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It's been a long time since I have shared anything regarding my health, so I thought I would give a "not so little" update and more specifically how it related to us having another child. Most of you know I have an autoimmune arthritis called Ankylosing Spondylitis. (If not you can go back and read about it here). Because of this disease, my pregnancy with Aiden was very hard and, in many ways, the past 3 years since he was born have been even harder. Since my last pregnancy, we just haven't known whether or not I would physically be able to carry another child. I was having a hard enough time just caring for Aiden. We prayed often that the Lord would bring me relief from this disease, but the flares just kept coming, leaving me in great pain and even, somedays, unable to walk. Suffice to say, it has been a tough and emotional few years. With all the continous flares we began looking into adoption, as this has been on our hearts too, and prayed for God's guidance if that was something we were to pursue. We decided that even though we would love to adopt, and it is still our desire to do so in the future, we just didn't feel, for many reasons, that the timing was right. We also had such a strong desire for another child of our own. At one of my appointments with my Rheumatologist last summer, Carl and I mentioned to him how we were really desiring another child and wanted to know what he thought. He said that he didn't think we should let the AS stop us, and that we should go ahead and try. So we prayed about it fervently and asked the Lord that if it would not be His will, and that the pregnancy would be too hard on me physically, that we would not be able to conceive, and that He would take the desire away from our hearts. A very hard prayer to pray, yet that was truly our hearts. Well, just a few weeks later, I was hit with probably my worst flare yet. I could barely walk and it seemed like my whole pelvis had come out of joint and was going crazy. It was a heart-breaking and emotional roller coaster for me, and I'll be honest here, I was really struggling with contentment. It was very hard for me to see other moms, in seemingly good health, having lots of little children. But God changed my heart and taught me to focus on what I DO have, a wonderful husband and precious son, good health in other ways, an eternity to spend with my God and Savior without feeling crummy, and SO much more, and NOT focus on what I don't have. Yes, I have to struggle with a chronic disease and yes, it can be hard, but I am ABUNDANTLY blessed! During that last really bad flare I began to get despondent that the heavy duty drugs were not too far off in my future and I had really hoped to avoid having to take those for as long as I could. The possible side-effects of the drugs are horrendous and the cost to use the drugs are over $10 000 a year, and that's with insurance! So I began doing lots of research on diets that might help my disease. I figured I needed to do my best with the food I put into my body, since the foods we eat really do either help us or hurt us. I really love learning about nutrition, so this was a fairly enjoyable process for me :) My disease is inflammation driven, so I needed to find ways to cut any extra inflammation that might be caused by what I was eating. After much research I did a major overhaul of my diet. I cut out the majority of sugar from my diet and try to only use unrefined sugars when I have to. I joined Carl and Aiden on their gluten-free diet and we switched over to buying only organic foods. We also have included lots of yummy, healthy foods like coconut oil, lacto-fermented vegetables, straight from the farm milk etc. A wonderful book that has really helped me is called "Nourishing Traditions". It has been a tremendous blessing to our family in learning how to really eat and nourish the body. I highly recommend reading it if you haven't read it before, not just if you have health issues, but for anyone wanting to learn how to get the best from what they eat. It focuses on a whole food diet, enjoying all the good food that God has given us naturally and how to prepare those foods for best absorption of essential nutritients. It has really challenged my understanding of what it healthy and what isn't. A couple months after making those dietary changes, I really started to notice a difference in how I felt. I was less stiff, my energy levels had increased, and my pain level had gone down tremendously. I can't say for sure if this is related to the changes I made in my diet, since autoimmune diseases definitely can wax and wane on their own, but I feel that it must have helped in some way and certainly it is good for my body overall. So we took this as a opportunity given to us by God, and in January, we found out we were expecting our long-awaited and much prayed for 2nd child! Praise be to God from whom all blessings flow! So, I have a wonderful OBGYN. His name is Dr Cummings and he is a strong believer. He also has a well known reputation in our area for being an excellent doctor. His bedside manner is so gentle and caring. I really can't say enough about him!! My first appointment with him was just to discuss how we would handle my AS during this pregnancy. He will allow me to take medication as I need it, and we have discussed which medications I can take during each trimester to be as safe as possible. He truly is a breath of fresh air after the not so compassionate (or helpful) doctors and nurse practitioners I had during my last pregnancy. I praise God for him! So how am I doing so far? (which is what I originally told you I would be blogging about :)) Well, besides the morning/all day sickness, I have actually been doing surprisingly well. I am continually stiff, as always, but even that seems to be so much less. Praise God, so far, I really haven't had any days where pain is too much, I have mostly just had days were I feel achy, but even those have been few and far between. I have not needed to take any medications, other than a couple Tylenol a few weeks ago. This alone is a miracle from God!! I have not taken any NSAIDS (advil, etc.) since before I got pregnant! Before this pregnancy I was taking them at least a couple times a week and daily, during flares. It is only by God's grace, because I had really prayed that I would be able to avoid medication, specifically NSAIDS, during the first trimester of this pregnancy when the developing baby is most vulnerable. I will be 13 weeks tomorrow, so I am almost there :) I am fully aware, though, that this is very likely just a honeymoon stage (which I can't thank God enough for) and that my AS could get very bad as the baby gets bigger, but as my sweet husband keeps reminding me, that I just need to take one day at a time, think on things that are true and leave tomorrow with the Lord! He alone is my strength! Whew! Are you still there??
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