36 (and 1/2) weeks

Hannah is here for a week, so today she snapped some pictures of me :-). Only 3 1/2 weeks left, give or take a few weeks ;-). The women in my church are giving me a baby shower on Saturday, so that will be lots of fun :-). I'm glad Hannah can be here for that.

In some ways I have continued to slow down more, but I also seem to at times have more energy than usual. Very odd. The pregnancy is going great overall, except that it seems this stubborn little boy has yet to follow general convention and turn head down :-P, so we're praying for him to turn, and I'm doing pelvic tilts a few times per day to encourage him in that direction. Also I'm playing classical music or my voice low on my abdomen. Who knows if any of it is truly helpful :-).

I made great strides in my sewing projects list before Hannah got here yesterday, as hoped, and I'm taking a break this week. Can't wait to start back in on some diapers, though! I got a ton of fleece for free off Freecycle to use as diaper lining (microfleece, to wick away moisture) and diaper outers (regular fleece, water resistant).

I'm kind of blanking out on anything more news-worthy happening recently. I'm mainly been sewing and getting ready for a Certain Arrival. Hannah and I are cooking various concoctions this week, and getting in some good walks. Ben's wife Stephanie arrives Saturday evening and stays through Wednesday :-). I'm sure I could think of more I could say, but it's 9:00 p.m., and my brain officially stops functioning at 8:30 p.m. (often earlier), so I should stop now before I start babbling :-).

Two interesting links

First, one on Japan's declining population.

Second, one on the financial benefits of stockpiling. Since I just bought 19 lbs of ground beef yesterday at a really good price, this one was relevant to me :-D.

HT: Amy

In other news, I'm working through my lists of things to sew, buy, and do before Little Boy gets here. My latest venture is sewing cloth diaper prefolds. Quite interesting, and addicting too! I'm using up scraps of double-napped flannel, flannel sheets, and old towels, as well as using baby towels and flannel receiving blankets that I got really cheap at a thrift store. I figure I'll use a combination of homemade diapers and store-bought prefolds - trying to balance sanity (not trying to do too much) and economics. I'm forcing myself to take a diaper sewing break for a while, though, so I can get other pertinent projects done, like curtains. When I return to diaper sewing I'm going to try out this pocket diaper pattern.

My sister Hannah and my sister-in-law Stephanie are both going to be here for a few days (Hannah for a whole week) at the end of this month, into June, and we're looking forward to that :-). Hopefully Stephanie will be looking a little pregnant (she'll be about 4 1/2 months along), so Hannah can take some pictures of the two of us together, looking all fat ;-). Their visit is also giving me motivation to try to get several of my projects done before they get here. Like the guest room upstairs. . . should probably be made to look more like a guest room instead of a sewing/storage room with random piles of fabric everywhere :-).

Interesting Blog Post Link on Natural Childbirth

This is why I tell people that our "current plan" (stress on "current") is to birth naturally in a birth center. And why I say that we'll see how it all turns out, whether I'll really make it through labor without pain meds, without any interventions, etc. Because this fallen world is unpredictable (and so is my ability to handle pain!).

I am a huge supporter of natural birth (though I'm sort of an unqualified supporter until I've gone through it myself), but I think many - and I'm not saying all - in the natural birth camp are missing one piece of the puzzle in the perspective. We women are told to "believe in our body" and "believe in God's natural design for birth", or whatever other variation on the natural childbirth mantra. I believe that God did design a woman's body for birth, and that it doesn't usually have to be a medical event.

But (and that's a big but) this earth is not the perfect "good" world that God originally created. As a Christian I have to remember that this world is darkened by sin, which affects every aspect. Childbirth, of all things, even got individual note in the curse recorded in Genesis! That means that our bodies do not always work according to their perfect original design, that means that childbirth is painful, and that means that we can't guarantee that childbirth will be a "a natural, nonmedical event". Tragic events happen, and more simply, some women don't have the ability or desire (or in some cases, haven't been prepared) to handle pain.

There is a lot of controversy over interventions in labor and delivery, and I think the general obstetrician needs to seriously reconsider a lot of her practices. But the fact is that managed care, pain meds, etc. usually still result in healthy, happy babies. And that's a much bigger thing than whether or not a woman chooses to have an ultrasound in pregnancy, or had an episiotomy in labor, or an epidural, or an induction, or any of the other many intervention options. It's good to remember the big picture - in this case a picture of a cute little baby :-D.

On the flip side, I do highly recommend Natural Childbirth: The Bradley Way and The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth for education on obstetric care and alternatives. Just keep it all in perspective, please.

