Podcast EP 12
===
[00:00:00] Today is all about my journey to baby, and I'm hoping that you'll be able to take away some key nuggets to implement into your journey. This journey is something wild, and mine all started in November of 2018 when I got engaged and I decided, okay, I'm gonna go off birth control. Because I knew it took a few months to clear my system, but then other than that, I'm gonna get pregnant super easily because that is what I was told.
I was never taught how to get pregnant. I was only taught how to avoid it. For over four and a half years, I was trying to bring my baby home. More than anything I wanted to be a mom. And today I'm gonna share with you my journey and the steps I took to see those positive two pink lines. Hi, I'm Sophie Byfield and when I decided I was ready to be a mama, I thought it would be so easy.
Get off birth control. Baby [00:01:00] Dan, like no one's watching. And poof, I was pregnant. But like many of you, that wasn't my story. After months of negative tests, endless treatments, and more supplements than you can count, I realized that getting pregnant isn't about fixing one piece of your fertility puzzle.
It's about bringing your whole body. Back into balance so it feels safe enough to conceive. And this is where we focus on what really matters. Healing your whole body so that you can see those two pink lines. Welcome to the Heel to Conceive podcast. So we are going to roll all the way back to November of 2018 when your girl got engaged.
It was at that point that I decided that I wanted to go off birth control no more BC for me. I knew it needed a few months to clear my system, but other than that, my doctor said, [00:02:00] all systems are go, you can baby dance and you'll get pregnant now, because I was over the age of 35, she did say if we tried for six months naturally and it did not work, she wanted to send me to a fertility clinic.
No problem. I got you. This is gonna be super easy. So we went to the fertility clinic. They did a bunch of testing and they said, we're just gonna start you with just monitoring your cycles. So you get up early, you go to your 7:00 AM appointments, they ultrasound you take blood work, they watch your follicles grow, they tell you it is go time now, baby dance.
And that went on for a few months and no positives. It was at that point that we started introducing medicated cycles. So this is when you're trying your Letrozole and your Clom med, and maybe even a trigger shot to bring your baby home and making sure you're ovulating. I mean, I had the perfect follicle size.
Everything was dropping perfectly. Still no baby. [00:03:00] Now we're starting to round out the end of year one when a ultrasound tech said to me, Hey sis, has anyone ever said anything to you about your fibroid? And I was like, no, not really. What do you mean by that? I'm not allowed to say anything but maybe do a bit of investigation.
And that was the first time anyone had mentioned to me. About fibroids at this point. We had done medicated cycles. We did cycle monitoring, and we had done one round of IUI and fibroids are now just coming up. From there I did IVF more rounds of IUII was heartbroken and devastated. Time after time I started implementing acupuncture.
Chinese medicine specialist. So many different things. I remember researching till I was blue in the face to maybe get every supplement under the sun. Hey, at [00:04:00] one point I was on 20 different pills and powders and drinks because somewhere something helped somebody. It wasn't working for me and it wasn't working for my body.
There were moments when I broke down and cried and begged, when was it gonna be my turn? Why don't I deserve to be a mom? I remember clearly when my sister got pregnant for the second time, how heartbroken and devastated I was. I remember family members saying to me, don't you wanna give that man a baby?
Or aren't you getting old? Don't you wanna have kids now? And every single time it was like a knife to the heart, sis. And if you are hearing some of these things in your journey, I'm sending you love, I'm sending you so lunch, love. I have now moved on to my second fertility clinic, and again, they're doing all the testing.
Everything looks normal. The sperm is great, everything [00:05:00] looks good, but I'm still not seeing a positive pregnancy test. Year three is when I decided, no, I ain't doing this no more. But my heart was still calling me to a mom. I was feeling defeated and broken down and beat up, and I can't even put into words the emotional rollercoaster that I was on.
I started going to therapy to process the feelings and the emotions, but why don't I deserve to be a mom?
Why am I still on this journey?
By the time we got to year three and a half, I was now on my second fibroid surgery, and this was a major myomectomy where they cut you open like a C-section and go in there. All in all, I've had 26 fibroids removed, [00:06:00] 26 fibroids. But you know what happened after that? I went to my third fertility clinic and I was basically told, yeah, you had no business Trying to conceive, being on all of that medication, doing all of those, I UIs doing all of those medical procedures before you got those fibroids removed.
