First Time for Everything

They say there is a first time for everything, and this is true for blogging (for me anyway). I have been on the other side of blogs (following them), but never blogging myself. I thought it would be a fun way to stay in touch and also give you status updates on my life. Nothing too exciting, but hey, staying in touch with friends from many different states can be challenging!

About me...I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis over 4 years ago. I struggle daily with pain and have to limit myself in activity. Though I have learned to live with it and it is just become a "normal" to me, the pain is constantly there. I would say that most my friends and family don't even know it is a daily battle, because I choose not to let MS control my life, so it tends not to come up on conversation!

After being diagnosed with MS my husband and I along with my MS doctor decided that instead of going on interferon injections, we would try to start a family. We got pregnant right away, but ended up miscarrying the baby. This was a tremendous blow to my faith. First being diagnosed with MS and then miscarrying a baby....all within a few months of each other.

We waited the 6 months my MS doctor advised to wait to try again to have a baby, and successfully became pregnant. To make a VERY LONG story short, we learned that our baby was not growing correctly, found out that the baby had a chromosomal abnormality (Triploidy) and our precious daughter, Isabella Faith, was born an angel on January 19, 2006. Her life brought us closer to our families, brought out faith in God we didn't know we had, and her little life served more of a purpose than we would ever imagine!

Again, taking the advise of our OBGYN, perinatologist, and MS doctors we waited on the interferon injections and the 6 months to try again and most importantly, waited on God to tell us when to try again. We became pregnant in September 2006 and had a healthy baby boy in June 2007. Our little man, Kael, keeps us busy as he is an active 18 month old. As I type this, he is playing catch with his daddy and trying to keep the ball away from his dog, Buckets.

"Legs for Lorisa" was the team name that was invented by my sisters for the MS Walk. The diagnosis of MS was not only hard on me, but also hard on my family. How do you help, comfort, or fix a problem that is unfixable and incurable? Well, you create a team and raise money for the MS Society to find a cure for MS. Every year my sister who is the team captain, LeAnn, motivates our team, recruits new members, and promotes the MS Society in the annual walk. Our team has grown every year and this May will mark our 5th year our team will participate!

With the tribulations of a diagnosis that was heart shattering, a miscarriage, and a stillborn baby, (and many other challenges that are too many to list) my life has certainly been tested. One thing is certain, God was and is ALWAYS there! And looking back, there is NO way I would have made it through all of that without Him! Now I have a beautiful son that was SO worth the wait and a faith in God that cannot be broken!