Half Way!!

Best Moment this week?  It’s a toss up between my ultrasound and my husband feeling the baby move for the first time!  Both were great moments, so it’s a tie!

Prayer requests?  Please keep my family (especially my sister) in your prayers.  She shared some really upsetting news with me this week and it has shaken me quite a bit.

What scripture is speaking to you this week?  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.  Romans 12:2  My sister is not saved and she is VERY worldly.  I feel she is very lost right now, and I’m feeling the Lord leading me to talk with her about Him.  (Please pray for that too)!

Baby’s growth?  I’m guessing about a pound.  I asked the ultrasound tech and she said she couldn’t remember, but that since I had a doctor’s appointment right after, the doctor could tell me.  Well, the doctor couldn’t tell me because the ultrasound tech hadn’t put her report in yet.  I’m a little bummed, but all my babies were about a pound at this point.

Symptoms?  Well, I’m starting to waddle (is that a symptom?)!  And I’m starting to have a little trouble breathing.  It’s just hard to get in some good, deep breaths sometimes.  Something that I have experienced with several of my pregnancies.

Medical Stuff?  Everything looked great at my appointment this week.
 
Weight gain (or loss)?  I have gained 20 pounds.  That’s about normal for me; I usually gain about 40-50 pounds during my pregnancies.

What Made Me Cry This Week?  I’ve cried a lot this week.  Like I said above, my sister shared some very upsetting news with me.  I’m sorry I’m keeping you all in the dark, but I’m just not ready to share yet.

Sleep?  Never enough!

Maternity Clothes?  Yup

Gender?  We DIDN’T find out the gender at our ultrasound.  I’m so pleased that we didn’t find out; I didn’t even really have a desire to find out, so it was pretty easy to resist.  This will be the first time we have not found out the gender.  I’m excited about finding out who this little person is at the birth!

Movement?  YES!  YES!  YES!  It’s becoming much more frequent and predictable!  Daddy got to feel the baby move for the first time last night!!

What I miss…. Being able to cross my legs.  Well, I can still do it, it’s just more of an effort now.

What I’m looking forward to….  The kids being about to feel and see the baby moving.

Thoughts from the family….  My husband has been right about the gender of all our babies.  He takes his time and waits until he really get a good “feeling” about what the baby is before he makes his decision.  The other day he said “girl.”  We shall see!

Something I’m Excited About….   Moving into our new house!  We close on August 27th!

Discussion Question:  Since it’s that time of year, and many of us are homeschoolers getting reading to get back to the grind (if you haven’t already), I thought this question was fitting.  This week’s discussion question comes from One Happy Mommy at Not Taking it for Granted.  She asks, “How did the moms who are homeschooling deal with a birth and a new baby in the middle of their homeschooling year? Did they take a break? Or power through? What if you were on bedrest, how did you homeschool from bed?”

My Answer:  One of the big changes we have recently made in our homeschooling is that we have started to school year round.  This allows for breaks to be taken in the event of childbirth, sicknesses, or other big life events/changes.  So, yes, when baby comes we do take a break; and by schooling year round, I don’t have the added stress of feeling like I need to get school done.  I have never been on bed rest, but when I was pregnant with the twins, I was definitely more tired and needed to rest a lot.  While I was pregnant with the twins, I hired a mother’s helper to come a couple days a week, for about 4 hours each time.  She would watch the little kids while I would do school with the bigger kids (or sometimes she would watch them all and I would take a nap).  My mother-in-law and sister-in-law helped out on the other weekdays.  Sometimes I would even school the boys in my bed.  I brought up all the basic homeschool stuff we needed and it just stayed in my room for several months, and that’s where we did school.  Just stick to the basics, like math and reading.  Don’t worry about science, art, and all the extras.  Do a lot of reading and narrating.  Maybe switch your day around and homeschool in the evening when your husband is at home, or heck, have him do the schooling when he is home if he’s on board with that.  Most importantly, don’t stress about it.  If your kids miss anything, they will catch up.  This is such a short season and your life will be back to “normal” before you know it.  Hmmmm, maybe I should write a whole separate blog post on this!