AFTER years of unsuccessfully trying for a baby a Brampton woman turned to alternative medicine – and with the help of a Godmanchester acupuncturist overcame the tragedy of two miscarriages to give birth to a healthy boy.

AFTER years of unsuccessfully trying for a baby, Katie Turner turned to alternative medicine – and with the help of an acupuncturist overcame the tragedy of two miscarriages to give birth to a healthy boy.

Katie and husband Chris had been trying for two years to have a child when she fell pregnant – but sadly lost the baby two months into the pregnancy.

Feeling helpless and disorientated, Katie, 28, decided to try acupuncture after reading about the benefits in books on fertility.

She worked with Irina Szmelskjg at her Godmanchester clinic, for eight months. She fell pregnant again, but this time lost the baby after just five weeks.

During this difficult time, Katie, who lives at The Green, Brampton, continued to have acupuncture and just two months later she was pregnant again - with the couple’s son, James, who is now 17 weeks old.

Katie continued to see Irina until she was 20 weeks pregnant.

She said: “When I was pregnant with James I kept threatening to miscarry during the first three months and I suffered a lot of sickness but the acupuncture helped with that.

“I used to live in Godmanchester and remembered seeing the acupuncture clinic. It was the first time I had considered using alternative medicine but I have always been open and happy to try things to see if they work.

“Because acupuncture is safe I thought ‘It’s not going to do any harm’. A lot of doctors I had seen at hospital said there was nothing I could do, it was so frustrating, but Irina made it feel like I was doing something to help.

“It wasn’t just the acupuncture but the advice really helped me to focus on the things that I could do.”

James was born four weeks early on March 3 and weighed a healthy 6lbs 2oz.

Katie said: “I would definitely like to have another baby and I would consider using Irina again.”

Irina and her husband Alan run the Godmanchester and St Neots Osteopathic and Acupuncture Practices.

Together with acupuncturist Lianne Aquilina, Irina has seen 22 babies born to their patients and a further 17 are currently expecting.

Helen Decker, 41, and her husband Paul are another success.

Helen suffered three ectopic pregnancies while trying for her second child, and had to have an invasive operation to remove one of her fallopian tubes after it ruptured.

Helen, of Exmoor Close, Huntingdon, said a friend recommended acupuncture – and just two months later she was pregnant.

This time, the pregnancy went without a hitch, and Georgie-Mae, who is now two, was born weighing a very healthy 8lbs 15oz on May 29, 2009.

She said: “I recommend acupuncture to everybody. Not everybody will pay or will listen but I absolutely swear by it and still see Irina now.”

INFORMATION: Irina Szmelskyj and Lianne Aquilina will run a free fertility, IVF and acupuncture workshop at Peterborough Central Library on Saturday, (July 9), at 1pm. To register your interest phone 01480 435554 or visit www.hunts-osteopaths.co.uk/events.