Welcome to The Weekend Edition where I share everything from design ideas, home decor inspiration, and DIY, to products I am loving, organization tips, health and wellness and really any other topic as it comes to mind.
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Demo starts on our upstairs bathroom this weekend! I can.not.wait. Emily Henderson recently posted about her paint color predictions for 2019. I was surprised to see a very similar color to the color I plan on using in the upstairs bathroom is on her list! In case you missed it see this post where I detailed all of our plans for the bathroom.
Current State of the Living Room & Den
sectional // chair (similar) // rug // ottoman (similar) // lamp // knots print // leaning bookshelf (similar) // pouf (similar) // planter (similar)
I shared on Instagram that over the holidays we moved our TV out of our living room that is open to our kitchen and into the den which is a more closed off room. The idea is that with the TV not front and center we hoped to be more intentional about what and how much we watch. The TV used to live on the wall that now has the leaning bookshelf.
chairs // rug (similar) // coffee table // frames (similar)
The den is such a perfect spot to relax with our oversized chairs and dark paint color, which really makes it a perfect TV watching room. The TV currently is on the wall opposite of the chairs.
A month in and so far it has been working decently well, but we still find ourselves watching relatively about the same amount of TV. The goal wasn’t to watch any TV at all, rather just be more cognizant of what we were watching and how much we were watching. Even though it has seemed to work, we are contemplating moving the TV back to the living room. While the den is cozy and dark, which is great for TV and moving watching, there isn’t a ton of seating as we currently only have two chairs in the den. I’ll post an update on what we decide.
Health & Wellness – Update on Our Fertility Journey
Many of you are aware 2018 was a rough year. We experienced two pregnancy losses and honestly the grief still comes in big and small waves, depending on the day or week. In sharing our journey with our family and friends, and here on the blog, we have received an outpouring of support and for that I am forever grateful. I thought it might be helpful to share an update on where we are now in our fertility journey, especially for those who are currently in similar situations.
After our second loss, my OB ran a few tests to see if I might have anything that could be causing the recurrent losses. My thyroid antibodies and TSH levels came back slightly elevated so I was referred to an endocrinologist. The endocrinologist basically told me that my levels weren’t elevated enough to require medicine and that I should just try to get pregnant again and I would be monitored from there. I wasn’t comfortable with this since my levels were still elevated, even if only slightly.
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, this is simply our experience.
After this experience I sought out a natural fertility doctor on my own, who focuses on healing your body through nutrition and supplements, and is someone I will see in conjunction with the endocrinologist and OB should I hopefully get pregnant again. My natural fertility doctor ran a number of more tests and identified that I have a mild auto-immune disfunction. Not a full-fledged auto-immune disorder, but something is going on in my body, as also evidenced by my thyroid levels.
It was recommended I start a modified version of the Autoimmune Paleo Protocol diet (the diet eliminates all gluten, dairy, processed sugar, nightshades, nuts, seeds, some spices), with a focus on being 100% gluten free. It’s very, very restrictive. Similar-ish to Whole 30 (which we’ve done before), but there are a few additional no-no’s like peppers, potatoes, and tomatoes (they are nightshades that can cause inflammation and issues if you have a compromised immune system, I had no idea!). As a food lover it is pretty difficult, but I felt it was worth a shot to try the diet as my doctor has had good luck with recurrent pregnancy loss patients following it. Additionally, I have started taking a number of natural supplements that are thought to aid fertility and successful pregnancy. It was my doctor’s recommendation I stay on this diet and supplement regimen to prep my body for another *hopeful* pregnancy and then through at least month 5 of pregnancy, when and if I get there. I’ve been on the diet and supplement regimen for almost 3 weeks and so far it is actually going pretty well. I feel amazing, I have sooo much more energy! I was so sluggish and tired previously that I feel like this shows me something I was eating before was causing me problems. That is definitely a positive – next I’ll just need to figure out exactly what was causing issues. One step at a time though.
I plan to post a few more updates on our journey – I may even create a mini-blog series. For myself, it is very helpful to read other’s journeys, so I want to share ours too in case it can help someone else. I am hopeful we are on the right path and am really trying to lean into my word of the year: believe.
I hope you have a great weekend!
