Usually there is some carrying on about the previous year and all the things encountered.
2015 brought me and my family the following things:
- New House! (Home ownership!!!)
- Baby Chickens (urban farming!)
- New School for the girls (an amazing improvement if I may say so)
- Newly triggered autoimmune disorder (Heya Celiac disease!)
- New diet (Who said eating Gluten Free was just trendy?)
- New Nonprofit (Big journeys start off small, but this is what was fully intended to be!)
- A sustainable pregnancy (new baby coming 2016!)
These are all good things. I am very blessed to have such an endowment of happiness available.
The year has also been filled with a lot of strife and struggle and drama.
There were major adjustments we had to make regarding our relationship and communication and priorities within our marriage. There was a point early on last year where major hurdles were crossed and he actually braved a sea of glass, barefooted, to meet me where I needed to be met (literally in our kitchen, but figuratively in other ways). That was only the beginning of a huge shift in our relationship that HAD to take place.
I didn't anticipate I would burn myself (or my immune system) out so completely with all of the stress and activity and poor lifestyle and dietary habits and that a full-blown autoimmune disease would be triggered. I was really sick for a few months there before we figured out what was going wrong and how to fix it. Like, probably TMI, but waking up in the middle of the night, almost every night, for weeks, so I could sit on the toilet in pain for hours. Excruciating stomach/intestinal pain for hours after eating the wrong thing. Total and complete loss of energy. Totally thrilling times. I am glad though that it gave me the opportunity to throw myself into research and I learned more about immune systems, the wide variety of autoimmune diseases, my genetic background, and the importance of dietary choices. I never cared about any of that stuff before, but now it is such essential information I use on an every-single-day basis.
It is also somewhat our theory that perhaps the pregnancies that weren't sticking also contributed towards the issues with my immune system. It was a constant barrage of eggs that would only stick for so long until my immune system shut them down and after so much maybe that's why my immune system crashed? Quitting smoking cigarettes also apparently can trigger it (as weird as it sounds and as unhealthy smoking is, research has shown a preventative effect with smoking and celiac disease as it has something to do with the stomach lining) and that was something I nipped in the bud COMPLETELY this past year. I've quit before or cut down to social/as wanted sorts of ways, but it was a dirty habit and during the shift of marital responsibilities and such, it was one thing I was happy to let go of to appease my spouse. I am proud to say that even though a rare craving will come along from time to time, I do not want to start up again. There is a comfortable long-standing place a cigarette can take me to, but it is not necessary and a filthy habit. I am glad to be quit for such a longstanding time. There was a lot of other stress that also probably played into the triggering of the full-blown Celiacs and it is what it is. One cannot deny the source of the struggle or the scars that are left as a result, but only acknowledge that I am stronger as a result of overcoming what strife I have encountered, and that nothing can keep me down.
This year, also because of the infertility and celiac issues then, we found ourselves adventuring into the world of Eastern Chinese medicine, and let me tell you that I am hardly enthusiastic to ever look back again. Acupuncture was a blessing to have discovered and we both dived into treatments head on and it made a tremendous difference. Everything feels better after an appointment with those needles. The Dr we see is amazing and very caring and I have never felt so much trust or confidence in a Dr and she tells me wonderful things when I go to see her. It isn't a long visit or a drawn out appointment, and her English is basic but understandable, but the magic she works with those needles really works. Fortunately my visits have become much more sparingly had, because I am feeling much better, but I never hesitate to go back, and all of the visits with her are cash direct out of pocket, and she's worth ever penny.
