Goodbye Gluten and Infertility

As I mentioned in my last post, I gave birth to a baby boy in January. Some of you who have followed me for a while know that there was a time when I was unable to get pregnant, and, when I did finally get pregnant, I experienced two miscarriages. For several years I wondered if I would ever be able to have children. I tried to be content with having no children, but my mom mentioned I should at least get some bloodwork to make sure that I am healthy and my infertility  wasn’t a sign of a health issue. 

I’m so glad she told me to do that because I found out I had low progesterone levels. This made it so that it was almost impossible for me to get pregnant, and when I did, I almost immediately lost the baby because my progesterone levels were too low to keep my period from coming and terminating the pregnancy. 

As soon as I corrected my hormone imbalance, I became pregnant with Victoria. We had hoped that pregnancy would regulate everything and allow my hormone levels to balance. However, soon after I stopped nursing, I noticed some of the trademark signs of low progesterone (for me the most noticeable is a lower normal body temperature which make me constantly feel cold). And again, as soon as I corrected the hormone imbalance via supplements, everything regulated and I became pregnant with my twins. 

While nursing the twins I decided that as soon as I finished nursing I would look into both the cause of the imbalance and a more natural solution. Infertility aside, it is not healthy to live with a hormonal imbalance. 

So then a few things happened:

1) I researched the type of hormone imbalance I had and found that gluten was a common culprit. 

2) a friend was having a really hard time controlling her thyroid. After a year of different medications and dosages, someone mentioned to her that gluten is a common aggrivator of your thyroid. She cut gluten and immediately stopped having issues.

3) Another friend suffered from infertility for 5 years, and even underwent failed rounds of IVF. She decided she wasn’t going to be able to have children and stopped all the treatment and immediately became pregnant. She gave birth prematurely and had a rocky pregnancy, but her daughter was her miracle baby. When her daughter was 3 they found out she had celiacs disease, and all gluten had to be removed from their home. My friend immediately became pregnant again and had a great pregnancy, which she attributes to cutting gluten from her diet.

So I decided to give it a try and cut gluten from my diet. My twins were 16 months old and recently weaned, and I remember standing in my kitchen trying to figure out what in the world I COULD eat, because gluten seemed to be in everything! 

It took a few days to learn the ropes but after a week or so it became quite easy to eat gluten free. I also noticed I was eating a lot of fruits and vegetables simply because they were easy gluten-free options. 

Well, about a month later, I got this feeling. I just knew deep down that I was pregnant. Pregnancy tests have always been scary for me. I can’t tell you how many I’ve taken that were negative, and the losses of my first two pregnancies are always fresh in my mind. I took a pregnancy test and it was positive. 

To me this did two things: 

-affirmed that gluten was indeed causing a hormone imbalance in my body. 

-caused immediate dread. I just knew I would lose this baby. I’d never kept a baby I hadn’t been on progesterone supplements for. I just couldnt imagine that I’d actually be able to carry this baby. 

So I prayed. I thanked God for this baby, admitted I was afraid, and asked for his guidance. 

Over the next few weeks I asked the other leaders from my MOPS group to please pray for me and my baby, that God’s will be done and that I be free of the worry and fear. 

And then before I knew it, I’d made it to my due date (Dec 31st)

And baby was thriving and I realized that my body had actually done this baby thing! 

I have come to believe that while I serve a God who can give and take life, I also live in a body that has been tainted by sickness and sin. Something as simple as gluten was causing a sort of sickness in my body that wasn’t allowing it to function properly. I couldn’t believe the answer was so simple. 

Now since giving birth to my son, I have tried to eat a little gluten here and there and I noticed almost an immediate change in my body temperature (FREEEEZING!!!) and a change in my milk supply. There is definitely a connection between my hormones and that silly protein that finds its way into sooooo many foods. 

I am sharing this because I wish more women knew about this. I’m not saying gluten is evil or will cause sickness and imbalance in all people, but I am saying that it definitely caused those things in me and in others I know.

Are any of you gluten free? What are some of the health benefits you’ve experienced?