Herbal Tea The Second

The second prescription of herbal medicine from Sister Regina comes in a similar container as the first. I should take this the same way I took the first. I double-checked with the assistant if it is different since they look the same to me.

Here are the ingredients written at the label:
Radix Rehmanniae preprata
Radix Paeoniae alba
Radix Angelicae sinensis
Rhizoma Chuanxiong

From what I gather, these herbs promote blood circulation, regulate menstruation among other things.

I boiled a cup of water and put 8 scoops of the herbal medicine. This medicine is darker in color, and the water turned blackish brown after putting it. The smell, ugh! It smells like incense! I waited for about 15 minutes to cool this concoction and drank it little by little. It tastes like the ashes of burnt wood! Just when my tongue is familiarized to the taste of the first herbs, now, I have to do the same to this.

If my calculation is correct, 200g of this medicine is equal to 18 cups. I can finish this in 9 days. AJA!

9th Acupuncture

Tropical storm Falcon ravaged the country the day before my appointment with my acupuncturist Sister Regina. I was deciding whether to go to the clinic or not. Rains poured incessantly during the night, I feared that flood will enter my apartment (as what happened in the Ondoy devastation in '09), I wasn't able to sleep well despite the cool temperature.

Good thing the sky cleared up the next day.

I left the apartment earlier than usual for my appointment. I alloted much time in case the sky brings rain again, unexpected traffic due to flood, etc. This worrying was no use since I got to the clinic an hour before my appointment. Good thing, the clinic is open and Sister Regina's assistants are there.

Patient #1! Woohoo!

I sit on a chair inside my cubicle. Outside I hear other patients talking with each other, some in Chinese and some in Tagalog. I open my book, The Reader by Bernhard Schlink, as I wait on Sister Regina. After a 10 minutes or so, Sister came inside the cubicle.

After the usual preliminaries, she asks me to lie down. As she is inserting needles in my head, she tells me about her patient who had a severe case. This patient does not have menstration if she does not take pills. She can have one year without her period. Before her wedding, she underwent acupuncture also to prepare her body for future conception. They got married, the husband left the country (he's a seaman) and she got pregnant. But, it was an ectopic pregnancy. They are now working up again.

This story makes me feel happy but I feel a bit worried at the same time. Ectopic pregnancy?! I didn't worry about ectopic pregnancy before this but now, I sometimes do. Blame it on my worrier gene.

I tell Sister that I have about two cups worth of herbal tea left. She says I should finish it and she'll give me another type of herbal medicine. By next cycle, I should have an ultrasound and see that my follicles are big and round. Note that she says "see that" not "if". She's positive acupuncture combined with the herbal medicine will do wonders to my polycystic ovaries. I do hope so!

Infertility Philippines

I chanced upon this website: Infertility Philippines. The owner of the blog, Deborah, bravely shares her story of trying to conceive.

It's nice to know there are other women who remain positive despite struggling with infertility. Most of the time I feel alone in my quest of having a baby. My husband is not here and I don't have friends who have the same predicament as I do. Finding Deborah's blog makes me want to cheer up and say to myself, "I am not alone."

Yoga at Gold's Gym

I started attending a hatha yoga class at Gold's Gym. A group buying site, Metrodeal, had a promo last month. For only P1000, I can get 10 classes from Gold's Gym. That's P100 per class! I can attend their Zumba (new exercise which they are promoting), belly dance, Spinning, yoga classes etc. The Metrodeal voucher should be used within two months upon first attendance in a class. Since I plan on doing yoga again, I grabbed this promo. The ongoing rates of yoga classes range from P500-800, depending on the location. Kinda steep so this promo is definitely a saver!

Gold's Gym have hatha yoga classes on Wednesday and Friday nights and Sunday mornings. I marked my calendar so I can attend all 10 classes within 2 months.

A new activity in my schedule always excites me. I plan on going to the gym thirty minutes before the class so I can familiarize myself with the surroundings, the facilities and my "classmates". As I walk to the gym, my heart is aflutter, my steps are light, looking forward to my first yoga class of the year. The last yoga class I attended was in 2009.

As I was walking to the Information desk, the staff immediately know that I have the Metrodeal voucher. Seems most of their students are voucher holders. He told me that signing up will be done after the class. I gave him the Metrodeal voucher and asked about the changing room. He said there is a changing room, comfort room and locker room located beside the food station.

Okay this is it!

I went to the Women's Locker Room. I passed by the class studio where a Zumba class was ongoing. The Locker Room It has rows of lockers, 3 shower stalls and several toilet cubicles. There were several women inside. Some were chatting, just got off the showers and some were changing to/from their gym clothes. I slowly walked around the Locker Room, checking out what facilities I can use. Try as hard as I can not to look a first-timer, I guess I still looked the part.

I changed to my yoga clothes in one of the shower stalls. I looked for a locker to use and noticed that some lockers have padlocks and some don't. Confession: This is the first time I will use a gym locker. I realize I need to have my own padlock for my locker. Bummer. I quickly went out the gym to buy a padlock. I don't want to be late for my first class!

Luckily, the Zumba class went overtime, giving me time to put my things inside the locker, lock it with my newly bought padlock and catch my breath.

As the Zumba students went out the room, we yoga students placed our yoga mats in different areas of the room. Noticeably, the middle area in front has no student. Like me, they're not keen on being near the teacher. Mirrors surround the room, making us see each other. I noticed that in a yoga class, beginners always take the spots at the back of the room or shala while "experts" take the front. I wish I could be more confident in my asanas so I can be in front also. :)

The class is a multi-level class led by Pio Baquiran. Meaning, poses range from beginner to advanced levels. We started with poses I learned from my Ashtanga Vinyasa class in '09 which was good. We had about 4 or 5 rounds of this before doing other asanas such as the Eagle Pose, Pigeon, Warrior, Cobra, Cat, etc. I have a book about Yoga which I have since 2008 when I enrolled in Ananda Marga in Quezon City. Seems to me all the asanas in that book, we did in my first class in the gym. Whew!

Everytime we lie on the mat, I think that we are now winding down and going to the Corpse pose, a name suited for this pose since you have to lie down on your back, your limbs relaxed, your eyes closed. But no! Seems the teacher has more asanas to do.

As we are nearing the end of the class and actually doing the Corpse pose, I feel some students leaving the studio. I open my right eye a bit and see students leaving, I'm not imagining it. This is new to me. The yoga classes I attended before make it a point that all students finish the class. This is to give the mind and body the time to relax, normalize breathing and be present.

We are in the Corpse pose for maybe 10 minutes, teacher Pio telling us to relax, mentioning each body part, making us to be calm and relax. I admit I cannot relax, I keep thinking that I'm the only one left at the studio since all my classmates have left already. Good thing this did not happen. There are still students left till the end of the class.

Teacher Pio ended by thanking the class.

I go to the Information desk so I can sign up. The lady gave me a form to fill out which is attached to the Metrodeal voucher I gave earlier. She gave me a small slip of paper which would be my "class card" of sorts. I should bring this slip whenever I will take a class.

Herbal Tea Update

After two weeks of drinking Sister Regina's herbal tea, I am proud to say that I can finish a cup in one session. No more half cups for me! The taste is still not palatable but I can swallow it without having the urge to puke. I think this is a psychological thing. Whenever I drink the tea, I tell myself that this is good for me, this will help me reach my goal of conception, this tastes like chocolate drink (uhm, no).

I'm happy that I can now see the bottom of the tea container. This means I have a few cups left. I wonder if Sister Regina will tell me to continue with the herbal tea. If she does, I think I'll pass. :) I'm more inclined to just continuing acupuncture only.