Natural Pregnancy and Delivery at 41 After Three Years of Infertility

What made me want to work with Susan was her confidence. Her confidence in her own ability and also her confidence in me. had been told "no" and "that's not possible" by so many "official" people. When I met with Susan, she said, we're going to get this done. This is going to happen. And every month I came in and I said, oh, I'm not pregnant. And she said, okay, next time! And honestly, her confidence went all the way through from getting pregnant to helping me through the pregnancy to actually helping me deliver the way I wanted to deliver. So she was confident the whole time. Before working with Susan, I was done. I had been at this for three years. Everyone told me you should adopt. You should consider an egg donor. And I knew I didn't want to have "a" baby, although those options are amazing for other people. But I knew I wanted to have MY baby, and I thought that wasn't possible. And she was kind of my last hope. I thought this would never happen. Before working with Susan, I really had to ignore the fact that I was 41 and trying to have a baby, I really had to set all of that aside and trust her. Trust my body. Really, it came down to trusting my body. And she was the perfect partner in that and an advocate for me the whole way. When I came to Susan, I gave her all the details. I gave her all of the data and the stats and all the things that were, in my mind, stacked against me. And what she said was, I don't remember you participating in any study. You're you. You're your own body, And what's going to happen for you is going to happen for you, regardless of all the data. She basically said, we're going to do this, it's possible, and your body can do it, and you need to trust in your body. Finally, it happened that I became pregnant. She was overjoyed, and it was like telling an aunt of mine, she was like family at that point. I felt so anxious in the beginning of my pregnancy because I had experienced a bunch of loss before that. And she coached me through that and had actually such an amazing pregnancy. I had no complaints. I was told, because of my age, I had to be induced. I told her I would love to not have to be induced, that feels like not the natural process I was hoping for and the only reason that they were planning to induce me was because of my age there was nothing medically wrong with me. And she said no problem, you're not going to be induced, don't worry about it. And, sure enough, she did something a week before. She did something the week of. And the day before I was supposed to induce she said well, get out of here -- I don't want to deliver a baby in this office. And I went into labor that night and had a completely natural pregnancy, no drugs, six hour labor, 30 minutes of pushing... everything was as it, couldn't have been any better! The changes I made to my lifestyle through this journey were really taking care of myself. we worked to manage my stress, manage my anxiety, really be as healthy as I could be, because no matter what, there was no downside to that. So whether there was a baby or not, getting myself to a much better, healthier place was a benefit, What surprised me the most about working with Susan is that she's not exactly who you expect her to be. You go into working in traditional Chinese medicine, and you expect a certain persona that maybe is very Zen. And she is like your auntie, who is also like the one you go to for advice, and she is funny and savvy businesswoman. And truly an inspiration. I felt so much more empowered in working with Susan in all aspects of my health, fertility being one part of it. I realized that trusting my instincts and trusting my gut were actually valuable. And to be told over and over and over again by multiple Western doctors, that it's basically not going to happen, and then to now have a 14-month old beautiful baby girl, I mean, what else is there in terms of being empowered? We proved everyone wrong, and she knew it from the beginning that that was possible. I would recommend Susan, and have recommended Susan a lot because she gets results and does it in such a way that is not condescending, it's not overpowering. She just knows what she's doing. She is an expert in her field. She is an expert in women's health. And I recommend every woman I know who needs help reclaiming their health to her because she gets results. Susan, I think you know what you mean to me and my family. We call you Auntie Susan over here. You are family to us now. You do amazing things for people who are in some of the most vulnerable places. So thank you for that. Juliet Velez, Sausalito, California.