Week 8

I guess at this point I'm 20% through this pregnancy. Wow. That seems like a long ways already! And yet I remember well that the last 20% is what feels like the longest part of all:) Here's a few fun facts: Baby's heart has been beating for over 2 weeks already; lungs, brain, limbs, eye lenses, joints, teeth, bones and fingers/toes have begun to appear; the pancreas is functioning; the intestines just moved from the umbilical cord into baby's abdomen; baby is now 1.6cm long and weighs a whopping 1 gram (is that about the size of an almond?)! I don't know how a person can say that a fetus isn't a human at this point. Does this look like a human to you? I'd say so. At least, it sure doesn't look like an ape... or an elephant... or a bird. "A person's a person no matter how small" - Dr. Seuss Photo courtesy of www.pregnancy.org/fetaldevelopment

H1N1 Vaccine

So the flu season is upon us. My doctor "strongly recommended" I get the vaccine for the H1N1 (swine flu) virus. Now, I want to trust my doctor b/c she knows more than I do about my health risks... she's a pretty grounded, sensible person to begin with, has lots of experience and is one of the most respected doctors in our area. But does that mean she's right in her suggestion? Nope. Ok, so I head to google to check out the pros and cons of this virus and vaccine. Here's what I find: 1) The disease is spread through droplets (from coughing, sneezing) and through touch. 2) H1N1 has a standard course of five days for most people not in a high-risk group and most people will feel better within one week. 3) Many viruses can have an effect on prenatal exposure - from a high fever in a seasonal flu, to the 1918 H1N1 epidemic which lead to increased heart disease and stunted growth. 4) As of Sept. 3, 6% of confirmed deaths from the H1N1 flu have been pregnant women (pregnant women only make up about 1% of the population to begin with) and among people infected with H1N1, pregnant women are more likely to be hospitalized than the general population. 5) From April 15 to May 18, 2009, thirty-four percent of the pregnant women infected with the H1N1 virus were hospitalized, and by June, six pregnant women had died. 6) Past flu studies have found that when women get flu shots before giving birth, they help build immunity for their child that is particularly helpful during the infant's first few months of life. 7) Pregnancy has the potential to changes the pharmacokinetics of many drugs. Pregnant women absorb, metabolize and eliminate drugs differently than other women, leading doctors to speculate that they might need higher doses. 8) Most people who are hospitalized due to the H1N1 virus, have been so because they have developed heart and respiratory problems... which leads to a concern in people prone to such things beforehand. Now that I've read up on all this, I'm surprisingly not worried. But I'm still left with a decision to make. I hear more of "don't do it!!" than "do it" from friends and family thus far, and I think there is a lot of wisdom in that. The vaccine is, afterall, still new and is only currently being tested on pregnant women who want to have it. So what about the fact that I look after 2-3 different kids (ages 1-3) who carry who knows how many germs and have been who knows where before they even come into my house!? I guess there's good old fashioned cleanliness techniques, like washing your hands frequently and doing the same with theirs... yet you lean on the hope that they aren't already carrying it in their system, as opposed to just on their hands. The last thing I need to take into consideration is the fact that I have asthma. Have since I was a kid actually... however I seem to have grown out of it somewhat, to the point where I only notice it when I get sick and start coughing a lot. I remember sitting in the emergency room once as a kid b/c my common cold reached the final coughing-stage and I couldn't get enough air to my lungs. Not fun. I can't imagine being pregnant and sick in the hospital, with two kids and a working husband at home. And after having posted pretty much all the cons I can think of, I must admit that I am still hesitant to get any sort of vaccine while being pregnant. I'm thinking I'd prefer to make a strong attempt in the cleanliness department of my house and everyone in it, praying over the doorways and trusting that God will take care of the rest. But we'll see. Although I believe you can never have too much faith, I wonder if there is always a fine line between faith and stupidity. Many would flippantly advise against anything which isn't "organic", yet when you're in a very vulnerable state you are forced to take a good hard look at both sides of the fence. We've been given discernment for a reason I suppose :)

Appointments

So I had two appointments in Invermere today. The first one was for our truck. We want to fix it up to sell, so that we can get something which will fit 3 (yes THREE!) carseats in it... crazy. Hopefully they'll all be in booster seats before we know it! Anyway, we discovered today that our truck needs another $700+ worth of work to fix one bearing and (?) something in the back end (?). Add that to the work we just did to fix the ball joints and you've got a grand total of too much! To top it off, the other front bearing is starting to show signs that it will also need to be replaced... we had both of them done less than two years ago too! Our mechanic informed us today that driving gravel roads is not good on light-duty trucks. In other words, we are over-working our poor Dakota and need to either find a 3/4 ton for all our off-roading (collecting firewood and camping adventures) or get a nice family vehicle that sticks to the paved roads. If we sell our truck, only one vehicle will be feasible at the moment so we're feeling a bit stuck... we'll see what happens there! That brings me to my second appointment of the day. My first prenatal doctors appointment. I'm wondering how in the world I'm going to juggle childcare throughout the week while trying to borrow the vehicle from Kevin for regular Dr. Apt's. He may not be working in town forever, which presents a problem when it comes to getting him to and from work the day OF my appointments. Two vehicles would be ideal very soon! Anyway, I suggested the idea of a midwife to my doctor today and she quite agreed that it would be a good and necessary option! I was a little surprised, as I figured I was sort of taking work away from her, or that she might think I find her incapable. She said that she was concerned about the number of doctors in the Invermere area who would be able to deliver a large baby, as mine generally are. She speaks a lot of good things about all the doc's in the area, however said that there is only one other with the amount of delivery experience that she has, so it's a bit of a concern with higher-risk births. Also, Invermere doesn't have surgeons at hand so any emergencies are sent to Cranbrook by ambulance, a 1.5 hour drive away! Too far for my quick babies! Aiden was very big (10lbs 1oz), was born very quickly (3 hours of labour total, born half an hour after the doctor arrived) and got very stuck! Infact, I didn't know until today, exactly HOW stuck Aiden was. She had to turn him around after his head had come through b/c his shoulder bones were so broad. She said she was relieved that Aiden's collarbone didn't break from having to squeeze his shoulders together to get them both through. "Oh my gosh", I'm thinking! I had no idea! I knew he was big but thought everything went pretty standard. So she's concerned that I deliver in a place where there will be lots of compitent hands around, just incase. Eeek! Conveniently, a good friend of mine has been raving about her midwives and I think that since this is my last baby and may very well be a big one (I think mainly/only if it's a boy), I might as well give a midwife a try:) I really appreciate that they have so many natural methods of delivery, as opposed to calling in an emergency if things don't go according to standard. I love my doctor and she is damn good at what she does! Really!! But I'd like to have more "natural" options at my disposal this time, should things get tough. Big and fast aren't a good combination when it comes to labour... might as well be prepared:) On that note, my due date is officially May 22nd, 2010. We'll be finding out if we're having a boy or girl, especially now that size is a concern (those boys!!!). Besides, I only have baby clothes for a girl, as I borrowed all Aidens from a friend. So if it's a boy I intend to sell all of Atalie's and get some that are, well, less pink! :)