Fun Visit

Yesterday I finally got to meet Zan in person! When Adrian got the job here in Connecticut I started mapquesting New England blogger friends, and I was happy that Becky and Zan were both only about 2 hours away. Yesterday I drove up to New Hampshire to see Zan. It was a beautiful day, so a nice relaxing drive all the way up (except for the half hour where I turned down the wrong road - totally my fault. . . ) and we had a good visit together, eating lunch, talking, and spending some time outside while her older two boys played. I got to hold Owen (2 months, about) some :-), even though the poor guy was so fussy most of the time I was there. I did get him to smile a few times, though! It was fun to finally meet Zan after communicating online for almost 3 years(!).

An Ode to Craigs List

Okay, I'm really not going to write an ode. That would be my sister's line of work. I haven't the talent (or current desire to lay aside self-respect ;-D). But I do really like Craigs List. It's become a sort of replacement to my garage sale thriftiness.

Growing up we'd often spend Saturdays March-October hopping from garage sale to garage sale, and saving a lot of money in the process, buying needed household items for much cheaper than we could get them new, or even at a thrift store. There were also the dud purchases, like the CD player that didn't actually eject, or the money wasters like those dust-collecting purple peacocks, or the pink poodle trinkets (I'm not making this up), but we won't go there :-D. Overall, though, garage sales saved us a lot of money.

But the sky-high gas prices make weekend-ly (I decided that's a word) garage sale jaunts a really pricey way to find things. I am planning to go to two larger rummage sales ("tag sales" in New England) next weekend, hosted by a historical society and a church, but those are more gas-efficient.

Craigs List has proved to be a more gas-efficient way overall to find bargains. I got frustrated with the Atlanta Craigs List because everything listed was in mid-town or Marietta, and I did not live near either. But here in Hartford, everything is much closer together, and a lot of the things listed are within a 15 minute drive. I've been keeping three Hartford Craigs List categories minimized (baby/kids, furniture, free), and will check them several times throughout the day. I've found a washer/dryer set, a sleeper sofa, some maternity clothes, a mini-cosleeper, and a free(!) window air conditioner, just to name some of the main items. And I got them for pretty good deals :-).

The key is to be willing to wait. I've been looking for a dresser for Baby and a stroller for weeks (literally), but haven't found something for the price I'm looking for, and in a close enough drive. But because I started looking a while ago, I'm not in a rush and can wait out a better deal.

One amusing note on Craigs List, Freecyle, and other online exchange/selling/giving sites. Mainly this is a random thought I've had about Freecycle. Freecycle is a great site that is designed to recycle unwanted items, instead of tossing them in landfills, etc; you subscribe to the Yahoo group for your area, and receive e-mails of offers and requests. Everything is free. But I do wonder how ecologically efficient some of the exchanges are (just to be cynical :-D). Some of the items posted are only worth a few dollars, and let's face it, with the price of gas in New England, there are some things that I'd like but wouldn't bother to make a separate trip for 10 minutes away, because I'd end up breaking even between gas cost and the benefit of a free item, when I could just pick the same item up at another store when I'm already there buying other items. And if Freecycle is about saving the environment, it'd be amusing if someone made such a monetarily illogical extra trip and on the way added polution to the air :-). Hehe. Just my random thought. Overall I think Freecyle is a great idea.

30 weeks (one week shy of 7 months)

After much pestering from various family and friends ;-), here is an updated pregnancy picture, taken this morning before church. It is getting so pretty and warm outside, which I am loving, although I am getting overheated more easily, with this extra weight :-P.

The skirt in the picture is just a regular elastic waist skirt I made a while ago, and I made the light green top using Simplicity 3762. I love the way it turned out - such a pretty pattern :-). I'd like to make a few more maternity tops soon, but I've also been working on various other projects, like general clothing alterations and repairs, baby gifts for other women in the church (3 babies born since we came in January, and 2 more due any day). My windows still don't have curtains on them! I am determined those will get done soon, and I have all the material for them. And I think I'm going to make a quilted diaper bag; I couldn't bring myself to register for a $30 one, when I could make one for free using material I already had.

I've been finding myself napping a little more frequently, but still not completely feeling weighed down yet. My only complaint really is achy hips, which come and go, but they're manageable if I'm careful with posture et al. Midwife visits are every two weeks now, since I'm in the third trimester, which means two 45-minute drives out to the birth center per month :-P, but I do want to make sure I get to meet with each of the midwives at least a few times a piece before the birth. Adrian and I have been taking Bradley method classes and finding them very informative. I hope I can give a more authoritative recommendation on Bradley after putting it into practice ;-), but for now I'll just say that we're definitely benefiting from the course. We've had 7 or 8 classes, and a few more to go.

