When Your New Year Doesn't Turn Out As New & Shiny As You Planned

So...yeah...
When Your New Year Doesn't Turn Out As New & Shiny As You Planned...

...Guess what?

2018 is new, or so my calendar tells me; but its definitely NOT shiny or much different than 2017.

Yes, we're only  9 days in.

But I feel like there is always this new, optimistic view around the new year that at least lasts the first few weeks or so.

Not so much this year.

We stayed home New Years Eve and New Years day without plans, because sometimes doing nothing is something amazing!

New Years Day, I got a call from my Mom saying that Josh moved back to school today and was welcomed by no heat in his dorm. In the 5 degree temps. Awesome.

Like I mentioned, we had spent New Years Day hanging around the house and doing not much of anything. That included a nap for me.

...and then I woke up from a nap with some contractions.

...and then some more, and more painful ones.

You can guess where this is headed.

Yep, back to St. Anthony's.

Yep, they recognized me from the past 3 visits.

Nothing terribly exciting happened that visit, they basically came to the conclusion that I am "just someone who has a lot of contractions."

Awesome.

The next day we both headed back to work. which included a sick toddler who was feeling super cuddly.

And then I got another call from Mom saying that little brother had heat back, but a frozen pipe had then thawed and left a nice, watery mess on the carpet below his bed.

...and that he was getting treated for Strep Throat. Again.

No, I can't make this up.

Fast forward to the weekend.

Chad's phone lines at work were down most of the weekend.

Saturday night has easily been the highlight of the year so far.

We had some amazing friends throw us a diaper party for Silas! It was so great to see everyone, and kind of a type of "last hurrah" before getting into Mom and Dad mode.

We had so much fun, and are so thankful for the group of friends we have been given!

Sunday I started feeling a bug coming on.

Remember that sick and snuggly toddler?

She seemed to have "snuggled" some of her germs into my immune system despite my best efforts.

Made it through a relatively uneventful Monday, and then we came to this morning.

Mom suggested I called my OB to see what would be best to take to kick this thing.

His response was not something anyone was anticipating...

"...yeah, you need to go to Labor and Delivery and get a flu test and get looked at. You're too close to delivery to have a potentially dangerous bug hanging on when you're about to have the baby. I'll let them know you're coming, and will be in later this afternoon."

Um. What.

I called asking for what kind of cough medicine would be best, I did NOT sign up for my 2nd visit to the hospital already in 2018! (and 5th overall this pregnancy if you've been counting.).

So after some shuffling of children and work plans, back to St. A's we went.

Yes, they recognized me; and put me in the same room as the past few visits with the same nurse.

The running joke for the afternoon was that she needed to text me her work schedule so that we would know when to come in and then she could be there for the birth.

They also started calling the room they put me in "My room".

I was seen by the house doctor, and according to the monitors I was also having contractions every 2-9 minutes. Again, What. That is NOT what I signed up for.

Negative flu swab, blood work came back okay, so after a visit from my OB we were sent home.

He did say that once we hit 36 weeks (next MONDAY!) he won't be stopping labor if it starts again.

So we could be welcoming our little boy any time from next Monday to basically the end of February if I go the allowed amount of time after my due date.

I think in this new and not-shiny year, God is teaching us a crash course on a part of parent life that I figured would be a struggle for us...expecting the unexpected, and that we can't control everything this little guy does.

 And to be very honest, we're both struggling and feeling discouraged with this all.

Neither of us are sleeping well, feeling well, and we're just plain worn out and emotionally wrung out.

Admitting that weakness (or whatever you want to call it) is not easy.

But it's definitely putting the prayer life through a huge workout and growing season.

And I am trying to be thankful for that.

So, this post is not a "cry for help" or a "feel bad for us and join the pity party" kind of thing.

It's just honesty.

We are as ready (as we can be!) to meet our little boy. All of this IS worth it to bring him into our lives.

If you'd like to pray for us, pray for healing of sickness in our bodies.

Pray for patience as we go about our daily lives while being ready to change it all at the drop of a hat (or breaking of a water; as a bad joke!)

Pray for a healthy delivery and healthy Silas when he does decide to come.

---and I'll include, prayers of thankfulness for Chad. He has been so strong and so patient through all of this chaos and last minute changes of events, and has been beyond awesome helping out where I'm falling short. He's basically my hero currently.

I think I'm out of words for now.

Back to bed for more rest, although as all mama's know, it never seems to be enough!