It was cold yesterday.  A nice change from the humid 85 degrees the day before.  It is November after all.  Seems like we should finally get a break from the heat.  The weather was gray and rainy, so it really felt like winter.  We snuggled on the sofa in our flannel pajamas and read books all morning.  I turned on the crockpot and made applesauce to make the house smell festively of cinnamon and apples. Then Caleb wanted to make Gingerbread men.  We played Christmas music and rolled out Gingerbread cookies.  The whole house felt warm and festive. Welcome November. We're so glad you're finally here!

Applesauce Recipe:

8-10 large Gala Apples
Cinnamon

Cut Apples in quarters and core them (leave the skins on). Layer in crockpot and sprinkle each layer with cinnamon.  Cook on low 6-7 hours.  Puree in blender.  This is the best applesauce ever!  We eat it for desert.  It tastes like apple pie.

I have been hesitant to post about this because I never want to seem as though I'm complaining about morning sickness or being pregnant.  It is an amazing gift to have a pregnancy and the joys far outweigh the pain.  However, since I get a lot of questions about how sick I get during my pregnancies, I thought it might be interesting to do a post on it.  Statistics say that only half of women suffer from morning sickness in pregnancy.  Of those, less than a third have severe nausea.  Most women complain of feeling icky in the morning or at night and only occasionally vomiting.  Then there are the rest of us.  Those of you who have suffered through this will sympathize.  For the rest of you, let this be a lesson in gratitude. 

My morning sickness comes on at exactly 5 weeks every time.  At first, it's not too terrible. It gets progressively worse so that by 10 weeks, I can't keep anything down unless I am fully medicated.  Even with the medicine, I still lose my cookies...but it is significantly better.  I've learned a few tricks of the trade along the way.  Getting lots of sleep (10 hours at night!) seems to help.  I try very hard not to throw up...even though it would be easier!  I've learned that if I throw up once in a day, I can't keep anything else (even water) down for the rest of the day.  If I feel extremely nauseous, I lay perfectly still.  Any movement at all makes me lose my cookies.  Even if I'm feeling pretty good, too much movement (like dressing Jackson) can make me sick.  By 10 weeks, I am so sick that I can hardly swallow my pills and often gag and vomit several times before choking them down.   Prenatal vitamins become obsolete at this point.  I have to wait until I feel better before I can take them.  I take a unisom (50 mg) and vitamin B6 every night before bed.  This is supposed to work.  If I am really really sick, I take the Zofran.  This is tricky because it causes severe headaches - which in turn make me sick.  So I only take it in extreme situations.  The Unisom is an all natural sleeping pill.  (As if you didn't feel sleepy enough in your first tri-mester!)  This pregnancy, I've been forced to resort to the occasional coke to keep my body moving through the day.  I'm pretty much a zombie for the first three months though. 

With my last two pregnancies, at around 16 weeks the medicine finally seems to manage my nausea enough that I feel pretty good.  But I can't go without it, or I get sick again.  With Caleb, I was violently ill until 26 weeks.  A six month nightmare!  (I had four weeks of blissful pregnancy before I ended up on bedrest with Caleb at 30 weeks)  Apparently women who get this sick have a vitamin B deficiency.  So this time, I took B vitamins for several months before I got pregnant.  I can't tell that it helped at all.  I have friends who have been similarly ill.  All of them lost weight, some of them were hospitalized for dehydration.  The thing about it is that we all seem to gain just as much weigh as everyone else.  The scary thing is that your body goes into starvation mode and after you stop feeling sick, it stores everything as fat stores for the baby you are feeding.  I lost weight with both boys (8-10 pounds) but still gained a shocking 38 pounds with Caleb and 26 pounds with Jackson - all within the last 20 weeks!  I am 17 weeks now and haven't gained an ounce (I don't know how that's possible, since my belly has definitely grown!) but I fully expect my body will make up for it in the last 20 weeks.  So there you go; more than you ever wanted to know about morning sickness!  It's basically like having the stomach flu for 5-6 months.  If you don't have it, count yourself very lucky...and consider being a surrogate mother for those of us who can't imagine going through this again!

Our MOPs craft for this week was decorating candles.  We pinned the ribbon on with very short straight pins.  Ditto for the beads.  Be careful that you choose short straight pins and that the holes in the beads are small enough that the pin head can hold it on securely without slipping off. The candles were $1.99 and the beads and ribbons were very cheap.  We made these as gifts to give to friends or teachers for Christmas.  I made all of these in about 20 minutes.

"Ours is a constitution suitable only for a righteous and moral people, and unsuitable for any other culture"    -John Adams

That explains a lot.  Let's hope those few righteous and moral people show up to vote!  Early voting is going on now...don't miss the chance to make a difference.

I had my checkup with the midwives this week and baby seems to be doing very well.  Baby Greene has a good heartrate and a healthy amount of movement which we could hear on the doppler (the midwife had to chase baby around to get a good heartrate reading - kept moving so much!) According to the midwife's scale, I am still 4 pounds less than I was when I got pregnant.  But I am starting to have some pretty good days, so I expect this morning sickness should be over soon.  I also have more energy (finally!) 

We have our appointment for November 16th, to find out the gender of the baby People keep asking if I want a girl.  Of course every mother wants at least one girl. A girl is a companion for sharing so many of our girlish fetishes.  Playing dress up, talking, sharing a love of shopping or cooking.  And when she's older, sharing the joys of marriage and motherhood with her.  But God knows best, and I'm content to leave the choice with him.  I'm reminded of Elisabeth Elliott's story about the birth of their first, and only, child.  Both Jim and Elisabeth had prayed for a boy, a son, the firstborn.  They felt sure that God would answer their prayer.  But God had far better reasons, and he chose to give them a girl.  It became clear to Elisabeth after her husband was murdered by the Auca Indians that she would be raising this child alone - and God knew best why this child must be a girl.  Though most of us will never experience so dramatic a situation, we can trust that God has our best interest at heart and he gives us what we need.  So whether this child is a girl or a boy, we will be equally delighted with his choice and rejoice greatly in the birth of a healthy infant.  And besides, I really love little boys - more than I ever dreamed I would

Caleb's bible study class planted seeds this week in little cups.  When we got home, he took it outside so it could get some sun.  He cradled it gently in his hands while he looked for a safe place to set his little creation.  We finally decided upon a chair and he set it down carefully.  He sat there, chin resting on his hands and said "Let's just sit here and wait til it grows Mommy."