It's Been Awhile

Not updating the blog, to me, is like not spending time with a very special friend, or spouse, for that matter. I think about it everyday. However, between sicknesses and lack of sleep, my free writing time has been devoted to my own sweet necessary napping.

It’s been an eventful few weeks. For anyone who doesn’t know, Jeff and I have been prayerfully considering/working our way through our denomination’s international mission board process. We really feel called to serve God with our lives, and seminary education, in Spain. We have been plodding along in this extensive process for not quite a year, and two weeks ago we had a very in-depth interview, and as a result, we were invited (‘cause that’s the way it works) to a candidate conference next month. Praise the Lord! That doesn’t mean we’re in…still a few more opportunities for them to say “no” but this is a very good sign.

We got our call right in the middle of a little scare. I was at the doctor for my 24-week checkup. The midwife and I were catching up. It seems we recognized each other, and had gone to high school together, though we weren’t friends. We must be now. Anyway, she was having trouble finding the baby’s heartbeat with the Doppler machine. I knew the baby was fine because he (has to be) was kicking the junk out of my belly the whole time she was looking for the heartbeat. Since she couldn’t find it, she called the on-call doctor, who had her hook up the ultrasound equipment (by this time it was way after hours and the technician had already gone home). Between she, another lady, a doctor they pulled in, and the technician on the phone, they got the machine up and running. They could see the heart beating just fine, but couldn’t hear it…they were having trouble locating the audio switch on that very complicated-many-buttoned machine. I wasn’t worried until they started patting my legs telling me not to worry. I then thought “well, good night. SHOULD I be worried?”

They finally got the audio on (6:00 by now), and heard the heartbeat, but the doctor they had drug in wasn’t sure if it had dipped or had stayed constant. That was enough for them to send me next door to the hospital for a 4-hour monitoring session. It was weird to march myself up to labor and delivery and check myself in. I felt like I should have been in pain, mental anguish, or something!! They still had me strip down to my nothingness and put on those loosey-goosey gowns that cover nothing and keep even less warm. I hopped in bed, got plugged into the machines, and called Jeff to give him the update. I had originally told him not to bother coming up to the hospital because I was only going to be there for a few hours, and I’d be home shortly.

I actually do prefer caution as opposed to carelessness, but I was a tad bit irritated by the whole ordeal because had several ladies not gone into labor while I was at the doctor’s office, my appointment would have been on time, the technician would have still been there, checked me out, and I could have gone home as expected. That was not to be. I wound up even having to spend the night in the hospital and let me tell you what a miserable experience that was.

I was hooked up to a device that monitored my heartbeat and the baby’s. This baby HAS to be a boy. Did he stay in one position long enough for me to fall asleep? Hardly. And that insufferable beeping in my ear ALL NIGHT LONG was almost more than I could handle. I could hear his heartbeat all night, and when he’d move or the monitor slipped, in swooshed the nurses to re-adjust and make sure all was okay. That must have happened every hour to hour and a half. It was awful. I could go into more detail about my misery, but suffice it to say that I only got about 3 hours of sleep (not even consecutive), and by the time the new doctor came in to discharge me, I was up, dressed, and out the door before they could change their minds. Nothing like a perfectly healthy individual spending the night in the hospital. I can only wonder how much this will cost us.

Jeff’s first night at home alone with the babies fared just about like mine. Scarlett had been cutting teeth (and we now know she also coming down with an ear infection) and she wasn’t sleeping at night. Jeff woke up with her 3 times during the course of the evening, and then, to top it off, Gideon wet through his overnight diaper, all over his clothes, AND his sheets. By the time Jeff got Gideon cleaned up, settled, and almost back to sleep, Scarlett woke up screaming again…which, of course, woke them all up for who knows how long. I thought I'd be snoozing peacefully spa-esque-like in my hospital bed, not muttering muted almost-curses at the machines who sneered in disdain at my attempts for cozy slumber. I would much rather have been at home with my equally unhappy family.

I did, somehow, think this episode would give Jeff a new appreciation for what I do, but I don’t think it worked. He reminded me that he gets up every time I get up…to get a bottle or whatever I need. It’s true. He is a helper, but I thought I’d get a little more empathy for my mothering-in-the-middle-of-the-night skills. Twasn’t to be this go ‘round.

Anyway, enough blathering. I just thought you’d like to know why I’ve been neglecting my cathartic writing. I haven’t had the energy.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving yourselves, though. I was very thankful, just so you know, after getting some sleep, that my growing baby was just fine.