You may be shocked by this news...we were!

I’m about to write a blog post that I didn’t think I would ever be able to write, ever! I’m excited to get to the news, but until I get to that I will share a little update since my last post.

A little over a year ago things were not going the greatest for me. I was experiencing an awful flair of my arthritis in December, in January I had to quit grad school due to slowly loosing my vision, in March I had my right eye removed, in June we bought a new house and in July I had cataract surgery on my not so fake eye. It was really quite the journey. I’m happy to say that everything turned out great. I restarted Remicade in January of 2015 and it has helped me drop my CRP levels down to normal! I can’t remember the last time I had a CRP below 3. I started this blog with a focus on eating certain foods and a more holistic approach to treating my arthritis, as nothing else seemed to work for me. I still believe a diet is important and I have figured out what I should and should not eat, however for my situation it is obvious I need medications much more to treat my arthritis than eating or taking supplements. I’m very grateful for my team of specialists at Rochester Mayo who have helped me get to this point of feeling so much better. They have helped me reach my goal of being able to have more children. 

So the news that I didn't ever think I would be able to share...have you guessed yet?? Here is a clue:

Did you get it yet??? Maybe this will help explain...

Crazy right?!?! If you have read this blog you know we have struggled to have more children for a long time. At the end of last year we decided to try one more time. Not only did we end up getting pregnant on the first month we started trying again, we were blessed with two, TWO!!! Side not: NO fertility treatments were used in the making of these babies, shocking I know! We were and still are in shock. The stories are true of people that either start foster care or the adoption process, we were licensed for foster care in October and found out we were pregnant the end of December. 

Today we had our level 2 scan, the technician wrote down the genders and we find out Saturday with our family what we are having. The babies are doing absolutely wonderful! Thankfully everything that is going on with this pregnancy is low risk and nothing to be too concerned about. 

I wanted to share the news on this blog as I would like to encourage others who have struggled with fertility or arthritis with fertility issues that prayers and miracles do come true (and the use of modern medicine to control your disease!). I have learned, do not try to conceive while not feeling well, it's pointless. Work on getting your disease activity under control and work on getting healthy. Or you can do what our plan was if we could not have more children, adopt out of foster care. Wonderful kids need homes to feel loved and safe, please consider this option to add to your family. We are praying and wishing we can still add to our family through foster to adopt, so possibly later this year we will have even more exciting news to share;)

Thanks to Abby Murphy Photography for capturing these photos, and Alex's reaction to the news! He is beyond excited that his wish to be a big brother since he was 3 or 4 is finally coming true, he is going to be amazing! We are excited to meet these little ones sometime in August!

Emily