My "condition"....

I wasn't planning on posting much about this, but people keep asking. I figure I might as well just lay it all out there and be done with it. The question I keep getting is: "So what exactly IS your condition?" Good question, but a little hard to answer since I don't exactly have a definable condition. It would be nice if I could just give people a one word medical term--but I can't. Here's the low down for those of you who have been wondering--the rest of you can just skip this post altogether.

Basically, I have this extremely rare (and rather odd) thing where I have no immunity to rubella--even though I've had several immunizations for it. I've actually had about 3 rubella shots in the last few years, but for some strange reason my body still has no immunity to it. The doctors don't know why it's happening...it just is, and I'll probably never be immune (which isn't a big deal--unless I'm pregnant). Rubella isn't extremely dangerous to the average person. It just causes a rash and a high fever. However, if I am exposed to rubella while pregnant, I am 99% likely to pass it to the baby--which can cause a whole slew of problems including miscarriage, blindness, or deafness. I actually have a friend who's mom got it while she was pregnant, and the baby ended up being deaf. So with every pregnancy it has been a HUGE concern. We've been lucky so far and I haven't ever been exposed. But I have had to take extra precautions with each pregnancy. While we were living in Texas, for example, there was an outbreak of rubella and chicken pox. My doctor wouldn't let me go anywhere for over a month. I missed church and we basically just stayed home. That was when I only had Parker though, and it was MUCH easier to stay home then! Staying home really isn't even an option anymore though, so this pregnancy has been a lot more worrisome as far as the whole rubella thing goes. I am skipping out on all our family reunions, not having many playdates, and trying not to go where there are a lot of big crowds. They also released me from Primary so that I didn't have to be around so many kids each week. Adults and older kids who've had all their MMR shots aren't a problem...it's the younger ones that we worry about. So before you come over, if I ask you if anyone in your family has a rash, now you'll know why! Rashes are not allowed at our house. ;0)

So there's that...and then there's the whole pregnancy episode that happened in Manila. I had a severe hemorrahge at 7 weeks, which landed me on complete bedrest for the ENTIRE pregnancy. Not so fun! After Logan was born, I had some other issues and ended up having surgery when he was only 3 months old. If you think having a baby in another country is rough, try having surgery with a newborn sharing your hospital bed...again, not so fun! After the surgery, I had 3 different doctors tell me that we shouldn't have any more kids because of all the past issues, and other issues that could develp. They basically said that my body couldn't handle it. So while, I don't have an exact condition...it's all a little scary. And it doesn't help that I can't get my records from Manila either. I don't think my doctors here really believe me when I tell them what happened. It would be nice to have some medical records to back me up. So far the doctors have just looked at me funny and said "We can't do anything UNTIL something bad happens". Uh, the point is to NOT end up on bedrest again--not to just deal with it when it happens!! Frustrating! So I've taken matters into my own hands. I'm making myself take it easy and rest A LOT, in the hopes the I don't end up on bedrest again! And if I do...I'm blaming it all on the doctors!! Too bad I can't make them sit in bed for a few months and see how they like it--maybe then they'd take me a little more seriously.

That's the story....not too terribly exciting. Now, don't you wish you wouldn't have asked?!