I went to the doctor on Friday of last week and was told to go home for yet another two-week period of bed-rest. When those two weeks are up, I will be at 36 1/2 weeks in my pregnancy and I can do whatever I want to trigger this baby’s birth! Once again, our friends here are laying their lives down for us to help us through this challenging time. There is honestly a sense of humiliation, of total humility, when your friend who is a pathologist comes over to change your baby’s diapers and sort your laundry. I marvel time and time again at how hard it is to allow, let alone ASK, those around you to wash your feet.
As frustrating as this whole thing feels most of the time, there are certainly joys in the midst of it all and causes for celebration, like the amazing Alaskan salmon we ate last night courtesy of our friend, Jen, whose house-mate Richard had just returned from an Alaskan fishing trip with his dad. The kids both devoured the meal, and Doug had salmon for dinner and breakfast this morning. Sometimes it is little things like this that help remind me of God’s extravagance with us; of his generosity and kindness to us throughout this journey.
On Friday, after the doctor’s appointment, we were scheduled to have the film crew from the Discovery Channel here at the apartment for the afternoon and evening. Doug did his part, but as I am unable to get around and clean, I had enlisted the help of a few friends who got our place looking great, just in time for the crew to arrive. Only they never did. Two of the other moms being filmed for the show ended up going into labor right at the time the crew was scheduled to arrive here, so I got a phone call saying we would have to reschedule.
As I looked around my scrubbed and shiny apartment, and spoke with the producer about re-scheduling, I thought to myself: they have no idea how many people it took to get our apartment ready for this today. Needless to say, when they come later this week, I doubt we will muster even half the effort. You hear the saying about raising kids, but I can also state that it took a village to clean our apartment!
Hang in there! I have posted before on my living through the same stuff you are enduring during my final pregnancy. If it is of any comfort, people love to HELP. They usually don’t get the opportunity to help because we are all so dang independent! What is so bad about needing each other? I struggled with it, too. It is a season and now you know when you help someone else–in person or via blog–not only why you do it, but how much it means. Your kids are also learning so much from this community pregnancy. 🙂 God bless you this day.
Erika,
Thank you for the link. I found your blog through Mark Galli’s, and have enjoyed reading it very much, especially now that I live in Orange County, CA, instead of my wonderfully diverse seaside city of Long Branch, NJ.
Perhaps it’s not a bad thing for the TV audience to see a messy apartment, although I will pray for angels to appear and clean it for you again!
I won’t be posting too often on my own blog. Kind of completed the bulk of what I wanted to accomplish. We’ll see.
Many blessings to you!