Orla's Journey
Siobhán is different, she treated me and how my body actually works and reacts to treatments, and not how my body was supposed to work and react to treatments.
My fertility journey is/was probably very similar to those who find themselves researching Siobhán and reading this testimonial. At the age of 35, following months of trying to conceive naturally, we did what most other people do and go to a doctor / fertility clinic. Various tests / scans later and nothing
too unusual showed up and our first child was conceived on the first round of an IUI. Happy days.... that wasn't too bad.
We returned to the same clinic in the naive hope that conceiving child #2 would be as simple. How wrong we were. 3 failed IUIs followed by 3 failed rounds of IVF and a failed ICSI. We changed clinics, just to see if another doctor/approach would get us pregnant but no! The same result. Failed IUIs / failed IVFs again. The worst part was there was no medical reason for the failure and they couldn't propose anything "different" other than "we'll try again and better luck next time". Following months of injections, emotional rollercoasters and failed pregnancy tests, COVID hit and the clinics closed. I was distraught. This meant months of "wasted" time waiting for the clinics to reopen in order to try and give my child a sibling. That's when a friend mentioned Siobhan.
So we looked her up and made an appointment. My primary degree is Legal and Business, I say this because I am a logical person, I work in facts/figures. I understand the practical and tangible. I am not creative or arty. I don't do the "alternative, meditation, tree-hugging, let nature take its course- approach". I like to be in control. This is not how Siobhan works! So you both need to be open to the alternative. Siobhan looks at you/your partner as a whole unit. Not just the scientific, but your diet, lifestyle, stress levels etc. She looks at the mind as well as the body - the whole package. She tailored an approach to suit our particular circumstances. I am a perfectionist and, as Siobhán rightly said, I carry a lot of expectation and responsibility.
For us, Siobhan believed, stress was a major factor. She prescribed herbs, a healthier diet and meditation. To be honest we were only ok on the diet, but we did the herbs, a bit of meditation and tried to reduce stress. I dumped the ovulation sticks (which never worked for me anyway - but according to Siobhan that was trying to exercise too much control).
We didn't need to. The next month I found out I was pregnant (naturally). It was probably the first month in years I had to go to the pharmacy and get a pregnancy test as I usually have packets in the bathroom! What had changed - there was no control, no stress and, most of all, there was no expectation (a perfect reflection of what Siobhan had been telling us for months). At the age of 39, I am currently 36 weeks pregnant and everything is going great. I have been in contact with Siobhan during this entire time. She has prescribed herbs throughout my pregnancy, which has, thankfully, been uneventful.
For us, I wish we had known about Siobhan before we went on our IVF journey. For those that are having difficulty getting pregnant, I would 100% recommend going to Siobhan before you try the IVF route. It makes sense - get your body / mind ready first. I have no doubt at all that we would not be in this position other than for Siobhan and I have recommended her to many of my friends who find themselves in the same situation.
Orla, Dublin
March 2021.
David's Journey
I have been through the "fertility clinic" approach (two in fact) - and it failed miserably. I always thought the fertility journey was all about the woman, her body, her scans, her cycle, her injections etc. For me, I attended the clinic, did my business and that was largely it. So I suppose like most men on this journey I had always taken the "passenger seat" and was, largely, led by my wife. That said, when my wife mentioned Siobhan - I must admit, I was sceptical at first.
For the first time in our journey, Siobhan focused on me as much as my wife. Siobhán actually looks at this process as a 50 / 50 approach. For me, my main issue was stress. Siobhán identified that very quickly, something the other clinics were not interested in / concerned with. She also told me to look at my diet / drink intake, which was the hardest part. Whilst I tried my best, I did have some hiccups along the way - but for the most part I followed Siobhán's advice. I did the meditation (sometimes) and increased by exercise and reduced the alcohol intake. I felt much healthier.
I have to admit her approach makes sense. Your mental / physical wellbeing is the foundation of a healthy body. For me, once the stress had been relieved, we more or less conceived straight away. It took four months, which is nothing in the grand scheme of things. However, in hindsight, it would have been great (and far cheaper!) to have tried Siobhán's approach before we went on the IVF journey. It also had the added bonus of improving my lifestyle and wellbeing.
I would highly recommend Siobhan.
David, Dublin
March 2021
Update - 1st April 2021
We had our healthy baby girl and we are both over the moon and extremely grateful to Siobhán for her help and guidance.