April 2nd was a year since Adrian proposed :-). What a lot has changed in a year! Lots of good things, I think ;-).

Book Review: The Vaccine Book

I remember my mom mentioning to me years ago how confusing all the controversy about vaccines is, and how she hoped that by the time I had kids, all the vaccine controversy would be sorted out. Yeah. . . right.

I was pretty typically vaccinated through early childhood, and then caught up on any missed shots before entering college (state school requirements), or as needed (tetanus when I had stitches, for example). I didn't get my booster shot for MMR, for example, until college. This probably had mostly to due with the 105.6 degree fever and convulsions that my brother experienced after his first MMR shot :-P. Can you say "emergency room visit"?

A few months ago I mentioned to Adrian that I wasn't wildly enthusiastic about all vaccinations, especially the standard schedule used for infants (especially the vaccine offered at birth, and then loading up several shots at once at successive check-ups - 6 different shots in one visit at age 6 months!), and I wanted to do some research before our baby was born. He thought that was a good idea, but being the wise, level-headed man that he is (*grin*), he told me I had to look at both sides of the issue. That was just fine with me, as I wasn't interested in conspiracy theories or blind acceptance of current practices.

In the last few months I've read (online and through a La Leche League magazine) about Robert Sears' book The Vaccine Book, and finally ordered it last week. It arrived earlier this week, and I devoured the first 10 chapters in one sitting. The rest of the book was polished off in another sitting. I really liked this book.

Now, before I go farther, a disclaimer: "I really liked this book" doesn't mean I completely agree with all of Dr. Sears' recommendations; it does mean that I think the book was well-researched, informative, and very helpful. Dr. Sears is a medical doctor who spent 13 years researching this issue. The pro-vaccine people would think he's too lax and skeptical, and the anti-vaccine folks would think he's way too vaccine-friendly.

The first 12 chapters detail each of the 12 vaccines on the standard vaccination schedule for a child. There are 12 standard vaccines, not 12 standard vaccinated-against diseases; for example, MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) is counted as 1 of the 12 vaccines, since it is standardly given all together, though it can be given separately. Each chapter gives detailed answers to the questions:

What is the disease?
How common is the disease? (mainly in the U.S., but he does bring in some international discussion)
Is the disease serious?
Is it treatable?
When is the vaccine for the disease usually given?
How is the vaccine made?
What ingredients are in the final vaccine solution?
Are any of these ingredients controversial?
What are the side effects of the vaccine?

Then in each chapter he gives reasons to give the vaccine and reasons some people choose not to get the vaccine. Then he highlights [international] travel considerations, options to consider if getting the vaccine (delays, splitting up combined vaccines, etc.), and then a few concluding paragraphs explaining how he views the vacccine.

He does end up recommending more vaccines than I think are necessary, but the nice thing is, he gives the information so parents can make up their own minds, and he thinks that parents have the right to deviate from his opinion.

The last chapters discuss assorted topics such as: the ingredients in the vaccines (more in-depth look at aluminum, formaldehyde, MSG, animal and human components, etc., and the controversies surrounding them), collected statistics about vaccine side effects and disease rates, and some very helpful suggested alternative vaccination schedules that spread out vaccinations (no more than two per visit), limit aluminum-containing vaccinations (no more than one per visit, if any), and in the case of one of the proposed schedules, eliminates the vaccines that he considers to be "less important", like chicken pox, for example. Then he gives rather detailed advice for parents who do delay some of the vaccinations, if they would be worth "catching up on" at some point (pertussis and rotavirus, for example, would not need to be "caught up" if vaccinations are begun after age two, since those diseases are really only serious for babies), how many booster shots would be needed, etc.

This book was written in a very level-headed manner. My husband and my brother are two of the most skeptical people I know (I love you both!) when it comes to conspiracy theories, alternative methods, scare tactics, etc. I know that if I find a book (or article) that I can unashamedly show them, then it is one that is very well done, and this book passes that test (I could call it the "Adrian and Ben test"; I would be happy to show it to either, and I think they would both find little fault with it and actually appreciate it. Adrian plans on reading Dr. Sears' book, and I think he will really appreciate it. Dr. Sears' has a real head for spotting logical fallacies and gaps in statistical data.

