Pregnant at 40 and Again at 42 | FAMM Practitioner Series | Rachael-Beth Moss (Episode 640)

Full Transcript: Episode 640

Lisa: This is the Fertility Friday Podcast, episode number 640. I’m so excited to share today’s episode with you. I’m sharing another brand new episode of my FAM practitioner series, and I’m sharing my conversation with Rachael. Rachael was actually a past client many years ago, and she has since shifted her career aspirations, and she’s now in our FAM program. She’s now training to be a FAM practitioner, which is so exciting for so many different reasons.

As we go through today’s episode, she shares her story, a story that so many of you will recognize with challenging menstruation, painful periods, but no real education about what’s going on in her body. This has been the theme of the Fertility Friday podcast since its inception. And even though we’ve been going strong for almost 15 years, this story still rings true for so many of us and unfortunately is still the story of so many women out there.

I think this is one of the reasons why Rachael completely shifted her career path, because she discovered the power of understanding the body and how transformative it is when you actually know what’s going on — but not only know what’s going on, but have the tools to improve your cycles for the long term. This is certainly something she’s wanting to share with her clients.

Before we jump into today’s episode, I want to share a little bit more about Rachael. She is the founder of Your Cycle Matters and is currently completing her training as a fertility awareness educator through our Fertility Awareness Mastery Mentorship Program. With over a decade of personal charting experience and a background in education, she’s passionate about body literacy as a right, not a privilege, empowering women to make informed choices about their own bodies and fertility.

Rachael’s work sits across two areas she cares deeply about. She works with preteens and teens to give them the cycle education she never had. She also supports women who wish to conceive naturally. Of course, this is deeply personal for Rachael. After her own experience of pregnancy loss, she went on to conceive naturally in her 40s, and that journey sits at the heart of everything that she does.

Without further ado, let’s go ahead and jump into my conversation today with Rachael.

Lisa: I’m excited to be here today with Rachael. Welcome to the show.

Rachael: Thank you so much. I’m so excited to be on your show.

Lisa: I’m excited to have you. What’s really fun about this for me anyways, as we were talking a little bit in the pre-chat, is that you were my client many, many years ago. And then you went out and kind of made a career change. And then now you are here with us in FAM. Really excited to delve into all of that. I want to start by asking my most favorite question, which is: tell us about your first period, and I would love to hear just what your journey has been like from that point, and ultimately what made you decide that you wanted to jump into this fertility awareness world and really make this a big piece of your professional career as well.

Rachael: My first period, I remember it was Friday afternoon. I came home from school and I remember I was still in my uniform. I don’t remember how I felt before, I just remember going to the bathroom. I went to the toilet and I saw blood in my underwear. I just remember going to show my mom, and then she gave me some products, and that was it. I don’t remember anything else. I just remember specifically those details. I was 12 years old, and I struggled through my teens with really, really painful periods. I’d be rolling around on the bed in pain and agony.

Obviously my mom took me to the doctor, and obviously they put me on the pill at age 15 and said that this would regulate my period. I didn’t know any better, my mom didn’t know any better. So I was on the pill for quite a while. I think I probably took the pill until maybe mid-twenties.

Lisa: Well, that’s so interesting. When you said, “I don’t really remember more,” it’s just those three details — you’re bleeding, products, and that’s it. Do you want to tell us a little bit more about that? Knowing what you know now, I know that you have daughters, so I would imagine that your experience is going to be a little bit different. Tell us a little bit about, in retrospect, what was lacking from that.

Rachael: So much education, knowledge. I remember grandma used to talk — my mom wasn’t not talk about it, so if I asked her a question she would talk about it, or when I was having pain she would try and problem solve with me and we’d talk about it, but it was never really information offered to me. Grandma used to talk to me a little bit about it, I’m pretty sure she’s the one that showed me what period pads were. But everything else was lacking. Now I know what I know, I get really frustrated and a little bit upset because I think, well, if I would have known this, so many different choices would have been made, because I know what I know now.

My daughters’ education — I mean, they’re four and five, and their education started from the moment that they could speak. They know what my period products look like, they know all the words for their body parts, and they ask me “what’s that?” and I tell them exactly what it’s for. So already their education is different.

