“We had been trying to conceive for 10 months and had quite the history before I came to Life and Lemons. In those 10 months I’d had a miscarriage, ectopic with salpingectomy (fallopian tube removal), and chemical pregnancy. In that time I hadn’t accessed any other therapies but I had been referred to the recurrent miscarriage clinic and had bloods which showed nothing.

I found Life and Lemons via The Worst Girl Gang Ever (which I highly recommend them if you’re going through the storm of pregnancy loss). One of their webinars was about how fabulous acupuncture was and there was a recommended list of Fertility Support Trained Acupuncturists, which included Kimberley. We had heard people have great success and we wanted someone who could provide a more holistic view of us as a couple, as the NHS was very clinically focused and only focusing on me as a woman and never my husband. It took 2 and bit years of this journey for the NHS to ever look at my husband! Whilst due to Kimberley’s guidance we had male factors checked and ruled out well before! I also had an inkling my immune system was the problem and it’s not something supported across the NHS so I needed more advice and guidance.

Right from my first session I experienced better digestion, a better menstrual cycle with a longer luteal phase, and my periods were less painful and heavy. I also found I had less migraines, which was amazing. Emotionally I was less stressed and more calm. My husband called it my enforced relaxation time every week (whilst it worked wonders inside). I couldn’t be contacted or on my phone, total relaxation with no distractions. I often had a little snooze and woke up feeling so much better.

Kimberley listened and took into consideration all our symptoms and issues and she explained that she thought it was my immune system causing our losses and advised we get this checked. She recommended Professor Shehata at the CRP clinic in Epsom, because they offered specific testing to asses Natural Killer Cells (NK Cells). We went to see Professor Shehata’s team and sure enough I had elevated NK Cells when in the pregnancy state, which meant these cells were essentially attacking our precious babies.  I had to treat these cells in order to carry a pregnancy and once treated I successfully carried our son to term and he’s now a happy and healthy 3-month-old.

This involved ongoing treatment from Professor Shehata and complementing  acupuncture treatment with Kimberley. Kimberley also advised we check my husband’s sperm so that we could rule out elevated sperm DNA fragmentation, which we did through the referral to an andrologist and it was great to rule out quickly. Kimberley was also fantastic at taking all the results and interpreting and explaining them further, and tailoring my sessions to help those aspects alongside any specific issues I was facing that week e.g. digestion issues. The emotional support given by both Kimberley and Ilaria was amazing. They were always so thoughtful and kind, listening to the emotional rollercoaster we were on and offering support and comfort, for the number of times I cried in clinic… I’ll be forever grateful for their kindness.

With this newfound network of support, I was able to carry our precious son to term and he’s now a wonderfully healthy, happy and thriving baby. Without their encouragement and advice I’m not sure we would be where we are now. 

The Life and Lemons team are so incredibly knowledgeable but also just wonderful people, listening and supporting us through the rollercoaster which is a complicated fertility journey.  Recurrent pregnancy loss is completely overwhelming, devastating, isolating, and quite honestly, I felt desperate.  There is only so much the NHS can do and lots of things it could be and there are lots of people on social media with ads saying they can help with all sorts.  So having Kimberley to guide us through and advise on the next or alternative steps to the NHS and also how to self-advocate as a couple was invaluable. We had 6 losses in total, having another ectopic and 2 more chemicals until my immune system was under control.  Kimberley worked to compliment the treatments I was on to calm my immune system and support me throughout pregnancy, such as reducing nausea.  

Thank you to the team at Life and Lemons for everything, our little boy has completed our family and without Life and Lemons we might not be here. We will be forever grateful.