Women today face one of the same questions that Shakespeare raised in one of his plays: “ To Be or Not To Be”.  Of course, Shakespeare was not referring to a decision of motherhood! However, this is the question that is presented to women in the later child- bearing years of their lives.  Choices. As the choices women have increase year by year, taking time off from achieving certain career or life goals to have children seems more and more a sacrifice. The stresses and financial strains a family experience tends to make women think twice about jumping into motherhood. 

As women take more and more time to achieve these career and personal life goals, what is happening? They are getting older, of course and some women may not realize how quickly their fertility declines, as they get older. By the time a woman is 43 years old, her chances of having a baby using her own eggs are less than 10 percent. Donor eggs are thus often used for older women seeking ART treatment.

In a new twist, some infertile couples resort to embryo adoption, obtaining an embryo left over from the infertility treatments of another couple. In the United States alone, about 200,000 frozen embryos are being stored and though it is not widely known embryo donation has been quietly taking place on a small scale for years.

Unfortunately, there are no treatments available that can "turn back the clock" on a woman's ovaries. Many physicians use fertility medications to try to increase the chance of pregnancy. Fertility medications increase the number of eggs that develop in a given month, and enhance the chance that at least one of them might be able to be fertilized and develop into a pregnancy. Although fertility medications seem to offer some hope, the pregnancy rates are generally poor.

Acupuncture and Chinese herb treatments fit in nicely and should be seriously considered as an alternative here. Acupuncture and herb medicine are a natural and gentle method to help increase the blood flow to the reproductive organs and improve the quality of eggs due to:

• Break the Qi and blood stasis, balance the hormones and improve the ovulation,

• Nourish the ovaries and follicles, to produce more “ good eggs”,

• Stabalize the FSH level and reduce the negative emotional stress for better conception.

• Produce a thick, rich lining for successful implantation,

• Generate the overall well-being and regulate the underlying imbalance.

No matter how old you are, this is an effective and path altering experience and we all have pressure points and are benefited by an increase in blood flow to the correct areas of the body that encourage egg production.