One more reason to run

I'll let this sink in for just a moment before I start blogging.

Yes, this is an ultrasound picture.  Yes, it is an early shot of Baby Jeter-Boldt.  I'm told that everything looks the way it should at this point, though all I see is a blur.  But then again, I'm not a medical professional, so I'll just have to accept that everything looks good for now.  For those of you who are now convinced the Mayans know something, fear not--Baby JB isn't scheduled to arrive until early February, so we'll all get to celebrate one more Christmas before the world ends.

In all seriousness though, this is one more reason that Michael and I have been working so hard to raise money for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation. I'm the third generation in a row on my dad's side to have some form of IBD. On my husband's side of the family, there are several relatives with various auto-immune diseases. That medical history scared me off of having children for the past nine years. My genes suck and I was (and am) terrified of passing this disease on to my child. I watched my dad die when I was 18 and I didn't think I could handle the risk of watching a child of mine live with IBD. However, the good work that CCFA has done in funding research and various quality of life programs for patients means that if this child inherits my sucky genes and ends up with IBD, s/he will have a bright future. These advances in treatment mean that I felt comfortable passing my sucky genes on to a new generation. Treatment is already better than I was diagnosed 10 years ago. It is exponentially better than when my dad was diagnosed. And when my grandmother started showing symptoms decades ago, understanding of this disease was so limited that she was simply told she was "hysterical". Can you imagine? I can't.

While IBD treatments have progressed greatly in my lifetime, there is much to be done. There's still no cure, and many IBD patients still require surgery to remove the diseased portion of their GI tract. Even those of us who don't require surgery have to take handfuls of pills each day. Your donation to CCFA will ensure that my baby and all those other babies born to IBD patients each day will have a better future than their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents.