One hundred two days…
I’m excited about today! I have no idea why. There is nothing different about today. There are No parties, no shopping trips, nothing at all out of the ordinary. Who knows? Maybe it’s the caffeine rushing through my bloodstream. I just consumed a strong cup of coffee. Another confession… I have a love affair with coffee. I’ve given up several fatty foods, but I will not give up my coffee! Give me coffee, or give me death! Well, not exactly, but you understand my point…
Actually, there are days I feel God whisper joy to my soul. Today is one of those days. The combination of caffeine fueled by inexplicable joy makes me feel alive. It’s a good day! I hope you are having a good day as well.
The following is a quick peek at chapter two.
(Chapter Two)
First Pregnancy
When Paul and I were first married, I worked at a daycare center. He was working and attending college at the time. Being so young, we struggled financially. It seemed that a job working with children would be perfect for me. I fell completely in love with the children; working with them every day caused me to want to have a child of my own. After talking with my husband, I decided to go off the birth control pill. Looking back, it is hard for me to believe that it was so easy. Within three months, I was pregnant. I didn’t worry about details such as timing or graphing my temperature; I didn’t even know how to calculate all those things at that point in my life. I wanted to be pregnant, and I was. Wow, what a blessing! Naïveté can truly be pure bliss.
My pregnancy was for the most part “normal” for the baby, at least. I had no bleeding or the worry of having any bleeding due to my young, this-is-all-going-to-work-out-perfectly mind set. However, I was very sick! The way my body deals with morning sickness redefines the term. I throw up for months on end, lose weight before I gain any, and lose much of my strength in the process. The medical term for this is called hyper emesis gravid arum. This is a very difficult condition for any woman to tolerate, let alone go through it at nineteen with a new, young, handsome husband who was reduced to cleaning up my vomit night and day, because I was too weak to do it myself.
We laugh today about how financially broke we were, and how he would spend his last thirty dollars taking me out to eat. The problem then, that makes it funny now, was that I would immediately throw up his entire thirty dollars worth of food in the parking lot promptly after leaving the restaurant. There was not one establishment that I visited on a regular basis where I didn’t end up sick, at least once. Oh, and did I mention I became ill with chicken pox in the first trimester? Yes, I did!
The risk with contracting chicken pox early on in a pregnancy is congenital varicella syndrome. The most common manifestation of congenital varicella syndrome is scarring of the skin. However, other abnormalities that can occur include a smaller than normal head, eye problems, low birth weight, small limbs, and mental handicap (CDC). Thankfully, none of these anomalies occurred. I gave birth to a healthy baby boy on December 3, 1992. Today he is nineteen years old and the joy of my life. God used those beautiful blue eyes on that precious baby boy to help me through many dark days ahead.
Some of us try for what seems forever to become pregnant, others can never experience pregnancy at all, some conceive as soon as they decide it is time, and some even have what we refer to as “accidents.” I have experienced almost all of these situations. I have gone through years of infertility; I became pregnant when I decided I wanted to be pregnant, and I even once had an unexpected, “accidental” pregnancy.
I now realize these little “accidents,” as so many people fondly refer to them, are the most beautiful treasured gifts straight from heaven… if you are blessed enough to be able to keep them. Later, after years of grieving, I would learn that they are also a blessing, even if you are unable to keep them. This brings me to my second pregnancy.
