Pregnancy Brain Strikes!

I'm such a bad blogger. I vowed at the start of the year to blog more regularly and already I'm failing miserably. My head is turning into mush. I used to think that pregnant women exaggerated about loosing their minds, but now I know its turn because it is happening to me. The desk in our bedroom has stacks of paper with sticky notes attached to remind me what I need to do with them and when. My wonderful husband has to constantly remind me to complete tasks, or I don't get them done. If I don't do it right away then I forget and it doesn't get done. Yet I have an amazing ability to remember everything I've been learning about childbirth and caring for a new born. My pregnancy brain is filtering out EVERYTHING that isn't baby related.

It is hard to believe that we've made it to six months already. In many ways this pregnancy is going by faster than I though it would. I feel like we have too much still to do and buy before we'll be ready for this Little One to make their first appearance. We have a crib (thanks Mum & Dad!), cloth diapers (nappies) with snappis and covers and a couple of newborn sized onesies. It is a start, but we have so much left to get. We must have the car seat fitted in time for our home visit from the midwife at 36 weeks. We also need to have everything for the birth kit by then too. I've got most of the birth kit together, just a 4oz bottle of olive oil to go.

We are now in the process of working with the school and church to find new homes for our Bahamian students. They have spring break the week after Easter, which will also be a week before our deadline for them to move, so it would be ideal if they could move to their new families during spring break week. That way they could get resettled without having to be in class everyday. We spoke to the boys last week to let them know what would be happening and that our decision was purely because of the baby coming. We continue to pray that the right family for each boy will come forward to take them on, not just for the rest of the school year, but also for the next 2 & 3 years until they graduate high school.

I have been keen to get started nesting, but we can't get the nursery ready until we have moved the boys. It will also be nice to get the guest room ready for my parents arrival in May. It will be so good to have my Mum around for a few weeks around the time of the baby's birth.

At church we are up to six babies being due this coming summer. There is another mom due in May, two more in June and another two in July. There are also several ladies that have so far been unable to conceive and it is my prayer that these ladies will be able to join in our baby boom for 2010. It will be great to have so many other babies around our Little One, especially in a church that has so many retired people. It is like a new lease of life being breathed through the whole place as all the women show excitement at the prospect of so many babies.

With only 15 more weeks to go, I know this pregnancy is going to be over before I realise. I am trying to enjoy each moment, and this second trimester has certainly been very enjoyable. It is closing with my belly continuing to grow and my movement becoming slower and clumsier. I know that is only going to continue as the weeks go by, so enjoying every moment is definitely a must for me.

What a week, and its only Wednesday!

I have intended to be more diligent with blogging. I really have meant to keep it more up-to-date. Yet life has a habit of getting in the way. Like it has this week.

Monday was Martin Luther King Jr Day, so the school was closed. The boys still had baseball practice in the morning, at 8am to be precise. They weren't too happy to be up that early, so dragged their feet, and we finally got there only 15 minutes late. I then came home to try and get some laundry and chores done before picking them up. Two hours later and I'm back in the car to go and pick them up. On the way back home the transmission went on the car.

Now our car was 17 years old. We bought it only because we had the boys. It did run well, and had a great engine. Yet in October, less than 2 months after purchasing it we had to replace the radiator. It is part of the price for buying such an old car. However I was also a new driver. I only sat my driving test in September, and having such an old car helped me to get used to driving without getting stressed. That first car for me was just like getting a car for a 16 year old.

Then on Monday the transmission went on the car. We managed to get it to a mechanic we trust, but Rob lost several hours of work to come and help me. We kind of already knew it wasn't going to be a cheap repair, but we hoped and prayed. Then we spent Monday evening researching for the possibility of replacing our car. We both agreed that there would be no more old car purchases. We wanted a car that would have good gas mileage, and not be too expensive to purchase. Because we wanted high gas mileage we knew it would be a smaller car, and after some comparisons, we decided we liked the stats on the Nissan Versa the best. It comes as a sedan or a hatchback. The hatchback looked like a better fit for us, with a little more space in the trunk.

Then yesterday we got the call from the mechanic to say that the whole transmission would need to be replaced. This would cost us more than we originally paid for the car back in September. We knew that we also needed to put new tires on soon, and the car had so many electrical problems that could never be fixed. So we decided to not fix the car, and just walk away from the potential money pit. However this still left us needing another car to replace it.

Then yesterday afternoon, as I was finishing our ironing I got a surprise. My darling husband had come home from work early. He has a very detail oriented job, and was finding it difficult to concentrate with the car issue on his mind. We talked it over and had a look online for a new or nearly new car. Just a few minutes into our search we saw our car. It was a 2009 Nissan Versa Hatchback, at a dealer only 40 miles away. It had 21,000 miles on the clock, so is still under manufacturers warranty. Rob called to see if it was still available, and then we got in the truck to drive down and have a look. Rob took it for a test drive and really liked how it handled.