Dr. Sears also recognizes that information on vaccinations is constantly changing. A nice plus is that this book was published last year, so it is very up-to-date. But just to ensure it stays that way, he is maintaining a website that has a lot of resources on vaccines, and he posts updates to any of the vaccines, as it becomes available.

Notice I didn't come right out in this post and announce which (if any) vaccines we have decided to give our son. That's because we haven't firmly decided (though I have a much better idea after reading the book through the first time). Adrian still wants to read through all the info, and then I'm sure we'll talk through pros and cons of various vaccines, and the pros and cons of delaying those we do decide to do.

Oh, and speaking of Brother Dear, he and his Wife Dear now have reason to think about these sorts of things. . . our little baby is going to have a cousin! Yay :-).

Reading List (roughly in order of start/finish)

Recently Read:

The Fisherman's Lady by George MacDonald
The Marquis' Secret by George MacDonald
Surprised By Joy by C.S. Lewis
Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer
Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing by Sheila Kippley
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
It's Not Easy Being a Bunny by Marilyn Sadler
The Gifts of the Child Christ by George MacDonald
Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor
Natural Childbirth: The Bradley Way by Susan McCutcheon
The Missing Three-Quarter by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
What Men Live By by Leo Tolstoy
Various books of the Bible (We most recently finished Job and Romans)


Currently Reading:

Reading Between the Lines by Gene Veith
Shepherding a Child's Heart by Ted Tripp
What to Expect When You're Expecting by Heidi Murkoff
The Plan of Salvation by B.B. Warfield
Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
The Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature by Elizabeth Kantor
The Vaccine Book by Robert Sears, M.D.
The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding by La Leche League International
Psalms
I Corinthians

25 weeks

I'm finally looking pregnant enough to warrant a picture. This is a huge change from even a week ago. And how pregnant I look does vary quite a bit, by outfit. Here I'm in maternity clothes, so I look more pregnant than I do with regular clothes, but it makes for a more fun picture :-). Funny story about the skirt here. I bought it years ago at a thrift store because I liked the fabric and pattern (drop waist yoke), and didn't realize it was a maternity skirt until I got home (I just thought it was rather loose ;-)). I've still worn it through the years, but with a regular top, but I finally get to use it for its original use!

The Depravity of Man

Ashley has an interesting conversation going on her blog, related to the depravity of man. She has been discussing Christianity with a coworker who is an atheist, and is asking for advice, especially relating to explaining the depravity of man. I encourage you to check it out.

Baby Clothes Are Entirely Too Cute

*happy sigh* Aren't baby clothes just absolutely adorable? I've always thought baby girl clothes were the cutest, but I don't know. . . I've decided that baby boy clothes are incredibly cute too (maybe I'm just prejudice at this point, though).

I've been so strong and not bought anything yet for this baby. . . until this morning :-). I found out the church across the street from us has a thrift store, open two mornings a week, and all this month they're having bag sales on clothing, $5 for each brown paper bag (grocery sack size) stuffed with clothing. So, I stuffed 3 bags. Adrian found a suit, a tie, a buttoned-down flannel shirt, and a wallet, and the rest of that bag and 2 others, I stuffed with this:



120 pieces of cute little boy clothing :-D. Mostly size newborn to 9 months, So, factoring out the suit et al, which took up about 1/3 a bag, I got the baby clothes for just over 10 cents each. Not bad, especially since I only chose ones in really good condition, and there were a lot of them that were brand new. I love thrift stores :-).

The Common Sense of Fecundity

(Alternate Title: We're trying to help save the planet, not destroy it, by seeking to have children early and often.)

Why overpopulation is not only a myth and clever lie, but the opposite of the real problem: ever heard of a demographic winter?

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.

Edit: Here's an interesting article on the film.

HT: Amy and LAF

Interesting Verse in Nehemiah

Hmm. Adrian and I have been discussing recently what our thoughts are on nursery, Sunday school, children's worship, etc. We'd really like our son in worship with us from a very young age, but we've been wondering how young. We would both love to skip the nursery and have him with us from infancy, but that's hard to do in a church that doesn't have a sound-piped crying room with a one-way mirror (we meet in a non-church facility, so not an option). We'll see. We'd like to be open, realistic, but also not put our child in nursery "just because", and certainly we don't want to remove him from the preaching of the Word if it is unnecessary. By the way, we're not making any promises on our child-rearing techniques until we've had 5 or 6 kids. But I digress. Anyway, in our devotion readings this morning, this passage in Nehemiah caught my eye:

Nehemiah 8 (ESV)

1And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had commanded Israel. 2 So Ezra the priest on the first day of the seventh month, brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard."

