Arrived in Houston, Texas, USA!

We arrived Houston on Tuesday, November 1st at 4:30pm. The afternoon was a blur as it mostly consisted of suitcases and family time with the in-laws. Wednesday consisted of two naps and lower back pain, but the headaches that I had been suffering from went down from a 4-5 (that I lived with for the last 3 months in Bogota) to a 1-2 (on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being mild with no real need for medicine and a 10 being in bed, in the dark, doing nothing). By evening, I was finally able to unpack most of the suitcases. Thursday, I was able to go out to McDonald's with my mother-in-law and kids, but I couldn't make one round through "Hobby Lobby" without begging to sit. Slowly, each day, the effects of living in a high altitude AND being pregnant, began to wear off. God help me if my children's grandmother had not had the patience to be there for my kids because I was so tired from the trip that it would have been peanut butter jelly sandwiches every meal.

Only today did I begin to feel more like myself, like the person I was at the beginning of July...before I had returned to Bogota. Morning sickness was waning, there were no headaches, and I didn't feel tired. It was like before I had left for Bogota on July 9. By July 14, permanent headaches had set in, morning sickness had lasted until 2pm, and exhaustion came whenever I choose to walk a block. As much as the doctors decided to pretend that altitude had nothing to do it, I read numerous articles about how high altitude creates all these symptoms...and that's for all people, not just pregnant women.

So officially, Friday, November 4, this is my first day that I have felt like my old self since July 9th. Almost 4 months of being sick.

I do believe in the power of positive thinking. September and October, when I suffered most from the migraines, I tried to use the power of positive thinking to ward off feeling depressed about being sick for so long. It helped, but it wasn't a cure.