Greetings friends, from the land of the bed-couch. Yes, that’s right; it is that time of year again where we drag our spare-bedroom mattress into the living room, place it between both couches, in front of the Christmas tree, and basically live on it for the next few weeks. Does that make us slobs? Yes. Does that make us lazy as hell? Double yes. Do we care? Not one bit. It is probably my favorite tradition we have. It literally shows me that the simplest things in the world are indeed the most precious. A bed oddly placed in our home, with a sleeping husband next to me, an adorable boxer baby at my feet, and a very active human baby inside my belly remind me he or she is here too. These are the times I live for. And the perfect place to finally sit down and take a second to update everyone (and my future self) on what has been going on these past few months since I have written last.
Well for one — Still happy, pregnant and quite a bit larger than the last time I checked in. I am 28 weeks, almost 29. Pregnancy has been going well for the most part. I was very sick up until about 17 weeks and then magically woke up one day and finally felt like a human again, which was appreciated by the WHOLE household, trust me. The baby is doing well. I have been discharged from maternal-fetal medicine (which is a group of doctors that specialize in high-risk pregnancies), so that was very exciting for us. I can finally feel the little one moving around. It took a bit longer to start to feel him or her just because I have what they call an anterior placenta. For all my non-medical friends, that literally means the baby is sitting behind my placenta, so they must kick through that before I can actually feel it.
As you have probably picked up on, I don’t know what the baby is, which I am loving. However, the even cooler part is Shaine does know. He really wanted to know, so for the past 12 weeks or so, he has been able to keep it a secret from me and everyone else in the world. And trust me, there has been some severe pressure from many friends and family members. Still, my hard-headed military husband won’t give in to pressure. I plan on writing many more posts going into much more detail about our fertility journey, how my first, second, and now third trimester went. Still, for now, I just wanted to share a quick recap with you all.
Secondly — I am once again a college graduate. Today, December 17th (the day I wrote this) was my official nursing pinning ceremony. That’s right ya’ll I now hold three degrees; One in human resources management, one in respiratory therapy and one in nursing. I can’t officially call myself Amanda McConnon RN, RRT, just yet because I have one last state board exam to take after the new year. Still, once that happens, you best believe I will be screaming that from the roof-tops. Especially after how emotionally, mentally, and physically draining the entire nursing school process was. But at the end of the day, I freakin did it, and it feels so good to celebrate that.
Nursing school was a huge reason I was on a bit of a hiatus from updating the blog and sharing it with you guys. It was tough for me to justify sitting down to write for fun when I knew I had other things I should be doing, but now all that is over with, and I can come back to writing for me. I want to get back to writing at least one post a month just so I have a fun interactive journal to look back on. Still, as you’ll come to read in a future post about my pregnancy, I have developed carpal tunnel due to retaining fluid. It’s obviously not dangerous, but it is painful, making writing/typing harder than it used to be. So please bear with me while I figure out my new normal.
Lastly – I want to say how thankful I am to be where I am in life. I have written many posts, had many conversations, and experiences so many life events that left me puzzled, wondering what the hell am I doing. Sitting here right now, I understand them. Tomorrow I may feel different; I may be back to wondering or over-thinking/planning, but for right now, at this moment, I can honestly say I am undeniably happy. Happy to be living life, to be sharing it with those in my circle, in my community through this blog.
The past year has been an emotional roller coaster. Started the year becoming a patient at the fertility clinic, learned to deal with being a struggling college student again, turned thirty, found out we were pregnant, coped with everlasting all-day sickness, the joy of welcoming my first niece, road trips with my little family, graduating and everything in between. This year has been one to remember, but next year I look forward to being even better and getting back to my true self again.
In the new year, I want to make it a priority to reconnect with the relationships that I neglected in 2019 because truth be told, I had too, my plate was too full to add one more thing. — I also look forward to more writing and connecting with this community, learning to say no thank you when something does feed my soul, teach myself how to sew, becoming a mom, a better wife, more reliable friend, fully-present daughter, starting my new career as a registered nurse and so many other things that are waiting for me even those I am not aware of them yet.
Thank you, 2019, for the lessons you taught me, but here’s to 2020. I have a feeling that 2020 will indeed be the best year of my life yet. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year from my little (growing) family to yours.
Cheers