food that you and your partner put in your body can have on your ability to sustain a pregnancy.
Physically I could get pregnant, but had not managed to sustain a pregnancy up until that point. However, this amazing book, Zita West’s Guide to Getting Pregnant, gave me hope and put me back into feeling in control of my body again. It made me aware of how different foods affected my body and the ones that did not really have a positive affect on my fertility. It showed me all the natural options available to me.
As soon as we got back from our holiday, we both followed her lifestyle and eating advice, much to my husband’s initial disbelief. Rather than fearing what could go wrong, Zita’s approach helped me to be proactive. I felt we could succeed. We became pregnant to my little dude.
As a mum of two awesome mini-humans, I am very grateful to have them in my life, however we had been through period of time when I did not think a being a mum would on the cards for me. Zita West, to me, became a bit of a hero. I can’t tell you how many friends, neighbours, work colleagues etc I have lent her book out to, but there is a lot of them. Many of whom now have lovely little nippers themselves. Love you work Zita!!!
