Man, time flies. I keep meaning to update my little blog here. A lot has happened, but yet nothing of giant significance. We are so close to graduation. Trevor and I both graduate in April! The long road to our bachelors is finally (almost) over! I don't even know what it will feel like to not have the guilt of doing procrastinating homework. (I really want to read this book, but I should be doing homework. Or, I really should be doing homework right now, but the bathroom needs to get cleaned, etc).
Trevor is hard at work searching for an internship over this next summer. He's got quite a few good leads. So we'll see what's happened. I'm working and am loving my job. I'm a bookkeeper right now. It's good fun. I feel so lucky that I can go to work every day and use the things I've learned in my degree. So many college graduates can never use their degree because it's...well...worthless, which is so unfortunate.
I'm one test and a project away from getting my diploma. Trevor will walk the stage in April, and I will in August (even though I graduate in April as well.)
The path to starting a family requires patience. This I've been learning. I'm coming up on 6 months since the miscarriage. I'm doing great now. Sundays can be tough, but as far as day to day, it's in the past. I've had to work with the doctors a lot though. I'm quite the pill popper now. I'm on multiple medications. After the miscarriage they did a whole range of tests and found out quite a few things.
1. My blood clots really well...just a little too well. They think this could have contributed. So I take a baby asprin every night to keep my blood a bit thinner.
2. I'm on a special prenatal. Very special. The tests showed that my body is missing an enzyme that allows my body to break down the "normal" folic acid in your normal prenatal. This could also be a huge factor in the miscarriage. So I'm on a prescribed prenatal that has "meta-folin" in it. This is a folic acid that is already broken down past the metabolic phase. So my body can absorb it. It's such a new idea and product that there is literally only one prenatal out there with this stuff in it. I feel pretty special, but my wallet hurts each month when I have to purchase it.
3. I take a daily vitamin D3 pill. Which is pretty common.
5. I'm on a hormone replacement therapy. AKA fertility pills. It's a combination of estrogen, progesterone, and Letrozole
6. I'm also on Metformin, it helps with the PCOS. (See below).
7. I also take magnesium. It helps with the muscles.
8. I take acidophilus every day as well. It's a probiotic, not antibiotic.
9. I have PCOS (Polycycstic ovarian syndrome). It runs in the family. I didn't have it until after my miscarriage. After my D&C I had 3 periods in 6 weeks. I went to my OB and it turns out I had cysts all over. Good fun. I was placed on birth control for 2 months to get my hormones back in balance. Then I went back in and got another ultrasound. The cysts were gone! Woot! So I started some fertility pills. I went back in and the cysts were back. Boo.... So, he upped my dosage of pills and I got a shot. It was progesterone in oil, which triggered a period so we could start all over.
Having realized that I have PCOS, I've decided to make a lifestyle change. This is something I'll have my whole life, but it can easily be managed by eating right and exercising. PCOS has side effects of stubborn weight gain, acne, the dark line on the back of your neck, unwanted face growth and others, oh and irregular cycles and the painful cysts. Those lead to infertility problems. After researching and doing some of my own testing, I've realized that I am insulin resistance. So, the root problem of all this kind of goes down to my eating.
When I eat foods that spike my blood sugar, my body produces an over amount of insulin, which makes me "crash" (get tired and groggy). That's it in a nutshell. So I've worked hard to find what foods spike my blood sugar.
I've found that white potatoes, white rice and white bread and of course, candy, will spike my blood sugar and it ends up being a long day. There is one diet out there that works. And it's not really a diet, but a lifestyle change which I've been doing and I've seen such great results. It's the Low-Glycemic diet. Basically it takes out the starches and sugars from a diet, or limits them. It's actually a really healthy diet and can be done with a little bit of diet modifications.
So I've given up white potatoes, which was probably the hardest thing for me because I LOVE potatoes. I'm an Idaho gal. Then I am very moderate with my white rice I eat. What's really cool, is I make my own white bread, (I refuse to buy it because of the additives and cost). We use it for Trevor's lunches every day. I've been able to control myself around the bread. I no longer crave it.
What's also great, is I've come to control my cravings. I don't crave sugar anymore. I eat a good breakfast every day (either cherrios or eggs) along with 8 oz of water and Metimucil (a fiber drink). If I don't get enough fiber in the morning, I'll be hungry by 10 am and will get some cravings. I drink it religiously.
I'm also working on exercising. I have gym membership and go every day after work. I have a fitbit and strive hard to hit 10,000 steps every day. It's so important to get moving every day. It's helped fight my fatigue. It also encourages me to eat healthy and even better, we are eating dinner earlier in the night. We have been eating dinner around 5 or 6 pm instead of 7 or 8.
What's been so successful for me was my decision to finally make the lifestyle change. It's a healthier diet, it's an active lifestyle. I'm so grateful for modern medicine because I've been able to learn more about MY body and what it needs to be healthy. What's more, is I've found the strength to do this everyday because I've asked God to help me. Making a lifestyle change is hard, but it's easier with God helping. I'm doing my best to take care of my body He gave me and He's helping me do it.
Every day is a new day. A new start. A new beginning.
- SamiMae