Three hours later we left the dealership with a new car. I got to drive it home, in the dark, in rush hour, in South Florida. It was the furthest away I've ever driven, and it was in a new car I was unfamiliar with. By the time I got home in one piece I was quite proud of myself. Airport runs to Orlando won't seem so bad now.

We've got a Tiger in there.

Yesterday was my scheduled prenatal appointment with our midwife. At 20 weeks and 4 days it was time to try and listen to the baby's heart beat with the fetoscope. Just before we checked on the heart beat I was asked if I had been feeling any movement. Our midwife was surprised when I said that not only was I feeling lots of movement, but that Rob has been able to feel the baby several times too. Then she listened for the heart beat. It was a good strong heart beat that she found straight away. Then she gave the fetoscope to her assistant to listen with. The assistant made one vital mistake. She pressed down a bit too hard for the baby's liking. At the exact moment she put her ear down to listen the baby gave a big strong kick, right where the fetoscope was pressed down. The poor lady jumped at the unexpected loud noise that resulted from the kick. They both then joked that we have a bit of a tiger in there. I did then mention that the baby doesn't like being prodded. I can always be guaranteed a few kicks or punches if I prod my belly, or bend over a bit too much.

I have also discovered the delight of afternoon naps. I had naps Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I haven't napped in the afternoon since I was a toddler, but I am understanding why they are so universal. Having to get up multiple times during the night, and getting up for breakfast between 4am and 5am most mornings, I was beginning to get a little sleep deprived. Now adding in a nap is allowing me to make through until bed time without loosing my mind. It makes me glad that I have the wonderful privilege of staying at home. I don't know how I would cope if I was trying to work full-time outside the home while adjusting to this new sleep pattern.

It is wonderful to know that this is all part of God's wonderful design. At just over the half way point of this pregnancy my sleep routine is already being prepared for after the birth. I'll be used to sleeping in small increments and will be used to taking naps during the day to top up the amount of sleep I get. I am so in awe of the wonderful way that everything is designed to work perfectly and in an orderly way, so that it doesn't come as a sudden shock to my system when the baby is safely here.

Sleep, food and turning into my husband!

For a couple of weeks now my darling husband and I have been commenting on how this baby seems to be a clone of him. I jokingly refer to the baby as "His" child rather than "Our" child.

For the last four weeks I've been getting up at about 4am every morning. This morning I woke up at 2:14am and never managed to get back to sleep. After visiting the bathroom I become very hungry, too hungry to ignore. Thus I have to get up and eat. Then it is time for the baby to start their morning exercise routine. My beloved is enjoying the change to my morning routine. He has always been a morning person, and he gladly gets up with me and cooks me breakfast.

But breakfast is only the start of what has become an eating frenzy. No matter what I eat it never seems to be enough. Every hour or so I get so ravenous it feels like I haven't eaten in a week. All day long I go from one snack to the next. I have always been a three square meals a day kind of girl. While my darling is a grazer. He actually thinks it is amusing that I've started eating like he does every day.

And so this baby is turning me into my husband. I wake up in the middle of the night. I eat all day long. I am ready to go to bed as soon as the sun sets. So my beloved gets amused and I have a new routine I need to get used to.

Unplanned break is over.

I didn't plan to take a break from blogging, but it has done me some good. The last month of school before the Christmas break was a very busy time for our entire household. Rob was working crazy hours at work trying to meet all the pre-Christmas deadlines. The boys had a week of exams at the end of the semester. There seemed to be activities at Church almost every day. I had a few health issues that got me a little too stressed, and had a major shift in my sleep pattern.

Then the boys went home to the Bahamas for the Christmas break, and Rob had almost two weeks of vacation from work. We both spent the time resting, hanging out together, visiting family and friends and generally enjoying each others company. We wanted to enjoy our last Christmas as just the two of us. It was a refreshing break from the frantic pace of the last four months.

At almost the half way point in our pregnancy we finally started planning for the baby's arrival. We got some Target gift cards as Christmas presents, so we did our first baby shopping. We bought 4 dozen cloth prefold diapers and a couple of newborn sized gender neutral outfits. A couple of days later we made our first venture into BabiesRUs, where we looked for a crib and purchased some waterproof covers for the diapers. I'm feeling a lot more calm now that we have a few of the basics.

The pregnancy is going well. About three weeks ago I had some very light spotting. I did get a little scared, but it was just a few hours before my scheduled prenatal appointment. Rob came home from work to come to the appointment with me. Just having him there helped to calm me. Our wonderful midwife was very reassuring. She checked the heartbeat, which was good and strong. The spotting stopped the following day, and then a couple of days later the midwife called to say my labs had come back that I had a UTI. She gave me a choice of going to a doctor for antibiotics or trying cranberry pills. I discussed it with Rob and we agreed to try the cranberry first. I'll find out after my next prenatal appointment in a week if the infection has gone, meanwhile I'll keep taking the cranberries and lots of fluids.

