Food: Part 2

If you missed Part 1, you might want to read it first.

“I think you should gain 10-15 pounds,” our fertility specialist suggested. “Why?” I asked. “I’m right in the middle of the normal range on the charts.” Dr. K leaned back in his chair. “Every woman is different. If you stop running and gain some weight, you might ovulate and get pregnant naturally.”

I have to admit I was a little irritated at first. We’d paid a lot of money to see this doctor and his fertility strategy was for me to lie around and eat more? Intentionally growing out of my jeans didn’t sound like a good plan to me.

At the same time, what if that was all it took? Over the next few weeks Adam made sure to talk a lot about how nice I would look with a little extra weight on my body (I know, my husband is amazing), so I decided to try it. I rediscovered my love of pizza and ice cream. And in case you didn’t know, it’s not hard to put on a few pounds. At least not for me. For me it’s very, very easy. And enjoyable. Except for the growing out of my jeans part.

A year later we found out about other fertility issues and were told a natural conception was impossible for us. But a year and a half after that, God shocked us all with a surprise pregnancy. (You can read the full story on my old blog.) It was clearly a miracle considering my combination of physical problems.

I don’t understand God’s sovereignty. Everything is in His hands and yet somehow, He works through our choices. God might have given us Skylar and Micah even if I hadn’t gained weight. I didn’t have working fallopian tubes either and He cleared them or went around them or something else equally miraculous to give us our babies. Maybe He would have still allowed me to get pregnant, even at my lower weight. I don’t know. But I do know that when it comes to fertility, my body seems to function better when I eat more fat, go walking instead of running, and keep myself a little heavier than I like to be.

It makes me wonder about the ideal body I have in my head. I wonder whether God ever intended for me to stress over how I look in a bathing suit. I wonder about all the artificial food and drinks I’ve put into my body over the years mainly because I wanted a flat stomach. I wonder about America’s high rate of infertility (1 in 6 couples experience it at some point) and how much our nutrition (or lack of it) is involved. I wonder about my kids and to what extent the things I feed them impact their sleep, their moods, and their ability to concentrate. And I wonder what God wants me to fix for my family to eat.

To Be Continued