Pregnancy

My mother has informed me (all the way from Mongolia), that I am "not a happy pregnant woman!" In fact she has informed others of this as well. Thanks mom! So, I feel obligated to defend myself just a little bit.

First of all, I am SO grateful to be pregnant. It means I get to be a mother (again.) I am not one that can just get pregnant. WIth Gracie it took us a long time, a lot of Dr. appointments, a lot of disappointment, a lot of tears, and ultimately fertility drugs. But, she was worth it. I love my little Gracie more than I could ever have imagined, and I love being a Mommy.
Luckily I didn't have to go on fertility drugs with this baby (though right before I found out I was pregnant I had an appointment scheduled so I could go back on them), because we had been trying for a bit, and I wasn't sure my body was working right by itself. So when I found out I was pregnant again, I was so excited. So was Bryant!

This pregnancy has been difficult for me in many ways.

Physically it has been a huge trial. I started getting sick around 6 or 7 weeks, but the sickness got worse and worse. It was almost debilitating some days. I tried 3 different medications to help with the nausea and vomiting until we found one that worked. Not to mention I still had a toddler to take care of during the day. As soon as I started getting over the pregnancy sickness at about 4 1/2 months along (and that's a long time to be sick!), I couldn't keep myself healthy. If it wasn't a little cold or sore throat that I got, it was something much more serious like Shingles (as I posted a few months ago) or a horrible ear infection, or the stomach flu, etc. It has been exhausting. In the middle of all of this mind you, I had to pack up our apartment and prepare to move. And besides two good friends in Spokane who watch Gracie for me, I packed our apartment all by myself. I had no help from anybody (until the week before we moved and Bryant was able to help quite a bit). Still 7 months pregnant, being sick, having a two year old and moving with no help was really really hard.

Emotionally this pregnancy has been hard as well. We have known since Bryant's 2 quarter of school that we would be coming to Eugene for his first internship. However, I wasn't quite prepared for my Mom and Dad to get a mission call to Mongolia and leave just two months before the baby was due. That has been hard for me to deal with. Every girl needs her Mother....especially when she's having a baby! Coming to terms with their mission call was really hard for me. I feel selfish now, but I really struggled with knowing my parents wouldn't see this baby (or be around to help me) for the first 16 months of her life, and that they would be so very far away.

It has also been stressful moving to a new place, hoping to find a good Doctor willing to deliver this baby so far along, and hoping to get insurance as well. Luckily this ward has been so friendly and helpful, and I everything has worked out--or at least it will be all worked out Friday (Oct 1) when I can get insurance here!

I am now at the stage where I am just uncomfortable all the time. My back aches from carrying this baby all out front. My body is hyper sensitive to everything it seems, I can't sleep very well, I have to go to the bathroom ALL the time, I keep having Braxton Hicks Contractions that are really quite painful (I never had any braxton hicks with Gracie), and I'm just plain exhausted. Between Gracie waking up two or three time a night, having to go to the bathroom two or three times a night, and then just waking up because my hips hurt or something, I'm lucky to get 4 hours of sleep a night.

So, I probably complain lately more than I should (more like whine actually), but that does not mean I am not super excited to meet this new little bundle of joy, or that I'm not so grateful for the opportunity to have another child. It is a miraculous experience to bring another human being into this world!

I can't promise I won't completely stop complaining, but I have less than 3 weeks left, so I think we will all survive!