Happy Tuesday, friends!

If you follow me on my Lunchbox Babies Instagram page, then you know that SMU BEAT TCU on Saturday! Woohoo!

Reid and I have known each other almost 20 years, and SMU has only beaten TCU THREE times since we have met! THREE! So, I was SO, SO, SO excited about living my best day ever on Saturday.

Harlan took this picture of us right after the game was over. Please note the look of pure joy on my face. SO happy!

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Today, I am sharing something that I have never shared before here on the blog. I am a huge believer that we all need to help each other out with our health issues, so this is basically a Public Service Announcement of a blog post today! 😉

Y’all already know about my crazy journey of infertility and loss. We started trying to have kids in 2006 and FINALLY closed that door with a vasectomy (sorry Reid!) at the end of 2017. MULTIPLE failed procedures, eleven pregnancies, two miracle boys with me, and a Beucler football team in Heaven. Wowza! So thankful to personally be on the other side of that road, and feel blessed to walk it with some of you now!

You also already know about my Celiac Disease. I got diagnosed in September 2013 after spending months feeling sick and the entire month of August going to doctor after doctor trying to find out what was wrong with me.

I remember when I took this picture below in the summer of 2013. The boys were playing at a park and I was crying silent tears watching them play and calling every doctor I knew to make an appointment. Oh, I was so miserable.

This was taken a few weeks after I was diagnosed. I have a giant smile on my face, but I was clueless as to how to manage this new normal. I was starving, but just happy to be on the mend. Also, can we discuss what phone I must have had in 2013? Super grainy pictures. Sorry about that y’all!

So, today I am talking about something different. Full disclosure, I am 42. Most of my friends are 40-ish, and I feel like the subject I am chatting about today keeps coming up during conversations with friends.

When I hit 40, I got pregnant with Sophie. All of 2017 was a hormonal mess with two lost pregnancies. I was physically just a wreck, as you can imagine. But bouncing back seemed to take a really long time. Hormonally, I couldn’t get my act together. I assumed that it was because of the stress my body had gone through, but after talking with friends, I realized that we women tend to get all funky during our late thirties and early forties.

Exhaustion, sleeping issues, random food sensitivities . . . you get the picture.

So, in the summer of 2018, I started seeing an AMAZING Functional Medicine doctor. He had me give a TON of blood and really drilled down in all of my hormone levels. Definitely not the basic panel that your normal doctor orders.

For the last year, I have been on bio-identical hormones. One weekly injection (I give myself) and a handful of daily supplements, and mama is back in business! Today, I feel great. Now, not to say I don’t have my off days. But, my body is performing better than it has in years. The proof is in the blood work.

Friends, this is a total Public Service Announcement of a blog today!

I have talked to several friends over the last year that have complained about exhaustion and other yucky things that can happen as we age. I feel like I am such an open book about my issues and these bio-identical hormones with my friends. SO, I wanted to be here as well.

If you are having any issues, I HIGHLY recommend asking your doctor for more extensive blood work! Be an advocate for yourself. It feels miserable to feel miserable, am I right?

Are any of y’all on bio-identical hormones? Would love to hear your experience as well!

Y’all have a great rest of your week! XO