What. You mean? I have wasted the last three and a half years doing everything possible to get pregnant, and there was no way I was going to get pregnant without having that surgery. I was heartbroken. I was devastated. And girl, what I say, I was pissed off. Thousands and thousands of dollars later. Time, [00:07:00] medical treatments, appointments, devastation, heartache, crying, not being able to leave, leave the house and 40 pounds gained because of the medication.
And you mean to tell me that there was absolutely no way I was gonna get pregnant?
This experience is exactly why I do what I do. It was in that moment that I said, no more. No more. I decided to take back control of my fertility journey. I decided that it was time for me to take control of my health. So it was December of 2023 and the husband and I always go on a two week cleanse, or it's not quite two weeks, but we always go on a cleanse between New Year's and his birthday, which is the beginning [00:08:00] of January.
Just a nice reset, um, reset, feeling better health and kickstart. But you see, this time was a little bit different for me. This time I started tuning in to what my body was actually saying. And slowly I went on this healing journey and I started eating more along the lines of a Mediterranean pescatarian, right?
So a lot of fish, a lot of seafood, olive oils, healthy vegetables, healthy fats. I end up cleaning up my diet. I started working out again, but this time I was working out for healing. I was working out for enjoyment. There were walks, there was exercise in the park, there was strength training, but I wasn't going balls to the wall hitch training.
I was doing a moderate intestine exercise. I started focusing on stress management and sleep, really improving my lifestyle, and after four and [00:09:00] a half years of trying to conceive. I saw my two pink lines in 12 weeks. One of the biggest things that I did was I cut back on my supplements. I went from 20 different pills and powers down to five.
This is when I became obsessed with becoming a fertility doula. This is when I became obsessed with everything, fertility, understanding the ins and outs, how the body works, how the mens menstrual. Cycle works what I can do to support it and not take away from it. See, your body is always telling you something.
We just need to start to listening. Once I started learning about what the body was doing, once I started learning how to master my cycle, I felt empowered and control. Once I cleaned up my diet, I had more energy. Once it stopped being all about baby dancing at the wrong time, I had a better connection with my spouse.[00:10:00]
You see, I focused on healing my whole body, all aspects of it. Instead of just focusing on trying to get pregnant, you might think that expensive treatments and going to the fertility clinic is the only way you can bring your baby home. But I'm here to tell you, sis, that is not always the case. Sometimes it's about taking back control of your fertility journey and stepping into what your body needs.
It's about getting on the right supplements, cleaning up your diet, looking at your lifestyle, going into the fertility clinic, empowered knowing what the tests are, knowing what questions to ask, knowing what to look for. I handed over my power. I believed that the fertility clinics had my best interests at heart and cis, some of them out there are absolutely amazing.
Some of them bring babies home all the time. They truly do. But when you've been on this [00:11:00] journey a little bit longer, or you've been going to the fertility clinic a little bit longer, I just have found that they don't explain things as much that you can be left in the dark about your own body. I am telling you, if it wasn't for that fertility text saying, ask questions about fibroids, I never would have known.
I wouldn't know. 26 fibroids were removed. 26. So the question becomes what do you do? Where do you start? The first thing I'm gonna say to you is you gotta master your cycle. Understanding what your body's telling you, the information it's giving you. Secondly, you gotta clean up your lifestyle. That made a huge difference in my journey.
Looking at your diet, your exercise, your sleep, your stress management, all of that heals different [00:12:00] aspects of your body that all pinpoint to reproduction, that all come together to bringing your baby home. And the last one, sis, is throw away majority of the supplements. Not every supplement is made for every body.
It's not. Sometimes supplements can block your blessing, and this is exactly what I teach you to do inside the heel to conceive tribe, how to heal your body to conceive and see your two pink lines. But for now, I want you to pick three things. Three things to start working on. Number one, mastering your ovulation.
So are you tracking lh BBT and cervical mucus consistently? Number two is cleaning up a diet. So you could do a Mediterranean, a low carb keto, or a fertility friendly diet depending on what works best for your body. And number three is cleaning up your supplements. Sis, you don't need every [00:13:00] supplement, and I really feel like you should connect with a professional to make sure you're on the right ones for your body.
If you want me to help you out, don't worry. I got you. My contact information is in the description box below. Most importantly, I don't want you to lose hope. I don't want you to lose hope. I was on the journey for over four and a half years before I saw my two pink one.
I am here for you so you never feel alone. You got this, and when you don't got it, I got you. Remember, everybody's body is unique and your journey may look completely differently, but you are meant to be a mom
baby, death for all.
