Just when I think life will slow down…

I know many people have heard all about my woes, but I feel like this is a good place to document the pace of my life since I’m no good at journal keeping. The last few months have been difficult ones for me. Beginning in January I was on bedrest and found out I had what the doctor called a “benign tumor” in my kidney. We also learned that the home we were renting was going up for sale. The owners offered to sell it to us, but after weeks of working with mortgage brokers we discovered we couldn’t afford it. The thought of that was quite depressing because Rob has worked so hard to get an education so that we could make good money and live comfortably. And now that he has this “nice job” he was hardly ever home, usually working 12-14 hour days and coming home after the kids had long since been asleep and sometimes I was too. Although I usually tried to stay up, I would fall asleep on the couch. The irony is that now that we have a great paying job, there are our student loans to pay off which are like a mortgage payment all on their own. So, the dream of home ownership had to be set aside for awhile.

One month before my due date Sabrina was still a footling breech and I went to the hospital for the doctor to try a cephalic version. He and the nurse gave it two tries at greasing up my belly and trying to push her to turn head down. She was comfortable where she was and wouldn’t budge. So we scheduled a c-section for two weeks later. Then came the high point on this roller coaster. The birth of Sabrina! She is so beautiful and has become such a part of the family already. I especially enjoyed the first week of her life here because I could rest in the hospital and focus on her. I guess that’s one benefit of a cesarean- a longer hospital stay before getting back into real life.

Throughout bedrest and delivery, my mom made two trips down and stayed with us for over a month. I think it was six weeks all together. Mickey stayed for two weeks to help too, so when it was time for the moms to go home I was really nervous about being on my own with four kids. Especially with Rob still working long hours.
When Sabrina was about six weeks old I noticed that a house on our street that had been up for sale was now without a real estate sign and wondered if it might be available to rent. The home was bought to flip and then the market leveled out and the owners put way too much into fixing it up and couldn’t sell at a price to break even. I left a note on the front door asking them to call me if they wanted to rent it out, and they did. We decided that moving down the street was a good alternative for us because we could stay in the same school and ward, have more time to save up to buy, and still be flexible if we decide to change jobs or something. We actually are living in a great place now that is practically new and has a pool. That has been a blessing in all of this.

Just over two weeks ago I had surgery to remove what turned out to be a large kidney stone, not a tumor. The recovery was longer than expected, and I was getting really annoyed that I couldn’t seem to get back my normal body. It has been a year beginning with the strep I had last May, the pregnancy, delivery and kidney stone. This week looks like it will be low key and that life will be returning to a normal pace soon.

One thing that all this has taught me is the beauty of a non-eventful life. I always thought that my life was a bit boring, and now realize that there is nothing wrong with that! I have really appreciated my moms and their willingness to come and be moms to my kids while I couldn’t do it. I have been so lucky to have women from church and neighbors bringing us meals and checking in on me constantly to offer play dates and school pick up help. These are women that I barely knew having only lived here a few months when all of the medical issues began. I have decided that life doesn’t ever really slow down and that taking things one day at a time may be the best way to keep your sanity. So, there are lessons to be learned from every situation. I just hope that I can catch on a little sooner next time, so the lessons won’t need to be so dramatic.