TAKING CLASSES
This last month Matt and I started taking a couple of classes. Antenatal classes started last week and so we have been learning about what to expect with the birth and the labour process. So far I haven't really been scared or nervous by the things that I've learned, but I do hope I won't have to go through a C-section or have any other pregnancy complications. My current plan is to have as natural a birth as possible, but if I want the pain killer I'll get it. One woman in the class is having twins and she is a bit nervous about how everything is going to go. Needless to say I'm so glad I'm not having twins! Here's an interesting video about the biological changes going on during pregnancy...
The church offers various free Self Reliance courses which are really awesome. Matt and I wanted to take the Starting and Growing a Business one as well as the Personal Finance one, but we decided in the end it would be better to focus on just one for now since we already are doing the antenatal class for five weeks. We started the Business course a couple of weeks ago and it has been really great so far! Although I don't have a business, I focus on making goals to help Matt's business. Overall we work together to improve different aspects of his business. This last class was really helpful as we started listing different ways we can help market the business. His last job finished last Monday so until he finds more work we have no money coming in. While looking at marketing options we discovered that he needs to do extra things to get his contractor's license here in Queensland. Because QLD is a different state they have different requirements to get a painting and decorating contractor's license. Lots to do! Luckily with the course we can discuss things with other students and also get suggestions that we might not have come up with on our own. We'll see how things go.CHURCH STUFF
Matt and I were recently called to be YSA parents! This means that we work with the young single adults (18-30 yrs old) in the ward. We basically assist as needed, are mentors, go to the activities and support where possible. We are really excited about this because we loved the YSA in our previous ward and it is a fun calling we can do together. Over a week ago we taught our first lesson on eternal marriage. I think Matt and I gained more from working on the lesson together and discussing how we wanted to address the topic than the students did. We have only had a couple activities so far. The first was a beach day at Caloundra and I'm sure my body loved the Vitamin D. The water was still a little too cold for me to want to dip in, but the weather was beautiful. It's hard to believe it's winter when it's 25C or warmer here (80F +). The second activity was a fast breaker and Matt and I both commented about how welcoming and awesome the YSA in the stake were. Although we were the old married couple in the activities, we felt very included and were impressed by how well they all seemed to work together and get along. I look forward to getting to know all of them better!
Since I am home all day I have told the missionaries to call me whenever to assist with lessons. I have had the opportunity to help teach at two lessons now and both experiences were amazing! Sometimes after I've committed I am really unmotivated to go, but once we are there helping spread knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ I am always reminded of my own testimony and am grateful I have the time and ability to help. The last lesson I felt was really inspired as it was with a woman who had previously had five miscarriages and has recently given birth to her 2nd child. This gave me an opportunity to talk about the blessings of having a family and reminded me that all the pregnancy woes will be worth it in the end.
Another task I have taken on is to play the piano for the Relief Society class in my ward. I'm not a very good piano player and am definitely out of practice, but my poor playing is still better than listening to the CD for hymns. Additionally, this will help me better develop my skills. The truth is I mostly lack the ability to be confident and continue playing even when I make mistakes. I get so nervous that I often struggle even on easy parts that I would never do in practice. When in doubt I can usually play the right hand reliably. I practice once a week at a member's house so hopefully in time I will feel more confident and be able to play decently.
This last weekend we had a big church activity called the FSY Carnival. The youth had loads of games, activities, and food geared towards helping raise funds for the large For the Strength of Youth (FSY) activity that occurs each year. The ward asked if anyone would assist in baking goods for the bake sale and I volunteered. Not knowing what to expect I went a little crazy making Oreo truffles, cheesecake brownies, and muddy buddies. I had fun making them, but when we arrived it was quite clear that our ward had been AMAZING at contributing! There were so many baked goods there that I was certain they would have lots of leftovers. Some people had gone above and beyond with baking fresh bread and homemade jams. We had a good time and I hope the youth earned enough and that all the baked goods found homes in the end. I wondered later if perhaps I should have kept more goodies for home, but I'm sure my body is happier without the extra chocolate. Besides, I still have enough leftovers to make more. I was bummed nobody seemed interested in the muddy buddies, but I forgot that since they aren't common here people are more hesitant to buy them. Then again, there was a lot of variety!
