Today is day 70 of bedrest or 10 weeks...which ever you prefer!!! I will see the doctor again in 9 days. I'm glad but hate the car trip because Thai roads are full of bumps and potholes. It is not exactly the best trip for someone who isn't supposed to be jostled. But you gotta do...

Yesterday, I got cable for the bedroom! Well...it's cable but not at the same time. Getting "real" cable is expensive but they have another package in which you can view the cable in the 2nd location, but both TVs in the house have to watch the same channel. So Jack and I will have to collaborate if we want to watch at the same time. But, I'm happy becasue my days were starting to get harder and harder to fill. I wake at 5:00 A.M. so that I can get help with a shower before Jack gets the kids up and also because I'm in too much pain to sleep any longer than that. By 9:00 A.M. I have had 4 hours of reading, Bible study, prayer, journaling and etc... I'm not trying to sound spiritual...it's just what I do. So from 9:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M. I have very little to do. I stare out the window a lot but you can only do that for so long. That's a lot of time to fill. One can only nap so long as well. A nap fills about 30 minutes of my day. So, now at least I can have something else to do. I won't allow myslef to become a TV junkie, but I can now watch something in moderation. Yea!

Birthday results

Ok..so how did my b-day turn out? Did I get the fantasy or the reality? I got the reality. I woke up to eggs and toast. I also got a pretty bouquet of flowers. Rhianna brought me a nice lunch and my friend Bun bought me some perfumes. It was a collection of Calvin Klein travel perfumes. Very nice. Dinner was chicken casserole, salad and strawberry shortcake all done my way. My present was some more " big" exercise pants to fit my growing belly for my bedrest days. Think comfort, not cute. It was a good day considering. I didn't cry once about being 35!

Birthday Surprise

Yesterday the team ladies surprised me with a birthday brunch! It was really sweet. I had no idea that my downstairs was full of ladies and plans for birthday treats. They all came up singing Happy Birthday. I'm sure I looked dumbfounded..because I felt it. We had a good time of fellowship, yummy foods and played a game. It helped the day to go faster. It wasn't even my birthday yet! Thanks Ladies!

I also want to thank Helen Henry for the beautiful flowers! I can't believe you did that for me! You are so thoughtful and I can't wait to see you next month!

Milestones

On Wednesday, January 24th, I will be 35 years old! Sigh. I sigh for two reasons. 1. It's another family occassion that I will be spending in a bed. and 2. fleeting youth. I guess I've always regarded 35 as the end of youth and the beginnings of approaching middle age. I know, I know...some of my "mature" readers out there are probably shrieking with laughter at my considering 35 anything to blink at. But at any rate it feels like a milestone. I'm sure I'll have to endure another 11 months of digs from my husband who gloats over being just 11 months younger.

So as I have begun contemplating this birthday coming up, I have tried to think of how to make the day feel like a special day rather than a day to feel blue...about being in bed. I thought up my perfect bed rest birthday which I will refer to as "fantasy" and I also came up with my "reality".

The Fantasy:

• A breakfast of cheese grits casserole and hot bisquits. I have tried to get Jack to make me cheese grits casserole for about 2 months now.
• Chinese food from my favorite Chinese restaurant for lunch or dinner. I would have what we in our family refer to affectionately as "long noodles". We don't really know what they are called, but it is basically a low mein type dish with very long egg noodles stir fried with pork and onions, scallions and other veggies. Our whole family loves them. I would have the fried scallion pancakes with this dish. Delicious. I have been craving this meal for ages. What makes this a fantasy is that the restaurant, Shanghai Din Xin, is located downtown and would require 2 hrs for Jack to drive downtown to pick it up and drive back home with it. So this isn't likely to happen. I would also want a few extra orders for the fridge for other days!
• Cake and mint chocolate chip ice cream
• Presents
• Maybe a bouquet of beautiful flowers

The Reality...which is also nice given our currently lifestyle.

• A regular breakfast because after all it is a school day
• leftovers for lunch
• Chicken casserole made my way for dinner. My way is made with angel hair pasta as opposed to regular spaghetti sized noodles. It also means that the mushrooms and water chestnuts aren't diced to oblivion to make them more palatable for the mushroom and water chestnut haters in the family. If you can't taste them it really affects the overall texture and taste of the meal and ultimately the experience of it!
• A salad with tomatoes and cucumbers in it. Jack is more of a "just greens" kind of guy.
• Fresh French bread
• Strawberry shortcake with whipped cream..hmmm...come to think of it, that might be more along fantasy lines. I might prefer it to cake and ice cream.
• A present

These are my birthday thoughts. I'll have to see what I actually get that day. The best present of all? To be healed completely...and to get off this bed!!!! But even if I were healed...I couldn't find out until February 6th!!! Boo Hoo.

