Hey, Guess What?!

The garden isn't the only thing I am growing this year... I'm also growing a human! Ta da! Ah, the miracle that God bestowed upon us women. While I do generally feel this is true I won't lie, pregnancy and I are not the best of friends. Thankfully I have been blessed with another mild first trimester but with more nausea than last time. Nothing a few little tricks couldn't handle and no puking thank goodness! So other than that and needing to pee ALL THE TIME it's been smooth sailing. But, the struggle will come when I get bigger!

This time around I find myself a bit more anxious about adding a new little one. While I trust God's judgement, I was/am not 100% ready for this baby quite yet. God spoke to both my heart and Montana Man's and very clearly told us it was time to let this fall on his timing. For months he spoke and for months I baulked. Finally Montana Man asked me to obey both God and him and I took the leap of faith and I did it afraid. Little did I know God's timing would be the first month without prevention. While I am excited and was happy to find out I still have reservations. Mainly how we will adjust to being a family of five and getting the house to a liveable state by August, a month before I am due. And, how I will survive the heat of summer! I always said I never wanted to be largely pregnant in the summer, stinks to be me! Hahaha. So, anyway, my adjustments will probably come up again before and after the birth.


Hold on... gotta pee.



Ok, where was I? Oh, yes. So this time around I am wiser a thing or two. Nutrition is a big priority to me and this time I know what real pregnancy nutrition looks like. This played a big factor in how I felt and my health last time and I learned my lesson later than I should have. I spent my third trimester trying to keep pre-eclampsia at bay and while I did successfully my body took a hit. Second, I had polyhydramnios (or too much amniotic fluid). I believe this contributed to my postpartum hemorrhage and possibly my prolonged labor. My poor uterus had enough to carry around what with nine pounds of baby and another two of placenta! Too much fluid made it very stretched and stressed. Now, other than general good health I do not know how to prevent this again so I will just pray.

Another thing that is different this time is that through a friendship I have been receiving myo-facial release therapy. I find this both invigorating and balancing and am excited to see it's positive effects on this pregnancy! I am so thankful for my friend and only wish I could bless her as much as she blesses me.

Preparations will also be a big item on my list. Last time I foolishly thought I didn't need to prepare many meals or arrange for help because people would just offer to bless us! After all we were part of a great church body and missional community and I grew up watching their generosity toward new moms. I was in for a shock that still stings a bit. While I was living in my parents home and did have some help... I had a husband that worked an hour away and was gone a lot, and my mom and dad both had demanding jobs. I'm not sure if people just assumed we were fine because of our living arrangements but we got only one meal from someone other than close family (for a grand total of 3 meals). I was faced with a slow recovery from severe anemia and I just felt like a burden to my family. It frustrated me I was unable to cook or clean for weeks because walking from my room to the bathroom exhausted me. I did not feel this way at first but as the birth high hormones wore off I felt, well, gypped. While it may be petty to have the attitude to not trust that others will be more generous this time, I will not put myself or my family through that kind of postpartum period again. So, this time I plan to make a month of meals and order my groceries online so I can either pick them up quickly or have someone grab them for me. I will also ask instead of a baby shower (cause I really don't need one this time!) if anyone would like to either come help me with small household things like folding laundry or even just hanging with my kids while I take a shower longer than three minutes. I will be getting paper plates and using the crock pot! Montana Man will be able to be home for the first week at least but then during the week it will just be me. While I feel confident I will adjust fine and get a new routine down quickly, I would just rather be able to take a month or more off from meal stress and extend that peace of mind to my family (especially my mom!).

I will touch on other goals as this pregnancy progresses (like making more diapers), but for now I am enjoying the last few weeks of my clothes still fitting.

Til next time.