Mother's Day

I had a really good Mother's Day this year!  It was extra special because of the addition of Joshua to our family.  I feel very blessed to have the privilege of being his mom and I am also very thankful for the other moms he has had in his life - for the one who brought him into the world and for those who helped raise him and love him for the first year of his life.  The kids and Jason made the day very special for me.  Jason got me this beautiful hummingbird feeder:

Eva made this for me at school:

Here's the translation, in case you can't read it:  My Mom is 33 years old.  She weighs 10 pounds, and is 28 feet tall.  She has blonde/brown hair, and blue eyes.  She works at home.  My Mom's favorite thing to do is fun things on Saturday.  I love my Mom more than anything.

Breanna wrote a couple different poems for me that she made up all by herself.  I was very surprised.  I thought they were really good.  The first one is very sweet and the second one is pretty funny.

 

The 2nd one is a little hard to read, so here's what it says:  "Mommy.  Cleaning, cooking as fast as a cheetah.  Making her green, gooey, soup.  Taking care of three kids, its hard to do, so I help her out!  Making 12 meals a day, isn't so easy.  And its hard with a baby.  In the kitchen, all day long, she just needs a rest, so I give her free time, while watching my brother.  I love you Mommy."

With the new diet I am on for my Leaky Gut, I eat a lot of soup with pureed veggies and it usually turns out green so the kids think it looks pretty disgusting.  I think it tastes pretty good.  To get enough calories during the day, I have to eat quite often, so between the meals I am cooking for myself and the separate meals I make for the kids, and sometimes even additional ones for Joshua since he can't always eat what the girls and Jason are eating, I sometimes actually do make 12 meals a day.  It's better now, but for awhile it did feel like I was in the kitchen all day.  I just thought it was so funny that she made a poem about it, but I guess that is my life right now.  I'll post a pic of my green, gooey, soup with a recipe one of these days.  It actually is pretty tasty and extremely nourishing and easy to digest.   

After everything I have been through recently I feel very blessed to be alive and to actually feel well enough that I could enjoy Mother's Day.  I really don't think there is any better job in the world than being a mother.  I love my little kiddos so much!  They bring so much joy into my life and I am so thankful that I get to be their mom!

Leaky Gut Syndrome

For those who are interested in what has been going on with me.  About 2 months ago I was diagnosed with a condition known as Leaky Gut Syndrome.  I have been struggling with some unknown health issues for the last couple years and they got really bad about a year ago and then even worse after we got back from the Philippines.  I finally found a really good Naturopath who is helping me figure out what is going on and finding ways to help my body heal.  Leaky Gut is caused by inflammation and irritation of the intestinal walls, which in my case was most likely due to undiagnosed Celiac Disease.  Because of the inflammation,  holes develop between the cells lining the intestines which then allow for bacteria and undigested food particles and other nasty stuff to "leak" into the bloodstream.  These things are not meant to be in your bloodstream so your immune system attacks causing inflammation, allergies, and autoimmune disorders.  Your liver also has to work extra hard to remove these toxins and once it becomes overloaded it sends these toxins into the tissues and cells throughout your body to be taken care of later.

There are a lot of symptoms associated with Leaky Gut that can differ for each person and there are also a lot of conditions that can develop if left untreated.  My Naturopath says that I have probably had Leaky Gut for awhile but my symptoms were just not bad enough yet to realize it.  A few years ago I started having issues with my thyroid and then found out that I had a soy allergy.  Then last year I found out that I was not tolerating gluten either.  Soon after that I went to the dentist for a filling replacement and he accidentally injected the numbing agent into my bloodstream instead of the tissue and I guess it was too much toxins for my already compromised liver and immune system to handle and that is when my symptoms got way worse.  I started developing allergies to everything, had extreme anxiety, lots of congestion and breathing difficulty and many other symptoms.  I went on an anti-candida grain-free diet thinking that candida was my problem, but that only made things worse.  I seemed to not be digesting anything and lost a ton of weight and couldn't stop losing weight.  Somehow when we were in the Philippines I was able to be almost symptom free.  About a month after we got back I decided I was done with the grain-free diet and started eating rice again along with some other foods I hadn't been eating.  I immediately started having horrible symptoms.  I developed extreme hypoglycemia where I would have to eat every hour or else my body would crash.  After I ate I would get really hot and my heart would start racing and then an hour later my body would get freezing cold, dizzy, and my adrenaline would kick in and send me into panic mode.  It was actually really scary.  I would go through this all day and even at night.  It was like being on a roller coaster.  I made Jason take me to the hospital when my arms and feet started going numb and tingly, but they just did some tests and told me everything looked fine.  My symptoms kept getting worse and worse.  I broke down crying many days wondering what was wrong with my body and why this was happening to me.

After much prayer I finally found a Naturopath who specializes in digestive issues and found out that I had Leaky Gut Syndrome and a lot of my symptoms were from the allergic reactions I was having from the food I was eating.  She put me on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet and started me on a lot of different supplements to help my intestines to heal.  When I started the diet I could only eat chicken and well cooked carrots.  Now I am mostly eating soups with meat and pureed vegetables and good fats.  As my intestines heal I will be able to add more and more foods and eventually will be back to eating normally again.  I was told this could take 1-2 years or more.  I will probably never eat gluten again, but it will be nice to eat other grains again.  Most of my horrible symptoms have gone away, but I am still far from my normal self.  From some testing my ND did, she found out that my liver and pancreas are having problems, so we are working now on strengthening them along with fixing a few other issues I am still having.  My breathing is still not great and my hands and arms are still inflamed and tingly at times.  I get really tired sometimes and my heart still seems to be racing right after I eat and when I get hungry.  I get frustrated at times but I am thankful I have someone who knows what she is doing to help me out.  I know it will take time, but I have faith that I will fully recover from this.  I was really hoping there was a quick fix for this but unfortunately there is not and I will just have to give my body time to heal itself.  I do feel myself slowly, very slowly getting better and stronger every day which gives me hope that I will one day be back to full health.