Last Friday was my first visit ever to an acupuncturist. I did say that I was up for anything in order to have a baby, so there I was in the spare, tiny office feeling a little nervous about having lots of needles shoved into my flesh.

"Do I put off trying to conceive for three months and stay drug-free, or just go balls to the wall and do whatever my Western doctor tells me to do?"

Earlier this year I went to an osteopath. She stuck her fingers in my mouth and manipulated the bones and muscles in my face to help ease the headaches and general ickiness caused by my allergies, and it totally worked, even after some of my initial skepticism. But why am I so weirded out about acupuncture? I've become accustomed to the prick of a needle because of my weekly blood tests to check my hormones, but I still don't look when it goes in. Maybe it's the mental shift from Western medicine to Eastern.

After a one-hour consultation during which we discussed what I want to get out of acupuncture, my general feeling of well-being (apparently I'm "damp"), and the viscosity of my poop, we got started. She put the first needle into my third eye, the area just between my eyebrows. I kept my eyes closed the whole time. Depending on where on my body she was tapping in a needle, I felt either pressure (on my left shin), an itch (on my right foot) or a pinch or prick (everywhere else). Then she left me for 20 minutes to relax and let the needles to do their thing. For the first 10 minutes, I fought the urge to feel for needles, scratch myself, stand up, or roll off the table. For the remaining 10 minutes, I got into just lying there. By the time she had taken out the needles and I had paid, I was so blissed out that I left without taking my checkbook. As anyone who is trying to conceive knows, everyone tells you to relax, which of course is impossible when you're being told to do it, so this was quite a feat.

Besides a feeling of calmness, I left the office with a decision to make. The acupuncturist told me that she could put me on a very pointed regimen of acupuncture and Chinese herbs, but I would then have to stop trying to get pregnant for the three months it would take to flush my body of its "dampness" and get it ready to accept a baby. I could also have acupuncture in conjunction with the treatments that my Western doctor prescribes, but the acupuncture won't be as effective.

Earlier today, my doctor suggested that I take the drug Synthroid to help my thyroid produce healthier eggs. Tomorrow, I see the acupuncturist again. I guess the time to decide is now. Do I put off trying to conceive for three months and stay drug-free, or just go balls to the wall and do whatever my Western doctor tells me to do? It seems to me whenever there are two seemingly opposing camps in the same universe (Biggie Smalls versus Tupac, Cal versus Stanford, Bill Compton versus Eric Northman), devotees are emotional, bad-mouthing is common, and both sides make convincing arguments. But can they coexist together in harmony to provide positive results?

Any thoughts, advice, or ideas from moms out there in Interweb-land?