I was 40 years old, I had undergone three failed IVF cycles and I was feeling both physically and emotionally exhausted. This was the context in which I arranged an appointment to visit Siobhan Kehoe’s treatment rooms.
The first thing that struck me about Siobhan was her absolute confidence that if I got my body on track then I could conceive, it was just a case of believing in my own body and taking everyday measures to help it along the way. Up to that point fertility had become a numbers game whether it was readings of hormones in the blood or counts of eggs harvested, and even though my chances were assigned a number, conception was no less elusive. Given where I was coming from, I was almost taken aback by Siobhan’s confidence in her practice, I found this hugely motivating and this in turn inspired commitment in me. Siobhan’s holistic approach was so healthy, logical, and natural in so many ways, that I often look back and think of how obvious it was. She diagnosed, evaluated, reevaluated, advised and facilitated every step of the way. Personally, I found the big ingredient that underlay everything was commitment both from her and me.
Siobhan tried to get an overall picture of my health, lifestyle, circumstances etc. and from there performed acupuncture and prescribed a course of herbs based on her deductions. Then the process of empowerment began; she advised me on aspects of diet, the most beneficial ways of cooking, specific foods to address specific deficiencies and even how to facilitate optimum digestion. While she is knowledgeable on recently released supplements and therapies, she also drew on the knowledge and practices of past generations and different cultures for example in the use of castor oil packs. Daily moderate physical exercise was also advised as were the practices of yoga, meditation, and visualization. Although, some of these things jarred a little with me at first, within short I was asking Siobhan to recommend meditation apps, self- development podcasts and books, YouTube clips etc. So, as you can see it was a change of lifestyle that got easier and easier to maintain, most probably because my perspective and thought patterns became a lot more enabling, and this in turn led to less stress.
Day One in Siobhan’s treatment rooms I asked the question; ‘How long will it take until I can schedule my next IVF session?’ Of course, I was looking for the quickest possible fix and yesterday wouldn’t have been soon enough, but on Siobhan’s advice I decided to postpone for six months. By the end of that six months, we discovered that I had become pregnant naturally! Our son couldn’t be healthier or happier and as you can imagine my husband and I pinch ourselves every day because it still seems too good to be true!
Siobhan is more than a great acupuncturist and herbalist; I class her as a friend. Her absolute honesty means you might hear things that you might not necessarily like hearing but if you’re honest with yourself you’ll see the logic. She guided me to enable my mind and body and in doing so achieving what I never thought possible; successful conception, a healthy pregnancy & the birth of our son, we will be forever grateful!
From a pair of besotted Co Dublin parents
January 2021