Wednesday, January 2, 2008

A Primer

If I were trying to explain morning sickness to someone who has never had it, I think I would bypass the never-strong-enough description of the physical illness aspects (think chemotherapy treatment) and would instead focus on the one word that best encompasses the entire ordeal for me:


  


DIRT.


  


Morning sickness is just ... so ... dirty. There is the obvious dirt of retching every half hour or so. There is the dirt of being so weak that even standing in the shower takes too much energy and so hair doesn't get rinsed as well as it should. There is the dirt of not being able to find clean clothing because you haven't made it downstairs to do laundry for, well, far too long. There is the dirt of stinky diapers, the dirt of retching yet again at the thought of changing the stinky diapers, the dirt of dishes that are awaiting some kind of glorious cleansing, and the dirt of floors that haven't seen a vacuum in ... months.


  


Despite all of this, I have to say that these past four months have been the easiest in dealing with morning (and yes, I have to say it..."morning" HA!) sickness and all of the accompanying dirt. I am the kind of person who always has to tell people that I am pregnant when I am about 6 1/2 weeks along. It's not that I'm that excited...it's that I'm that green and they always fear I'm dealing with some terrible disease. But this time, it was 11 weeks before we told my parents (who, admittedly, called and said, "Is there SOME REASON you've been so tired lately?" -- a nice way of saying, "Is there some reason your house is such an ABSOLUTE WRECK?" after they stopped by unannounced); and it was 15 weeks before we told anyone else. While I could easily attribute this to the chemical 1/2 Unisom and Vitamin B6 I tried to take every night, I have to say that I know it has to do with my husband.


  


Ethan orchestrated the dirt beautifully. He never mentioned it, taught the kids to wade their way through the paper plates (wonderful invention!) lining the floor in order to heat a bagel for themselves, picked up a sandwich for me on the way home every day so that I wouldn't have to smell dinner cooking, kept small "protein bites" (yummy steak and hamburger cut in bite-sized pieces) in the fridge that he could pull out in a moment's notice if he thought I was looking pale(r), promised us a big outing when Mommy was up to it when we would go to a LAUNDROMAT (this is still a place of wonder to our children) and wash what turned out to be all fourteen loads of laundry, went to work, prepared for his seminary classes, preached his senior sermon in South Carolina, took five licensure exams, and got his preaching license at the December presbytery. And he never once commented on my being more helpless than our nine-month old.


    


And in the midst of this, he helped our 5-yr. old turn 6, our 3-yr. old turn 4, and we celebrated Christmas. WITH A TREE, EVEN.


   


So if someone asks what morning sickness is like? First, it's messy. It's dirty. Stress just makes it messier and dirtier. It's nothing like the movies where the beautiful mother-to-be suddenly grimaces, grabs the nearest trashcan, loses her grilled chicken salad from lunch, wipes her mouth, says, "I'm fine, really," and then puts her lipstick on. It's more like the scuzzy mother-to-be who is lying on the couch, her twisted face twisting even further, a loud "GET OUT OF MY WAY!" erupting in a monster-like manner as she pushes her hands to her mouth, dashes in an amazing rush of adrenaline to the nearest bathroom, pushing children and toys and, yes, food from the floor in order to get there, counts it all joy if everything makes it into the toilet (and by everything, we mean nothing close to grilled chicken salad...try a Burger King Whopper or some Pringles or whatever it is she could actually fathom eating), and then after she loses her lunch, she loses anything additional that might have been in her stomach as she glances at the state of the bathroom.


  


I'm just saying.


  


But now, at 16 weeks and counting, things are finally starting to look better. Not necessarily cleaner (although I am wearing all clean clothes and my  hair has been washed, rinsed, and COMBED!!), but we've got all afternoon to work on that.


      


Hee hee hee.


   

10 comments:

  1. PreschoolersandPeaceJanuary 2, 2008 at 11:39 AM

    I get it. I do. BTDT so many times and it never gets easier. If I lived closer I'd bring your family dinner and you a big basket of lemons :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. You DO get it, Kendra! Aren't lemons just the most wonderful anti-dirty morning sickness fruit in the world? To smell them, to drink them, to squeeze them on everything....


    Mmmmm.


    ReplyDelete
  3. Hope things are improved. No morning sickness is one BIG plus of adoption. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Carpebanana, you and my husband think alike!


    Last year my friend Ja stayed with us while she waited for her adoptive baby to be born in our city. When he was born, I drove her to the hospital, we picked him up, and we drove back to my house. It probably took an hour, all told.



    My husband was flabbergasted. "We're doing THAT next time!" he said. Nothing like seeing only that end of it (never mind the paperwork, the months of waiting for an unsure outcome, the money involved, the tearful prayers, the constant, "Have you heard anything about the baby?" from well-meaning friends....)


    But yes, my husband wholeheartedly agrees!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I must say that when I noticed you didn't post anything on your blog in two months, I thought you were probably pregnant. I logged on today to find out if there was any news, and if there wasn't I was going to have to e-mail you and make sure that it was just pregnancy and not some other horrible ailment. I'm so relieved! I hope things continue to look up for you!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I had been wondering where you went. BTW, I am right there with you, sister! 5weeks 1 day today =) I keep myself functioning by sucking on mints and sour gummy worms all day long. Congrats on the new little one, I believe that bearing children is the single most important way that God-fearing women can further the kingdom of God.


    Angela B.

    www.athinkingwoman.reformedblogs.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yum. I've never tried that one, but it sounds delicious and is making the sides of my mouth water! Do you still have to be sick to have a reason to suck on them all day? :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Carol talked to me today and told me your news. So sorry to hear about the morning sickness . . . this too shall pass. Do I dare say . . . it could be twins! I know bite my tongue woman. Do you know your chances of having them again . . . 1 in 20. I knew that would brighten your day. Love ya

    ReplyDelete
  9. As someone who has experience the wretched-ness that is morning (HA!!) sickness, I have another DIRT for you.


    Dirt...may as well just eat dirt because I am just going to throw it up again!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. That last dirt comment was from me :) Feel better quickly. Don't know if I ever told you this...Abigail's 1st sentence was "Mama cough, bucket." The simplicity of morning (HA!) sickness to an, at the time, 18 month old.


    Love you

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts with Thumbnails
 
Protected by Copyscape Duplicate Content Detection Tool