This is the only time in scripture I've seen a distinction, where those who are called to hear the Word are only those "who could understand what they heard". We have other scripture that mentions assembling all the men, women, and children. Or the New Testament passage that indicates that Timothy knew the scriptures from his infancy, or more literally in the Greek, from the womb.

Hmm.

He's a Boy!

We got to meet one of our midwives on Thursday and also had an ultrasound, and we have a healthy, on-track-for-development little boy in there :-). He's been keeping his momma hungry and also reminding her of his existence by kicks throughout the day. I've felt flutterings and such for 4-5 weeks, but they became stronger kicks in the last 2 weeks. Adrian can even feel the kicks now, which he thinks is fun :-). We're at 21 weeks now; hard to believe!

I've been waiting to put up wall hangings in the nursery until we found out the gender, so now I'll lay aside the Sunbonnet Sue hangings, and hang the needlepoint animals instead ;-). My brother Ben and I stitched the four hangings several years ago, as an early project, and I coaxed them from Mother Dear a while back. Wonder if Boy remembers those. . . I also have a cross-stitch of the alphabet (a quilted Q, an L with ladybugs, etc.) that my mom did years ago, that needs to be reframed.

Two reader questions, the first for anyone, and the second for mothers:

(1) I have about 2 yards of some really adorable light green lightweight flannel, with red and blue clowns all over it. It screams "boy", and I want to make something with it, but not sure what. I could make a baby quilt with it, and I might, but a certain dear friend is already making me one, though I guess one can always use a second baby quilt. Any other ideas, though?

(2) What sorts of items are really necessary to have for a newborn? Create a list of the essentials for a newborn, or the extras that you feel were invaluable. I think it's downright ridiculous how many "necessary" contraptions and such there are for babies now!

(3) Bonus question: we're leaning towards cloth diapering (after disposable for the first month, probably), for various reasons. I'm not hugely enthusiastic about the all-in-one-options, mainly because of the cost and because and it's so much more complicated looking! Give me some old-fashioned prefolds. Does anyone have recommendations for brands/sources for prefolds and diaper covers. Cost and quality are both important to me. I've heard that diaper covers, specifically, have gone down in quality, so I'm looking for recommendations on good ones. As far as prefolds, I know not to get Wal-mart ones.

Oh, and to preempt, yes, we have a name picked out, but we're keeping it secret until the little guy is born. And no, he's not going to be a junior ;-). Nor is his name Enoch (sorry, Hannah).

A Connecticut Yankee (!)

(Warning: ridiculously long update, to appease all curiositers)

And yes, I made up that word.

We finally got back internet 2 days ago, and it was so nice to be able to access e-mail again! It took me a while to sort through all my messages (still sorting, in fact). It was rather nice to be "unplugged" for a while, though. I didn't realize how mapquest-dependent I was, though, especially in a new place! I'm VERY glad to have mapquest back :-).

We had a nice but busy December. In mid-December Adrian's parents and brother Lane and my parents and sister Hannah all came up to Blacksburg to see Adrian hooded for his doctorate. Yay! Glad to have that final step done. Adrian defended in June, but this was the first opportunity to walk.

Then after everyone else headed back to various parts of the US, Hannah stayed with us for the next week to cook for us and help pack. That was an enormous help! I'm really not sure how the apartment would have gotten ready to move without Sister Dear :-). That week was my last week of queasiness, and it was nice not to have to cook during that time.

Then the Friday before Christmas, Hannah, Adrian and I headed to Georgia to spend a few days with my parents. We got to stop at Jessie's house in NC for the night on the way. I think Jessie has benefited from being smack-dab on the way from Atlanta to Blacksburg :-) - I stopped there a few times earlier last year on my way up to Blacksburg to visit Adrian. Always fun to see her, of course :-D.

We had a nice visit at my parents' house, and it was wonderful to visit my "old" home church again, and attend the Christmas Eve service there. Even though I lived in Georgia from the time I was 4 months old, this was the first Christmas I'd ever spent there! We'd always gone north to Indiana. So it was a nice change. And we had Ashley and Paul over for Christmas dinner. Good times. Mom, Ashley and I talked while the rest played Settlers of Catan.

