How Exercise Affects Fertility

I wasn’t always sure I wanted to be a mom. I love to spend time with friends, go for runs and spoil my dog, and for many years that was enough. Then I met Scott, who was so passionate about starting a family that in falling in love with him, I started to see things differently. By the time he proposed, I couldn’t wait to make babies together; it was so easy to imagine having a full life with kids in tow.

Shortly after we got married, though, I was diagnosed with endometriosis, a disorder in which the lining of the uterus grows in other areas of the body, raising the odds of infertility. After I had surgery to remedy the condition, specialists told me that my chances of conceiving within two years were pretty good.

So for more than a year now Scott and I have done our best to create a little human. Hoping to boost my odds, I’ve sipped Chinese herbs that taste like mud, eaten bags of antioxidant-packed goji berries, popped Mucinex to increase cervical mucus, and even received a Maya abdominal massage from a self-described fertility goddess. The rubdown technique, passed down through generations of midwives and healers, is intended to guide reproductive organs into the proper position and improve their function. Too bad it just gave me gas.

Read the full post here.