UNEXPECTED JOY
Several
years after meeting Keach, Jane opened herself up to the possibility of
one more new experience: midlife motherhood. Determined to have another
child, Jane sought fertility treatments. She was successful. In 1995,
in her mid-forties, Jane became pregnant with twins.The pregnancy, however, was challenging. Jane suffered from preeclampsia, a condition that causes very high blood pressure and can affect the mother's kidneys, liver, brain and placenta. Due to the dangerous condition, Jane gave birth six weeks early, and her tiny twin sons were placed on heart monitors for the first month of their lives. Today, Kris and John are completely healthy.
As a mother, Jane is keenly aware of the need to model healthy habits. "Children watch everything a parent does," she notes. "They watch how you treat people, how you relate as a couple and what you eat. If you keep your children away from junk for the first five years, you've steered them toward good eating habits for the rest of their lives."
Jane does her best to eat for health. "We grow a lot of our own organic vegetables," she says. "I try to stay away from anything fried or salty. I also eat lots of fruit and drink plenty of water."
A former dancer, Jane is dedicated to being physically active. "I like fast walking on or off the treadmill and I religiously do exercises to strengthen my back," she notes. "I do a bit of Pilates and light weight training. I also take dance classes."
Jane is also a believer in alternative medicine. "It's not instead of traditional medicine, but in combination," she says. "I still use antibiotics, but once when my twins were getting cold after cold, their doctor asked me to try the herbs echinacea and goldenseal, which are thought to stimulate the immune system. And all of a sudden the kids weren't getting sick as often."
Parenting, she says, has been her greatest challenge and her greatest joy. "It is the biggest job I have," she says. "Being a mom is both an awesome responsibility and an eternal gift."