This year I also learned the amazingness of what a Chiropractor can do. In every pregnancy I've had so far, I have a piece of my spine near my sacrum (tailbone) that likes to pop in and out of place near my sciatic nerve that makes it very difficult to walk, or move, or sit because of the pain associated with it. I think it is caused by the pressure and weight of my expanding uterus during this time. It was a minor issue (but noticeable) with my first pregnancy, not as much of an issue with my second, but TOTALLY an issue this pregnancy from the second my uterus started to do anything. The best thing I did was seek out a Chiropractor and his magic hands and 1. I didn't know my body could make such snappy noises and 2. I will never suffer through hoping things resolve themselves or I can stretch it out. My pelvic and back issues haven't resolved themselves quite just yet, and I find myself afflicted with this pregnancy condition referred to as SPD, which is essentially an unstable pelvic structure which is 'over'relaxed because of the relaxin hormone in my body (great when you want to be a yogi though I suppose....). The pelvic bones in my body had to spread out anyhow to make sure the baby has room to be born through the correct parts, and essentially what they have done at this point, is over spread. It results in a lot of pelvic/groin/thigh pain basically anytime I walk or go up stairs or get in bed or do most things and hopefully will reduce any possible issues of baby getting stuck during birth. It is just a roomier pelvis to pass through. Cool thing is that it should correct itself once I lose the weight and my uterus shrinks back to the minute size it once was. In the meantime though, it feels great. The back popping in and out of place hasn't been so much of an issue recently since my extra weight must have filled in whatever extra space was making it so easy before, but it still happens. I found myself stuck in the bathtub yesterday in a position because it all of a sudden shifted out of place, I felt like a turtle stuck on it's back. I figured it out after a few minutes, but in my mind during all of these struggles, sometimes I wonder if I'm just making it all up or pretending. But I'm really not, because I can feel it, I think I'm just used to it at this point.
This year also saw a lot of big new things for my family.
The girls started at their new school. This was really exciting because although we were in a purportedly 'amazing' school district before, I had a lot of issues with the principal and the expectations they were holding M1 to and there were also issues with kindergarten and M2 (like, only an affluent suburb would require parents to pay for the other half of the school day that is necessary to get their kindergartner up to speed on everything they require by the first grade.... ugh). As much as a shift it was, I am glad to have settled into our new place. The girls are in a public school with extended hours and they are able to walk home from school together every day. There are uniforms (thank you God!) and it is all-girls and they are set until highschool. The teachers are really nice and the principal is fantastic. I even somehow found myself Vice President of the PTA. The private high school we intend for them to attend is also very close by and also all-girls and uniformed. Such a blessing.
The girls are thriving in their new environment as well. I made a great deal of effort over the past year to really get them settled in and stable. They still share a room but the new house brought the addition of bunk beds (and did I mention they got the biggest bedroom in the house for their stuff?) and I invested in a new dresser and a ton of shelving for their room (makes a HUGE difference). M1 also worked hard all summer and earned the responsibility of two gerbil pets she has been fantastic about taking care of (most spoiled gerbils I have ever met -in my honest opinion). M2 has reading abilities that are really beginning to break through and shine out. Can I say how much I adore these school age years? These girls are such a blessing and they are truly thriving more so than ever before.
This year also brought the addition of our baby chicks/ egg laying chickens!!! That was a hearty adventure I made my mind up about last minute, whereas I had previously thought ducks were the way I would do it, I stumbled across chicken information early on in the year, and as soon as I could, we had our own roost to raise. We started with 4 and have only 3 we maintain now, and it has been an interesting lesson in responsibility. I had resigned my summer to lots of wine drinking and chicken raising and had given up all hopes of ever getting my own baby ever again when I got pregnant, which must have been within the same time span that we acquired the baby chicks in, because although my intentions were great, it ended up being my husband who did the bulk of their caretaking for the remainder of the year. The girls have been terrific in also managing this new responsibility and only recently have we truly begun to reap the benefits of chicken caretaking as we get 2 organic brown eggs everyday. By Spring it should be 3. Lovely chicken ladies.
2015 also brought to me a pregnancy and this year I shall deliver a son. Soon enough he will be here. I am within the last month of my pregnancy and as my body does, the month of contractions and early laboring has slowly begun. It will take weeks of this-ness but I am very excited. I am anxious and nervous and terrified as well, but my prayers are for a healthy baby and an easeful delivery and that he be alive and grow and thrive. This pregnancy has been a journey in an of itself, a different post for a more reflective day on how it has been to be sicker than I have ever been, to throw up more than ever before, and to gain more weight than anyone would imagine I could fit on my little frame. This is the way it goes.
So overall, 2015 was a year of great transition and shifting and change, but all in wonderful ways.
That is what I have to say.
Hello 2016, you're going to be amazing. I know it.
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