It's a new me...(after 6 months)!

About four months ago, I began feeling a pain in my right side after eating a big or greasy meal. I went to the doctor and he immediately said it was my gallbladder which was what I expected. (I had done research myself). He basically told me that my only option was to have it removed. Well, I wasn't about to resort to having a part of me taken out if I could help it so I decided to switch up my diet. I watched everything I ate and was doing really well until about a month ago when the pain never went away one day. I ate the right foods, I didn't eat too much, but it was still there. So I tried not eating. That didn't work either, so I resorted to living with the pain day to day. I felt like a failure with my children because I never had the energy or strength to take care of them like I should have, and everyday my husband came home to a very angry wife which strained our marriage quite a bit. I began to resent my life and my body, which wasn't what I wanted. For quite some time, I had been suspecting that the pain in my gallbladder had been triggered by the IUD I had gotten about six weeks after Nathaniel was born. I talked to my doctor about it and he said it was highly unlikely but not impossible but that I should wait until after I had it in for six months before deciding to have it removed. About a month after having it in, I also noticed my hair was starting to come out a ton. I knew I had just had a baby and that hair often falls out after, but before I had gotten the IUD it wasn't falling out as much. I talked to my doctor about this also and he said it wasn't from the birth control. I wasn't convinced. I started noticing a lot of strange things that I had never experienced before such as my spinal cord would start aching after standing up for so long, and I began getting a strange tingling numbing sensation in my left shoulder and sometimes it would travel down my back. I started thinking that something is seriously wrong with me. I didn't know what to do, but Nathan and I both agreed that I needed to have the IUD removed. It was getting to the point where I just couldn't function properly without being on a ton of ibuprofen every four hours. I needed my life back!! I finally got it removed and almost immediately afterward, I felt a change. The pain in my back disappeared, the numbing sensation began to leave, and the next day my side didn't hurt at all. No matter what I ate. YAY!!!! Also, my hair has stopped coming out a ton, now it's just normal, and I can function and do things I wasn't able to do the past six months. I am so ecstatic! It's like I have a new lease on life, and I will never again go back to having synthetic hormones placed in my body. Although now there will be a slight larger chance of us getting pregnant. I would rather be pregnant though, then go through what I went through! Anyways, I'm myself again and couldn't be happier. I am still going to watch what I eat now that I know for sure I do have problems with my gallbladder, but at least I won't have to have it removed for now:)

Three years and counting...

Nathan and I celebrated our three year anniversary this past month and we were blessed by his family with a one night get-away to the beach! We are both crazy about the ocean so we were both so excited to get away even if it was for just one night. I wouldn't have wanted to leave Nathaniel more than that anyways:) We really needed a time of reflection and looking back on the past few years without being distracted by kids or phone calls or demands that life has kindly interfered us with. We enjoyed talking about our future while walking along the windy beach, and we especially had a fun time tide-pooling together! Newport Beach has a very nice waterfront bay and we enjoyed shopping and wine tasting and looking at art. There's always something comforting in knowing that we still have at least some common interests! All in all it was a great two days, and I came home rejuvenated and ready to resume my motherly and wifely role. Hopefully that short break will hold me until the next one!

Newport Beach, OR


Our view


Us on the beach