So as Thanksgiving weekend draws to a close and the holiday season is kicking off, we are not nearly prepared. Our original plan for Thanksgiving was to head to Panama City and stay with my parents. Unfortunately, due to the typical "High family shenanigans" that was completely rearranged at the last minute we had to ditch "Plan A", in favor of "Plan B." Aaron hasn’t been feeling fantastic, the new van STILL ISN’T DONE (seriously, don’t want to even write about it), I haven’t been feeling great and the final nail in the coffin was on Tuesday when Max’s nose started running (which ended up being short-lived). Needless to say, my parents ended up bringing all the Thanksgiving dinner fixings (including my brother driving over Granny) to P'cola. It was a much smaller and lower key holiday, but wonderful just the same.
In the past two weeks our world has been completely turned upside down. As of today I am 9 weeks pregnant. We wanted to wait until after the first ultrasound before we announced this new addition. This is the “farthest” I have made it all year and my numbers are much better than they were after the accident, so we are hopeful for an uneventful pregnancy. As some of you may know SMA is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder. Without getting into the details, it basically means that every child Aaron and I have together has a 25% chance of also having SMA. Aaron and I have taken this into careful consideration over the last four years. I have also been reading (quite a lot thanks to a lovely group of ladies at our parish) about Mother Teresa’s thoughts and words about the dignity of all people. Regardless of abilities or disabilities we know that all people are made in the image and likeness of God. We refuse to live in fear of a disease. With that being said we will be having CVS testing performed on Dec. 20th to find out if the baby is positive for SMA. We would like to be prepared as best we can for whatever this little bundle has in for us. I would like to ask for prayers for a healthy child and pregnancy. I am specifically asking for the intercession of Mother Teresa (thanks to Max’s godmother, Kristen, for pointing out the obvious) and the Blessed Mother. On a side note, my updates may not be quite so colorful, as I am dealing with LOTS of nausea. Maybe a prayer or two for an easing of my nausea would be appreciated, as we are heading to Disney soon and I would really like to be able to enjoy Max’s first Disney experience. I'm also praying that I still fit into my pants for the Disney trip. I am gobbling up all the food at our house to keep the nausea at bay. Lucky for me I have the best husband in the world, who has promised me every color in the rainbow of Wal-mart sweatsuits - and yes, they will include matching tops AND bottoms! What more could a girl ask for?
Now for the other shoe to drop…like I said typical High family shenanigans. Aaron received word last Monday that he will be deploying for a year, with TDY training beginning this spring and mid-summer boots on the ground for the year to begin. Now for those of you counting on your fingers, you’re right the timing actually stinks. It’s not even so much about the birth (which is important and would be nice for him to be present for), it’s really about the logistics of picking up and moving Max with a full pregnant belly. Aaron is requesting to have the deployment delayed for six months. We feel fortunate that we are close to my family and have an excellent school set up and support system for Max. Family and friends, go ahead and prepare yourself for "Operation Family Rotation" at the High house…you have been warned. For as overwhelming as all of this is for me, I know we will be okay and that God’s timing is perfect. Please pray for Aaron. His job has taken him from us numerous times for short stints, but this will definitely be the longest and I know he will miss us all terribly. Now for my own sanity, in the words of Scarlett O'Hara, "I'll think about that tomorrow."
Like I said, last week seemed to be one for the record books in terms of crappy news. Nothing earth shattering, just blah. Every October our nursing hours are reconfigured with some crazy formula and they change. We received word last week that our hours have been cut by 21 hours a week. That’s about 2 and a half shifts. When Max is well and in school we shouldn’t really notice much of a difference, but on weeks that he is home sick and/or summer we will have a little less coverage. As I progress we may have to shift schedules from night to day. Right now it is tough for me to get up with Max in the middle of the night, because I end up getting sick, so night time coverage is necessary. As I get less sick and bigger, I will need nurses with me while Aaron is at work to transfer Max.
So this is where we sit, I’m pregnant and sick, the van still isn’t done, Aaron is deploying in the not so distant future, and our nursing hours have been cut. Pick your prayer intention, we could use a lot of them.
Now don’t think it is all doom and gloom at our house. We have more to be thankful for than we could even begin to count. Max is thriving, Aaron has a job, we have a safe place to live and food on the table. We want for nothing of importance. Below is a wreath of thankfulness that Max helped me make for Thanksgiving (he’s just not into the whole feasting thing :-)). I would like to point out that Max added all the typical things to be thankful for and some that many take for granted. Take glue for instance. I thought he was just picking things in his line of vision and he was very clear that we need glue to stick things to each other and that is a good thing.
Well, I think that is about enough to lay on you all today.
Peace!
