Bows or Bowties?

Exciting news! I’m doing a little giveaway to celebrate a couple special events in my life: first, kicking off my Fragile Butterfly blog and Facebook page, second deciding to join Jamberry Nails in becoming an Independent Consultant very soon, and most important...

We find out today the sex of our unborn baby!

I will do a random drawing with all the correct answers and the winner will receive a half sheet of Mint Green Chevron Jamberry Nails! I will announce the winner at the kickoff of my Jamberry Nails Facebook Party on November 12 and on my facebook page on November 13.

To celebrate baby news and my blog--a Jamberry Nails Facebook Party!

Almost 24 Weeks!

On Sunday, I'll official be 24 weeks in this pregnancy. Exciting times since Monday we have the next BIG appointment, the last sonogram and also the oh so fun gestational diabetes test. We plan to find out the sex of the baby, fingers cross to if this little one will let us have a peek :)

I seemed to have traded off being up all night with morning sickness to being up all night due to not getting comfortable. Lack is sleep is super common for pregnancy, especially as you hit the final weeks; this lack of sleep seems to also become one of my biggest triggers for a fibro flare. The lack of sleep and increased pain leaves me in a pretty touchy (ok...ok...bad) mood, much to my husband's distress. It's a good thing this is not our first pregnancy and my poor husband already knows what to expect with a moody pregrant wife ( I love you honey)! We're down to 16 weeks roughly so hopefully once this little one gets here, sleep will be a little easier even with breastfeeding.

It will be interesting to see how the fibro responds to pregnancy as we get closer to the due date, lack of sleep and shifting hormones seems to the biggest issues which are also issues that really can't be altered. Having weaned off of all drugs, I'm currently looking into natural ways to control the fibro; rest and stess management are my biggest focus at the moment. I've been researching more into drugs and at this point I'm not sure if I want to go back to the constant changing of drugs and dosage when before the pregnancy I really did not see or feel much of a difference...if anything each change made things worse. To be truthful, I'm hoping all those awesome feel good hormones and chemicals released during breastfeeding will help manage my symptoms post-birth!


A short post, not totally meeting my goal for this week, but with one sick toddler, it's a mircle if the hubby and I manage to get much done in the house! Our little one is better so tomorrow we are hitting a birthday party and a halloween bash! I can't wait to see all the kids in costumes.

~Rebecca

A year in one post.

I just realized today it has been almost a year since I got the diagnosis of Fibromyalgia; it will be a year in November.  This past year has been crazy and as much as I intended on getting a blog going about being a new spoonie, I just haven’t been able to get anything really going with it.  I did buy my very own domain name but it seems as though something comes up every single month that prevents me from getting hosting set up. I decided that I’m done waiting—I am going to launch this on blogger and in the future look to move to a permanent spot.

I will likely end up going into a much more detailed recount of my life as my blogging experience grows but for a quick and easy intro here is my story:

At the end 2010 my husband and I found out I was pregnant with our first child. Up to this pregnancy my health was fairly boring and uneventful; I had my share of minor illness (it was also strep throat!) and sprains but no major medical issues. Most of the pregnancy went by smoothly—mild morning sickness, the usual increasing overall uncomfortable feeling as the weeks went by. In the last few weeks we had some minor complications but our little girl arrived at 41 weeks healthy and happy July 2011. I chose to breastfeed which started out rough but by 16 weeks we had it figured out and she nursed until toddlerhood.

EVERYTHING you hear about being a first time mum, especially a nursing first time mum is your life is all about sleep deprivation after giving birth. Looking back, I’m pretty sure my fibro reared its ugly head either at the end of my first pregnancy or soon after giving birth, I just didn’t know just how not normal my exhaustion and pain turned out to be. For that first year I was exhausted, in pain, in a fog…pretty much I had all the signs of fibro but I assumed it was all just “normal” due to nursing, a new baby, etc. Soon after my daughter turned one, my husband and I realize she was sleeping pretty well—it was just ME that wasn’t!

I made doctor’s appointments, was told to start exercising, eat better, and get back on my antidepressant (been off of it for pregnancy and nursing); all pretty routine for being under the age of 30. Nothing really changed though, my pain increased and I started experience flares. I also started gaining weight rapidly; I gained around 100 pounds despite a good diet and going to the gym 3-5 days a week. From 2012 to 2013 my doctor started testing for all kinds of things; everything from thyroid and lyme’s disease, to lupus and arthritis. All my test came back within normal ranges so I also started a pain journal—based on my recordings, test results, etc I arrived at a fibro diagnosis in November 2013.

I am thankful that my diagnosis came pretty quickly compared to many who suffer for years, decades even not knowing what is wrong with them but it’s still hard to receive a chronic illness as a diagnosis. My doctor started me on the routine pharmaceutical that comes after fibro becomes official. Fibromyalgia is a “designer” illness so that means a LOT of tweaking and experimenting with literally EVERYTHING to find out what works for the individual. Before I could find the formula of diet, exercises, meds, and lifestyle changes that would make fibro manageable for ME…we got some huge news!

I’m expecting again!

My estimate due date is February 2015. I’ve had to go off of all the drugs I was on; right now I’m only allowed regular old Tylenol (which spoonies know is worthless). I will look to have a post focusing on week 1-20 of this pregnancy coming up in the next on how life has been with pregnancy and being new to fibromyalgia. We are extremely happy and excited to be adding the final additions to our little family in a few short months. The pregnancy has been difficult due to the fibro but so far everything is moving along nicely and free of most complications so far. I’ll have future posting detailing being a pregnant with fibro over the next 18-ish weeks and I also plan on  sharing how the birth goes, definitely scared on what sort of flare I could have after the stress of delivery! I have found very little information on pregnancy and fibromyalgia so I hope my little blog will be able to add to the little bit of info that has been shared from other mums.

~Rebecca

The Fragile Butterfly

Since I was a teenager I had already suffered from depression and anxiety only to have something new tearing me apart that I could barely say, much less know anything about: Fibromyalgia. In December of 2013, after almost two years of suffering from the most intense and at times confusing pain and cognitive issues, I was diagnosed with a syndrome that is not widely known about, much less understood by most. I felt compelled to share my life with fibromyalgia: the struggles, the good times, and whatever else I experience learning to cope and live with this syndrome. After finding out soon after the diagnosis I was pregnant gave me even more reason to start a blog---I have found so little information on dealing with pregnancy with fibro. I also hope this blog helps in a small, itsy, bitsy way to help bring awareness to fibromyalgia and make some awesome new friends along the way. I'm hoping to get a few posts up this week as introductions and plan to get something posted at least once a week, let's see if I can stick to that schedule with a toddler and pregnancy, lol!

~Rebecca