About Rachael Mazzer
Bachelor of Health Science (Naturopathy)
When it comes to health challenges, my body has never put in less than 110% effort. However, I am so grateful because those challenges led me to naturopathy.
I could go into more details about my earlier struggles with autoimmune disease and hormonal imbalances. But the most important part of my journey was when I met my husband and we took our first steps towards starting a family.
It didn’t go to plan. In fact, it was the most physically, mentally and emotionally gruelling time of my life.
Of course, it didn’t start off that way. We would try to conceive, and feel a little more disappointed every time we were unable to.
After a while, we turned to investigations and testing to discover what was happening. And then we began to settle into the constant heartache that is experiencing infertility.
To be honest, being infertile left me feeling broken. We were told we only had around a 30% chance even with IVF. After rounds of failed IVF, a cancer scare, diagnoses of endometriosis and adenomyosis, surgical removals, I was blaming myself for it all. We even had two biochemical pregnancies – again, it was my body holding them, so I put the failure onto myself.
But with time, I was able to see how much I put my body through and how well it handled it. My body held space for me even as I stressed it through:
Medications
Diet changes
Weight loss
Weight gain
Surgery
IVF rounds
Mental breakdowns
Downregulation cycle (which is like a temporarily induced menopause)
Despite it all, my beautiful body continued to adapt to the situation. That was when I knew that my body wasn’t broken – no, not even with endometriosis, adenomyosis, PCOS, lupus and infertility! This perfectly imperfect vessel of mine was biding its time, and it wouldn’t be long until our dream family began.
And guess what? Once I embraced my body instead of punishing it, I could see the changes it needed to feel supported. From there, it wasn’t long before I fell pregnant with our first child.
Pregnancy was not a walk in the park for me. But my body constantly adapted to the new state of being. It worked hard to keep our baby girl safe, and it let me know when something needed some extra support.
This journey is not just my own. It is the fuel that encourages me to show up every single day to support people like you. My own experiences mean that I will never judge you, look down on you or blame you for your fertility challenges.
Although I will provide you with the tools you need to optimise your fertility, my most important role is to hold space for you and be a source of hope when things seem bleak. I know how powerful it can be for someone on a fertility journey to have help, support, and someone who will advocate for them when needed – because that’s exactly what I needed while walking my path.
If you are tired of pushing through the hard times by yourself, I would be honoured to support you.