Grateful

There are many things that I am and have been very thankful for over the past eight months, and I want to acknowledge them. Perfect timing with this early Thanksgiving!

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I am so, so lucky to be on my husband’s health insurance. My full-time employment has been on and off for the last three years, but thanks to him, I’ve always been covered. His company’s health insurance is fantastic. The maternity coverage in particular is great–everything is covered, and all the well visits are covered as preventative, which means there’s not even a co-pay. Since I’m high risk and go to the OB and for ultrasounds a lot more often than low-risk pregnancies, by now the co-pays would have added up to at least $1,000. The hospital stay for the three of us has a low maximum each, so if god forbid anything went wrong, we wouldn’t rack up thousands of dollars in bills.

There are so many women and families who don’t have this luxury and privilege–whose families can’t afford insurance at all, or who don’t have full-time employment that includes benefits like health insurance, or whose insurance plans don’t cover everything they need or have really high deductibles. All the debate about healthcare this year makes me sad and angry–it’s not about politics, you schmucks, it’s about PEOPLE. There are people like us who are lucky (or the rich who can afford to buy the absolute best care no matter what), but there are also so many who deserve to have the same level of care without sacrificing other things for their families. I hope that as time goes on and more people see the benefits of getting everyone covered and an increase in preventive medicine, that the debate goes away. Because there’s really nothing to debate. Sorry, rant over. 🙂

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At the risk of jinxing things or sounding braggy, I want to again acknowledge how lucky I’ve been just in being pregnant. In general, things have been just about as easy as they could be. No sickness, though I got too tired and sore to keep exercising pretty quickly. No super huge belly that stopped me from doing anything. Our road trip was pretty darn easy on me, which was a very happy relief. The back/hip pain in August and September was the worst part, and in the grand scheme of things, that wasn’t so bad. No restrictions or complications. No heartburn or reflux. No gestational diabetes. Hand/finger pain, but not carpal tunnel. As things have started to get more uncomfortable and painful in the last couple weeks, though I’m not enjoying it, I’m not surprised or upset. So I hope the weekly posts in which I detail all the things going on don’t sound like whining, because I’m really not. At least not much. 🙂 So many people have had such a hard time, and have struggled, and had a lot of complications of varying levels. I find myself not wanting to say anything about this experience because I have been lucky enough to avoid the really bad stuff.

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I’ve really been touched by all the family support. The grandparents are all so excited and have been really supportive. They and other family members have really contributed to the preparations, either in help/offers of help, or with actual stuff. I feel humbled by it, and I really appreciate all of it!

Not only that, but we’ve also had generous support and gifts from friends and colleagues. Again, it’s humbling and we are so grateful!

Also, if you’re reading this, I’m grateful to you too. 🙂

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Of course what I’m most grateful for is my husband. He’s always been so, so wonderful to me. And as I’ve gotten more and more pregnant (or at least more visibly so, I guess there’s really only pregnant or not pregnant), he’s been ever more supportive. He worries about me, and helps me, and doesn’t complain. I couldn’t ask for more.

He’s been involved with everything from the start. He’s attended all the appointments with me, and of course all the classes too. He scratches my back and rubs my feet (which he’s always done, but I think I might have started asking for more recently). He opens things for me (my hands/thumbs still aren’t fully functional or strong). He’ll stab my potato for me (again, hurts my hands).  If he sees or hears me drop something, he’ll pick it up for me (bending has gotten more uncomfortable and almost painful, especially all the way to the floor. If I’m on my own, I end up in almost a sumo/full second position plie; my belly prevents anything different at this point). Sometimes I’ll ask him to take my socks off for me so I don’t have to struggle to reach them, and twice now I’ve asked him to put my socks ON for me. He empties and loads the dishwasher (except sometimes I still do, if it’s been too long).  He’ll fetch me snacks or beverage so I don’t have to get up.

This is so embarrassing–but apparently I snore now. For some reason, one little-known side effect of pregnancy is increased congestion, and so now I snore. This is like the ultimate shame for me, because I hate noises at night that keep me up, especially snoring. But when it wakes him up, he goes and sleeps in the guest room. I feel so, so terrible, and wish I could do something about it. But he’s so understanding–I think it’s starting to get to him, but he never says anything. He says he knows it’s not my fault and that it will go away (IT BETTER GO AWAY, RIGHT?!), but I still feel terrible.

He’s been doing all of the driving when we go somewhere together lately, and will have to continue to do so, even though he’s not a big fan of driving. For the last few weeks of doctor’s appointments, he drops me off at the door and then parks the car, and picks me up at the door at the end. Or when we’ve gone out for errands, he’ll go in to the store and I’ll wait in the car. (He admitted once that he likes that, because he can walk at his normal fast pace instead of my snail speed.)

I’m sure I’m forgetting more of the little things he does, but you get the idea. He’s really supportive and wonderful, and in general, such a great husband. I feel so very lucky that he’s in my life as my partner and best friend. And now I’m really excited to see him become a daddy–he’s going to be amazing at that too. 🙂

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We’ll be meeting our new babies in time for Thanksgiving. Wow.

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I have a lot to be grateful for this year!

I hope you and yours have a good Thanksgiving.