What I do remember about school — and I think this is a little bit sad — I just felt shame about my period all the time. First of all, products were called “sanitary pads,” which already tells us that subconsciously it’s dirty. I just remember being embarrassed having to go to the toilet during school if I had to change a product. I just felt yucky about having a period, and I also remember thinking, I just want it to stop, I don’t want to have it. I’ve had this for a really long time, but it’s so different now. If I think back to myself, just even before I first met you, there’s no way I ever thought that I would be talking about periods as a job now. I just talk about it all day, every day. It’s so funny how things change.

Lisa: Well, I appreciate you for sharing that. I feel like so many women have that experience, and when you first described it I think that’s why I went back to it — I just had this picture in my mind, it’s like there’s blood, there’s no explanation, it’s just, there’s blood, and here’s what you do about it. I remember feeling like when I was in junior high and they did their little thing, it was kind of like that. I always felt like this was the intervention, because they didn’t want the girls bleeding in class, the teachers didn’t want to have to deal with it, so they’re just showing you pads so that you sort this out. Even that is an acknowledgement that so many girls are not provided even with any information.

I’ve asked this question so many times, for anyone who’s listened to the podcast over the years, so many women have shared their first period experience, and each experience is so different, but generally it falls into this category of — some were older and knew that it was going to happen, so they were kind of prepared, some had no idea and were shocked and maybe a little traumatized. I would say the majority of the experiences that I’ve listened to, there wasn’t much of a conversation around it, it was just more of a practical “this is how you manage it, move on.”

Rachael: I don’t remember any education at school, and we must have had it, and I try and think back to it, and I think that maybe it was when I was in sixth form, so I would have been maybe 16 or 17, but it couldn’t have been that late. I don’t remember anything at school. So that’s how impactful it was — I don’t remember anything. When I talk to my friends now, we all say the same thing — we wish we would have talked about it more and supported each other.

What the difference is now, with the work that we do, is teaching women and teaching girls about their fertility and about their cycles, just empowering people to talk to each other, support each other, and to be able to make the right decision for them. Because all of those decisions were taken away from me.

Lisa: Well, let’s get back to your experience. You said then you had these horrible, painful periods as well, and you were put on the pill, and you said into your mid-20s. A couple of questions there — did you find that when you were on the pill, your experience of the pill periods, did it improve? Was the pain helped? And then tell us what happened as you were in your mid-20s.

Rachael: The symptoms improved, regulated, as we’re told. I also had heavy bleeding, so bleeding was lighter, pain was much more bearable — maybe it was hardly anything at all. I didn’t have any side effects at all. But when I look back, I suffered a lot of low mood, even depression, and I don’t know if it’s linked to the pill, but if you look at the research it probably was linked to the pill. I definitely had period pain and heavy periods, I didn’t have those anymore.

I think I stopped around mid-20s, had a break, and then went back on the pill because I had a partner and that’s just what you do, because the woman takes the pill to prevent pregnancy. Then I don’t know why I came off it, I don’t remember why I chose to come off — I think it was maybe after we broke up, and I just didn’t think I needed it anymore. And I just remember, and I know this now, but when I look back, a haze lifted. It’s the only thing that I can say. I just felt different, I just felt a little bit more like me after I came off the pill. And so then I never went back on it.

Lisa: That’s such — when you say that, it’s so interesting. This podcast has gone through — I don’t know if it’s gone through iterations, but as we’re recording this, I’m in my 12th year of the podcast, if I have that correct. I’ve interviewed so many people, and I remember for a good while there I did a “pill reality series,” so those episodes are still there in the archives. I feel like I’ve taken a lot from those specifics that I’ve done and just incorporate them into these practitioner conversations, because it’s similar — I don’t have to do a pill reality series, I could just ask my guests about their experience, but I digress.

I did this pill reality series for a long time — whether it was someone would reach out, or someone would share something with me, or I had a client, or whatever, but I would hear these stories and then I would invite the women to come on the podcast and share their experiences. These pill reality series gave me an opportunity to just ask dozens, I don’t know, maybe over a hundred women about their experiences, and I drew from some of those experiences when I was writing The Fifth Vital Sign.

