Into the Sixth Month

Life has been a bit crazy around here. We were evacuated to Shreveport for a week during Hurricane Gustav and were riding out the outer bands - with tropical storm strength winds and rain - of Hurricane Ike at home by the end of last week. Josh and I were fortunate enough to have only minor damage to our house from Gustav and no significant flooding from either storm. The day we evacuated for Gustav was the same day Grandma's funeral was held. I was sad that so few people could come, knowing that the church would have been packed given other circumstances. Also, I felt like we just left her behind as we ran away from the storm - not knowing whether my grandparents' house (which is located south of Houma, near the area where the eye of Gustav made landfall) would even be there when we returned, leaving us with very little to remember her by. Their house made it through the storm with relatively little damage, but Grandpa had to stay with my parents the following week due to the excessive flooding from Ike. The time between the storms was interesting - being unwilling to stop watching the news or unpack or restock the refrigerator or put items around the house back in their places (which I still haven't finished).

In the meantime, my new job as the Director of Religious Education at our church required me to try to hold registration for religion classes for public school students after weekend Masses, while people may or may not have even returned to their homes. We have a large Hispanic population at our church, so the language barrier presents further problems with trying to get the children to class. We held our first class and parent meeting on Tuesday night, to which many people who registered did not attend and several who had not registered did attend. I've been staying busy with tons of paperwork and organizational tasks to try to help classes run smoothly.

I've finally been able to start my online training course for teaching Natural Family Planning. Since I've had almost a year of practical experience already in teaching with supervision and helping to counsel couples, I'm hoping that I'll be certified before the end of the year. Additionally, Josh and I have started the real work for our master theses. I really want to have a draft written before the end of the semester so that I will be at least mostly finished when the baby comes. I think Josh is aiming for the same goal. At this stage, the work required is mostly reading/research. I hope to come up with a working outline in the next week, but we'll see about that...

In baby news, I can definitely feel movement at this point, and sometimes Josh can feel it, too. We should be going to see the midwife either next week or the following week. (Our schedule got thrown off due to the hurricanes.) While I'm still adapting some of my regular clothes to fit, I don't think that is going to work for much longer. Depending on what I'm wearing (lucky for me, the current fashion includes large, flowing shirts), it's still not obvious to some people that I'm pregnant. We should be starting our 12-week Bradley course in the next few weeks, which I'm excited about. My mom, Josh's mom, and I are going to work on registering for baby things on Saturday while Josh goes with the pro-life club (at the school where he teaches) to pray in front of an abortion clinic.

So, that's what we're up to lately. I'll try to update again after our next pre-natal appointment.

20 weeks +

We had our appointment with our midwife today. It was supposed to be Monday, but the remnants of Tropical Storm Fay presented a weather problem to meet with her. We were going to reschedule for this coming Monday, but we'll be evacuating on Sunday due to Gustav. So today was it. The baby's heartbeat is good, the position of my uterus is right (height at about belly-button level), my blood pressure is good, I have no swelling, there are no problems with my urine, and my weight is about 131 lbs. In other words, everything is as it should be.


My Grandma passed away on Tuesday. In light of all the suffering she was going through, with new problems seeming to crop up every day, (and in light of the storm currently heading directly toward my grandparents' house) I believe her passing was an act of mercy by God. If I've ever experienced a living example of redemptive suffering, it was through her. I will miss her terribly, of course, but I know in hope that she is numbered among the saints, part of the Church Triumphant (as they used to say). And part of the beauty of being Catholic is that I know she is present every time Mass is celebrated. In the Liturgy we gather together with Christ - in the Word and especially in the Eucharist - and with all the angels and saints as we praise God together. I am saddened knowing she won't be able to hold my children, knowing how very excited she was about becoming a Great-Grandma, but I am consoled knowing that she will now be able to watch them grow - much better than she could have here.


Grandpa, Grandma, and I at our wedding rehearsal dinner