Exercise - Have a walking group.

We all know the benefits of exercise for our bodies when we are trying to loss weight and get fit. It's great for our general health, mind, body and spirit.

I personally in the past have struggled at time to get out and exercise. I have been stuck in the idea that exercise takes up time, hard work, and is challenging with a large family and small children. Well I'm now proving myself wrong.

I'm a Mum of many which means living my life in multi tasking mode (which I'm sure many people do now in this fast paced world). So exercising in my mind was something that would not only take time away from the things that I need to be doing or would rather be doing if I had the time.  I have since discovered that I can still multi task while exercising.  I just need a few things.

We all need good shoes,  a double stroller, bikes, a beautiful park and some good friends!!

Homeschooling my children also means that I need to make sure that they are educated about how to look after there bodies. I have been doing that with food,  sharing with them food that helps to heal and build our bodies, but hadn't done a lot in the way of teaching them to care for there bodies with physical exercise until recently.  I hadn't given it much thought, but now that I am, know how much they are loving being more active and they love being active with ME.

Now that I am moving out of the darkness and into Life, I want to enjoy as much of it as I can, and share it with my children.  So while I'm training to be able to run 5 kms, So are they. They just don't know it yet. Well maybe they do and they are just not letting on.

So how do I multi task and exercise?  I have walking dates!!!!!!



I love catching up with friends and sharing our lives together, and I want my friendships to be ones that help inspire, grow, encourage, support, and generally share our burdens.  There is nothing like chatting with a good friend to help the weights of life lift.  There is also something to be said about the positive effects that exercise has on not only our bodies but our minds also. Releasing endorphins and reducing our stress levels.

So I get together with several friends each week to walk and talk.

My children benefit from this as well, they will bring there bikes and ride or walk and talk with us, learning how to have positive relationships in there lives.  They also benefit from a family walking group I have started.  Where each week several families come together to walk and have a BBQ/Picnic Dinner together.

This is one of my favourite days. I love getting together with other families but our house is small, and I hate cleaning LOL. So we don't do it that often. However I done need to have the house perfect and organised to met friends at the park, I just need to throw some things in a bag and go. Which I love!!!

So we meet Every Monday from around 4ish and stay until it's cold. Oh and what great fun we have together chatting, walking, catching up of each others week, and eating. Monday's it's easy to get our children to bed because they have used up there energy playing and we all sleep well. Well mostly, we do still have little ones.



Now what about bad weather. Well yes that is always an issue and when it's raining our walking dates are cancelled but I have made a deal with myself that when a walking date is cancelled I will still walk. However I take that walk with another group of friends. They are my podcast friends :) I jump on the treadmill that I have at home in our garage, and I listen to some of my favourite speakers.  So I use that time to help me grow in my learning, while doing something positive for my body at the same time.

There are many obstacles that can hold us back from doing things that are beneficial for us, maybe see if you can rethink some of the issues, and make some changes for the better. They don't have to be huge. You can start small. Lots of small changes all add up to help make a big difference. Start your journey to becoming the person that you long to be, and if you are already there. Smell the Roses and Enjoy it!.

- Lots of Blessings,

Christina

HCG and My journey to health.

Hi Lovelies!

I want to share with you changes that I have made and are in the process of making for my life. Most of you would know that last year I came very close to dying when I delivered my last baby, Marcella. During that delivery I was on life support and was left very weak while my body recovered. I can honestly say that it took a good year to really get my groove back. During those 12 months I experienced some of the lowest emotional moments of my life. There is something to be said about not having control over your body and needing help with basic tasks as having a giant effect on your mental health- Especially as the primary care giver, and then almost needing to be the primary care receiver. My ability to breastfeed my new baby was gone, and my ability to have another baby was also gone. I was literally in a state of emotional breakdown. I wanted to just pass away. At this point my hormones where all over the place as well, contributing to my feelings of hopelessness. In the state of mind that I was in I started to medicate with chocolate and was literally eating myself to death. In my mind I thought it was a socially acceptable way to die.