One of the very common themes is what you said — so many women would just say it felt like a haze was lifted off of them, it felt like they felt like themselves again. Those words, Rachael, I heard those words so many times with women who were just kind of saying, they can’t really put their finger on it, but when they came off of it, it was like clarity that they didn’t have, or a reconnection to who they really are.

Rachael: One of the reasons I’m doing FAM — I want to support women and teenagers is because I just want teenagers to have a better experience than I did, and so many other teenagers. There’s just so much talking about periods and menstruation — it’s taboo, it’s wrong, we don’t talk about it, we hide it. But 50% of the population menstruate, we need our fertility to have babies — it’s one of the most important jobs in the world, isn’t it?

Lisa: Yeah, it’s all hidden and we don’t talk about it.

Rachael: It’s magical when you think about what your body does every month. It just works, everything just works together, and it’s magical and it’s amazing. Why is that all taken away from us?

Lisa: Yeah, if only we had the answers to those questions. I think of course I’ve always had a heart for women, that’s why I do this, and I want every woman to have access to this information and to know how their body works. It’s just basic biology at the end of the day, and we learn about the different biological functions of other parts of our body — it’s so exciting and interesting to learn about our eyes and our ears and all of that good stuff.

But as a mom of three now, the reproductive system is not only fascinating, but it’s also — this is how you build your family, this is such an important part of our lives. Obviously we should know that. But I also think that I take issue with the heavy focus on only pregnancy avoidance and not being the only type of education. Given that one in six couples struggle with fertility challenges, where’s the fertility-preserving education? Why are we not teaching young women from a young age, and young men, what to do to preserve their fertility for when they want to have children? So there are big pieces of this conversation that are just not had. And I take issue with the mindset of, well, when you’re ready it’ll just happen — knowing that we see such a significant percentage of the population struggling with fertility, and it’s just getting worse and worse.

Lisa: All right, so you were in your 20s, you took the pill for a while, you came off — so off and on a little bit depending on your relationship status — and then you had this experience of coming off now when you’re a proper adult, like you’re more comfortable in your skin, and you realize, okay, I feel different this time coming off of it. Tell us a little bit about how you discovered fertility awareness and what your journey was like there, from using it, but also now wanting to teach it.

Rachael: I was living in Asia, and I was in my mid-thirties, and I just remember thinking, I don’t have a partner and I want a baby, so I might just have to go to the bank and find some sperm. I just had this intuition that there was something wrong with my period, with my cycle, or maybe it wasn’t optimal, so I decided to do something about it.

Literally at the very same time, I saw a Facebook post from Chloe Scurlach, who was training herself and needed practicum clients. So I got in contact with her — I didn’t really know what it was, but it was holistic and it sounded great, so I thought I’d contact her. That’s where I first learned to chart my cycles with the Sympto-Thermal Method. We did the sessions face-to-face because we were in the same city.

I just remember being a mix of fascinated by what she was telling me about how the body works, and also anger that I wasn’t taught it myself. It was a real mixture of feelings. I was so fascinated, I was hooked from that very first session. So I learned with Chloe to chart my cycles, and my intuition was correct — my cycle wasn’t great, it wasn’t terrible, but it probably wouldn’t have supported a pregnancy.

I worked with Chloe for about four months, and then she recommended that I continue to work with a practitioner, and she recommended you. So then I got in contact with you and started to work with you to improve my cycle. I just remember through this time I would literally speak about cervical mucus and basal body temperature to anyone — everyone that would listen. I lived in Vietnam, it was really hot, we had swimming pools in every apartment block, I’d be sitting by the pool talking about cervical mucus. We’d be at a bar and I’d be having a glass of wine talking about cervical mucus. One of my friends said, “why don’t you do this as a job?” — because at the time I was a primary school teacher. I was like, maybe. I think it was just at that point that I’d started to think that’s where I would like to go. It took a little while before I actually made the change from teaching to fertility awareness.

Lisa: Well, that’s incredible. I didn’t realize that you worked with Chloe in person, I didn’t realize that you guys were at the same place. That’s cool.

Rachael: Yeah, we started in person, and then I think she left, so we continued online. In Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City.

