Podcast EP 51
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[00:00:00] Alright, so you're trying to conceive, you've taken the supplements, you've followed all the advice, but how do you know if it's actually working? How do you know if you are doing the right things? In today's video, I wanna talk about the invisible part of this journey that nobody else really talks about.
The idea that I keep throwing stuff at this, my pregnancy tests keep coming back negative. How do I know that these things that I am trying, that I'm implementing, that I'm doing are actually making a difference? What shifts am I looking for? So if this is a question that you've been asking yourself or maybe you've been wondering about it, don't worry.
I got you. Let's dive in.
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 dance, 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 Heal to Conceive podcast.
I remember when I first started trying to conceive and I was taking all the supplements and everything I could find, [00:01:00] but I didn't know if it was actually making a difference. And at one point I ended up speaking with my naturopath and I think I asked my Chinese medicine specialist about everything that I was on and the looks I got.
Yeah, some of it's just junk. Some of it you're peeing out and some of it you're taking too much of. How do I know if what I am taking is actually working? The hardest truth about pregnancy is that other than IVF, when you're in an IVF cycle, you don't really know if things are making a difference. Well, you do and I'm gonna teach you how to look for it.
But in the beginning you really don't, and in the beginning, you're willing to throw anything at the wall to bring your baby home. Trying to conceive is really like a pass or fail test. Either you do get [00:02:00] pregnant this cycle or you don't. But what most people don't realize is the healing, the process, the supplements, that's all happening behind the scenes and takes time for you to actually see things in your cycle and in your body.
So the first thing you wanna do is know where you're starting from. And you've heard me talk about it before, but it is very important to track at least three cycles thoroughly. So we're looking at BBT, cervical, mucus, and LH through the whole entire cycle to really look at what's going on. Now if you don't wanna do all that, don't worry.
I got you. You can use tools like Amira and Anita or A BBT thermometer, temp drop, that will help you get that data in easier ways. But having the data tells us where we're starting. From [00:03:00] there, since we are looking for signs and symptoms of changes like consistent ovulation, um, lengthening your luteal face, maybe your peak is getting stronger, maybe just maybe less PMS symptoms, your spotting has gone away.
But until we have our baseline data, it's really hard to indicate if what we're doing, what we're taking, what we're ingesting is actually making changes. But understanding where you're starting is just one piece of the puzzle. Doing things in the wrong order or doing the wrong things, when your body needs something else is a whole other different ballgame.
All right, let me break it down for you. I was taking tons and tons of high quality supplements. I was spending all this money on it, getting the best of the best because someone told me I needed to be taking really good third party supplements. But you see, I had really bad gut health, [00:04:00] and so the supplements I was taking, my body wasn't absorbing it correctly.
When you jump in and solve the wrong problem first, it can leave you not getting what your body needs to move forward. You might see this in other places like taking egg quality supplements, but you're not ovulating or being super stressed out, so your body has shutting down progesterone. But you are focused on timing.
When you're focusing on the wrong thing, it's like driving the wrong direction to try and get to your destination. You may get there eventually, but it's gonna take a lot longer. So I want you to try and ask yourself, am I focusing on the right piece of the puzzle for my body? If I'm not ovulating, I need to be focusing on ovulation.
If I'm ovulating, but I am, the egg isn't fertilizing, then I need to be focusing on egg quality. [00:05:00] If the egg is fertilizing, but the implantation isn't happening, or I'm miscarrying, then I need to be focused on getting that uterine environment as healthy as possible, and we do that through gut health, through nervous system regulation and through sleep.
So this brings us to the crux of it all. How do we know if it's actually working? Well, once you have the two to three months of data and you start taking the supplements and you start doing the things, I want you to watch your cycle closely. Are you still ovulating around the same time? Is your luteal phase getting longer?
Have things shifted? Do you see more bloating or less bloating, more cramping, less cramping, spotting, no spotting. All of this is indicators that things are working or not working in your favor. Is your body feeling less stressed, less inflamed, more stable? You're having mood swings at the [00:06:00] yin yang around cycle day 16.
Are you feeling more balance as your nervous system, feeling more in control? And last but not least, are you feeling more calm and connected to your body? Now that you're really paying attention, you'll start to notice things that you never noticed before. When I started paying attention, I noticed that my mood changes on cycle day 16.
It is a complete shift, end of the world for 48 hours, and then we're back in a groove. And when I tracked my cycle, I could see hormonal changes happening right there on that day. When you start listening and start paying attention, your body speaks to you differently. You learn so much more than you've ever learned before.
So it's not about doing more, it's about getting the data, making sure you're in the right stage and solving the right problem, and then bringing it all together. [00:07:00] So your action item is to track your cycle from beginning to end, all three. So cervical mucus, lh and BBT. From beginning to end for three cycles to get your baseline and understand what your body's doing.
Then from there, we can add supplements, adjust supplements, and look at the data that it is giving us. If you wanna learn more about your body and your cycle and really understanding what to do next, I invite you to take my quiz. Where is my fertility blind spot? The link is in the description. It's all about helping you find the missing piece or the missing area that has been holding you back in your cycle.
And remember. You've got this. You're gonna bring your baby home. And when you don't got this, I got you baby dust for [00:08:00] all.