When you’re pregnant, you get so used to people asking when you’re due. Your due date becomes almost part of your identity.  October 29. That was when I was due. But having three other kids, these dates are more like guess dates. How could anyone possibly know exactly when your baby is going to come?  With Emme, I kicked her out ten days past my “due date.” (Read E’s birth story here) Wesley came one week exactly before my “due date.” (Read W’s birth story here) And CRAZY enough, Kieran came exactly on his “due date.” (Read K’s birth story here)  But with Elle – I always ha ..read more

I specifically remember at the height of my disability leave, laying in bed thinking to myself, “will I ever have a family?”. I remember thinking, my body can barely function on its own right now – how could it ever support growing life and then take care of it? This moment is one I think of alot – especially when laying in bed at night after I put the kids down for bed. As I’m in the home stretch of my FOURTH pregnancy now, it’s surreal to me what my body has done. It has grown life four times and not only sustained me, but helped me flourish myself. Over the years my psoriatic arthritis has ..read more

The following post is an old draft written in 2020 that was never published! It’s hilarious to read this now on my 4th pregnancy. But important information to pass along to the psoriatic arthritis community regarding different pregnancy experiences. ——————————— As I near the end of my second pregnancy, I can’t lie and say I’m disappointed in myself that this is the FIRST blog post I’m writing about it. If you follow me on Instagram, you know I regularly share in my Insta Stories and then periodically on my feed as well. There were many similarities to my first pregnancy during this one – the c ..read more

For those who may not know, I had a Regenexx stem cell procedure for my avascular necrosis in 2015. I then had a Regenexx PRP procedure in 2016 to help the breakdown of my joint from my arthritis. These procedures are the reason I can walk today. And I don’t say that lightly at all. Before my procedure, I was on crutches for 3.5 years. I was in constant pain, my bone was crumbling, and I could not function.  By tapping into the power of my own body, I was able to revitalize and regrow bone in my femur and help stabilize my knee. Since then, I have sung the praises of these Regen ..read more

With my first pregnancy, I had to kick Emme out 41 weeks into pregnancy. She was snug as a bug in there and didn’t want to come out! I was having prodromal labor that was exhausting me and I got to the point where I knew I needed to get the show on the road or else I wouldn’t have any energy to make it through active labor. (click here to read it!) Going into my second, I just figured Wes would be late. But he wasn’t! He came at 39 weeks and surprised me. (click here to read it!) So for my third, I thought if the second one was early, this one would probably come early too. During my ..read more

Online friendships are crazy, right? We follow each other online and we consider each other friends, but we may never have actually TALKED in person (or on the phone or zoom) before. That’s how I feel about Cheryl! I feel like I KNOW her, but we’d actually never had a conversation outside of social media. But that all changed when she asked me to be on her Arthritis Life Podcast. (Thanks Cheryl!!) We talked about the many ups and downs of my journey with psoriatic arthritis, avascular necrosis, and complex regional pain syndrome. And I also got to get on my soapbox and talk about the importanc ..read more

I had the chance to meet Matthew Zachary a few years back at the ePharma Summit in NYC. I’ll always remember being in awe of him playing his piano up on stage and then flawlessly talking about his patient journey and his path in patient advocacy. (Peep photo in the cover image of this post!) He inspired me back then to step up my game! It was an honor to sit down and talk to him on his Out of Patients podcast. On today’s show, we welcome Julie Croner, Vice President of the Patient Leader Network at WEGO Health. Julie is a rare disease activist who has been educating and empowering patients fo ..read more

Davis and Stacy are two advocates making an awesome impact in the world of Diabetes. I had the pleasure of talking to them on their Diabetic Savvy podcast about WEGO Health and advocating for your cause. Click below to go over and listen to the episode! We talk about: My own story and how I got involved in advocacy work (which involves an American Idol Experience!) Being your own health advocate and WHY it’s important Giving voice to your healthcare relationship with your practioners GOAT YOGA (yes! haha) And more! Honestly, this podcast was so fun to record and we laughed A LOT during it. I ..read more

Military wife life can be hard. And my friend Brook knows that just as well as I do. She’s doing some pretty kick-ass things and recently interviewed me on her blog! We talked about: The most stressful times during deployments How my health (aka psoriatic arthritis) plays into deployments Being pregnant while having a deployed hubby How deployments affect and change your life The positives of deployments (Besides having a badass hubby) How to cope during deployments How being a military wife makes you stronger And more! I’d love for you to click the link below to be taken to the post. And yo ..read more

I specifically remember at the height of my disability leave, laying in bed thinking to myself, “will I ever have a family?”. I remember thinking, my body can barely function on its own right now – how could it ever support growing life and then take care of it? This moment is one I think of alot – especially when laying in bed at night after I put the kids down for bed. As I’m in the home stretch of my FOURTH pregnancy now, it’s surreal to me what my body has done. It has grown life four times and not only sustained me, but helped me flourish myself. Over the years my psoriatic arthritis has ..read more