Lisa: Yeah, but that’s so cool how you discovered it. I remember working with you, I remember that time fondly, and you were super engaged, and we did see some improvements and all that great stuff. I always think it’s so interesting how this information will find us — it’s so fascinating to me to learn about how all of our practitioners have discovered charting.

Maybe share with us — you went from not really knowing anything about your cycle, and for it, like you said, it was associated with shame to some degree, to now where you’re at. How did charting impact you personally? How did it impact your cycle? Did you still struggle with painful periods and heavy periods? How did all of that play out?

Rachael: I saw improvements with almost everything, but definitely lengthening of the luteal phase. Ovulation was quite late before, so it was a little bit earlier. Period pains — now I don’t really get them unless I have a bad month where life takes over, but period pains, I don’t even have to take anything for it most months, whereas I used to take ibuprofen or paracetamol every single month for the first three days, which is huge.

What I love about charting is that it has empowered me — and I even say it’s not only empowered me at the doctor’s surgery, but in every area of my life. Now I go to the doctor and I have a conversation, I don’t let them tell me what happens. I go in with my charts and we have a chat. I always remember you said on the podcast, you can change your medical practitioners, so I have many a time changed my medical support because we weren’t aligned, or I didn’t think they were doing a very good job.

I remember my gynecologist — he’s a gynecologist in Vietnam, and he’d already supported me through one miscarriage — I’d had my thyroid levels checked, and he emailed back to say, “yep, everything’s great, no need to change medication.” I emailed him back and said, “actually, it might be within the parameters for a woman of my age, but it’s not for pregnancy.” He responded back saying, “oh yeah, sorry, you’re right, speak to your GP to change your medication.” I was like, I think I need a new gynecologist right now.

So it’s really empowered me in every way, shape, or form. But what I love so much is I know my body, I know when something’s wrong, I can read the signs myself. I love it when progesterone drops and I’m like, oh, period products needed today. I’m just so in tune with what’s happening. I also now know how to educate my girls, so from the very, very start, they’re going to have a completely different experience.

Lisa: That’s so important and so exciting. I’m excited for the young generation, because I still firmly believe that we have a long way to go. Fertility awareness has not yet reached critical mass, I don’t think, by any stretch of the imagination, but it is really crazy to see how different it is decades into this work, how many more practitioners are out there, how many period coaches and fertility people, and how this is such a topic now.

It’s like a catch-22, because on the one hand it’s so exciting to see how much buzz there is, but it’s still so far from being mainstream. But I think we’ll get there, we’ll hit that tipping point. It’s really exciting, and it’ll be really exciting to see what the next generation of girls are doing.

Rachael: Do you know what else, though — it’s almost like you learn something and then you kind of go, well, that’s obvious.

Lisa: Well, of course that’s going to work.

Rachael: Yeah, well, of course. Just even the basic things, like improvement in eating and improvement in sleep, all of these different changes — it’s like, well, yeah, but it’s not obvious if you don’t know it.

Lisa: Yeah, it’s really strange how that works. I feel like it also works that way for our practitioners in FAM, where when they’re coming in, they don’t have all of the tools and all of the things that we provide, but then once we provide it, in retrospect, a lot of it feels like common sense now. It’s like, oh, well, of course we eat sufficient protein, and of course we track the cycle this way, that makes perfect sense to pay attention to these signs, and of course if she has a symptom it would indicate this issue.

I think my personal hypothesis for this is that because it’s our cycle, and because it’s so personal, and because it feels like it’s something that should be intuitive, I feel like even this field of fertility awareness and charting really draws a lot of women who really feel they want to feel connected to their bodies, and they want to have that kind of intuitive experience of knowing what’s going on. I think there is this idea that it should be intuitive and that we should know, and I think that can cause us to underestimate fertility awareness as a category, or as the modality — that’s the word I’m looking for, modality. I feel like because of that air of “we should be able to know” and the intuitive nature of it, I think that we often underestimate the validity of this modality.

What you’ve learned in FAM — because you were a client, so you were already in the inner circle, so to speak, of what we taught — maybe you could share a little bit about that. I’ve had several clients, actually former clients from many years ago, who might have also been practitioners now, who have gone through FAM. What they always tell me is, we’re just surprised that there’s so much more. Like, we thought we knew all this stuff, we read books, we’ve done all these things, but there was so much more.