We left Georgia the day after Christmas, with Hannah coming back with us (what a trooper!), and scurried back to Blacksburg to finish up packing. We loaded up the truck on that Friday, the 28th, and drove a little more than 1/2 way towards Connecticut, stopping to spend the night with our friends Anna and Brandon in northern Deleware. We towed Adrian's car behind the truck, and Hannah and I took turns driving my car. We got to bed at midnight (we didn't get in until 11:00 p.m.), and were up at 5:00 a.m. to get an early start to Connecticut. The rest of the drive to Connecticut was less eventful than the previous day, fewer missed turns and other delays (like, say, unhooking and rehooking the car tow dolly late at night, in the dark, and rain, and freezing cold - yay for the police spotlight that I never removed from my car).

The first thing I noticed when we turned onto our new street was the discount grocery store directly next door to our complex. "Hey, is a Price Rite like an Aldi's?" was my first reaction. Talk about convenience, and savings! Price Rite has officially become my new favorite store.

Two men from our church up here met us after lunch to help us unload the truck, which was a huge help, because I was about zero help with lifting heavy things for (a) safety reasons and (b) wimp reasons. Adrian and I both looked officially dead by the time the truck was unloaded; I think Hannah was the perkiest of the three after the fact. And she sure did her part carrying things in! Adrian and the other two men carried in load after load of heavy items, including all those books ;-). I kept myself to lighter items, and did sit down for rests at intervals, and was able to make it through all right. After Hannah flew home early Tuesday morning, though, I did take two long naps that day, totalling 5 hours. And then 5 more hours the following day (!). I'm finally quite recovered physically from the move :-).

I even started cooking again last week after Hannah left! I think Adrian is rather glad to have me able to cook again, and even if I'm not cooking anything terribly complicated, it's still real home cooking, and he didn't get much of that the month+ before Hannah took over for me ;-). I didn't have to even think about preparing meals between December 14th and January 1st, thanks to Hannah and Mother Dear, and believe me, that thrilled me :-). Now I'm happy to be cooking again. I was nauseated for about 7 weeks, so that's not all that terrible, actually. I expected much worse, even though it was no fun while it lasted. I'm glad to be back to eating meals in less than an hour now.

The downstairs of our townhouse is pretty much organized, except for a few minor things. Before Hannah left she helped me make a good dent in kitchen organization, and then Becky and Katherine drove over from Rhode Island last Friday, and Becky and I got the rest of the downstairs in place. They were our first dinner guests in our new home, too :-). (Hannah doesn't count, since she's family and since she cooked all the dinners while she was here.) Why is it so much easier to get things unpacked with help? Hmm. The upstairs is slowly getting unpacked. The second bedroom will serve as our guest room and sewing room for now, until Baby takes over. We'd like to use an Arm's Reach co-sleeper, so the baby may not move into the second bedroom for a while. Hopefully :-).

Our townhome has a full, unfinished basement, but it's pretty finished for being advertised as being unfinished. It certainly is nicely climate-controlled, and the concrete floor is painted, which helps with the looks. And we have washer/dryer hook-up! No more laundromat! The climate down there is so nicely stabilized that we're going to keep almost all of our books down there (on our really snazzy metal utility shelves that we bought a while ago for the purpose), which really helps in freeing up space in the rest of the townhouse. Considering we decided on our dwelling sight-unseen (this nauseated, exhausted pregnant woman did not relish the idea of flying up to CT by herself last month, amidst attempting to pack), we're very happy with it. It's a nice place for us, close to Adrian's work, and 15 minutes from our church.

Finding a church up here ended up being a lot easier than one would think it would be, in an area that is only 1% evangelical. We got on the PCA website and went to the list of churches in Connecticut. There weren't many choices, granted, but we love the one we found. It turns out we know several people who know the pastor, and Adrian had already met the music minister, who used to be on staff at his brother's church. It looks like there will be lots of opportunity for Adrian to use his musical gifts, which is very nice. And the people are all very nice and welcoming. There are several other women in the church who are expecting, including a few in our home group, so that'll be nice support for me.

And speaking of pregnancy, I'm back to square one on birthing options, of course. I was SO sad to leave our midwife in Virginia because she was simply wonderful, very knowledgable, a Christian, level-headed, etc. I was really excited about homebirthing with her. Our current leaning up here is a birth center that is 45 minutes SW of us. It's located in a hospital and midwife-run, natural-birth oriented, etc, but with the benefit of a regular maternity ward on the same level, should the need arise. We're touring it a week from today, and I hope it works out. A birth center was my original desire in Virginia, but there wasn't one near us. My skirts have been tight since just before Christmas, but I'm still holding out and just wearing the looser ones. I'm still not noticably pregnant to other people, but I can definitely tell a difference. I finally gained a few pounds after just barely holding onto my pre-pregnancy weight all through the first trimester. My current plan is to sew myself a few maternity skirts, but mainly buy tops via thrift stores. We'll see.

