We are Back!

Hello Reader Friends! I am glad you are here and we are starting back into our Thursday post routine. It has been a while since I have written- 2 months! I want to explain why the pause happened and what occurred during my break. 

The Good News

I am expecting another baby! We are very happy to be adding another member to our little clan. Some babies are surprises, but this little one was planned. We prayed and discussed if we should stop at two or have a third child. It seemed the light was green to traverse the path of pregnancy and baby loving once again. 

(Let’s pause here and recognize that there are families who want to have children or more children and are unable to. This hurts my heart more than I am able to express in words. I want every woman who desires children to be a mother to as many kids as she wants to tuck in and kiss at night. You are precious and I hurt with you in your ache and longing.)

The Bad News

My first trimester of pregnancy came in like a trader- I thought it was my friend until the day I realized it WAS NOT. I became so sick. Now there is a track from my bed to the toilet bowl. The many trips were so I could toss my cookies in the porcelain throne. With my head bent over the toilet, I wondered if I would suffocate. I am terrible at throwing up: my nose starts running so that I can’t breathe through it. So I’m left to try to breath from my mouth that is throwing up my supper. When the brief torture is complete, I go to the sink to wash out my mouth and see a red faced, swollen, snotty monster staring back at me. What is the technical name for the crazy thing that happens to my face? Little blood vessels pop and I have dots and splotches around my eyes and on my neck or cheeks. Over and over this happened. Finally, I felt so awful and told Joel that I didn’t think I could do this anymore. We made an appointment and went to see the doctor that afternoon. There I found an understanding listener, two bags of fluids through an IV, and my first dose of prescription nausea medicine. Some more natural methods were attempted first to calm the nausea and vomiting and nothing helped. It actually took three tries to find a prescription medicine that would work. In a conversation with Joel, I confessed that if I knew it would have been this difficult, I don’t know if I would have decided to have another baby. He wisely said something like: if we knew how hard marriage and parenting would be, we probably wouldn’t sign up for it. 

My Heroes

During this time when I was either aching to crawl in bed or lying in bed doing nothing but feeling awful, some good friends came to the rescue. Three girls who live in and around Brewster took turns coming over (when I texted in a tizzy in the afternoon) to watch my kids while I rested and napped. How grateful I was for their willingness to care for my two kiddos at a moment’s notice. Other lady friends watched my children too. Three women prepared delicious meals and delivered them to our home. My mentor came with her daughters carrying a hot meal for supper and cinnamon bread for breakfast. Then they asked for my vacuum and cleaning supplies and scrubbed my bathroom and folded mountains of kid’s laundry. The thoughtfulness of these dear girls and women still make me smile each time I think of it. It reminds me of the line in a children’s book I read my son twice a day called The Little Blue Truck*. Dump says to Blue, “Now I see a lot depends on a helping hand from a few good friends!” These women offered food, prayer, hope, childcare, and advice. They are my heroes.

Superman

My house was a pigsty, train wreck, and tornado of toys while I was ill. We like to have a tidy living area and kitchen at the end of the day. This did not happen on the many nights when I was making my routine trek to the toilet to be sick. You know who didn’t complain? My husband. He took on many of my duties around the house and caring for the kids. Though he was used to coming home to supper being prepared, he began to do the supper preparations and clean up each night. He put the kids to bed solo, night after night. He did my chicken chores, laundry loads, and other tasks. Though I felt so guilty for adding to his already maxed load, I learned again what it means when we commit in marriage to: “In sickness and in health.” My man was committed and he showed me over and over. I am so thankful.

A Break

It was a long two months. I did very little and felt very awful. Since I wasn’t reading, listening to podcasts, or going to church, it became difficult to have ideas I wanted to share in writing. It sort of felt like I wasn’t thinking, just surviving. And thus, I took a break from writing for June and Joy blog. 

Baby

Things are shifting back to our normal around here as I am feeling much better. I am happy to be cooking in my kitchen and folding my family’s socks. Weeks ago, I saw our little baby alien (that’s what they look like at 11 weeks) on the ultrasound screen and fell in love again. Tomorrow (12/4/20) I will be 17 weeks pregnant and baby is moving often. My sister-in-law is pregnant (just two weeks behind me) and my bump is mammoth compared to her cute belly bump. This could be because I haven’t stopped eating since I started to keep food in my stomach. And nothing sounds better than sausage biscuits, honey-nut cheerios, and donuts (I need to say “no” to these foods more often!). I am starting a wager with my family to see who can guess what I will weigh on the day of my c-section. Maybe I should start a food journal instead!

Names

We love to be surprised and don’t find out baby’s gender until the doctor announces it at baby’s grand entry. Thus, we need a girl and boy name. Somehow, we got all our names in alphabetical order in this family. So now I am positive we need to name our baby a name that starts with “N.” Would you help me? We have a girl name we like. What are your favorite boy names that begin with the letter “N?” Joel is big into the meaning of names. So, it would be special to pick a name with a good meaning.

What’s Next

I am lining up blog posts for the rest of this year and scheming and dreaming about what is in store for next year. We will be here each Thursday. Most weeks you will find my writing matched with Mandy’s photos. And sometimes you will see some of my poor photos or some of Mandy’s fun blog posts. I will keep you updated as other exciting things, that are now in the works, become available. My next goal is to get the blog sent to the inbox of my readers who would like an e-mail each week! 

Thank you for waiting in the long pause. We are glad to be back!

-Kassie Joy

*Little Blue Truck Written by Alice Schertle and Illustrated by Jill McElmurry