anderson was very much "planned" (i use the term loosely b/c i believe that without a doubt i am NOT in control and that my God ordains EACH and EVERY step of my life). in june/julyish of 2008 mark and i spent a lot of time talking about having our fourth baby. originally, we were going to come to VA and wait a few years, then have our fourth. but after much thought we really sensed that a move to a foreign state would only complicate being pregnant. not having a doctor that we knew, we had no idea if we would have a community to support us, etc..etc.... we were still close to family in MS, we had sweet friends at church and in the community, a great list of babysitters, and we felt like all their assistance would be huge. b/c if the previous 3 pregnancies would be any indication of my fourth, we would need as many hands as possible.
the long of the short of it is i get sick, sick, sick. from about six weeks until 18-20 weeks.. so it's 12 weeks of awful. when i was pregnant with katie i was not working, so i did not realize how sick i really was. i slept probably 15 hours a day. i was also fighting depression, which was another reason for the increased sleeping. after i got pregnant with julia, i was hospitalized twice for severe dehydration. i remember one day i threw up every hour for 24 hours straight. i literally could not stop puking. it was after this little episode that the doctor said, "sara, we have to find a solution or you are going to lose this baby!" EEEKKK. thankfully, my sister was working on the pediatric oncology floor and recommended Zofran. they had already tried phenegran to no avail. so the doctor wrote the prescription. and we about passed out when we went to fill it.. it was 33 dollars a pill, and i was instructed to take 4 pills a day which equals 132 dollars a day!! so for a 30 day supply it was nearly four thousand dollars. needless to say we did not have four thousand dollars. after, bargaining with the insurance they "graciously" allowed us 30 pills a month.. 30 compared to the 132 i was prescribed... my doctor even called and begged them to give me more.. "no" was the answer. so we had no choice but limit intake to one pill a day.. half in the morning half at night. we also were encouraged to contact our church and see if they would be willing to assist us financially. i still cry thinking about their response.. they basically told us, "whatever you need!!' what a beautiful example of the workings of Christ's body. so with the help of our church and other churches, i was able to increase my stash of zofran.. and if you have not heard before, zofran is the miracle drug. for the most part it eliminates large amounts of throwing up and helps battle the dizziness. after a few days on the medicine i told mark i would sell a kidney on the black market if we could just continue the steady supply. i was able to function again and i was SO GRATEFUL. when i got pregnant with lucy, the doctor didn't even question me and wrote the prescription at my first visit.. i had leftovers stored away too.
with all 3 girls the smell, thought or site of food had me rushing toward a bathroom. everyone kept saying 5 small meals a day.. i wanted them to take their 5 small meals and shove it where the sun doesn't shine. after throwing up in every venue possible you begin to think two things when you go anywhere 1) where are the bathrooms? 2) how will this food taste coming up? it is not a fun life. you get extremely discouraged and exhausted with constantly battling nausea and vomit. i have thrown up in the middle of the aisles at walmart, i have thrown up in church sanctuaries, i have thrown up in the middle of sentences, i have thrown up on random people's lawns, i have thrown up in the car into a walmart bag more times then one can count, WHILE DRIVING.... like i said, exhausting.
the only thing about anderson's pregnancy that was different from the girls was i was ravenous!! so hungry in fact, that i would welcome the owner's of lenny's sub shop every morning @ 11am, so that i could consume their italian sub combo. it was the only thing i could hold down and it was SO satisfying. i should have stock in lenny's! they knew my name and my order before the sickness passed. most mornings i would arrive in my p.j.'s and glasses. so "unsouthern" of me. but i was SO done being a southern bell by then. most evenings i would put myself to bed after tucking in the girls. mark was in the middle of his senior year of college so he was EXTREMELY busy... and it actually worked out well. he would study most evenings at the library since i was not much of a companion at night. the sickness with anderson lasted longer then it did with the girls. but we survived....barely :)
we were not going to find out what our fourth child was. we found out with katie, then did not find out with julia, and we found out with lucy... however, i did decided i wanted to know what our 4th baby was, BUT we were not going to tell anyone. isn't that wrong, so wrong? really, i think i didn't want anyone to be "disappointed" if it was another girl, so i thought the anticipation of not knowing would keep everyone on their toes.
mark and i both loved the thought of adding a boy to our home, but we were MUCH more comfortable with the thought of adding a fourth girl. we were REALLY good with girls :) when we were "planning" our pregnancy we prayed two specific requests: Lord, please continue to number our steps, and Lord, if it is your will please grace us with a little boy Littlejohn. in addition to our prayers, we studied more thoroughly this time the rhythm of getting pregnant with a boy. yes, folks it is a scientific process. while some like to believe it's all chance... it's not. it's a very specific, and exact science. anywho, we said our prayers, practiced the art of babymaking in the boy rhythm form... and waited for the sonogram day.
although, if you would have asked me and mark what we were having... we would have BOTH confidently said, " A GIRL!"
were we ever in for a SHOCK!!
(to be continued)
~s
Here I am at 36weeks...
Awww!! I remember this pic!! Can't wait toread the rest!!!
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