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It’s all been quiet on Laura’s Pen (life update)

It’s all been quiet on Laura’s Pen. What terrible tragedy has befouled me? Never fear! It’s all been good news. It’s just life keeping me away from my keyboard.

Those who follow me on social media will know some of this, but, alas, I have been quiet even on there.

So what has been happening? I’ve had to look at my blog to refresh my memory as to when I last wrote… and ..um.. The last life update was three years ago. Whoops.

Trigger warning: this post talks about pregnancy and briefly mentions miscarriage, both of which may be sensitive topics for my readers. Only continue reading if this is okay for you.

So here’s the deal. I got married. Got pregnant. Miscarried. Got pregnant again. PANDEMIC. Had baby day three of lockdown. My husband built a house next door to my parents. Moved house. The baby is nearly a year old.

That’s enough detail, right?

Oh wow. It’s been a whirlwind. Pregnancy did not agree with me. It did not make my endometriosis any better. It did not make my ME any better. I spent a heatwave unable to keep down water and spending weeks swapping between different beverages because I kept getting aversions to them after throwing them up enough times. Orange squash saved me from the water aversion. But then that made me wretch. By the end I was drinking strawberry milkshake and hoping to all the deities I don’t actually believe in that it would stop soon. It did, thank god.

But as the nausea faded, the fatigue ramped up. I was promised that everyone feels better in the second trimester. It was a huge relief to be able to eat and drink again and leave the sick bowl well alone but I definitely did not feel good. My skin cleared up. That was nice. But I wasn’t going anywhere because I felt an extra level of awful.

But anyway, the pregnancy went alright. I didn’t feel great. My doctors decided now was the time to debate if I really had pernicious anemia and I had to go see a specialist to tell them to give me the bloody b12 injections, because I was becoming deficient and I was bloody pregnant.

And the DWP decided now was the time for a face-to-face assessment. So that was delightful and not at all stressful too.

But we got there. And we now have a baby girl who is a year old next week. I have a blog post coming about having a lockdown baby because that is an experience that deserves its own space.

We have moved house next to my parents so they can help me out easily. My husband built the house during lockdown. As I say, despite my little moan about pregnancy, a lot of really good stuff has happened.

I still have endless pending medical problems I should probably be seeing a doctor about but pregnancy put a hold on a lot of things and a pandemic hasn’t exactly felt like the prime time to go back about them. I still have pain in my abdomen which means I can’t wear trousers. I still have endometriosis on and possibly above my diaphragm that causes me problems. I still have adenomyosis and no idea how much or how little of my fatigue I can blame on that and how much is the ME.

But I will get back on the medical wagon. And hopefully I can better some of those situations. But for now.. I will probably continue to be quiet because the little one uses up all the spare energy I have but know that things are good (although challenging) in my little world .


Laura Chamberlain: Laura is a writer blogging about living with chronic illness, namely Lyme Disease, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS) and Fibromylagia. She likes food, cats, bad jokes. Unfortunately, her boyfriend is allergic to the last two...
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