It's never one thing...

Since January, my husband and I have been losing weight and eating more healthy. We've gotten of the wagon a little but we've found our way back in the last few weeks. The biggest part of this was learning a few things about our health... More particularly, my health. I was told today that I am showing insulin resistance and hypothyroidism.

Insuline resistance is a pre-diabetic condition that is reversible with weight loss and diet management. We're already making steps to correct this issue, so I'm not too worried about this. According to my doctor, losing more weight and getting in a more healthy range could bring back my periods and give me better chances at conceiving a child within the next two years.

The hypothyroidism is a much bigger issue... in a sense. Because my thyroid hormone levels are so low it could be the cause of my missed periods. To prevent this problem, I'm being put on a thyroid medication to help increase my thyroid levels and hopefully get my metabolism back on track. We are thinking that I have probably had low thyroid levels for years. This could be true given the steady decrease in regularity in my periods since high school and my ever-decreasing metabolism. It also would explain my heavy weight gain.

All in all it comes down to two things: losing weight and eating right. Oh wait... I guess it also comes down to me taking a pill for the rest of my life.... Like my father, I don't want to be chained to the pharmacy and doctor's office for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, I will be. It won't even matter if I lose weight or eat right. I'll have to deal with this for the rest of my life.

Things I'm thankful or?? Well, despite all of the "bad" news, I'm happy that we caught my insulin resistance before I found out I was diabetic. It gives me a chance to turn it around and not be diabetic at any point in my life. It also saves me from a lot of potential complications, in terms of my thyroid, with cancer and infertility. While I might still have some trouble conceiving naturally, I know that it is possible for me to conceive with treatment. This is two years down the road, so I'm not worried about that chapter of life yet.

It's time now to just get healthy and stay healthy.

I'll be updating more in the future on my summer reading assignments from the OB/GYN that caught my hypothyroidism and insulin resistance: South Beach Diet and The Zone.

Being healthy is one thing. Staying healthy is another. Thanks for all of your support.

Thinking about babies...

I have noticed a trend in my life... concerning television and babies. I know! I know... It's a strange topic for a barely 24 year old woman who just got married. I suppose I should explain the television part before you get confused!

I watch a variety of shows when I have time. Thank, God, for DVR, right? (I do every day). Here's a list of shows I have seen recently that featured a story line related to having, raising and protecting children:

• Grey's Anatomy
• Private Practice
• Giuliana & Bill
• The Little Couple
• The Millionaire Matchmaker
• House
• Up All Night
• Harry's Law
• The Secret Circle
• Hoarders

The list is much longer, but this is about all I can remember at the moment. It's a lot all at once. Couple this will the number of friends I have who have or will be having children. It makes me want to start my own family while I'm young!

Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, and Giuliana & Bill all have shown scenes where a woman has waited too long to try to conceive and/or they are incapable of having children because of fertility. While the trend for my generation is to get married later and have children even later than that, I feel that this is the reason why we hear so many stories about infertility. Many women wait way past their ripe child-bearing years to even begin to think about children.

To be perfectly honest, I never thought I'd ever have children. The thought repulsed me in some ways. I think a lot of this had to do with the people I dated and spent time with. I never felt like having a baby would be a secure or logical thing to proceed to with those people. I had one serious boyfriend that hated the thought of children. Because I loved him so much and wasn't too attached to the idea, I abandoned it and told myself that children would never happen for me. It just wasn't in my life plan. 

Now that I have moved on from that man and found my wonderful husband, all I do is think about making a family with him. I so enjoy his company and our time to be a couple. I can't help but want to see the little faces we'll have greeting us every day. Everyone says that marriage is that last step...

It's not.

Marriage is almost like the first step. After that first step, we have to constantly work at respecting each other and treating one another as if it were the very last moments we were going to have together. We're grown a lot together since we moved in together and more still since we've been married. The next step is to have children. It starts with just one (or more if we're lucky). It's a lifetime commitment to share our lives with a new person that we're able to bring into the world.

I want to take the step before there are complications with age or infertility. I want to get myself healthy and strong so that I can give myself a better chance of a good pregnancy.

I think, maybe sometime in my future, I'll be having a baby. It's not today and definitely not in 9 months. I cannot wait until the moment comes, though.