Rachael: I think that when you’re on the right track, it should feel intuitive. I feel like now that you’re in it and you see all this, it’s like, of course it makes logical sense, but unless you have that training in the modality before you have the information, you wouldn’t even know to think about it. I think there are a lot of women who do have intuition, but then they go to the doctor’s office and the doctor just shuts it down, and they think to themselves, well, yeah, who knows better than the doctor.

It’s really difficult, because also as a fam practitioner it’s really difficult as well, because you want to validate women’s intuition, but you also don’t want to sound like that person that goes, “oh, I know better than the doctors,” although actually in some cases you kind of do. We’re investigating something with my cervical mucus, and the doctor said to me, “so is your cycle normal, every 28 days?” So then I went into the whole spiel about, well, it’s not 28 days, some women do have a cycle that’s 28 days. It’s like, you’re supposed to know this, and if you don’t know this, you’re guiding women in completely the wrong way.

Lisa: I think there’s so much there. One of the key things to know, the more that you interact with the medical system, is we have to know how doctors are trained. She is telling you how she was trained, and there is a — obviously doctors are highly educated, so we’re not here to say that they’re not highly educated, but there’s obviously a limited cycle-specific training. They don’t really get that same level of training. Fertility awareness is its own modality, and this kind of in-depth study of the menstrual cycle and beyond just “okay, the cycle is 28 days” — that’s not part of standard medical school.

Over the years I’ve come to look at that differently, and I talk about it differently, because I always use the analogy of — if I went to McDonald’s and I’m at the front counter and I want an oil change, I’m standing there making a big stink about it, “I want my oil change, give me the manager,” and someone’s videoing me now, so now I’m on TikTok — like, I’m obviously in the wrong place. We have to know that.

I’ve had clients come the total other way — I remember having a conversation in one of my group programs, and a client told me, “well, I haven’t been to the doctor in like eight years,” and she was saying it like — because the doctors don’t know anything, so I haven’t even seen one in eight years. I don’t want us to go that way, I don’t want us to go to the total other extreme where we think we don’t even need a doctor ever for anything at all.

I think we have to recognize how doctors are trained, what modality they serve, recognize the situations where we do need our doctors, but also recognize the limitations, and understand the need to go for specialized care when you need specialized support. If you have a very specific skin issue, your GP is going to refer you to a dermatologist who can deal with that. So when you have a very specific menstrual cycle issue, or you’re wanting to chart your cycles, you’re wanting to understand the menstrual cycle as the vital sign, you’re wanting to learn to lengthen your luteal phase, and you’re wanting to normalize your cycles without the birth control pill — the doctor is not the person who’s specialized to support you with that. That’s not something they were trained to do. They’re not trained to support you through natural, non-medical means.

So I think I’m just careful with my wording, but I feel like we have to find a way to acknowledge what they do and appreciate what they do, but also have a very hard line at understanding what they do not do, and stop expecting them to do what they don’t do. That’s why it’s so important for women to learn to chart their cycles — because if you find the right doctor, like my doctor is amazing, she listens to me, she asks me questions, and because I have my charts she can’t ignore the signs. She’s then like, right, well, let’s try this, oh, I’m not sure about that, so I’m going to investigate and get back to you. It’s working together, because you can’t ignore the signs of your body, and that’s why it’s so important for women to learn to chart their cycles.

Lisa: I think one of the challenges for any practitioner is that when you’re working with a client who is working with multiple practitioners, there’s going to be times when your practitioners are going to be recommending different things. For FAM practitioners, what we aim to teach and show is to provide your clients with the information and the evidence.

Because I know you said sometimes it’s like, working with this client, the doctor is saying something that just doesn’t track right with the data and information — I think in a perfect world, we recognize that the doctor is a skilled health professional, and they’ve been trained in a certain modality, but I think it’s helpful to kind of show where they diverge from what we are teaching. It’s not about “I think I know more than this doctor,” that’s never been the approach that I take. My approach is like, well, here’s the information, here’s the data, this recommendation is actually coming from this research that has been done, let’s go through it together, let me show you what the research is on this topic. I’ve created a handout on this particular thing and we have the citations, we can go through it, this is what the evidence is saying, so the client can now make an informed decision.

