This has been the hardest pregnancy yet. Chronic pain, stemming from interstitial cystitis, made the last 9 months really difficult. Movement was especially painful and as I gained weight, I moved less and less. Sleep evaded me for months as I had to get up to use the restroom every hour and a half. The last few weeks I basically hid in my room, escaping the heat and staying close to the bathroom.
Daniel maintained the cheese schedule with the help of the children and we just sort of managed on minimal maintenance on the house and meal level. We ate a lot of sandwiches, ramen noodles, eggs, and the like. Laundry was done on an as need basis, especially since we weathered a water shortage. In short, we survived. But as I neared my due date, I was really struggling with the mess and clutter. I was pretty obsessed with birthing this child and all that goes with that.
One afternoon I came down to see what needed to be done to set the house right for the day and was flabbergasted by the destruction. A morning of tidying was completely undone to the extent that one would have thought we had hosted a circus or some such thing. It was just too much to take. The children had gotten completely careless without guidance and it was only myself that I could blame for that. We worked together to find some order in the house and then I resolved to give the ol castor oil induction a try.
AAAANNNDDDD! It worked! (7 of my 9 pregnancies have ended with castor oil) But not as I expected. Normally I have very short births....like an hour, with castor oil. But these were contractions that were not really painful and completely irregular, for hours on end! I have always been relieved to not be one of those women who were up all night with contractions that would not let them sleep, and yet there I was in that boat! I did not feel like there was any progress and expected the whole thing to just putter out at any moment. But they just kept coming.
Around the time I thought my midwife might naturally waken, I checked in with her for her opinion. She suggested that I get up and move around and see if things would pick up. (I was ready to sleep and not enthused.) But I did some position changing and some movement and in ten minutes I was casually having a contraction when things picked up enough that I realized I was PULLING Daniel's hair. (He immediately knew what was next and cleared out the children.) Fifteen minutes later Beulah was born. That birth took me by surprise! Beulah checked out fine and I slid by without even so much as a tear.
We are taking some time to get aquainted with our newest family member and then it is back to the grind! There is a facility to build, school to work on, a farm to run, winter preparations, and cheese to make. Plenty to keep us busy and more. I am so proud of my family, especially the children, for holding it together this long and we have been utterly blessed and encouraged by all the help we have received from friends and family. Love you all so much!!!! We are looking forward to having the opportunity to serve in the future!!!!
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