"Doubt hard on the heels of every belief..."

I can tell autumn is approaching... when there aren't trees to cut down I find myself at home with the kids doing "homey" things, like baking, blogging, cleaning, cooking... preparing for another season. If you keep coming back to my blog I'm going to assume that you're not really getting tired of hearing my ramblings on faith and finances and my quest to find the missing link in connecting and making One work for the other. So here's an inspiring quote I read on Ryan Dueck's blog, one I actually haven't visited until today, when I stumbled upon it while visiting anothers blog. The author of this quote is Frederick Buechner, from his book "Secrets In The Dark: A Life In Sermons". For me it describes perfectly the insecurity and absolutely bliss that is often felt when learning to living by faith! "Faith is a way of waiting—never quite knowing, never quite hearing or seeing, because in the darkness we are all but a little lost. There is doubt hard on the heels of every belief, fear hard on the heels of every hope, and many holy things lie in ruins because the world has ruined them and we have ruined them. But faith waits, even so, delivered at least from that final despair which gives up waiting altogether because it sees nothing left worth waiting for. Faith waits—for the opening of a door, the sound of footsteps in the hall, that beloved voice delayed, delayed so long that there are times when you all but give up hope of ever hearing it. And when at moments you think you do hear it (if only faintly, from far away) the question is: Can it possibly be, impossibly be, that one voice of all voices?"

falling firs

Well, we've been busy as of late... trying to gather wood for winter so we don't have to use our furnace. I figured that if we went out every evening and cut down 1 tree, we'd be done in a couple of weeks. A couple days ago we found a huge fir tree. When I say huge, I mean it was the biggest one we've cut down yet. We're guessing it was about 150' tall and 20" wide. Falling a tree that size felt a little out of our league (or at least mine), but we couldn't just leave it there! So we carefully took into account the bend, the breeze (which was ever so slight but always a concern when a tree is that tall and sways easily) and the lean... and fell it perfectly onto the road where Kev bucked it up and chopped what he could (to avoid mess in our driveway - which will happen regardless seeing as how you can't humanly chop up a tree this size in a couple hours). My job is, of course, to watch the tree incase it changes course on us all of a sudden. It's a little challenging to communicate with someone who has to look down at what he's doing, with ear plugs in and a blazing loud saw next to his ears. My only method is to stand where he can see me, keep low (try to wear a bright coloured shirt so he can see me if I start waving wildly) and try to stay out of the path of the falling tree. It's a lot of fun actually!! This fall was especially exciting b/c I've never felt the earth shake like it did when it hit the ground. It snapped in half (unfortunately - bit of wasted wood there) when it fell but we took most of it home. We were quite surprised that it was standing there in the first place, perfectly beside the road! Who, in all the redneck, chainsaw-crazy, wood-burning town of Canal Flats, would leave such a tree standing? Don't know. So we claimed it for ourselves;) In the end it took a few loads to get all home but it gave us the same amount of wood that three regular sized trees would have, so we're ahead of the game;) Here's the last load that Kevin stuffed into our tiny 5' box and brought home last night... it took some time to organize so it would all fit ...our poor truck! :) Just look at the silly grin on his face;) Boys...

message on "Privision In Hard Times"

I finally found the message I began listening to by Steve Foss. God has been speaking to me for awhile now about preparing for our future and about seeking Him. Two very basic principles in a Christ-followers life, I realize... seek the Lord, make wise choices... nothing new, I know. But as you also will know, God has a way of taking what is old and making it new. He's been specifically laying the topic of prayer and finances on my heart for awhile now, to the degree that I have to seek and find orelse I know I will regret it incredibly down the road!! Every get that feeling? It's like a warning bell going off... not one that makes you want to dash for the door, but you know that if you don't pay attention now you will want to dash for the door later on! SO. I've linked these video clips, which I've found to be very interesting. Part 1 and Part 2 are on YouTube but are not the complete series. You have to purchase the DVD to hear it all. And personally, I don't agree with the fact that he's selling something which he says God told him to share with his people... if this topic is so deeply embeded in his heart to share, perhaps the entire package should be shared (freely!) as opposed to partially shared. Anyway, regardless of that I think what he has to say holds a lot of truth.