It’s not about “I know more than your doctor,” it’s about — this is what the research is saying, and I’m more than happy to share that research with you if you want to share it with your healthcare provider. I’m not attached to you doing exactly what I recommended, but I want to make sure you have that information so you can make an informed choice.

Rachael: I feel like this is one of the biggest issues with women seeking care from practitioners, and it’s so interesting that you mentioned the intuition, because how many of our clients had that feeling that maybe — maybe I shouldn’t have gotten that IUD placed, or I had this question and then the doctor told me I had to come back for surgery that day. So many of us have this intuition, but then because the doctor is considered the authority, and they are often pushy, wanting you to make that decision today, encouraging you to get on that medication, encouraging you to have that surgical procedure tomorrow without necessarily getting that second opinion — it’s really up to us to be able to hear what they have to say, but remember that we have the right to gather additional information, get a second opinion, wait a week. We don’t have to do everything right away, and we should be listening to that intuition.

Lisa: Right, it’s what you just said about informed choice — it’s not our job for us to tell women what to do, we give them all the information and we support them to make the choice that is right for them, and that’s what’s really important.

Rachael: As I said before, I had decisions taken away from me that I would have — had I known how my body worked, I would have made different choices, and that’s what fertility awareness has given me. It’s given me the ability to gather the information of what my body’s telling me, and then I make the decision that I think is right for me, with the support of medical professionals, rather than going into the doctor’s office not knowing what’s going on and them telling me what’s right for me.

Lisa: Well, this is such a full circle moment because not only has it made such a difference in your personal life, but now you are doing this for your clients. I’d love to hear a little bit about how your experience in FAM has helped to prepare you for your client work.

Rachael: It’s given me a lot of confidence, because as a practitioner who’s working with women, they come to you with their symptoms or experiences, and then as a practitioner you need to be able to support them. FAM has given me all the tools to be able to do that confidently. Through all of the weekly calls that we do, and all of the resources that we have access to, everything is structured in a way that I know exactly where to find things, or I’ve learned a lot of it because of the way that you teach it through those weekly calls. It’s given me all the information that I need and the confidence to be able to use that with my clients. I also love the access to all the videos before we start, because I was able to deep dive and listen to everything.

Lisa: I think it’s such a fun full circle moment, because like you said, we worked together many years ago, so I’ve had the privilege of being a small part of your journey. We worked together before you started your family, and now you have two beautiful girls, and to see the career change — I talk about that sometimes, it’s not something that you intend, but I’ve had so many clients who we worked together for a while, and then years later they’re doing like a 180 and changing their whole career and focusing on women’s health. This is a really fun full circle moment for me, to not only have you in the program but also to be able to chat with you on the podcast, and just to really see how you’ve literally taken this information, Rachael, and ran with it. I’m so excited to see what you do with it.

Rachael: I am so excited, I cannot wait to be able to do this every single day. I remember, I will never forget, when I was a teenager I read a quote — find something that you love to do and get someone to pay you for it. This job is not about the money at all, but with FAM and fertility awareness, what it’s giving me is the ability to work in something that I absolutely love, support women and change their lives, and also sustain my own life as well. I think it’s so important to love your job, and when I’m working with clients or on the weekly calls that we’re doing, it doesn’t even feel like work, which I think is really special.

Lisa: Well, you don’t have to tell me twice. I think one of the things that I have really enjoyed over the years of doing this work is that I’m seeing women at a very specific point in their lives, and not just giving them a bunch of information and sending them on their way, but equipping them with the skills that allow them to continue. It’s like you’re starting them out, and then giving them the skills and tools, and then they’re able to continue and run with it throughout their reproductive lives. So it’s really fun for me, and really rewarding, to be able to be a small part of your journey. We’re all really excited for you.

I would love for you to tell us just a little bit — as we start wrapping up here, for anybody who is close to the area that you are, or anybody who wants to learn more about you, I’d love to give you an opportunity to share about what you’re working on as you start your practice.