There. No one can possibly accuse me of not giving a long enough update :-).

Really Quick

I'm sitting amidst boxes and paperwork, waiting for Adrian and Hannah to get back with the moving truck. I've spent the last few weeks packing and finding an apartment and traveling. We're finally almost ready to move. We're loading the truck tomorrow and arriving in Hartford on Saturday. I'll be without internet until January 7th. Until then, au revoir!

Life Update

(I'm out of clever titles for now. . . )

So, yes, I haven't forgotten that I own a blog. I've just been curled up in bed sleeping or reading, or generally just avoiding the computer and the-front-room-that-is-too-close-to-the-kitchen-smells ;-). I am fairing nausea better than I thought I would, but it's still not jolly. Oh, and note to people whose blogs I read: if you post pictures of food, I probably will just skip right to the next post; same with descriptions of food :-).

Adrian has been the sweetest, waiting on me hand and foot, doing the dishes for me, and finishing supper when I'm unable. He's the best :-).

I'm at 10 1/2 weeks now. I've been to the midwife once, and am going back for a more complete exam, bloodwork, etc., in another week and a half, but even though I finally found a midwife I really like, we're back to square one in January because. . .

. . . We're moving to Connecticut the last week of December! Adrian's grueling job search finally paid off, and he has accepted a job in Windsor, CT, just north of Hartford. A few weeks ago, when he first flew up there for an interview, I started googling blogging friends who live in New England, and Zan is only 2 hours away, and Becky less than that! So I was pretty happy about that :-). I've never even visited New England, so this could be interesting. I've always been intrigued by the area, and all of its ties to history, but various relatives are already chuckling at the thought of me living in such a cold, northern state. I'm going to have to get some warmer clothes. Or drink hot tea constantly. Or both.

We had a good Thanksgiving with Adrian's brother Arne and various family in Louisville, and we're going down to Georgia for 4 days at Christmas, just before coming back and moving. So that means I'll be frantically packing to get it done before Christmas week.

A Little Taxonomic Exercise

I've observed with amusement the variety of responses we've received from friends and acquaintances, regarding our pregnancy announcement. And so I give you a classification system:

The Presumptive (Type I):
Before we've even taken any pregnancy tests, certain peoples were already asking, "So, are you pregnant yet?"

The Expectant:
When told that we have news, "Susan must be pregnant."

The Incredulous:
"I heard from someone. . . *pauses with questioning/unbelieving look* . . . that. . . you're pregnant?"

The Curious:
"So. . . were you and Adrian hoping to start a family this soon?"

The Presumptive (Type II):
"So I bet you weren't expecting to be pregnant this soon, were you?" *wink*

The Consoling:
"I wanted to let you know that I've never regretted any of my children. . . "

Hehe.

Reformation Day: A Reminder for our Times

Today is Reformation Day, a holiday celebrating the great faithfulness of our forefathers in the faith, as they defended the Word of God in the Middle Ages. On October 31st of 1517, Martin Luther nailed his famed ninety-five theses onto the castle door of the church at Wittenberg. He was challenging the Catholic church's practice of indulgences, and what ensued is what is commonly known in history books as the Protestant Reformation.

Many Christians today (myself guilty at times!) look at our culture today and think that there is no hope for the Gospel, and that we are indeed sinking into greater and greater unbelief, heresy, and corruption. We are prone to see the earth on a freight train headed straight towards a great engulfment. We see our current political situations, the unBiblical laws passed, the millions of our children who are murdered by their own parents each year, prayer stripped out of schools, Gospel truth replaced by moral relativism, and the "Christians" in our society following mammon and Hollywood more readily than Jesus. And we take a VERY pessimistic view of where our glove is headed. We think there is nothing that can be done.

But look at Europe at the time leading up to the Protestant Reformation. The Word of God was held captive by a religious elite who were corrupt to the very core, hiding theft, adultery, greed, swindling, and lies underneath the guise of the name of our Lord. The Gospel was not being preached to the masses; instead they were hearing select portions of scripture read to them in a language not native to them, and the public were being taught that they had to help earn their righteousness. They were so frightened of the future of their souls, and so frantic to do anything to earn their way into heaven, that the poor would give away some of their last pennies to buy off a few years from purgatory or to save their souls from hell. The masses murmured rote prayers in penance, trusted in priests to be their mediators before God, and lived in utter fear and spiritual darkness.

