My Hope

Medical practice I knew I was choosing a teaching hospital. It was one of the reasons I considered it when choosing an OB after finding out we were pregnant. For the past five years I’ve shared our story with the medical students at FSU and have loved having the opportunity to hopefully impact them in their careers and thought this might afford me the same opportunity. I was surprised though at the limited number of times students, residents or fellows attended my appointments. This week I found out it’s because they’re all getting their time in on the maternity wing of the hospital rather than the doctor’s visits leading up the point of delivery. It gave new meaning to the term medical practice as I sat there getting my epidural. A team of people had come through pre-op introducing themselves and letting me know they would be doing my anesthesiology. I wasn’t really sure why it took 5 doctors to numb me and watch my levels, but I soon learned. Only one of them truly had mu...

I shared recently that my blood work showed that I’ve been anemic during this pregnancy. I’m thankful for a few things. My numbers were lower than recommended, but not at a dangerous level so I’m praying there will be no effect on the baby. I’m also thankful that I now know why I’ve been so tired lately. I felt bad that Tommy was having to help out with so many things around the house that I thought I should have the energy to do. At least now I know it wasn’t completely in my head. I’ve seen a significant difference in my energy level since starting an iron supplement. I haven’t had to drag myself out of bed each morning and while naps are still welcome, I haven’t felt like I need one at 10 a.m. Just as we can be missing nutrients physically, are we missing necessary nutrients in our spiritual lives? I’ve been thinking about the difference one mineral can make and then last week the pastor preached on almost the same thing. Do we drag through life not even aware that we...

So I’m pretty much over the nausea, gagging and vomiting. Most people would be thrilled. But oddly enough, I miss it. This is my least favorite time of pregnancy. I’m always ready for the morning sickness to go away, but then when it does, I long for it. You see, it’s too early to feel consistent movement. Every now and then, if I’m super still I may feel a flutter… but not always. So I’m stuck in this land of limbo where there isn’t much sign at all that I’m pregnant (besides what my scale and clothes tell me). I can’t wait for the day that the kicks are so strong that even the girls will be able to feel them. I know that will be weeks from now though. Sometimes we get discouraged when our faith is like that. When times are tough, it brings us to our knees. Often when times are hardest it is when we feel closest to God. We can feel God’s comfort when we’re in the midst of suffering and see His love shown through the body of believers reaching out and lifting us up. Wh...