3.26.2015

A mother's daybook

Reading - Watership Down. It's the only book that survived the first trimester. Everything else got dropped but I was reading this at such a slow pace with the  ao forum group and their thoughts were so great, I managed to keep up. I hit my library's renewal limit and just turned it in but I'll check it out again and keep going. I'm also very close to finishing the first (the hard?) half of Norms and Nobility so I'll love to finish that soon but not sure when it will happen. It's still really hard for me to read much other than magazines when I don't feel good. But I also feel my brain atrophying from all the tv so I'd really like to get back to reading.

Watching - So much tv. I've spent so much time in bed my body is in pain. Literally, my hips and neck are killing me but at my worst, I'd move to the couch to try and sit in a different position and end up slumped back because I didn't have the energy to hold myself up. But now I'm getting up and around in the mornings and watching tv in the afternoon. A couple k-dramas, old episodes of bones and gilmore girls and getting caught up on call the midwife.

Eating - A limited number of foods. But I am drinking water again! Which is good because last week I would have guessed I was 60% red gatorade as that was literally the only beverage I would tolerate. Water is so refreshing for a change!

Thinking - This is why people like ultrasounds! We only did one early one with Lucy where all you could see was a blob with a heartbeat. I was very glad to see that heartbeat but still. None with Jonah. But since I'm working with a doctor for now because of my hyperemesis and he requested one, we went ahead and did one last weekend. And even at 11 weeks, my baby is so adorable! It was a huge mental pick-me up because hg really breaks you down. I'm generally a positive person. I showed the kids the printouts and they were so excited. The fought over who got to keep it until I found a frame and put in one top of their dresser where they could both see "their baby" from their beds. Oh the cuteness!

Planning and Preparing - Kindergarten. How did we get here so fast? Our big local homeschool conference was last weekend too and while I was originally really excited to go, I made peace with the fact that my body couldn't handle it. And we are planning a pretty light year academically so I didn't really NEED to go. I'm not doing a curriculum but I've stared ordering some books as I find them at good prices (used, mostly from abe books) and I think we'll have a lot of fun.

Doing - Not a lot. But two weeks ago I did manage to get out of the house to go listen to Leila Lawler. She is one of my absolute favorite bloggers over at Like Mother Like Daughter. She had a bigger event that morning that I really wanted to go but it was going to be to early and too long for me which almost had me in tears but then I found out she was also coming to the catholic church 5 miles down the road to give a lenten supper talk. Praise the Lord! It was a really small event, maybe 20 people? And her talk did not disappoint. I had to listen to the second half with my head on the table but everyone else there was catholic so once they found out I was pregnant, they were super nice about it all. And when someone's testimony and talk includes 1) fairy tales 2) quotes from C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton and 3) inspiration for mothers and fathers about their crucial role is passing down their faith to their children, how could I not be inspired? God must have known it was just what I needed.




3.20.2015

So yeah, there's a baby coming

Sorry to leave you all hanging here. I really meant to follow up that last post with some info right away but it just didn't happen. For those of you who've been around here, the pregnancy might not have come as a shock because I always tend to drop off the face of the earth during the first trimester as hyperemesis kicks my bum and this has been no exception. And it's not just that I'm tired and sick and find it hard to write, but I don't want to write when I'm sick because I hate for the wonderful news of a new baby to be overshadowed by my writing about being sick. At least online. It tends to be that way in real life though, which really stinks.

How I want to announce my pregnancy:
Me: We're pregnant! Other person: Congratulations!
Me: Thanks, we're really excited!

How it actually happens:
Other person: Are you okay? Do you need something? (Implied - Like to take your germs and go home?)Me: Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just pregnant.
Other person: Oh, congratulationsMe: Yep, just 5 more weeks of this.
I AM excited. Really excited. We've been praying for this baby for a long time and because of my hormone issues, we weren't sure it was in God's plans for us. So inside, very very happy! Outside, not so much.

But telling people does have one big advantage - help. Our friends and family have really gone above and beyond with helping us get through this and I really don't know how we would have done it without them. The day I found out, my friend was willing to change her plans to sit in the parking lot between our two cars to watch the kids while I got some blood tests done and then come back over to my house that afternoon to give me a shot in the butt and all she got out of it was the privilege of knowing I was pregnant even before Craig.* That's a true friend! Craig's mom flew down on a moments notice to help for a week, my family is coming in today to help for a week, and friends have dropped by during the day to help me feed the kid's lunch and load my dishwasher or start laundry or bring food. Even our 7 year old neighbor is helping by letting our chickens out of their coop each morning. We have truly been blessed these past 5 weeks.

And I'll be 11 weeks tomorrow so I really should start to feel better soon and hopefully even be able to stop taking any medication so I can start to feel like myself again. Tomorrow is an ultrasound and while we don't normally do those, since I'm seeing an ob-gyn for the hyperemesis anyway, I've decided to do one this time for the mental pick-me up that I think hearing a little heartbeart will provide. We've been busy interviewing midwives since the one that delivered Lucy and Jonah has retired and I think we've found a good fit. So the fun part is coming!

*I my defense, I wasn't keeping it from him. He was gone on a business trip and in a building where he couldn't have his cell phone. I think he had about 12 missed calls by the time I finally got a hold of him later that day!