A Journey To FertilityFor Fine Art Photographer Linnea Lenkus
by Melissa Balmer


The irony of fine art photographer Linnea Lenkus' three-and-a-half-year challenge to become pregnant is that, during that time, she was also one of Southern California's top pregnancy and baby portraitists, with her work profiled on such shows as TLC's A Baby Story and NBC's Life Moments.


Interestingly enough, while Linnea absolutely adored working as a portrait photographer, especially with babies, she was initially less than enthusiastic when approached about taking pregnancy portraits. Frankly, she just didn't understand the huge demand for them. "To my way of thinking," says Linnea, "pregnancy portraits should be about the love between the couple and the hope they have for their future baby, and I just wasn't seeing that portrayed in the glamorous stylized pregnancy portraits at the time. I was worried that my vision might not be what clients wanted.

Two things happened to finally convince Linnea to go ahead and try her hand at the pregnancy portraits. A good friend (and fellow photographer) recommended that she "just move forward with [her] own thing" for the portraits and forget what everyone else was doing. At the same time the famous portrait of a pregnant Cindy Crawford showed up on the cover of "W" magazine. Lenkus decided it was a sign to go for it. Her own expressive and sophisticated editorial style (often incorporating the woman's partner in the portraits) quickly gained an ardent following. Her personal experience in trying to conceive lent a special poignancy to her work.

Like many couples, both Linnea and her husband Chris were so focused on their careers in their 30's (and enjoying the rewards of success), that the idea of starting a family didn't come up until relatively late in the game - when Linnea turned thirty-eight. "Frankly," states Linnea "I still felt like I was in my twenties, so it didn't occur to me that I might have already run out of time."


But that's exactly what one top fertility expert after another told Linnea when she began visiting them six months after the couple began trying on their own and nothing happened. She was told her FSH hormone levels were just too high for her to ever conceive naturally, end of story. Linnea, however, wasn't accustomed to being told she couldn't accomplish whatever she wanted to do, so with the same grit and determination that first made her a successful commercial photographer (in a field dominated by men), and then a fine art portrait photographer, she began her quest to find and try every possible safe alternative to aid in natural conception.

It turned out to be a fascinating and rewarding journey that not only allowed her to conceive naturally, but also cleared up a few very challenging health issues for her as well.

When one fertility specialist performed a laparaoscopy on her and cauterized age-related endometrial scarring, which can inhibit conception, he suggested she visit an endocrinologist for thyroid treatment because he'd discovered an enlarged nodule on her neck. Even though her thyroid tests came back as normal, she stressed the severity of her classic symptoms with the doctor (anxiety, fatigue, insomnia, constantly feeling cold, and a weakened immune system) and let him know that her mother had recently been diagnosed with hypothyroidism as well. He agreed to try her on a starter dose of the thyroid hormones.

Not feeling much better, Linnea continued educating herself about thyroid disorders, spending hours researching online and reading numerous books on the subject. From the latter, she learned about the natural thyroid drug Amour and its possible benefits, and went looking for an endocrinologist who'd let her try it out. After an exhaustive search, she finally found Dr. James Privatera, a vitamin and nutrition specialist who prescribed the drug for her, but it wasn't until she found Dr. Uzzi Reiss, an OBGYN (via an About.com page on thyroid disorders and who treats them) that she found someone willing to give her a high enough dose to feel results.

Amazed at how much better she now felt the new energized Linnea continued her quest and continued participating in other alternative therapies she'd researched including; having all of her metal dental work replaced to remove the mercury, switching to eating only organic food, and learning about Cranial Sacral therapy and it's possibilities to aid in conception.

In July of 2001, she found Chiropractor and Cranial Sacral therapist, Dr. Jenni Logue's ad in Southern California's popular "Wet Set Gazette" (created by the Dydee Diaper Service) and called to find out if Dr. Jenni agreed with Boland that Cranial Sacral work could help with infertility. Dr. Jenni told her that she'd recently begun to have very positive results herself with patients who initially came to her with lower back pain, and who were also trying to get pregnant.

Dr. Jenni treated Linnea both for a herniated disc (from being rear-ended in a car accident in 1995 that had been causing her chronic lower back pain ever since), and also worked to realign her pelvis which had become subluxated (partially dislocated).

"The pelvis" Dr. Jenni explains "is a bowl that should be symmetrical because it holds all the nerves in the reproductive organs. When things are misaligned it means that not only will there be a greater challenge in conceiving (if it can happen at all), it also means possible challenges carrying the fetus comfortably and to full term once pregnant." Dr. Jenni goes on to explain "successful conception has occurred after chiropractic adjusting (realigning) sublixations found in the thoracolumbar spine (from the waist down). Correcting the subluxation restores full nerve transmission to the reproductive system such as the uterus and ovaries, allowing normal communication with the hormonal controls in the pituitary and thyroid glands. By bringing all factors into balance conception will be far more likely to occur. Also, regular Chiropractic adjustments continued once conception has occurred keeps the necessary communication flowing to maintain a healthy pregnancy."

It took regular weekly visits with Dr. Jenni from July 2001 through October of 2001 for Linnea's back to begin to feel relief. It was also the same month Linnea visited one last fertility expert and was told she'd never conceive naturally, and needed to consider other options. Linnea was devastated by the news and decided it was time to throw in the towel. She'd tried every option she could think of to conceive naturally and decided it was time to let it go. She continued to see Dr. Jenni for her back until December of 2001, when Dr. Jenni advised Linnea that her back was now in good shape and could stop treatment.

Later that December Linnea and her husband decided to take a trip to New Orleans to shake off the frustration and sadness of not conceiving. They decided they'd discuss adoption in another five years and in the meanwhile have the time of their lives eating and drinking their way through the Big Easy. Unbeknownst to them Linnea was pregnant. She had, in fact, conceived naturally on December 20 th. Nine and a half months later she gave birth to a beautiful healthy son, Dexter. One year after her son was born she conceived again after the very first attempt. This past June she delivered a healthy set of twins, Ava and Maxwell.

Lenkus and her husband live in Long Beach California with their very well photographed children. Lenkus has studios in both South Pasadena and Long Beach California. For more information please go to www.LinneaLenkus.com <index.html> or call (562) 981-8900.