Thankful

So I’ve decided I’d like to do a series of gratitude posts again. While doing a series can sometimes end up feeling a little bit like a chore, it also always (at least with the gratitude series) makes me really appreciate the wonderful things about my life, large and small.

So this is going to be a hybrid sort of thing – part alphabetized Gratitude Tuesday (but on Thursday), part recent blessings, and part baby update (since Thursday is the day the I go from one week of pregnancy to the next – I’m 11 weeks today). WARNING: I’m pretty blessed, so these may be some looooong posts!              

ABC’s of Gratitude:

Again: As in, pregnant again. What a wonderful and unexpected blessing!

Amazing Grace: Not just the song, although it’s one I love, but more importantly the meaning behind the song. I truly once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.

Autumn: my favorite time of year, and the season of both my birthday and Daisy’s.

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Recent Blessings:

I cannot begin to tell you how very much God has blessed and taken care of us recently, but I’m going to try. Some of this I’ve mentioned before.

• After over a year without insurance of any kind, this pregnancy not only qualified me for a FABULOUS insurance plan through our state, but it also provided Morgan, Daisy, and eventually the new baby with full medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• The hospital where my doctor primarily delivers, the same one where I’ve had both of my girls, did not accept this insurance plan – until right around the date this pregnancy got started.
• My hospital only works with one group of anesthesiologists. This group was not in-network for my insurance plan, and with my last pregnancy I ended up with a $900 bill that accrues interest at 18% (which I’m still trying to pay off by the way). I knew that we just could not afford to have another interest accruing bill piled on top, but I also knew that an epidural is not what I’d call an optional procedure. (I know lots of women have babies with no pain meds, and more power to them, but it took 45 minutes just to stitch me back up after I had Morgan. I’ll take that needle, please.). After many, many phone calls, I finally reached someone at the anesthesia group who let me know that, despite the fact that none of the doctors in their main office are listed in my provider directory, they are in fact in-network for my plan because some of the doctors in their other offices are in-network, and they subscribe to all insurance plans that include any of their doctors, and I should be covered fully. Yay!
• With the rest of the family covered, we have been able to pick up medical insurance for Nick through his work with the cost being about $120/month as opposed to $1500/month for employee plus spouse and first two kids, the reason we were without insurance in the first place!
• Monday Nick was able to sign the papers and bring home our brand new used Toyota Sequoia!
• Trading in my Camry on the Sequoia saved us $13 a month on our car payment and $50 a month on our car insurance!
• This is a small thing, but our insurance company also started accepting payments by phone for free, saving us another $5 a month.
• Getting the Sequoia means I get to go to Texas! Hooray!
• When we bought the Sequoia, the dealership sent it home with Nick with a full tank of gas, no small thing with today’s gas prices!
• This week has been Vacation Bible School at our church. Besides offering the standard kid fare, they’ve also had an adult class and a full meal every night, so we’ve gotten to not only have some great fellowship, but also have dinner for free all week!
• Yesterday my brother-in-law C found out that he was hired for a new position in his company, something we’d really been praying for. He loved working for his old boss, and the job was one he enjoyed, but the new position is a move up.
• Coincidentally (or rather through God), my friend D had applied for a position at the same company. She’s been having a REALLY tough time with her job at the bank (where C and I both used to work), and she was just ready to walk out, but had no job lined up. C saw her name on some paperwork there at his current company and recommended that his old boss hire D for the position he (C) just left. D has an interview next week, and she couldn’t be more excited!
• Daisy has been officially weaned for a week now. I never intended to nurse her past 18 months (when I weaned Morgan), but she just didn’t seem ready to give it up then, so I didn’t push it. Then I got pregnant, and it was like she sensed something and wanted to nurse ALL THE TIME. I really wanted to get it done sooner rather than later so that she wouldn’t see the new baby as encroaching on “her” territory. Finally my mom suggested I try weaning by the Farmer’s Almanac. Whaaaaaaat? But I was desperate, so I decided to give it a try. The suggested dates were July 12-19, and I have to admit, it was surprisingly easy to accomplish during those dates. She hasn’t looked for it more than a couple of times, and she was easily distracted when she did.
• Recently we’ve noticed that when Daisy runs, her left foot tends to turn in. This concerned us, so today I took her to see the doctor. Fortunately, after a thorough exam, he declared that while there’s a slight turning right now, it’s nothing to worry about and should correct itself over the next few months. Whew!

Baby Update:

Your Baby in Week 11 of Pregnancy

Your baby (now about two inches long) has been pretty busy this week, growing hair follicles, fingernails, and ovaries (if she's a girl). She has distinct human characteristics by now, with hands and feet in front of her body, with ears nearly in their final shape, open nasal passages on the tip of her tiny nose, a tongue and palate in the mouth, and visible nipples. What else makes her look human? Those hands and feet have individual fingers and toes (meaning good-bye to those froglike webbed hands and feet). Hooray!

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