From the beginning of my disease

I can honestly say I always had this feeling something was wrong with me but I just didn't know what it was. Looking back now I can see when the symptoms first started showing up in my life. The symptoms were few and far between the time I was a child until I got pregnant with my first child. I can remember getting really sick when I was a child somewhat frequently. They as I got older and began developing into a woman I started with a heavy cycle, really tired and could barely stay awake the week before I started. ( I know not exactly what people want to hear but its relevant). I remember when I was 17 I was giving my grandmother blood and the night before being terrified that I could get her sick. I remember going through depression at a young age as well. So this is what it was like until I got pregnant with my first son.

In March of 1998 I was taken to the ER with my kidney swelling almost out of my back. I remember being in so much pain that I just fell to the floor at work. I had been coughing for a few days prior to that and felt like crap. But I wasn't the type of person back then that would lay around and rest to get better. I had to be on the move constantly. In the ER, I was told I had developed Asthma, a kidney infection, tonsillitis, strep throat, and a sinus infection. All this at once. I went to a follow up appointment with my PCP and he did a pregnancy test as precaution before he changed medications. Well he came in and said we have to change everything because you are pregnant. I remember sitting thinking something isn't right. Like I said earlier this feeling had always been around and as I got older it got stronger.

I cramped through the entire pregnancy. I was frequently sick with the flu or a cold. I had asthma attacking pretty frequently as well. The first time I went into preterm labor I was almost 5 months pregnant. I had some very life altering situations occur while I was pregnant so the doctors decided this was causing the preterm labor. These situations ranged from my mother having 2 heart attacks, the loss of my father, my mother losing her house and us living in a homeless shelter and motel for a month, and the medical problems I was having. I went into labor a total of 6 times during this pregnancy; thankfully I carried my son to term.

Gabriel was born 5 days before his due date, at a good weight and height, and healthy as a horse. The funny thing about my true labor with Gabriel was all the times I went into preterm labor I had a ride to the hospital. It just so happened the morning I went into labor it started at 4am. I took a hot bath and went back to sleep for a couple of hours. I had a doctor’s appointment that morning and I couldn't find a ride; my mother and I walked to the bus stop which was about a quarter of a mile from our house. I took the bus to the doctors that just so happened to be next to the hospital. I got to the doctors and she said today is your son's birthday, now go to the hospital. I had a very high tolerance for pain so labor really didn't bother me until the very end. He was very alert, smiling all the time, and was the greatest blessing that I received during that year of hell. It was the easiest labor from beginning to end.