Time flies when your NOT having fun!

Well I meant to write before now but unfortunately I spent most of June, July and part of August in a terrible state of health.

My pregnancy threw me into a horrible lupus flare up and after 8 weeks they put me in the hospital, then it threw me into labor and my son was born 4 weeks early on July 13th. He was in good health and came home with us, however due to jaundice was re-hospitalized on July 21st.

But now weeks later we are both doing better- I am still in an intensely painful flare up however it is not affecting my organs or health just increasingly painful.

Life with five boys has always been adventurous however with a newborn and lupus I am finding it a struggle to keep up. Normally my husband is a great help however lately hes not been his best. Maybe he is having issues too I am not sure- too frustrated and over whelmed to find out.

But on to the good stuff!
Maximus (our newest little one) is 4 weeks old on monday- he has started to fill out and get bigger-here is a pic from about 2 weeks ago but one of my favorites....


I am unable to take most good drugs for lupus or pain due to nursing exclusively however that is important to me- to give my son the best start in life. I breastfed Marcus until he was two and would like to go that far with Max but I am taking it one day at a time- if we can only make it to one year than I know he will be fine. Hopefully the one above will grace me with the strength to persevere through this pain and stress to keep going on.

I use only cloth diapers on my sons- Marcus is still not potty trained and other than a few moments of motivation seems to have no interest in it so I have 2 loads of diapers every 2 days of just diapers and many have implored me to just use disposables for a few weeks however I just can't. I want the best for my sons- not chemicals and toxins not to mention the pollution they create. Plus a little secret- When I go to wash those stinky things- NO ONE wants to be around- NO ONE. So I get 1/2 hour of peace twice a week of no boys, no hubby, no tv nothing. It's a moment for sanity if you ask me!

The older boys have adjusted to the baby very well. Preston, 11, is phenomenal with the baby. Max already lets him fully comfort him and really he is like another parent. I don't want him to feel obligated to care for his brother and want him to have his childhood but if Max so much as whimpers Preston comes running. Aleric, 8, cares for his brother and holds him every so often or asks how hes doing but he is much more into his own life. Dominic, 6, loves him so much, he has to caress, kiss, or rub his brother non-stop- almost to the point of aggravation however I can't discourage him because hes bonding :). Marcus (2 1/2) is much like Dommy- loving on him all the time. He has adjusted to not having my undivided attention pretty well. He will come and ask me to hold him and if I am feeding baby he will wait his turn and then climb up or sit next to me and rub Max while he nurses.
Here's a pic of the boys in question:


Though our house is VERY hectic but we were blessed with respectful (most of the time) and caring boys who for the most part really are GREAT kids. We have less stress and problems than some smaller families because our boys are all best friends. Not that I take the credit for that, we did try to encourage friendships with the boys but they truly care for one another.

We have good days and bad days but through it all- our love and understanding will help us to accomplish anything and live through anything to be there for each other!

Lupus and Motherhood one woman's tale

This is just my take on my life, my disease and my viewpoint.

I was suspected of having lupus SLE for approximately 3 years however it was not confirmed until I was pregnant with my 5th son. I had lost many babies to early losses (4) and a daughter to birth defects previously so this 5th son is a much wanted child.

Once I went to the docs I was amazed at the complications that come about because of lupus and it's common ailments however it was too late to think twice as he was already coming.

I did ok in my pregnancy until about 26 weeks I had a severe lupus flare up and was put on Prednisone- a steroid. It took another 4 weeks to truly clean up the flare and stop the side effects (time for the steroid to get in my system and work the flare up down on a low dosage- higher dosages would have took much less time). However at 31 weeks I started having complications because of the steroid.

First to come was I have to have an IV in labor to "restart" my natural instincts to pain and stress. I guess when the prednisone blocks the lupus from attacking it turns off all of our natural instincts to pain and stress too.

Then I was diagnosed with steroid induced diabetes- gestational we assume. Within 1 week of being diagnosed- I went to a gestational diabetes class, started 1 dose of injectible insulin, then 2 then 3 within 2 weeks. We still 3 weeks later haven't fine tuned the dosages and I am still yo-yo'ing but hopefully it will subside soon.

Due to the gestational diabetes my baby is in the 97 percentile and at 30 weeks was estimated at over 5lbs and now at 33 is estimated at round 6 give or take 10%. Due to his size I will likely be pressured to deliver early- and if they allow me to do a natural induction I will consider it after 37 weeks however I am avoiding a pitocin induction if I can -been there done that and over it!

Well here we are at 33 weeks -in pain, stressed out, getting poked 6-10 times a day and ready to go.

But before you think this blog is one big complaining- negative site- it's not. I wanted to get the "background" stuff out of the way so you understand whats going on.

We have more blessings than we could have ever imagined:

-Our health- yes even with lupus- we have all of our health- we do not have terminal diseases and despite my side effects of lupus I am able to be active in my children's lives.

-Our sons- We have 4 sons- 11, 8, 5 and 2 with another on the way that we thank our lucky stars for every day.

-We are not rich by any means but we have a roof over our heads, food in our stomachs, and love in our home- That makes us better off than much of the world and I am thankful for this every day!

Well I will post again soon! But I wanted to get my initial post there and on before I forgot....More posts to come on many subjects including going green, cloth diapering, raising boys (well the boys in general), lupus, and of course the new baby.