I was already overweight when I came out of hospital, but filling my emotional holes with food added another 30 kgs to my already excess weight.

Thankfully as time went on, my hormones settled and my mind and body calmed, I was able to think more clearly and start getting back into life. At first I wanted to get back into GAPS to help us get back on track with healing both for my husband and myself, but I still was not in the right frame of mind to be able to do it well and consistently. SO thankfully in my weakened frame of mind, a friend shared with me about how she was using HCG to regain her health, which began my journey into looking at it more closely.

I have been following Cyndi O'Meara and Changing Habits for a many years. I have really enjoyed the research that she had done and respect her integrity quite a lot, so when I saw that she has a protocol it really started to get me thinking. I read that Phase 2 of the Diet was for 43 days. 43 days! I can do that! I was struggling with the idea of 2 years (at that point) but I saw 43 days as something that I could manage. The more I read the more I realised that this wasn't just about losing weight, but focused heavily on removing inflammation and looking at foods that help your body, instead of hindering it. That part was super important to me, because while I wanted to lose weight I've never just been about losing weight, but more focused on gaining health.

So I jumped in, did my reading, and got started.

.....and I'm very glad that I did.

At the start of my first round I was 140kg! and pushing a size 26, at the end of that round I had lost 10 cms from my hips and waists each, and dropped 12.5 kgs, in the 6 weeks. It wasn't really super easy, I had my hard days when I would go to bed early so I could get into the next day, but then I would wake up and jump on the scales and see it move in the right direction, and that would motivate me to keep going.

The change helped encourage me to get moving more too. I had been pondering the idea of being able to run a 5 km fun run. Now that I am a President of the Australian Chapter of the Hope for Accreta Foundation, I know somewhere down the track, being able to run 5kms will be useful. Also I would love to get out and be active with my children, camping, hiking, and do long bike ride trips. To do that, I want to know that I have the fitness behind me to get through it. So dropping that weight in the first round helped make the next step of getting active and increasing my fitness much easier.

SO here are my Before and After Pics from Round one.



Since then I have started my second round and in total I'm at 19.5kg lost, with another 2.5 weeks to go. Getting very close to my first 20 kgs mark! I hope to lose around another 60 kgs. But more than that, I'm looking forward to things that I will be able to do more and more as I lose more fat and gain more muscle, and gain more Life!.

Before starting University I was very active person, I was able to do the splits and do cartwheels. I would like to get back to that- Getting back to being able to trust myself and my body again. We aren't done with GAPS at all, we will still at least be doing advanced GAPS, High Fat-Low Carb in between rounds, to help with our overall general health and healing, Particularly for my husband who has now joined me on the HCG Journey.

Something else I want to mention about the HCG Protocol for me is that I have found it has really helped with my hormones. After Marcella's birth and the hysterectomy my body was really struggling to be in balance again, but within a week of starting HCG it was like they came back into alignment, Which was an added bonus that I didn't expect!

For the benefit of myself and others that would like to follow my journey, I have started Vlogging my journey, and sharing some of the reasons that I have started... here is one major one :)





So I look forward to sharing the rest of my journey to life with you. You can keep up to date with my journey on my Facebook page, From Life Support to Life.

If you are reading this and want to take a look for yourself and start the journey you can follow the Link below. I look forward to hearing from you.

Blessings, Christina.

Grain Free Salmon Fish Cakes

BY CHRISTINA · SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

This is one of my quick go to meals for my family, when I haven’t been organised to get something out of the freezer for dinner or I have left over fish, from our favourite family meals of pan fried salmon. This is Full GAPS Friendly, and Paleo.

Ingredients

400 grams Canned or pre-cooked salmon (Remove Bones)

1 TB – Your Inspirations At Home  - Herb and Garlic

1 TB – Your Inspirations At Home - Dill and Onion

2 TB – Coconut flour

1/4 tsp – Salt

2 eggs

1/4 a cup of Peas

1. Combine all ingredients together in a bowl and let sit for 10 – 15 mins.  I use this time to make a salad, and Avocado Mash.

