Amy at Mama Lounge literally changed my pregnancy and allowed my baby to stay in my body to full term. She was that impactful for me.
The background of why: I was feeling like a goddess for the first 33 weeks of my pregnancy, with virtually no symptoms the entire time! Then at 33 weeks, I started getting a skin rash.
It wound up being PUPPS, which covered my whole belly and then started spreading to my arms and legs and making me miserable. I was in a heap on my floor every night unable to sleep, crying hysterically over the itching, and taking freezing cold showers several times a day to try to help it calm down. Nothing worked. My doctors offered Benadryl and Hydrocortisone and I eventually caved even though I wanted to be medicine free, but nothing helped. They tested me for cholestasis as a precaution, but the results were to take 2 weeks to come back.
I tried contacting several acupuncturists to see who had experience with Pupps (I was new to the city so was using Yelp). Most of them told me it was very hard to treat and were reluctant to even try. Amy responded right away though, confident that she could help relieve my symptoms. She saw me that very same day. I was so grateful for her willingness to tackle it!!
I went in to see her and she got me on a combination of acupuncture, herbs, and dandelion tea treatment. Her bedside manner of compassionate listening, thoughtful intuition, and calm humor was such a welcome relief. I felt like she was completely treating me, and not just some textbook definition of what someone with pupps might need.
After seeing her, my rash improved a ton, but didn't go away fully. She was a bit perplexed by this, but then my cholestasis test came back positive. All of a sudden the doctors wanted to take my baby out ASAP due to the cholestasis as it can be a big risk....but they were in a predicament because on the same day we also discovered that my baby was breech. Talk about going from goddess to wreckage-stress ball to even worse. blah.
After each of these horribly stressful doctor visits, I would immediately book in to see Amy. Sometimes my husband would drive me straight from the doctor directly to Amy's office and just wait at a coffee shop while Amy helped restore me. A few times I even called on the way to see desperately if she could squeeze me in, and she always found room for me. She was my lifeline, and I had only just found her on Yelp several weeks before all this.
There was a lot going on in those last few weeks, and Amy treated my mind, body and soul. She actually reversed my cholestasis by treating my liver...and even my doctors credited her (they said they have NEVER reversed a cholestasis diagnosis, but I was the first exception as my liver bile levels went way down after I requested a second test after working with Amy for two weeks). Because of this reversal in diagnosis, they no longer wanted to take the baby out ASAP.
Amy also worked like heck to try to help turn my breech baby. He was a stubborn guy and never did flip, but she helped me deal with that reality as well, and prepare for a cesarean birth.
After my baby was born, I had some milk supply issues that Amy helped me resolve, and I went on to successfully breastfeed!
Basically, I credit Amy with saving my pregnancy and entry into motherhood. I would not want to move out of SF until I'm done having babies, so I can make sure Amy is nearby in case anything unexpected happens again!!
I myself am a prenatal yoga teacher and have studied Chinese medicine for 2 years. Amy is a godsend. I can't speak highly enough of her intuition, compassion and skill as a practitioner. read more