Finding Me: How Many Kids Do You Have?

Ms. Karen has asked:

Are you going to have more children?

Well, since you asked...No. Not a chance.

There are many reasons why we have chosen to stop with our round number of 3 total {2 here with us in this existence, 1 Angel Baby*}. One of the biggest factors in making a conscious decision to not have anymore children is the fact that pregnancy and my body do not fair well together.

When I say they don't fair well, I am referring to the fact that I suffer from Cholestasis. Which {without getting into too much detail} means my liver sucks it up when I'm pregnant. Rather than playing along and doing its job, it decides to boycott the baby and play dead for 9 months. While most women don't usually experience Cholestasis until the final months, mine begins within weeks of getting pregnant, and is more intense with each pregnancy.

Where most pregnant women visit their doctor for monthly visits until about the 7th-8th month followed by bi-weekly and then weekly visits, as they approach their delivery date, I begin bi-weekly visits at 5-6 months and move to weekly visits in the 7th month. Each of which consists of blood work, blood work and more blood work. I've got so much scar tissue in my inner elbows you would think I was a hard-core-street-drug-drunkie.

Aside from  the whole event being extremely diet restrictive and totally annoying {as it causes extreme itchiness}, the disease is dangerous and detrimental to the babies. My pregnancy with my Mo-Tay was induced at the 8th month mark due to us both being in distress, while we almost lost our Mr. Mr. Gettie. The disease also gives my babies incredible coloring...if you dig the color yellow {Read: They inevitably are jaundice. So much so that they end up spending weeks in light therapy}.

It truly was a deliberate decision to limit my body's ability to carry babies. I felt it best not only for my own health, but the health of any children that could possibly fall victim to my lame liver. That doesn't mean I don't experience that occasional pang of baby desire. At the end of the day, however, I am at peace with the decisions made, knowing that my boys make this family of ours complete {at least in this existence}.

*To understand where this series of posts began, one must start at the beginning....Finding Me