THE 3RD TRIMESTER
 |
| 30 weeks |
My cold has definitely persisted and no doubt due to a lack of good sleep and not enough vitamins. I ran out of my prenatal vitamins which I order from the US (it has to have folate due to my MTHFR gene mutation). So to compensate I was taking a couple monster multivitamin pills as well as a separate folate supplement, and lots of vitamin C to help with my cold. I can now safely say I have a risk of vomiting if a. the pill is too large to swallow easily b. the pill has a nasty taste c. I have already consumed a lot of vitamins at once and d. my stomach already feels very full. All of the above can make me gag and my stomach just responds by getting everything out whether I like it or not. I used to think it was psychological, but now I think it's just a learned response my stomach has from my first trimester. My hope is that things will go back to normal after pregnancy and I won't have to fear any time I take a supplement. Before you start offering me suggestions....I've tried lots of different things and really the best option for me is to just seperate out all the supplements throughout the day. My prenatal vitamins have arrived so there is hope most of my vomiting supplements is over. My cold has developed into bronchitis causing Matt to sleep in the spare room to avoid listening to me coughing all night. There has been a massive outbreak of flu and gastro going around so ultimately I'm really lucky I'm not experiencing anything worse. I think I'm getting better, but it's definitely taking it's time - it's almost been two weeks!
I recently had to take the glucose tolerance test to test for gestational diabetes, which was not ideal considering my poor health at the moment. The test requires you to withold from everything except water after 10pm the day before. At 6am you go to the hospital where they take your blood, give you a glucose drink (tasted kind of like a flat lime soda) and then you wait. After an hour they take your blood, then you wait another hour and they take your blood again. I went in on Friday and waited 45 minutes before the woman saw me and then she turned me away because I had taken a throat lozenge that morning. I guess I should have expected that, but my throat hurts so bad in the morning! I called Matt and we went out to breakfast to make up for my bad morning. When I went in the second time I tried to do everything I could to get a good nights sleep including my nightly antacids, lots of pillows, Vick's VaporRub, and Matt helped massage my sore back and sciatica nerve. I still woke up nearly every hour, but miraculously I felt fine going in to my appointment. My biggest worry was that the lack of food would make me feel very sick, but the glucose drink filled my stomach enough that I was able to feel ok. I passed the time by calling family in the US so it wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected. The best part was after having breakfast and getting home I was so tired I passed out and slept really well!
On a different and more positive note, my application to get paid maternity leave was approved! This means that once the baby is born the government will provide financial assistance, which I believe is $672.60 per week before tax for a maximum period of 18 weeks. This is a massive blessing! I am so grateful that we were able to find a way to meet the requirements. Although this won't help us figure out how to pay for the stuff we will need prior to the baby being born, it will help relieve some of the stress after she is born.
OTHER STUFF
A few other fun things over the last month have happened. Lincraft is a fabric chain here that had a 50% off all fabric sale so I went a little crazy and got a bunch of material at awesome prices. It was 50% off the marked price so I got some fabric that was normally $20/metre for $5/metre. So I sewed another maternity skirt, only to discover I had gained weight and it was way too form fitting for my liking. I had enough material to fix it sufficiently, but this meant that the green maternity skirt I made before the move would be way too tight. I spent days trying to fix it into a short hippie style skirt with the leftover material and I think I just made it worse. Sometimes making things up and putting it on the dress model just isn't the same as trying it on yourself. Feel free to give me feedback... should I even wear it in public? Matt's response was "It's VERY hippie." Good thing I have lots of other material to play with! My next project is a minky baby blanket and I also got a couple of maternity patterns to try out. I want a big flowy dress that I recently saw in the store so that might be in the works as well, but as my "made up" creation didn't go so well I'm hesitant to try a dress without a pattern.
Our cat shade has been enjoying having me home all the time, but he's been very bored since I've been under the weather. Another cat in the complex randomly showed up at our door meowing so we decided to let him in. To see what Shade would do we called him downstairs and that's where things didn't work out so well. The other cat was roaming around and Matt decided to pick Shade up to introduce them. Shade was so unhappy and scared he started to pee all over Matt and the floor. The other cat we rushed out of the house, but he managed to step in the pee and get it spread all the way to the door. We were late to our class that night cleaning all the cat pee up, but luckily it had made it on the tile floor and nothing else. Today the cat came around again but this time we let them get to know each other on their own terms. The other cat just sat outside of the screen and Shade stared at him from the stairs content to not get any closer. I'm not sure they will ever be friends.