2. Using either your hands or spoons, shape batter into patties,  I make mine the size of a heaped Soup spoon.

3. Shallow fry in the coconut oil, butter or ghee.

4. Turn when browned on one side.

5. Serve and enjoy.

* Serves 5 – I doubt the recipe for my family.

** I have used YIAH Herbs, you can use fresh or dried herbs of your choice, these ones work great for us.

Homeschool Journal Writing

BY CHRISTINA · AUGUST 5, 2014

I shared recently about writing to pen friends as one the ways we try to make writing fun, another tool we use is Journaling.  I have done this for the last few years. I have my children draw about activities that we have done during the week, or at our homeschool get together, and depending on there age, they dictate what they want to write, or when old enough write it themselves.  I don’t correct the spelling in this journal like I do there other forms of writing activities, because I want it to be a good record of their abilities, and something we can look over and see how they have grown over time.  I am also hoping to help them develop the skills of keeping a record of there lives, and will aim to journal most days as they get older and older.

This is an example from my 9 years journal, I let her choose the ones that she wanted share.

Do you have your children keep a journal? How to do work it for them?

- Christina

And the Winners Are.............

Last week I ran a giveaway for two great books both written by Lee Holmes. 

 So today with the help of my lovely assistant Isaac we now have our winners. 

The Winner of Supercharged Food is .....................

Anita Morgan

And the winner of this awesome ebook is ..............

Kerry Mcgugan 

Congratulations to Anita Morgan and Kerry Mcgugan for being today's winners. Contact me via email and I'll arrange to get those prizes to you. Email: thejoyofthehome@gmail.com

Guest Post – Michelle Vogrinec

BY CHRISTINA · AUGUST 1, 2014

Welcome to the blog, today we have a guest post from …….

Michelle  Vogrinec.

Michelle is a mum of 3 and the creator and founder of the baby product range GAIA Skin Naturals.   At home in the Dandenong Ranges Michelle is an avid researcher of preventive health and sustainable living. Passionate about the environment, she uses complimentary medicine and growths her own fresh, organic fruit and veggies to support her family and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Established in 2002,  GAIA Baby was born out of necessity after Michelle’s first child Joshua developed eczema when he was  just 8 weeks old. After consulting many doctors for a safe and effective solution and unsuccessfully trying numerous products on the market. Michelle concocted her own lotions made from natural organic ingredients.

Today Michelle is going to share on two of her products, and the benefits of baby massage.

I hope you enjoy. Here is Michelle.

“According to the International Association of Infant Massage, there is both research and anecdotal evidence from families which shows that there are many ways that babies and parents may benefit from infant massage.

The relaxation benefits are well known – from assisting with sleep patterns, increased flexibility and muscle tone to calming and reduction of stress, but what may be lesser known is that massage may assist in the relief of gas and colic, constipation, growing pains, teething and muscular cramps.

Infant massage may also stimulate baby’s circulatory and digestive systems, hormonal and immune systems, coordination and balance, learning and concentration, muscular development and growth and even their mind and body awareness – so you may find it an important part of maintaining your baby’s total wellbeing.

In addition to the physical benefits for the baby, interaction between parent and child during massage may promote bonding and secure attachment, verbal/non-verbal communication, development of trust and confidence, and feelings of love and being valued – for both parties! This can be a particularly special time for dads that are away at work all day or an intimate “time-out” for first-time mums struggling to adjust to the huge demands of 24/7 parenting.

Your midwife, maternal health nurse or medical professional can advise you on the best oil to use for your baby but I suggest that you definitely avoid using oils which are meant for adult use or adult massage – they are not suitable for babies. Choose an oil which is free from petrochemicals, mineral oil, and artificial fragrances or heavy scents. A natural edible plant-based oil, as recommended by the Infant Massage Association, is best.

