A couple of weeks ago I was intrigued by a post on a message board that explained how to make your own fertility tea. As I posted yesterday, I decided to pass the time that Doug is on his medications, by growing the herbs needed to make it. I asked Earon to share, as a guest blogger, more about her journey with infertility and with the fertility tea. Enjoy this amazing post!


By Earon Harwell – Guest Blogger

Most people would say that their beginning began at their birth, but mine started after that. Aside from the Creator of the universe knowing us before we were conceived, my beginning started with my salvation. I was saved in the summer of 2000. I was searching for more and God saw to it that I found Him. I could see my life playing out with all the necessary difficulties that make us grow but the blessing of having God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit with me through it all. Visions of family and babies filled my mind, but what was more important to me at that point was Christ alone.

My relationship with God grew and He nurtured it to fruition as I met my would-be husband only a few short months later in the summer of 2001. Now those visions of family and babies soared to the forefront of my mind as our relationship grew and moved toward marriage in April of 2002. My husband, being a quiet man, didn’t seem too thrilled about having kids right off the bat so we waited a whole six months…. A long time I know. Three point five years later we were still in the same boat. Childless. I had gone through the extreme highs and lows of trying to conceive; something that every woman that has difficulty conceiving knows all too well. I finally decided that it was time to visit an OB/GYN.

So, there I was, 22 ½ yrs old and making a trip to the gyno with a hope of a thumbs up from her. She took a blood sample from me and ordered a semen analysis for my husband. A few days before Christmas I got a call from the office telling me that my progesterone was so low that I was more than likely not ovulating at all, even though my cycles were steady and constant. Another couple of days passed and we heard back from my doctor again about my husbands’ semen analysis. That was the day, December 23rd, 2005, that my world was shattered. My husband was sterile, 100% sterile. We since found that it was likely due to a combination of sickness and an accident he had as a child.

Even after this discovery I hoped and prayed that it wasn’t true and that I would magically end up pregnant. However, a few days after that dreadful day, my husband announced to me that he was relieved that he couldn’t have kids cause he never really wanted them to begin with. He was of course sorry for my hurt, but glad that he couldn’t get me pregnant. I was crushed, broken hearted, and felt completely lost. He tried to explain, but all the explanation in the world didn’t matter at that point. This was the first time in my walk with Christ that I had a crisis of belief. I knew that God is All Mighty, yet He chose to not heal us, therefore, allowing this chain of events to happen. Why would He do that? I didn’t understand. My faith was coming into question.

My question wasn’t answered for months on end. God allowed me to suffer in this for a bigger purpose, and today I can honestly say that I’m grateful for it. About a year later, we had decided to begin the process of foster care and adoption through the state. In filling out the paperwork, my husband kept getting really frustrated with some of the personal questions that were being asked as they were directed at his infertility. This was another beginning; I was beginning to understand what was really in my husband’s heart about our infertility. God was using this time to shape my husband and help him to realize his potential as a parent and the desire of his heart to become a father. Regardless of that, and due to financial difficulty at the time, we chose to wait to do foster care and ended up moving to another county. Within the next 2 years I began to notice how great he was with the kids that were around us. He loved playing with them and making them laugh. Plus, I saw his countenance lift every time he hung out with kids. Once established after the move we picked up the foster care endeavor again.

By this time, I had finished writing my first book, The Prayer Of A Parent, and was in the process of publishing it. The Prayer of a Parent is a book that God put on my heart in order to help people learn to pray God’s word over their kiddos lives, because of the fact that I had been praying for my future children for 4-5 years at that point. That’s about when we got our first foster child, and over the course of that year we took in 6 more foster kids, one of which we adopted. I’m a little sad to say that I didn’t end up getting pregnant, but I know that my life isn’t over yet, and by God’s grace we may yet have another child somehow. Presently, we are living happily with our daughter who is now 2 years older than when we first gave her a home. She was our second foster child and we love our girl, but want another child to give our daughter a playmate.

All of that being said we have found a well regulated company that will deliver donor sperm to our home without the assistance of a physician. Which makes it much more affordable for us to try for an actual pregnancy. Therefore I’ve been researching ways to help stimulate ovulation without the use of prescribed drugs. That’s when I came across a recipe for Fertility Tea, and about the same time I met Maria, the author of this blog. This is what I found and the post that got Maria’s attention:

I went to my local Natural Abundance health food store and got ingredients to make my own Fertility tea.

In the tea I have:
• German Chamomile 0.75oz
• Nettle Leaf 0.75oz
• Red Raspberry Leaf 0.75oz
• Peppermint Leaf 0.75oz
• Red Clover Leaf 0.75oz
• Green Tea 0.75oz
• Chaste Berry (vitex) 0.75oz

To Use:
I have a loose tea ball, which is what you'll need. Either that or whatever you can use such as a coffee filter, cheese cloth or whatever. Use 1 teaspoon per cup of water (standard coffee/tea cup is about 1.5 cups-ish) and steap in boiling water for a couple minutes or so. Add sweetener, creamer or juice to taste. Drink 3 times a day until pregnancy achieved. Viola!

Mixing and storing:
I mixed them all together in a big bowl and put them in my loose tea container which seals for freshness. The stuff that didn't fit I put into a ziplock and got as much air out as I could for continued freshness. I also got Licorice Root (Glycyrrhiza Glabra) as suggested by crossgirl_15, but I got it in capsule form which I will take with the tea in the morning, afternoon and evening. A person can get licorice root for the tea but you don't want to take it over an extended period of time so I chose to get is separately. You can use licorice root just like clomid, but you need 3500-8000mg a day? Someone can correct me if I'm wrong on those numbers. My pills are 450 mg each so I will take two or three with each meal. I will take it on cd 5-9 just like you would with clomid. Licorice root can raise your bp so you need to be careful if you have heart problems or high bp.
If you don't use licorice root and need something to help with luteal phase and LH for follicular maturation then you will need to add Chasteberry to the tea just use 0.75 oz and mix with the other leafs. Here is a great link to help you understand what each herb does for your cycle.

This is what I resorted to. My OB/GYN called and canceled the appointment I had made to discuss fertility with him so I think this was just God's answer to what I was asking, and seeking for.

I fully believe that God made the herbs for us to use and I think sometimes we forget about them. Now it’s VERY important that you consult your herbalist or naturopathic doctor before throwing herbs together. I grew up with the use of herbs and have a really good handle on what I can use and how to adjust if it’s not working, but not everyone does. The tea costs somewhere around $6 as opposed to $14 at a retail store. Plus it will last a couple of cycles. I should also mention that using it three times a day has caused a little bit of constipation, so I started using it once a day and drinking a bit more water than usual.

I have to say that the part of the title, “Made Whole” has not yet been completed, but I know that one day it will when God receives me into glory. God has granted me peace with the fact that we cannot conceive the natural way. God had used that time of barrenness in my life to help my husband overcome his fears of parenting and to help him realize that he truly did want to have children. For me God has begun and continued to teach me patience and contentment. I had and have the blessing of watching my hubby blossom before my eyes. I have the privilege of seeing his character grow and shape into a godly man and father; this is something that I would never trade with the opportunity to conceive and give birth normally.



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