Rachael: At the moment, I am really interested in working in two slightly different areas. I want to support teens, so at the moment I’ve been making connections with schools so that I can go into schools and teach teenagers. I’m also really interested in fertility, so I’m supporting women who want to get pregnant naturally, and I feel like my own journey has inspired this, because I had my daughters when I was 40 and 42.

There are lots of stories out there that say, you know, you can’t have babies when you’re older, or the clock is ticking, and things like that. Yes, it is more challenging as you get older, but if you fix what we call the foundational factors, and you look after your body, you track your cycles, having a baby is a lot more possible, isn’t it? Especially after I had — I think I had two miscarriages — and it was after that that I started changing what we call the foundational factors, and it made such an impact on my cycle. Then I was able to have two amazing pregnancies and two incredible little girls at the age of 40 and 42.

So I would love to support women who maybe have focused on their career, or like me, didn’t have a partner until maybe their late 30s. I’d love to be able to support women to get pregnant at any age, but especially in their thirties, etc.

Lisa: Well, that’s wonderful. I will make sure to include any additional details in the show notes page, everything we talked about today. Rachael, I just want to thank you so much for being here today. This was a really fun interview, and it was also fun to be able to have that one-on-one time in our public, private conversation, but to really delve into your story a bit more. It was just a treat for us to do that.

Rachael: Thank you so much. I really enjoy being on the podcast, and I always wanted to be on the podcast, so now I’ve — tick.

Lisa: Amazing. Well, so happy to have you. Thank you so much, Rachael.

Lisa: If today’s episode resonated with you, if you can think of a friend, a colleague, someone who would really benefit from hearing this today, then I do encourage you to share. You can head over to Fertility Friday — this is episode number 640, so you can certainly find the links there. Of course, if you’re listening in your favorite podcast player, you can always use the share links there.

I just want to mention that the Fertility Friday podcast has really gained its following by organic sharing — truly word of mouth has been the biggest source of people finding the podcast. So if you’re a newer listener, or if you’ve been listening for a while and you’ve never left a review on Apple Podcasts, I would really appreciate it, because this is how we find new podcasts — we always look at the reviews, we look at the reviews first. So if you love the podcast, whether you’re a new listener or you’ve been listening for a while, I’d really appreciate if you left a review.

I hope that you enjoyed today’s episode with Rachael. It’s always such a treat for me to have our practitioners on the show, and of course it’s a treat to connect with Rachael again and really see how everything came full circle, because as I mentioned at the top of the episode, Rachael and I worked together many, many years ago, and that was actually before she had her daughters, when she was earlier on in her fertility journey.

It’s just so incredible to see the power of this information, and how it can be so transformative in the lives of our clients, and of course in our practitioners as well. I would say that’s one of the funnest things about having now been in the field for such a long time — well over two decades at this point — because not only have I had the pleasure of working with one-to-one clients and doing group work, but I’ve also been able to see the transformation in many of our clients.

Rachael’s certainly not the first client that I’ve worked with who completely shifted her entire profession to dive into the world of fertility awareness and women’s health. Not that it happens with everybody, but it does happen from time to time. It’s really profound to see that not only can it transform your personal life and transform your experience with whatever challenge you’re dealing with — whether it’s successfully using fertility awareness for birth control and being able to stay clear from hormonal methods, or helping you on your fertility journey to actually be able to conceive successfully within the timeframe that you were looking for, or even more than that, whether it becomes more of a passion and causes you to shift how you’re practicing and shift the direction of your career.

I’ve certainly seen all of those things happen over the years, and it’s such a treat. Now, working with our practitioners, we are supporting them to be able to bring this knowledge and empowerment to their clients. The impact and the effects are beyond, I think, what we can imagine sometimes, because you just never know what your client is going to do — whether it’s that your client uses it personally and then shares the information with her daughters, or whether your client is inspired and goes on to start a whole career where she ends up helping hundreds, if not thousands, of other women. You never know what happens when you plant those seeds.

I’m just thankful to be in a position where I can actually see how some of these things play out. With that said, I hope that you have a wonderful week, weekend, whenever you’re tuning into the show. Enjoy the rest of your week, and until next time, be well and happy charting.