Some of our mums who prefer not to use an oil at all use GAIA Natural Baby Moisturiser as a massage lotion.  The moisturising properties of shea butter, cocoa butter combined with nourishing organic oils make a lovely non-greasy alternative.

Of course, if an irritation occurs, stop using any product immediately and consult your medical professional.

You don’t have to be an expert in baby massage.   You and your baby can benefit simply by setting up the scene and using gentle touch, such as massaging moisturiser or massage oil into your baby’s arms, body and legs, then turn them over onto their tummy and massage your moisturiser or oil into their back. I recommend doing this after baby’s bath.

Another great time to offer infant massage is as part of baby’s bedtime routine.  After a warm bath with a moisturising soap-free wash (ideally one with calming oils like lavender, chamomile or ylang ylang), pop on some soothing music and spend a few minutes gently massaging your oil or moisturiser into their skin while telling a bedtime story and slowly getting them dressed.  This routine often helps them relax and prepare for a peaceful night’s sleep. 

Michelle massaging Max – her third son and “face” of GAIA Natural Baby

The GAIA Range can be found in most leading supermarkets, pharmacies, baby products stores, and health food shops.

Milk Kefir

Milk Kefir Recipe

Ingredients

4 cups of full cream milk of your choice, whatever is available to you,
Raw, Pasteurized, Homogenised - if that's all you have, Also Goats milk is another great option.
1 Tbs Milk Kefir Grains
A clean Jar (5 cups) with lid or cloth cover.

Method

Put your Grains in the Jar.
Fill a clean glass jar with 4 cups of fresh milk.
Stir gently with plastic or wooden spoon 2 or 3 times during culturing to move the grains through the milk.

Depending on the temperature of the day the kefir will be ready in 12 to 24 hours in the summer.
Winter could take up to 48 hours.
When ready the kefir will smell sour and the kefir grains float to the top of the milk. The milk will have thickened. Thickness will depend on the milk used and the length of time you leave the kefir to culture. You can culture for a longer time till the milk separates into curds and whey and then strain. Very beneficial culturing to this stage. Do not throw out curdled kefir milk. This is what it does. Stir gently to mix it up with the separated liquid and then strain, using the grains for a new batch of kefir.

These grains will multiply and you will have spare to share with family and friends.

You can use a plastic strainer (hard to find) or a good SS strainer. Do not use any other kind of metal in contact with the kefir as it will harm the kefir.
Hygiene is important as you’re working with a living organism.
Keep kefir out of the sun.
Never squeeze the grains to get all the milk out. (this will harm the kefir grains) Always keep the grains in milk.

If you care for your grains, making sure they have food, they will keep growing and you can have them for a life time.
If you wish to take a break from kefir, simple put feed them and then place them in the fridge, for up to two weeks.
Also you can feed them and put the in the freezer for longer storage.

Enjoy your Milk kefir with all it's wonderful benefits, and the many delights that can be made with it.

Super Charged Food - Book Give away.

Open Until Midnight, Australian Time.

Here is the Link to buy this book now. 

I'm a book lover, but a slow reader. There are many books that I have really enjoyed reading and have helped me along my journey to health and well being.

Last week I found this book by Lee Holmes that fits so well into what we are doing with our health.

The recipes are gluten, wheat, dairy, yeast and sugar- free. Which fits really well into the GAPS, Paleo, Primal Living and generally 'wanting to improve your health' way of thinking.

A little about the Writer and the Book, Lee Holmes.

In 2006 Lee Holmes was struggling with her life- tired, unwell, struggling to gain weight (45kg or 99lbs) and her health was going downhill.

Over the next 12 months, she went from doctor to doctor, test to test in an effort to find out what was going on with her body.

Eventually Lee was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease and fibromyalgia. From her prognosis onwards, life became filled with prescriptions for immunosuppressants, steroids, and anti-inflammatories which made her feel worse.

She needed a Change!

Fed up with being unwell and on a mountain of drugs she decided to go on a journey of discovery with food. This book is filled with information she discovered on that journey, as she learned to use food as her medicine and heal herself.

