Hi! I'm Beth!

Okay, okay, okay. Today's the day. Today I'm going to start writing again. My husband hooked up a monitor and keyboard to my laptop and I just feel inspired to write. I think it's because that's exactly how I used to write...on a desktop. I think the inspiration will keep coming as I keep writing, because honestly, although I've wanted to start writing again, I have felt that I have nothing to share. I know that's not true, but I personally haven't been inspired by anything.

So I'm just going to start with what I know best...and that's my story. Since I haven't been in this space for a long time, I'm going to take some time to reintroduce myself and share my health journey with you. Why my health journey? Because I haven't shared anything publicly on social media about it in a long time, and because the Lord has been working in my life and especially in this area. I want to share it with you, and I need to share it with you.

Hi. I'm Beth. I'm a 30-something-year-old wife and mom. I've been married to my husband for almost 11 years, and we have an almost 3-year-old boy as well as an 8-year-old dog. I started this blog when my husband and I were living in St. Louis as newlyweds. Some years later and a few moves later, we are back in Missouri living life!

I started this blog as a way to share what I had been learning as a new wife. It then kind of morphed into a blog to share my health journey. And here I am years later, still sharing my health journey. BUT I've learned so much, and I want to share that with you, too.

So....if you've been around a while, you probably know most of my story. If not...buckle up. 

You can get a refresher here, here, here, and here. 

I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome when I was 15 years old. I didn't share that with many people at all until about 9 years ago. I thought I was alone in my struggle, and when I finally opened up about it and what I was going through, I had an outpouring of women coming to me and sharing that they, too, had PCOS. I didn't feel as alone.  So I made it my mission to keep sharing so that others wouldn't feel alone. Because they aren't alone...and neither are you.

I have kept up to date with information and research on PCOS because I've wanted to know how to help myself. Every doctor that I've ever seen has just said, "lose weight." And friends, I wish it was just that easy. But it's not. I shared my knowledge on my social media for years during the month of September. Why? Because someone I would talk to would tell me, "Oh, I need you to talk to ____, because she just found out she had PCOS." I'm not an expert. There are many experts out there and women who actually specialize in helping women with PCOS. But I shared my knowledge with those in my circle. It made me feel like I had a purpose.

I started my health journey in 2013 because I had hoped that one day I'd have a baby. Most of my doctors had told me that I would need help getting pregnant if I could get pregnant at all. So I started out on a journey to get healthy so that I could give myself the best chance to get pregnant and sustain the life of my unborn baby.

Fast forward to 2018, I got pregnant fairly quickly when we started trying. I was so surprised, but friends...that was God.  I had a healthy pregnancy and in 2019, we welcomed a baby boy who is now a hurricane of a toddler. The end of 2019 brought post-partum depression, and the beginning of 2020 brought a pandemic and with that, it brought more depression. So I was depressed for a long time. It was so hard.

The summer of 2020 brought dreams that I didn't know could be dreams. In early June, my husband brought up the idea of moving back home. I was literally shocked because I figured that I'd be living in Oklahoma the rest of my life. I was okay with living in Oklahoma for the rest of my life. But God knew deep down how much I needed my family. He knew deep down how much I wanted to be near my family. Long story short, we moved home at the very end of Summer 2020. But then heading into 2021, I had a whole new set of symptoms.

I was newly focused on my journey once again, but I just couldn't lose any weight no matter what. This wasn't a new concept since it's really difficult to lose with PCOS, but it just felt harder. I finally gave in and made an appointment with a new doctor. I had labs and appointments and at last, I finally had a diagnosis: Hashimoto's. With that came new diet challenges--I was now permanently gluten free. That's all I knew about Hashimoto's, so I knew that I had a lot of research to do.

You can find part 2 here.