I've been feeling the baby move since half way through the 16th week. At first it was just internal twitching, but after two weeks it became much more distinct movement. At that point Rob was able to occasionally feel the movements. The baby has also developed their father's sleep pattern. I am now waking up about 4am every morning with a very active baby and the strongest hunger pangs I've ever felt. Rob is enjoying having company again for breakfast. As a natural night-owl I didn't enjoy this change of routine much the first week. Three weeks later I'm finding that my day is much more productive when the chores are done immediately after Rob leaves for work. This morning the weekly laundry was already half done by the time I'd done the morning school run.

I've also been enjoying more stable emotions the last few weeks. The worst of the pregnancy hormone roller coaster seems to be behind me, and I'm back to my normal positive self. With this in mind I have made the decision that 2010 is going to be a less stressful, more positive year than 2009. The success of this is going to be entirely my choice in how I respond to what happens around me. I'll also be trying to blog more regularly. The plan for now will be three times a week, probably Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, as those are my at home days.

So that's the latest here and I look forward to sharing 2010 with you all.

A Good Day

Yesterday was a good day.

In the morning I had an appointment with my midwife. My blood tests had shown that I'm currently no longer anemic. I've only gained 1lb in the last four weeks. My fundal height is measuring right to date. Then my midwife checked for the heart beat. I think she was almost as nervous as I was after no heart beat with the last baby. After a few minutes she finally found the baby, and the heart beat was averaging at 160 beats per minute. It was a comforting sound to know this baby is thriving. We won't check again until the midwife can use the fetoscope at the 20 week mark. I also found out that our midwife has sold her home and is moving TO OUR STREET. She will only be about 10 houses down from us. Next month I'll be able to walk to my appointment.

Then as soon as I got home my darling husband took me up to Titusville to watch the Space Shuttle launch. It was definitely worth the two hour drive each way. We've been trying to get up close for a launch since I got here last year, and we finally made it. With only a few more launches left i was beginning to think it might never happen. I feel so blessed to have been able to have the launch experience to share with my darling hubby.

Tomorrow will see us enter the second trimester of the pregnancy, and I'm looking forward to some of the nausea and exhaustion fading. It will also be great to see the baby bump beginning to grow. I know the next six months will go by much faster than I want it too once it is over.

We have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, it will be a real celebration even if we are on our own.

Life

While I have been continuing to read other people's blogs recently I haven't been writing. We are coming to the end of the boys' first baseball season. Their last scheduled game is tomorrow night. We've also had our annual outreach drama at church a few weeks ago, where I picked up a head cold. I've been continuing to struggle with pregnancy nausea and exhaustion on top of everything else.

This time last year, we were busy painting the inside of our house, getting ready for my parents' first visit to our home, and learning how to host my first Thanksgiving (having never celebrated Thanksgiving before.)It was a busy time of year, and this year is turning out to be just as busy with two teenagers in our home.

The more my darling husband and I learn on this path of host parenting, the more we realise that our convictions about how we will raise our own children are both important and vital. We are living in a society that has such low expectations for children that the only option they have is to keep them constantly busy. There is no time in the schedule for family, and certainly no time in the schedule for the Lord.

Our boys are here at the church school because they can play sports. Both boys play baseball and basketball, and are very good at both sports. This means that on top of eight hours a day at school there is also practice and games after school or in the evenings. Then they are also expected to be at youth group activities, school/youth group fundraisers and still have enough time to complete homework and study for tests. There is no time to just be. When Rob or I comment on how busy the boys are we get told it is normal and that we need to get used to it because "that's just how it is for all the young people."

I am genuinely having a difficult time getting used to this lifestyle. It is not how we will choose to raise our own children. Nobody else questions it, so it must be right. Yet I am by nature someone who asks "why?" I want to know the purpose of what we are doing. I even question if we made the right decision hosting these boys. I have grown to love them, but neither Rob nor I are team players. We don't just follow along in blind acceptance, so we end up rocking the boat a bit too much. I do not like that the boys never get enough rest. I do not like that there is little time for personal or family devotions because of their schedule. I do not like busy for the sake of busy.

Life has a greater purpose than staying busy. Every day has a greater purpose than just filling time until bedtime. I want every day to count towards a greater goal. Each day that my baby grows in my womb there is purpose. Growing closer to the Lord in prayer, and my husband in trials is so much better than just being busy. I want each day to count, and I want that for the boys too. Life is about more than grade point averages and winning ball games. Each day is a precious gift to be cherished and used for the Lord's glory.

Now to just find the time to share that with the boys.