In the book Lee shares her top 5 foods for the Kitchen Medicine-Chest. Her top 10 superstar foods and how to use them. Also she makes reference to Detoxing and Natural cleaners for your home, and so many other useful tips and great advice for how to get started, giving your pantry and shopping list a makeover; and I must say the photos are gorgeous!.

Lee Holmes latest book is called "Heal Your Gut". 

Heal Your Gut is an informative, uncomplicated and achievable gut healing protocol which will inspire, motivate and bring about true healing to the body.

The natural four week protocol is not scary and honors the body as a whole. The healing program is divided into four phases for you to follow one step at a time.

The book connects with the emotional, stress and brain related aspects of gut health. Recognising the activity of cortisol in the body, meeting the Vegus Nerve, and really learning to belly breathe through fears and worries is just one crucial part to healing from within.

There are chapters covering the gut and immune system connection and the two-way interdependent relationship between the gut and the brain. The book also covers lifestyle factors which contribute to gut health such as such as cleaning products and beauty products.

So now it's giveaway time! 

I have TWO prizes to give away. 

One copy of "Super Charged Food" by Lee Holmes, 

and a copy of Lee's Latest E-book "Heal Your Gut". 

Buy Now

How to Win!

For your chance to win you can enter a few ways. Each way will give you a entry into the draw.

1. Leave a comment on the blog telling me which book you would like to win. 

2. Like me on Facebook, and leave a comment about which book you would like to win.

3. Tag and share with a Friend.  

You will get an entry for every friend you tag in the facebook post. 

Giveaway starts Friday 25th of July and Closes On the 1st of August, 
with the winner's being Announced on the blog and on facebook on the 4th of August. 
Oh and you can Answer with both books. 

Lee Holmes is a Certified Holistic Health Coach (Institute of Integrative Nutrition), Hatha Yoga Teacher and Whole Foods Chef. She is also the author of three best-selling books Supercharged Food, Eat Yourself Beautiful, and Supercharged Food for Kids Lee’s website www.superchargedfood.com encourages S.O.L.E food; sustainable, organic, local and ethical. It features delicious anti-inflammatory recipes, information, news, reviews and menu planning ideas to make it easy for people to enjoy a satisfying, wholesome and nourishing diet. She created a petition to improve food in hospitals in Australia and as a result a healthier menu has been introduced by the Minister for Health. In addition to passionately creating change at government and policy level, in 2013 Lee won the title of Health Influencer Blog of the Year. Lee’s favourite anti-inflammatory recipe is Smashed Sardines and Avocado on Chia and 

Flaxseed Loaf. If you would like to hear more from you Lee you can follow her on facebook.

Blueberry Kefir Cake

So here's my recipe for the Day.

Blueberry Kefir Cake
Ingredients
125g Butter, or Coconut Oil
1 Cup Sweetener of your choice, sugar, honey, Stevia( you don't need a cup of stevia)
3 eggs
2 Cups plain flour - you can use white or wholemeal, Spelt, we like the wholemeal Spelt version Better.
3 Tsp. Baking powder
3/4 Cup of Kefir or yoghurt
1 cup of blueberries, fresh or frozen.

1. Preheat oven to 180c. Grease a round spring form Cake tin. 
2. Using an electric mixer, or whisk, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating to combine.
4. Add half the flour mix (flour and baking powder, and half the kefir, stir to combine.
5. Add the remainder of flour mix and kefir and stir until combined. Be careful not to over work the batter, just until combined.
6. Spread mixture into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with blueberries. Press blueberries in slightly.
7. bake for 50 mins,or until a skewer comes out clean. If the top of the cake seems to be getting too dark, cover with foil.
8. Let cool and sprinkle with Icing Sugar.

Eat and Enjoy! The better the Ingredients the better more nutrients.

Pen Friends - Homeschool Activity

 Pen Friends 

One of the challenges that I face sometimes when it comes to homeschooling is to make writing fun for my children. I see it as a need in our family that they are able to hand write well. To get good at something you need to practices.

