My journey with celiac disease began after my third baby, Weslie, was born. I just couldn’t bounce back. It wasn’t the usual postpartum struggle—something deeper felt off. I had intense chest pains, daily headaches, and an overwhelming sense of something being wrong. Doctors told me it was anxiety, and while I’d never experienced anxiety before, I believed them. Still, deep down, I knew that wasn’t it.
When Weslie was around a year old, we stopped preventing pregnancy. What followed was four heartbreaking miscarriages. We’d never struggled to conceive before, so this was confusing and devastating. Around that same time, I started having nonstop stomach aches. My hair stopped growing, my energy plummeted, I had constant bloating and brain fog, and food hurt my stomach every time I ate. Yet, no one mentioned celiac disease.
After a year of frustration and misdiagnoses (IBS, stomach ulcers, more anxiety…), I finally met a gastroenterologist who actually listened. He ran a comprehensive blood panel—nine pages worth. In July 2014, I was diagnosed with celiac disease. That day, I went gluten-free cold turkey.
Everything started to change. My headaches disappeared, my stomach finally stopped hurting, and my body began to heal. But despite the progress, we still couldn’t get pregnant again. It wasn’t until November 2017 that I was also diagnosed with PCOS.
I dove into research and decided to try cutting out dairy, too. Detoxing from dairy was wild—my body changed so much for the better. And then, to our surprise, I got pregnant with our rainbow baby, Scottie. Shortly after Scottie was born, we got pregnant again and had Cove in 2020. Going gluten-free and dairy-free gave my body the chance to heal—and allowed me to carry two more babies. That still blows my mind.
But life wasn’t done with us yet.
In 2020, the same year Cove was born, our oldest daughter, Kolbie, was diagnosed with both Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac Disease. Looking back, I believe God was preparing me. I already knew how to manage gluten-free living, which made caring for Kolbie in that storm a little less overwhelming—especially with a newborn and a toddler in the house.
Kolbie’s diagnosis lit a fire in me. I wanted her—and your kids—to feel normal, to eat food that didn’t feel like a sacrifice. I started a meal plan subscription to help families with food allergies and diabetes feel less overwhelmed. That quickly turned into launching allergy-friendly seasonings I couldn’t find anywhere else.
Clean Monday Meals exists because of you—because of the messages, the love, the stories you’ve shared with me. This community has carried me through my hardest moments. I’m forever grateful.
