I'm Back!

Wow, hard to believe I went 4 weeks without blogging!  Where have I been?  I'll explain!

The last year has been a very tough one.  God has definitely given us some enormous blessings (a home and a sweet new daughter and safety and health and grace and mercy and all that really great stuff!) but we've had lots of stresses.  If you've been reading here you already know that.


I've felt less energetic and less motivated since Katrielle's birth but I thought it merely had to do with having 4 kids, or homeschooling, or having tons to do, or the holidays and company, or the many trials and sad things going on in people around me. 


But after Katri got Influenza A and we ended up with a week of very little sleep (including 3 nights where I was up the entire night and all day with her barking like a seal and struggling to breathe) it's like my body just broke.  Trying to get rest to catch up and trying to sleep in the guest room and trying to take vitamins, eat healthier, and lose baby weight didn't help me recover.  Trials that would come into close friends lives would crush me, the constant mess of the kids would cause me to fall to the floor weeping uncontrollably and I felt unable to deal with their constant neediness and need for discipline.  I was becoming an angry and sad mom.  I lost interest in blogging, sewing, scrapbooking, and even hanging out with friends.  I had very little energy and patience.  I struggled to even just keep up with the simplest regular household chores.  After talking with those who have "been there" and praying much for God's help and direction, I knew I needed to see my doctor.  I'm not sure if Dr. is her official title, but she specializes in Women's Health and Nutrition and runs her own women's clinic in town.  We knew I needed some professional help as I was struggling so much just to get through the day.  At first my doctor tried an experiment with an all-protein diet and nutrients and hormone cream to see if I responded well.  She also ran full bloodwork on me.   After much talking with my doc and going over my lab work, she concluded that I have very low hormone levels, and very low Vitamin D levels, which can cause depression.  We worked out a nutritional plan, which is very similar to what I've read here, and a plan for some temporary low-dose medication to help me recover from Post Partum Depression while my body flushes out toxins and tries to become more balanced again.

I feel so wonderful now, and it's ironic that I'm losing more "baby weight" eating meats, butter, regular cheeses, drinking whole milk, etc. than I was in the previous weeks when I was dieting and eating low-fat everything.

I'll share more here as God leads in the hope that it will encourage and help those of you who read here.

Blessings to you blog reader friends!