In the early years of their education I use an Abeka workbook to help me with teaching them the skill of writing and forming letter and words.  Which for us has proven to be useful in our household, and has helped several of my children learn to read. However  once they are reading well they do get bored of it. So I have come up with a number of ways my to help my children learn a love for writing. (that is still a work in progress with some of them)

One of the ways we practise our handwriting skills is with Pen Friends. 

I am also trying to teach my children to BE the type of friend that they would like to HAVE.  All my children love to get letters in the mail. So we are learning that if you would like to get letters in the mail, then you also need to be someone that writes letters to other people.

So this is where pen friends come in handy.

This year I have made a concerted effort to help them grow and develop qualities of a good pen friend.

The first quality would be "someone that writes back".

It can be very discouraging when your children spend the time and effort writing to people that don't write back. So to help avoid some of that, I have gotten several pen friends for my children. They have a least three friends there age, and a few relatives that they can write to. Relatives are good, because they will often pop a card, postcard, or letter in the mail in return.

I have also scheduled a time in my homeschool week for letter writing. For Us Monday is the day! It's the beginning of the week and we get the most done on that day. I also know myself, while I LOVE to fly by the seat of my pants, if I don't make time for things to happen in our crazy, lovely home, sometime they don't get done. Or months have gone by and we suddenly remember that we haven't done, or have missed out on..... So for me I HAVE schedule and make time for things that we REALLY want to do in our lives.

It is the beginning of term 3 for us, so Monday was the day we sat down and made cards for our pen friends. The children had great fun. This time we made and sent one off to every pen friend on there list, because I did get a little slack in my schedule in the last month of last term. So just to bring us all update on everyones pen friends there are lots of letters going out from our house this week.

Having Pen Friends doesn't have to be something that is hard and tiresome, you don't always have to write a big long letter. Often we will be out shopping and find that we card or a postcard that they can easily fill in a send.

For us Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents are really good value when it comes to getting letters back.

Leave me a Comment

Let me know your pen friend experiences? Or things that you do to help encourage your children to develop there handwriting skills.

Mother & Baby Feature

August Edition 2014

Last Month I was in contact with Mother & Baby magazine, about doing an article and telling my story of surviving Placenta Previa & Percreta, for a number of reasons.

1. To Share awareness of the condition,

2. The risk factors, 

3. Encouraging women to think twice about an unnecessary c-section, and 

4. To help find more survivors and those currently pregnant with the condition.

Today My story can out in print! 

So the story is a very shortened version of my story, as of course there is a word count limit, but hopefully it will create some good exposure for the condition and the Hope for Accreta Foundation.

Since Surviving, I have in many ways made it my mission to help other women avoid it, and support those that have it.

Being pregnant is meant to be one the of most joyous times of  a women's life, but with a pregnancy condition, it can be one of the most stress times in her life.  For me that was the case. I love having children, and would do it all again for my blessings. However there is something to be said about living with fear and worry, "Will my baby survive?", "Will I survive?", "Will this be the day that is all falls apart?".  All are thoughts that are very real, it isn't a pretend fear that you can just shrug off.

While all those fears subside when you hold your precious baby, for some that moment never comes. Even when it does come, the stress, anxiety, and worry can effect the rest of your life for some time. Many women with the condition will go on to suffer PND, or PTSD. Both of which can effect the joy and the way in which you interact with you baby, and with your old life.

I am very thankful for the support of many people, and good friends that helped us get through. With out good friends to be listening ears, a shoulder to cry on, and ready and willing to give a helping hand, I'm not sure how we would have made it through.

I am however very glad we did, and we can now work towards helping make a difference for others.
Don't forget to get your copy of Mother & Baby and check out the article.

21st of July - Weekly Round Up.

Welcome to this weeks round up.  

Here is a recap of the most popular posts from the week gone by. 

Sitting in number 1 spot of the most popular posts this week is.....

