Well it's been over a year since my last post. So much has changed over the course of 2011. Mitch and I found out in April that we would be parents, and pregnancy, in its entirety, is a journey in and of itself. Your body goes through so much change to prepare for a little life that is growing inside of you. During the course of my pregnancy, I experienced the ups and downs of mood swings, the "oh-so-fun-looking-in-the-mirror-thinking-you-can't-get-any-bigger" experience, my feet and hands swelling, my heart growing even bigger every day to love prepare for the love I would feel for my child, and then came the wonderful stress of getting ready for baby. College got out for summer in May, and that left me with no place to call home. In the part of North Dakota I live in, there is a huge oil-boom going on right now, leaving the jobs abundant and the housing scarce. With a baby on the way and no place to live, I moved in with my sister. To make a long story short, that was the worst seven months in a long time for me. Living with someone you haven't lived with in years is a huge change, and you must in fact learn to put up with the mannerisms of other people.
Luckily in December Mitch and I finally moved into our first home-a quaint little trailer house. Even though we had finally been able to call ourself a family, it was still stressful. Our baby was due December 15, and we moved in December 5. We had no furniture ready for our child, and with me being so pregnant I was unable to really help move in. I was very tired all the time and didn't have much energy. I thank God that we were able to put everything together for our baby just in the nick of time.
I found December 12th that my baby girl was to large for me to have a natural delivery-I would have to have a C-Section. This brought a lot of anxiety for me as I had never had a surgery before-not to mention one that I would be awake for the entire time. I hoped and prayed that Mitch would be able to accompany me into the delivery room.
December 16, early in the morning, we made our way to the hospital, where we met up with my "parents." The nurses went into "surgery prep" mode as they started my IVs and monitered the baby's heart beat. Mitch didn't handle this well...to say the least. As soon as they started my IV, he turned pale and had to sit down and fed juices. Needless to say, my "mother" went into surgery with me. At 7:17 A.M., I heard the very first cries of my daughter.
The recovery of the surgery was not easy-I had pain worse than I have ever felt in my life for weeks afterwords. As well as dealing with just having a major surgery, I was also learning how to be a mother. That was a change. I've learned so much since December 16, even though it hasn't really been that long. Alice has captured my heart more than I can even start to explain, and every day with her is a new day.
Here we are today, my new little family. Our daughter is now two months old, getting bigger by the day, and learning new things. Each day we have with her brings something new. Whether it's a huge smile I see when I go wake her up, or the unpleasant "dirty-diaper", I wouldn't change anything for the world. And while my time for maternity leave will soon be over, I know that it will be okay. I'll still have the most precious baby girl to welcome me home after a hard day at the bank, and I'll still have Mitch to give me a kiss as I walk through the door.
As I sit back in my seat right now, just having quickly summarized my year, I can now look back and think, "Even though last year was super hard, stressful, and flat out crazy, I still ended up with a great conclusion to 2011." I have a beautiful daughter that I didn't have before, I have a relationship with the best man I know in this world, and I have a fantastic roof over my head. I can't complain. Life is full of change-but that's okay, because when it comes down to it, change is beautiful-even if it doesn't seem so at first.
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