Family Alive

So yes, I haven’t blogged much this past week. Mainly because everytime I sit down to write a blog, the only thing I feel like writing about is how miserable I’ve been this week. Ag. I’m feeling a bit better this Saturday morning, though, thanks so some pain medicine I’m taking before bed. The pain in my back has been so bad lately its really limiting the number of outings I’m about to do with Analise on my own. That’s frustrating. I’m almost 33 weeks along, thankfully, and up to this point, things have honestly gone by pretty quickly. Being pregnant with a little one is so much different that the first time around! When I was pregnant with Analise, I had much more time to put my feet up when they were swelling, rest my aching back by sitting, and I avoided bending over unless it was really necessary (this is where husbands are so invaluable at the end of pregnancy – picking up all the stuff we can’t get to!). This time around, though, it’s funny how much more movement is required. For example, after lunch, I’ve got the kitchen all cleaned up, Analise is cleaned up and playing, and I’ll carefully sit myself down (bc it’s hard to find a non-painful position to sit in) with a sigh of relief. Within 5 minutes, Analise needs help finding her water or its time for a diaper change. We’re making it, though. I’m having lots of contractions when I move around, too, so that makes things even more comfortable. Not to worry – they’re not “real”. We’ve got anywhere from 5-7 weeks left, which doesn’t sound like too long, so I’ll try to keep reminding myself of that fact! (and yes, Analise was 12 days late… but I have convinced myself that maybe I could “pray” this little one into being 12 days early:))

Oh! We’re telling people the name we’ve chosen… with a little encouragement, maybe I’ll post it later today!

The other thing very different about this pregnancy is that we’re seeing a regular OB instead of a midwife, like we had in California. Our whole pregnancy/labor/delivery experience in California (at Sutter Davis Hospital) was top notch, and we really loved the care we received from the midwives. Midwives are trained to approach prenancy from the perspective that it’s a normal process in a woman’s life. They were very “hands off” (though that was hard in the middle of my pregnancy when I really needed some “hands on” care… but it did get remedied). The midwife was with me for the whole delivery process, and she guided us through a long, complicated labor & delivery – that we didn’t even really know was that complicated until it was all over! Sutter Davis has a small birthing center, and it felt so different from the hospital we’ll be delivering at here in Alabama. We like our OB, and he came very highly recommended. But from the very beginning, we’ve noticed that the care is definitely approached from a medical perspective. “Any problems? No? Ok, we’ll see you in 4/2/1 week(s).” (usually the total conversation of our 5 minute visit.) This is just the standard of care here, though, as compared to California. Anyway, all this is just our perspective. I’m sure we’ll have very good care here, though it may be different. Since we’ve been through the process before, we know a bit more about how to be our own advocates and communicating how we’d like things done.

I’ve got some pictures from our Clearwater Easter Egg Hunt last weekend, but I’ll save them for posting later, as we’ve got another hunt this morning. None of these compare to THE HUNT in Indiana, when my family gathers in LaPorte for Easter. We’ll be missing that today, sadly, but maybe next year!

I just made some pretty blueberry pancakes with star molds that I got in a free offer from Hungry Jack. Topped them with strawberries… YUM! Off to shower and get ready for the egg hunt and our family Easter dinner tonight. After church tomorrow, Brian’s stealing me away for the night to a bed & breakfast as a belated birthday treat. Woohoo! I can’t wait!