1. My Full Story of Surviving Percreta.

This of course was a very challenging time in the life of my family, and writing about has been a great blessing for me in sharing my story with many.  

You can read that story here. 

2.  In second place this weeks is, 

Planning your Homeschool - Setting Goals. 

Having been a homeschooler for the last 5 years, I have learnt for me, spending time planning has been helpful in getting  a hold of 

what we are doing for the year. 

You can read that post here.

3. Sitting in third this weeks is my post on, 

Being Silly With Your Children.

I personally often need a reminder to take time out from my busy day to be silly and just have plain fun with my children, as I get caught up in what needs or should be done. 

Have a read of that one here. 

4. Fourth this weeks is 

Beef and Bean Casserole. 

Who doesn't like to have a hearty warm Casserole in the middle of winter. 

Recipe Here. 

5. The final place this week goes to ......

Sour Dough Crepes with Caramelised Pineapple.  

A Tasty Treat for the Sunday Morning Breakfast, a quick dessert, or just another way to use up your extra sour dough starter. 

You can find that recipe Here. 

I hope you have enjoyed there Highlights. 

Why not leave me a Comment and let me know what your favour read was. 

Guest Post - Kerry Jensen

Staying positive in the face of the negative

This is a guest post by Kerry Jensen who over the last several years had to face many challenges. I asked her, "How have you kept a positive attitude with all the chaos that is going on.  Here is her story. 

Kerry Jensen

I guess you could say, that life for me over the last 3 years has not been an easy road to travel. In 2012 my husband and I were expecting our third baby, our third precious Son.

At 20 weeks gestation, they discovered my blood pressure was sky high, and then began a road of medications, weekly checkups and scans. We went for an ultrasound scan one day, only to be sent straight to our doctor at the hospital, he shut the door and sat us both down.

He looked at me and said "your baby is in danger". 

My blood pressure was still sky high, I had pre-eclampsia, and to add to it, there wasn't enough fluid surrounding our baby. We were admitted to hospital that afternoon, and sent down to Hobart- 4 hours away from home, to a bigger hospital that could handle premature born babies. At 28 weeks, after a terrifying rush into theatre for an emergency c-section, and a very quick goodbye to my terrified husband, I had my third Son. 

He weighed a very tiny 617 grams. 

Ethan 

His skin was transparent. He looked like a skinned rabbit, and we could hold Him in one hand. He was surrounded by tubes, cords and monitors, and spent the first 4 months of His life in the hospital.

His First Hat

After getting out of the hospital our lives were filled with the care of our three boys, and constant trips to the doctors and hospital to make sure Ethan was ok. Then in 2013, I spent five long weeks in hospital, on oxygen support. 

The doctors assumed I had pneumonia, but after the 11th try of antibiotics weren't improving my lungs, they suspected an auto immune disease. After a muscle biopsy, and daily test's, it was confirmed, my immune system was trying to shut down my lungs, and muscles.

I've learnt to walk again, been through almost a year of physio, chemo and intense steroids. 

Well, how do I look at the positives in all of this? 

They say, whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.  I've walked a lot of this journey, kicking and screaming for the ride to stop. I've begged for answers, and prayed until I had nothing left.

I wanted to run away, but couldn't. I was broken.

So where did I put my trust? 

In the only one who was big enough to deal with these health issues, and strong enough to hold my pain. God. I found it easier to dump it all at His feet, I met Him face to face. He accepted me as I was, a broken wreck, needing a miracle. Life didn't get easier, but my faith became stronger!

I learnt to see the small positives in every day,

I became thankful instead of fearful. I stopped seeing myself as a broken wreck, and saw what God saw... the potential, and the worth. I started eating well- healthy foods made a huge difference. I stopped needing to have everything under control, organised and clean.

We stopped with the sterile environment and swapped it with FUN. I became creative, and the joy came back. Life is only what we make of it.

Choose to see the positives!.

If you have enjoyed reading Kerry's Guest Post, the leave her a comment, and you might like to follow her continuing journey to healing on Facebook. Here