The reflexology helped me to get pregnant

"I THOUGHT you were a clever girl. If you think paying 50 pounds for someone to fiddle with your feet is going to get you pregnant....

When Andrea Sennett shunned conventional medicine in her bid to have a baby her doctor was doubtful to say the least.

But as she cuddles her beautiful baby girl, the proud mum is certain that Niamh is the magical result of the alternative therapies she turned to to achieve her dream.

I am absolutely certain that the reflexology helped me to get pregnant, she smiles. And being a mum is incredible. Niamh is magic. She is just starting to talk and becoming a real best friend. She is great company and really giggly.

Like many women, Andrea had always assumed that when the time came to want children she would be able to get pregnant. She had discovered, at 16, that she had polycystic ovaries (a condition which limits ovulation) but was told that it could cause problems conceiving not that it would.

Neil and I got married quite young, at 24, and we wanted to enjoy each other at first. But a few years ago we decided the time was right to have children.

When she failed to get pregnant after a year Andrea and Neil went to see their GP but were relieved when they were told that, other than the inhibiting factor of her ovaries, there was no reason why they couldn't conceive. But, a year later, nothing had happened still. We were told that drug therapies and IVF were the only option, but I didn't want to go through IVF and drug therapies, at least not until I had exhausted every other avenue.

It's such an emotional rollercoaster to go through, and I already felt I was on one. I wasn't prepared to put my mind, body and relationship through that. You can't understand how hard it is until you're in this situation. It becomes the most important thing, you plan your whole life around it.

Andrea, a customer relations manager for a software company, went to see clinical reflexologist Tracey Turton at the Natural Fertility Clinic, based at Cheshire Natural Health in Warrington.

Reflexology uses gentle pressure on precise points of the feet, ankles and hands that influence corresponding parts of the body, soothing away tension and eliminating toxins to encourage the body to revitalise itself.

Within months she became pregnant and broke the news to Neil on their seventh wedding anniversary. I can't stand anyone touching my feet and, when I first went for reflexology, I thought I was going to hate it. Tracey didn't just focus on fertility. But she would ask if I had a sore shoulder and I would think, how did she know that?. Eventually I just let her get on with it. And it was incredible.

Andrea and Neil were due to go on holiday to Las Vegas and had decided that, after the holiday, they would begin the IVF process. But that was not going to be necessary. I knew before I did the test. The night before the 14 days were up to do it I couldn't sleep all night and I got up at 6am and I was like, woo-hooo, I'm pregnant.

I had terrible morning sickness for which I went to Tracey and pre-eclampsia at 31 weeks, but Niamh was worth all the worry and effort. Tracey says: "With reflexology, you treat the person as a whole. It induces a deep state of relaxation.

Tension can have an effect on the hormonal balance and blood sugar which is important with polycystic ovaries. If people are stressed the first thing that's affected is the reproduction system because that is not essential for survival.