Pregnancy Update
If you are a regular reader and would like access to my family pictures, feel free to email me and tell me about your family.
I just posted 70 family pictures! (May 16th to July 4th 2010). Even some pregnancy pictures.
http://parentingfreedom.com/2010/07/09/family-pictures-may-16th-july-6th-2010/
A very sweet reader wrote to me today, and I thought I would post some of my reply to her. Please pray for H as she is having a difficult pregnancy as well. I know I haven’t written back to a few other readers, but I expect to eventually. Sorry about that, S, B, and A. Some letters are easier to reply to then others.
I was just wondering yesterday how common it is to feel this bad during pregnancy. I guess it’s part of the curse. :-/ Pregnancy books list oodles of uncomfortable symptoms, so I suspect it’s very common to feel terrible. And when you meet fellow mothers, they sympathize when you’re visibly pregnant, especially in hot weather. This is definitely my worst pregnancy by far.
“He is not a daylight God, who can not know his children in darkness.” Charles Spurgeon
I like when the baby has hiccups, because the location reassures me that the HEAD IS DOWN! Hurray! (I will feel sorry for him/her after birth when he/she gets the hiccups though.) Breech is always a worry to me because I was breech, and our hospital has never heard of delivering breech babies naturally. Their c-section rate is the highest in the country. *gag*
Baby is kicking well. Some kicks make me catch my breath and say “Ouch”. I have a hard time getting enough air in. My lungs are getting crowded. I can only lie on my side (if I want to breathe). Walking waddling hurts. I look down at my belly and wonder how I’m going to get the baby out. ACK! I know I’ve done it before, but still… My doctor is on vacation until three days before my due date, and I am NOT happy with the replacements. I have always delivered before my due date. Please pray that I will handle everything well, and that the baby (and I) will be fine.
Everything I do takes such effort. I have not exercised or practiced squatting with this pregnancy at all – BUT, I have practiced deep relaxation. Self-hypno-style birthing worked great last time.
SMALL steps in nesting mean a lot to me these days. I would love to have the house clean and organized, but during this difficult pregnancy, I have been able to accept the disorder, do the bare minimum, and realize it is not the end of the world.
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42
As long as I get my nesting area ready, and the kids are fed (even junk) and happy (relatively), I am choosing to feel accomplished. 
I have been trying very hard to do some summer things with the kids, but I always pay for it the next day (and sometimes the following day as well).
Derek took me to a nearby city to finish up some nesting. Two La-Z-Boy chairs, a comforter set, and curtains have been ordered for our bedroom. We bought a new cabinet for baby stuff and a Danier leather diaper bag! YAY!! (I DON’T do nurseries, baby rooms, cribs, cradles, change tables, strollers, bottles, pacifiers, baby food, etc.) I DO designer slings, wraps, guard rail for king size bed, etc. Baby #5 and Attachment Parenting still rocks!
I bought our first DIAPERS for this baby!!!!! YAY!! Last year, I cried every time I went by the diaper aisle. I also bought CONTAINERS for baby stuff. Fun!
With the hope of preventing continued insults and negative, disapproving looks, I stopped answering two questions: “What is your due date?” and “How many is this?” My honest reply to “How many is this?” is: “Well, I wanted ten, compromised with my husband for six, but one died last year, so this will only make five.” I suspect the mouths will still drop, but with a little less disgust.
As per each of my pregnancies, there is an ongoing contest between my belly and my butt. It is usually a tie, but thankfully both lose in the end when I give birth. (At least I’d like to think so.) Anything else you’d like to know? 
I don’t do ultrasounds, but I have five reasons why I think the baby is a girl. I’ll share if I’m right. Heh. I will be happy either way.
I’d love to hear from you! I sometimes wonder if anyone besides my mother and a few others still visit my blog.
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Oh, Carol, I feel your pain today! Not literally, of course, but how well I remember my 5th pregnancy and how hard it was! We had the worst drought that our area had experienced in decades and everything just dried up in the intense heat. We didn’t have air-conditioning except for a window unit in one room and that is where I spent every single day, all day long! At night I went up to bed and slept with the fan blowing full blast on me and I draped wet bath towels over my huge belly just to survive!
Besides the heat, I really struggled with feeling like there was absolutely no muscle support whatsoever! And then, of course, there were the disapproving looks from people who thought I was crazy to be having baby #5 AND the fact that Mollie was 13 and then once Will was born, about half of people I saw who didn’t know us thought certainly he had to be HER baby!
The good news is that I did survive it! I am praying that your precious little one will enter the world on time or a little early and safely for both of you!
Love you,
Karen
Hey, I check in.
I’m in the last trimester with #9. Getting miserable, particularly in this heat. I understand.
Hang in there – not long!
So happy to hear the update! *huuugs*
I love you!
I’ve had two summer pregnancies.
Both were girls.
I hear you about the heat. It’s been 30+ here, with humidex making it feel like 40+. O.o If I were pregnant right now, I don’t think I’d be able to leave the house… and I’d have to park in front of the a/c!
Very happy to see you and your family at Church on Sunday. Also happy to know that
you are feeling better. I continue to keep you in my prayers for the remainder of your pregancy and for the safe arrival of your precious child…