That, my friends, is despair. That sounds like a place where the Gospel truth would never spread. That's a society sinking into greater unbelief, heresy, and corruption. The Word of God was not even available to the masses! Yet God was still sovereign, even when His church came to the brink of self-destruction. He used a monk who was bold enough to challenge the powers that were, and He used corrupt church counsels and men who were still searching for the truth to accomplish His will. And look at the fruit it has born! Churches around the globe still benefit from the courage of men like Luther, Calvin, Knox, Zwingli, and others. God's church continues to spread, not because all the factors are aligned in its favor, but because God is in His heaven, and He is still ruling.

So when I get discouraged and am tempted to adopt a very pessimistic eschatology, I remember the Protestant Reformation, and give a prayer of thanks to God for always preserving a remnant of His people. And I remember a brave monk in 1517, and all the reformers who came after him, who were willing to die because of their beliefs, letting the truths of God be their dying cry:

Sola scriptura - Scripture alone

Solus Christus - Christ alone

Sola gratia - Grace alone

Sola fide - Faith alone

Soli deo gloria - To God Alone be Glory!

Make sure to read some of the excellent posts linked at the 2007 Reformation Day Symposium.

Answers to Various Questions

First of all, I think it's hilarious how quickly I got comments on the previous post. Y'all are very perceptive! I also find it interesting that the phrase I used is common to Australia too; I didn't realize it was that wide-spread.

Our projected due date is June 22nd, though that has not been confirmed by a physician or midwife; I'm just going by online sites on how to calculate it. I'm 6 weeks, 3 days along (for those who don't know, those weeks are never calculated from conception, in case you're starting to count backwards to our wedding date. . . ). We think it's hilarious that our due date is exactly 9 months from our wedding day :-).

I took the first pregnancy test two weeks ago tomorrow, and another (different brand because I'm cautious) the next day; both were positive. For the first several days my main symptoms were just hunger and a bit of tiredness, but late last week I got that unpleasant queasiness that now seems here to stay a while :-P. But no really awful nausea/vomiting. Just enough to make me feel really bleh and make me want to not do much at all, especially with the added tiredness that comes with the first trimester. I actually delayed starting to write wedding thank you notes, thinking that if I did get pregnant the first month, that would be a good activity for me while I languished in bed, so this works out well :-).

Even though I'm becoming terribly sensitive to smells, and don't have any appetite, and have queasiness, I'm actually faring better right now than I thought I might, as I am keeping down food (even though it takes me a long time to force it down!). Adrian, thankfully, doesn't mind it when meals aren't gourmet, and he's taking my whims about smells quite well. (Honey, didn't you say you liked that smell yesterday?) He's wonderful :-D. I'm VERY thankful that I started a prenatal vitamin, cod liver oil capsules, and a B supplement several months ago, so I don't have to adjust to those new smells/tastes as well, because the latter two are strong.

As for cravings, I haven't had many, yet, except for fresh fruits and vegetables (especially fruits!), so I definitely splurged on my grocery trip yesterday, and bought more fruits than I usually do. Right now I'm mainly preferring really bland foods, though. Even my cravings for dark chocolate have disappeared temporarily (Don't faint, Jessica!).

As to what our birth plans are. . . we don't know yet. Part of it is, we don't know if we'll still be in Blacksburg in June. Adrian will hopefully be done with his internship and have another job, which may be here, or it may be in California, or Nebraska, or New York, or South Carolina, or Timbuktu (actually, only lower 48). I am looking at options in Blacksburg, though, because we may be here, and I do need to see someone before too many more weeks have passed. My first choice would be a birth center with a midwife, but the closest one is an hour and a half away, which isn't my idea of a fun drive, while in labor. And the closest midwife who delivers in a hospital is still over an hour away. I've spoken with a midwife who does home births, and I really like her (not alarmist, very experienced, etc.), and we do live one minute (literally) from a hospital with a birthing wing if an emergency arose. Also this midwife recommended a local family practice that does birthing as well, at a more personal level than most OB/GYN practices, and at a nearby hospital. So answer: I don't know :-).

Names? We've only briefly discussed ideas. I have a friend who insists I need to send her a full list of our possibilities, but I simply don't have one yet. We do like Germanic names, though, or other Northern European names (Swedish, etc.). We're both of German descent, with other European mixed in (Swedish and English for me). We want names that have not been overused, but also ones that most people have at least heard of, so the poor child doesn't have to spell his name for someone every day of his life. And no, Hannah, Enoch is currently NOT in the running for a first name for a boy. We also don't know yet if we'll find out the gender. Part of that will be determined by if we have an ultrasound. We'll see :-).