Shattered Conception: Navigating Infertility, Pregnancy Loss, and Healing Paths - 23. Feed Your Fertility Author and Acupuncturist Laura Erlich, L.Ac.

23. Feed Your Fertility Author and Acupuncturist Laura Erlich, L.Ac.

07/26/19 • 47 min

Shattered Conception: Navigating Infertility, Pregnancy Loss, and Healing Paths

My guest is licensed acupuncturist, Laura Erlich. She is the owner and founder of Mother Nurture Wellness, a holistic women’s health collective located in West Los Angeles, where she maintains a private practice as an acupuncturist with a specialty in reproductive medicine. Her career in the healing arts began in New York City in 1998 when she graduated from the Swedish Institute of Massage and immediately felt called to work with pregnant women. By 1999, she was back in her home town of Los Angeles, where she quickly built a successful house-call massage therapy practice and became a birth doula. After several years of growing her massage/doula business, Laura felt a desire to deepen her knowledge of both eastern and western medicine and enrolled in Chinese Medicine school at Emperor’s college in Santa Monica.

In 2007, she gave birth to her son and her new practice, and began tending to them both with her full heart and soul. Her background in pregnancy and birth made way for an acupuncture and herbal medicine practice with a speciality in women’s health, with a special focus on fertility, the childbearing cycle and labor support. After 5 years in practice, she began teaching other acupuncturists through webinars and joined the faculty at Yo San University as a professor in their doctoral program in reproductive medicine.

In 2015, Laura co-authored her first book, with Emily Bartlett, Titled: Feed Your Fertility. The book breaks down different health conditions and compares how Eastern medicine and Western Medicine view and treat that health condition. That was the same year, she founded Mother Nurture Wellness. Mother Nurture Wellness is one of the leading Acupuncture and Holistic Health Centers in the city of Los Angeles. Her Center, offers more than acupuncture and herbal medicine, Mother Nurture Wellness also offers chiropractic care, health and nutrition coaching, pelvic floor physical therapy, body work, midwifery services and a curated retail shop of wellness products made by local woman-owned businesses, such as SeedLyfe and Counter Top, for example.

Dr. Laura Erlich can be reached at [email protected]

She is offering $25 off the first visit to the first three listeners who make an appointment with her.

Dr. Laura Erlich can be reached at [email protected]

She is offering $25 off the first visit to the first three listeners who make an appointment with her.

Previous Episode

22. Stillbirth of Elijah with Dr. Ann O'Neill

My guest is Dr. Ann O’Neill. Ann completed her Master’s degree in Environmental Science in 2006, and her PhD in Natural Resource Science & Management in 2015. Excitedly anticipating the arrival of their 4th son in July of 2018 and were shocked to learn Elijah, no longer had a heartbeat at 39 weeks and 6 days of pregnancy. Elijah was stillborn on his due date, July 2nd, 2018. They returned home from the hospital in desperate tears, bewildered, arms aching, and with a million questions.

Three months after Elijah’s stillbirth, the autopsy report concluded that the cause of Elijah’s death was “unknown”. Unhappy with the insufficient answers to basic questions provided by the autopsy, Ann listened to a podcast interview of Dr. Harvey Kliman, a placental pathologist at Yale University. On this episode, Ann discusses learning that Elijah’s death was due to an extremely small placenta that could not provide the oxygen he needed to survive past week 39 of pregnancy. While Ann’s original plan was to continue teaching environmental science classes to undergraduate students, Elijah’s death was a watershed moment in her life. Elijah's death opened Ann’s eyes to the many unacceptable gaps in the world of prenatal care, stillbirth research, and basic answers for families asking why their baby died. Today, Ann is passionate about encouraging prenatal care providers to measure a baby’s placenta volume in utero to detect babies at high risk of stillbirth, and to help loss families pursue and hopefully find answers to the cause of their baby’s death.

Ann can be reached by email: [email protected]

To learn more about Estimated Placental Volume (EPV) to measure placenta volumes during pregnancy: https://medicine.yale.edu/obgyn/kliman/placenta/epv/

To learn about having your baby’s placenta tissue reviewed by Dr. Harvey Kliman to investigate why your baby was miscarried or stillborn: https://medicine.yale.edu/obgyn/kliman/placenta/pregnancyloss/

Star Legacy Foundation is in Minnesota and are dedicated to stillbirth research.

Next Episode

24. Bereaved Mother and Psychic Medium Kathleen Hoy

My guest is Kathleen Hoy. Kathleen is a Psychic Medium - she is clairvoyant, clairaudient and clairsentient. She can see visions, hear guidance and sense and retrieve information from people who have died, and are living, as well as information from houses, public buildings and outside areas. Kathleen discovered her gifts after the death of her daughter, Samantha, at the age of 22 to cystic fibrosis. Her own experience with the death of her child and journey towards embracing her new purpose and gifts is what enables Kathleen to guide and validate grieving parents, not only in finding their own meaning around the death of a loved one but also comfort. With her deep compassion, gift of connection and channeling, and broad knowledge of energetic healing practices, Kathleen offers people the space and tools they need to move forward in their healing with practical steps and gentle insight.

How to reach Kathleen Hoy: www.kathleenhoy.com

Email: [email protected] or 215.813.4225

Kathleen will give $25 off her fee to the first 5 people who mention this podcast when they book an appointment with her.

Books mentioned: Tuesdays with Morrie and The Eagle and The Rose