AS ANY woman desperately trying to get pregnant knows, it’s not going to happen unless you are relaxed.
However, as they will also tell you, the one thing they are not feeling is relaxed.
“You get really tense,” admits Rebecca Nijs (35), who is finally expecting her first baby in April.
Rebecca stopped taking her contraceptive pill when she married, aged 32, and expected that pregnancy would follow. When it didn’t, she was referred for treatment and some time down the line, when she was taking the drugs that had been prescribed for her and still not getting pregnant, a friend made a suggestion. The friend said she knew of a natural health practitioner who had helped a number of women succeed in their longing for a baby.
The treatment that had helped other women was acupressure, and once Rebecca had established it didn’t involve needles, she decided to give it a go. “I think when you are trying so desperately for a baby if they tell you to stand on your head you would do it. You would try anything,” she says.
From May last year, Rebecca went for acupressure once a week at Freya Trotman’s Natural Health Clinic at Holbeach Fen – she became pregnant in August.
The hospital treatment obviously helped her, but Rebecca explains: “Freya aids that, so it’s something that goes hand in hand (with conventional medical treatment), and as well she helps with relaxation. It’s like a therapy coming here so even when I got pregnant I continued because I find it relaxing and in the early stages of pregnancy there are things that can go wrong and it gave me confidence and helped me feel better.”
Freya, whose clinic is on Ravens Bank, says there have been 28 babies born to her clients over a period of 15 years.
Having left a career in nursing, Freya started her clinic dealing with sports injuries, bad backs and depression, using reflexology alongside something she was qualified in, acupuncture with needles. In response to a general dislike of needles, she began using what she calls ‘acupens’, which deliver a small electrical pulse into the meridian points in the same way as traditional acupuncture.
Occasionally, women would come to her because of migraines, stress or hormone problems which Freya says were “masking the fact that they were desperate for babies”. After a few sessions, they would open up and admit they had been trying to get pregnant for months. Freya says: “One by one, they started to get pregnant. Rebecca’s pregnancy is the 29th. I think a lot of it is, as Rebecca says, they can come and express whatever they want. For some people who have been trying for months the first visit becomes a “tea and tears” session, and all the frustration and tears and loss of confidence is released. Once they start to relax and talk about issues it becomes so much easier for them.
“In my mind the acupressure is definitely helping. The lady who recommended me to Rebecca had been trying to get pregnant for several years and after six weeks of treatment became pregnant.”
Freya conducts a full case history and will be honest with women she doesn’t think she can help. The treatment involves hand pressure on the meridian points, avoiding any that are contra-indicated in pregnancy. She also supports couples on IVF and other programmes.
l Freya, who gives talks on acupressure, country cures and garden remedies and beekeeping, can be contacted on 07986 197757.