back from vacation

Thank you.  I have gotten so much encouragement and prayer support, some from people who have never met me, from readers here.  I am sorry I have not posted in such a long time.

I just got back from our week-long vacation.  We decided we needed a real vacation, so we left our computers at home.  We brought our phones, but they are not smart phones, so no internet, and we did not carry them with us everywhere.  Cell phones can be great; you are never alone when you have a cell phone.  Miss Manners recently wrote an article that referred to them as leashes, and that is how I often think of them.  Since everyone has instant access to everyone all the time, some feel that they are entitled to immediate response from anyone.  We were comfortably disconnected.

Now returning home we are re-immersed into our busy, ever-connected life.

I spent my morning on the phone with various scheduling departments and doctor's offices.  Children's hospital made that particular chore easier.  We have to get another MRI, another Ultrasound, and another echo.  We also have to meet with the neurosurgury team and the auto-laryngology team and, of course, the genetic counselor.  I only had to talk to one person to set up all those appointments.  Our genetic counselor, ever making my life simpler, gave me a direct line to someone who could coordinate all the appointments with all the different doctors and departments.  That is no simple chore, and we are very grateful.  I am grateful that I did not have to talk to six different people to make my six different appointments.  I am grateful that I only have to go all the way to the hospital once, since she made the appointments for the same day.

Then I began the more difficult chore of finding a new OB.  I know, it is getting late.  It is getting more and more urgent that I find someone.  It is hard!

My pregnancy is getting harder too.

Little Sarah seems to think that she can get out only she can find the right place and push hard enough.  I have been trying to explain that no matter how hard she pushes her head into my rib cage, she will not get out that way.  Anyone who has ever raised a child can tell you though, children do not always listen.

I look and feel as though I am further along than I am.  Everyone who asks is surprised to find that I am not due until September.  They try to hide their surprise, presumably thinking I will be offended that they have noticed my size.  I can assure you, wearing these proportions, I am more aware than you of my size.  I am not offended in the least if you should happen to notice that, for instance, you may not have arms long enough to give me a hug.  I am, however, slightly amused when you try to hide your awareness.

I am tired.  Really, really tired.  I do not remember being this tired when I carried Lily.  Maybe my memory is colored by the joy if meeting her.  Maybe it was easier.  I know I was smaller.  (About half my maternity clothes don't fit!)  Pregnancies are unique, and this one makes me tired.

We spent half of our vacation in a family house, halfway up a mountain in New Hampshire.  I had hoped that I could climb a bit.  Not serious climbing, mind you.  I had no intention of doing any rocks or cliffs.  I had no intention of making it to the top of anything.  But some easy mountain hiking sounded wonderful.  The house has a meadow cleared in the back, so that we can enjoy a spectacular view of another mountain.  On the first day I was there, I walked, slowly, with my daughter stopping to pick wildflowers and wild strawberries about every three steps, to the end of the meadow and back to the house.  I barely made it.

It is not that I was tired, though I was.  What mother is not used to continuing to plod ahead, though she is tired?  I was in pain.  My abdominal muscles hurt.  All of them.  All around my round belly, I was in pain.  I began to wonder if I should call for help.  I would have, if I had to go much further.  I did not know whether this was my muscles protesting against carrying my ever-growing belly, or whether it was contractions.  I made it to the house and I laid down for the rest of the day.  The pain went away and did not return.  I spent most of the rest of my vacation smiling at the same view from the adirondack chairs just outside the house.

So now, home again, I am disinclined to do much walking. I understand that someone makes garments that support pregnant bellies?  I am not sure how such a thing would work, but I am going to look into it.  It would be nice to take some of the weight off my abdominal muscles.

The best part of our vacation was the company.  We spent time with family.  We spent days with cousins I have not seen in years, along with their spouses and children that I had not met.  We spent days with my parents and siblings.  We spent days with my Godmother, and her family.  It was just wonderful.  I have been blessed with an amazing family.  Seeing so many people from both sides of my family in such a relatively short time was an eye-opening delight.  What a joy to have such different people, supportive in different ways, surrounding me and my little family!  What a pleasure to glean wisdom, amusement, and advice from such varying sources!