What the heck is Cystic Fibrosis?

So what is Cystic Fibrosis?

Not many people actually know what it is or how it effects the body...

Here is an explanation:

Cystic Fibrosis is a condition in which the lungs and digestive system can become clogged with thick, sticky mucus. It is also the most common life-threatening illness in the UK!!

Cystic Fibrosis (or CF) can cause problems with breathing and digestion from a very young age. Over many years, the lungs become more and more damaged and may eventually stop working properly, which means, yes. Transplant is very much on the cards for the future...

Most cases of CF in the UK are now identified through testing carried out in the heel prick test just after birth. It's estimated that 1 in every 2,500 babies born in the UK has CF!

Lots of treatments are available to help reduce the problems caused by the condition, but unfortunately life expectancy is reduced for people who have it. The average life expectancy of a CF patient is around 40.

How do you get CF? Can you catch it?

This is a question that I have been asked a lot before. The answer is no. You can not catch CF. It is caused by a faulty gene that you inherit from both of your parents.

The faulty gene affects the movement of salt and water in and out of cells. This, along with recurrent infections, can result in a build-up of thick, sticky mucus in the body's tubes and passageways.

To be born with CF, you have to inherit two copies of this faulty gene – one from each of your parents. There are hundreds of different gene mutations, but I have the most common and have two copies of the Delta f508 gene! Your parents will not usually have the condition themselves, because they will only carry one faulty gene and one that works normally.

If both of your parents carry the faulty gene, this means that thy are a carrier of CF (but don’t actually have it) and there is a 25% chance that each child they have will be born with CF!

So there is an explanation of what CF is and how it effects the body! Feel free to ask me anything in the comments below and I will try my best to answer them!

K💖

Welcome Welcome!

So today I decided that I'd like to start a blog. My daughter and I have had a rough time in the last 5 months. And I would like to share with you, what life is like as a new mum, with a life threatening illness. So let's do some introductions shall we?

My name is Kelly-Anne, most people just call me Kelly though. I'm 25 years old and I have Cystic Fibrosis. On 3rd February 2017 I was told I had a new role in life. And on 18th September 2017, I became 'Mummy'.

I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, 3 and a half weeks early. She was just 5lb 10oz and she was the smallest and most precious thing I had ever seen. I called her Ellysia-Jess Helen.

So that's us. Mummy and daughter. Best friends. An unbreakable pair.

BUT. My pregnancy wasn't straightforward. I mean, it was, to a certain extent. If you take into consideration my general health...

Before I fell pregnant I would spend 2-3 weeks in hospital on IV antibiotics for chest infections. And I would do this 4-6 times a year. Daily routines of medications, hospital appointments, admissions, spending days in bed being sick, or not being able to move. Let's face it, that's nobodies idea of heaven!! 

Anyway. When I found out I was pregnant, I wasn't all that thrilled. Everybody has this expectation that you'll be over the moon, filled with excitement... But why wasn't I? I'll tell you why... I have had 5 miscarriages, so to me, this was just another opportunity for my heart to break one more time. After the fifth miscarriage I decided to restart my contraceptive pill, I couldn't face loosing another baby. To know that a life had started to grow inside of me and that it would just be stolen from me again scared me, all I'd ever wanted was to become a mother, and every time I'd got my hopes up it was ripped from right in front of me. What had I ever done to deserve this? Maybe I just wasn't meant to be a mum. I was just starting to get my head around that fact that the only thing I wanted in my life wasn't going to happen, when I found out I was pregnant. 

I mentally prepared myself for another loss, another heart break, another child to be taken from right there, inside of me. Weeks passed and I had numerous early scans, I had bleeding and severe stomach pains. I convinced myself I was loosing that baby. But my 12 weeks scan came, then my 20 week scan came, I'd never made it past 9 weeks before!! Every scan, every time I saw that baby moving on t screen filled my heart with joy. I could finally get excited. I realised that I was actually having a baby this time. And it was a girl. Just like I'd always wanted. As the pregnancy went on and on, the weeks went, my due date got closer and closer!!

I made it to about 6 months and started to have contractions. All my joy went. This made me fear the worst, that I was loosing this baby. My contractions stopped suddenly and after this happening for a second time, I was kept in hospital, where my water broke at 36 weeks, they then decided to induce me. After 3, nearly 4 weeks in that hospital, I knew I wasn't leaving without my baby girl. They gave me the epidural and started the induction at 11:30pm on 17th September and I slept through it all until about 5/6am. By 9:30 I was fully dilated and ready to push. After waiting 15 minutes for a doctor, I started pushing at 9:45 and my precious, tiny bundle of joy arrived at 10:32am. 

So there we have it. The birth of Ellysia-Jess!! Our Adventurous Life Begins!!
K&E💖