People ask me alot “How is your health now you have baby?”
Honestly, I didn’t know if I could have children. There is some research suggestion lyme can interfere with fertility and a healthy pregnancy.
My “plan” was get up to date testing at where I was at with Lyme via Armin Labs and make sure I was in tip top shape before we discussed babies. Did I even want children? Would I have preferred to use a surrogate to avoid transmission via pregnancy? Adoption? SO MANY QUESTIONS, CONCERNS, WORRIES it went on and on.
We got married September 2017 and fell pregnant September 2017 (using the Natural Cycles app) we weren’t trying to have a baby, these things sometimes happen. I was scared. Really scared. But we trusted God had a plan for our family.
Generally through pregnancy I was OK, I had low iron at the end and had to have a few infusions but I was generally OK. No sickness, mainly just more fatigue than normal plus some prenatal low mood/depression/anxiety.
The birth. That didn’t go as expected. I ended up having an emergency C section. Again, I was scared I thought this is a HUGE stress on the body to undergo such serious emergency surgery, the drugs, the injections I had to do afterwards, the general healing the body then had to undertake. I was scared. Really scared. Again. Plus I had a baby to care for, no sleep and I also chose to breastfeed exclusively.
(Side note – there is mixed evidence lyme can be passed through breast milk. But when I weighted up the benefits vs the chance of transmission I still felt the benefits of BF far outweighed the transmission – personal choice).
IF Noah were to show any signs of Lyme I would get him tested of course, but he has a mummy who specialises in this topic so I would hope we would be able to help.
Self care – this is such a buzz word right now but I knew I had to take care of myself post partum, but that should be for every mum. I am very lucky we live close to both sets of parents and we have wonderful friends – my sister had her first baby 11 weeks before me so that was such a blessing for us.
Mummy self care – stock the freezer with homemade curries, chillies, casseroles. Make overnight oats the night before so you have a breakfast ready and waiting, resort to boiled egg, oat cakes and hummus, avocado on toast when it’s a crazy mad day but keep well fed. Eating enough is so important for mum and baby if you want to BF. I also made sure when baby slept I slept, a lot of the time I couldn’t switch off my head was buzzing but I still lay down and even now as he is 10months old I still have a lie down in the daytime when he has his afternoon nap.
I put Noah in a routine from 2 months old – both for me and him because I knew I needed structure so I had rest times and also for my sanity, and now he is such a baby of routine he knows how the day flows.
I asked for help.
I knew I needed “me time” so I would go for a bath in the evening, do some meditation, ask dad to get up and do breakfast.
I don’t compare myself to the next mum. We are all different. We all parent differently and I would drive myself mad trying to compare to every single mum out there. You know whats best for your baby and family.
Baby Noah care – organic homemade food with fats and protein – dairy/gluten free, filtered water, low EMF’s in the house, non toxic nappy cream/body creams/shampoo, non toxic laundry liquid, breast feeding still (aged 10 months), probiotics, vitamin D, etc etc. I’m passionate to give him the best start in life to avoid having any possible problems in the future.
I now have a 10 month old baby. Generally speaking I’m doing OK (yes I get low, yes it’s flipping hard, yes my body has taken a battering, yes it’s stressful but yes it’s amazing, yes he’s a brilliant baby and yes it’s actually a joy). I have recently tested my adrenals and my cortisol (stress hormone) is high – no massive shock there. So I’ve made time for yoga, increased healthy fats, been thoughtful with my work/life balance, good bedtime routine etc.
This has all taught me to trust my body. For years and years I hated myself and my body, it had only ever let me down but now things feel different. It didn’t let me down, it conceived my baby, it grew him, it birthed him, it healed from a big surgery, it kept my baby alive via feeding, it’s actually pretty awesome.
I think this only continues to prove you can recover from Lyme/CFS. The body can heal given the right circumstances and you too can have a healthy life and a healthy baby. Some people have quick easy recoveries, some have ups and down like I did but keep the hope and keep fighting if you’re in the trenches right now.
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