59 days of bedrest

So, I have been sitting for 2 months. What's it like? Here are few things that bedrest has brought to me:

• hair that hasn't seen a hair dryer in 2 months
• make up only on doctor appointment days
• 3 meals a day in bed
• crumbs all over the bed
• a sore tail bone and hips
• Thanksgiving in a hospital
• a frozen turkey in my freezer
• Aidan's birthday in my bedroom
• skipping over Jack's birthday
• seeing my Christmas tree once
• Christmas on the couch
• my team singing carols to me outside my bedroom window
• eating other people's food...yum
• missing two of Gracyn's school performances
• visting friends and team mates
• my first communion in bed...hopefully my last
• close to 20 books read
• a TV for the bedroom...thanks Mom!
• a borrowed DVD player..thanks Crystal!
• watching British sitcoms over and over and over...but still enjoying it.
• the knowledge that I really did marry the right guy
• a new understanding of suffering and a faith that has grown
• a deeper understanding of God's character
• more ultrasounds than any person should ever have
• baby kicks!
• a laptop to blog with
• a baby boy in the palm of God's hand
• a peace that passes understanding

Visitor

Last week as I was staring out my window (which I do a lot these days) I noticed a new white bird perched in a tree. This bird was huge and I'd never seen one like it before. He kept hanging around outside for about a week. I mentioned it to Jack and he said, " oh, you mean the stork?" "He's been eating all the fish in our pond." Jack didn't see the irony of the situation as quickly as I did, but I thought STORK? Are you kidding me? Here I am pregnant and a stork has been hanging outside my window! He must be trying to figure out where I live so he can make a delivery in June! :) He's gone now, but maybe God was having a little fun with me since I am couped up like a prisoner.

I'm Back!

I am officially back on-line after 2 months! We just bought a laptop to make this possible. We had a laptop, but it was stolen 2 1/2 years ago and we just saved up enough to replace it.

I had a check-up on January 9th. Yes, I'm still on bedrest. The good news is that my hematoma has shrunk from 10 cms to 5 cms! It seems to bed healing with time. It is still bigger than when this whole ordeal originally started but at least we seem to be making some progress. I haven't had any bleeding in 3 weeks. Lord willing, I won't from this point on. I'm at the half way mark in this pregnancy though which is reason for praise! God has been so good to get me to this point. Bed rest has been one of the most, if not the most, trying experiences of my life. I've been in bed for 55 days!! I may get out to shower (sitting down) and use the toilet. That's it. The pain of being confined to bed is unbelievable. I have a sore tail bone and two painful hips with shot sciatic nerves. I can only sleep 1 hour at a time before having to carefully adjust my body. I have to wait until February 6th to see the doctor again so I will be bedridden until at least then. Hopefully, I will get the all clear at that point. I'm struggling to imagine making another 3 weeks. I have a new sense of compassion for the bedridden. I can't imagine how frail old people endure this for so long.

On a lighter note, we did have a funny experience at our last appointment. I have wanted to know the sex of this baby from day 1 and Jack wanted a surprise. Had this pregnancy been "normal" I probably could have waited for Jack's benefit. However, sitting in this bed has just caused me to want to know so badly. I kept begging Jack and he wouldn't relent. So at our last appointment the doctor did a freeze frame of the baby's gender. He then asked if we wanted to know. What he forgot was that we have had more ultrasounds than any person should ever have to have and we know what we are looking at by now. Plus, this is my 3rd child. We don't need it all spelled out. So, when the doctor asked, we said, "umm...we can see it for ourselves." Jack quickly tried to cover my eyes and said, "don't look!" I said, " I saw and you saw...give it up...we both know what it is." We are having a boy! The doctor tried to cover his tracks and said "well, I don't know". I said," I can clearly see that this baby is a boy." Doctor Sankiat looked dejected and said, "what do you need me for then?" It was funny. In the end, God sided with me and let me know something that could give me a reason to smile in such an otherwise tough situation. So now during this next month I will have something to treasure up in my heart as I wait.

Please pray for me and this baby boy. The baby has been healthy this whole time and oblivious to the condition. Pray for total healing. I want to get up and enjoy this last part half of pregnancy. I want to be big and round. I want to wear something besides PJs. I want to go eat the things I crave. I want to be with my kids in their daily lives. I want to walk! I believe God works miracles and I'm waiting for mine.