A New Appreciation for the Christmas Story

We've all heard the Christmas story (I'm talking about the birth of Jesus, not Santa Claus) numerous times. Us Catholics are also pretty familiar with the whole "Mary being born without original sin/Immaculate Conception" bit, as well.

Every December, I read the Bible passages and teach the true meaning of the holiday to my students, and I'll admit that I don't usually pay attention to all of those little, yet important, details.

Until this year.

Cases in point:

* So, God really had a plan for Mary her whole life if SHE was born without the stain of original sin. That must also mean that God has a plan for me - and Baby Girl Yasay, and she's not even born yet! (The whole "Before I formed you, I knew you. And before you were born, I consecrated you...(Jeremiah 1:5) still makes me teary-eyed.)

* Mary was pretty amazing. I mean, she was YOUNG (early teens) and here she was blindly saying "yes" to this angel that she was okay with miraculously conceiving a little Son who would become the Savior of the World - and she wasn't even married yet! I'd like to think that I'd do the same thing, but that's got to be more than just a little terrifying - a 13 (or so) year old girl who was told that she'd be pregnant, even though she wasn't married or even had "relations with a man", and this kid was going to be a King over all the earth? That's a lot of pressure on a woman!

* Not to mention Joseph. He was really okay with the fact that he was marrying this girl who was "with child" and believing that this was, indeed, a miracle and not some crazy scam that a wacky girl made up? I'm thinking about Justin - and don't get me wrong, he's a good (GREAT!) guy and everything, but if I had told him that I was miraculously pregnant before we were married and all, I kinda think that he'd ditch me in a heartbeat. (I may be wrong...)

* And then this whole donkey ride when being about ready to give birth. Did you know that the route to Nazareth to Bethlehem is 80 miles? And it's not like there were paved roads that would give them a straight shot to the town. Since Mary was greatly pregnant by this point, it probably took the two (well, three) of them a week (give or take) to make it from Nazareth to Bethlehem through scorching deserts and frigid nights. A WHOLE WEEK. ON A DONKEY. WITH LITTLE FOOD OR WATER. BEING SO PREGNANT THAT YOU COULD GIVE BIRTH AT ANY MOMENT. If it were me, I would have probably been a little angry with God. I mean, seriously - you're making me do what? Isn't this kid supposed to be the Savior? Can't you help a girl out?!? I'm not nearly as pregnant as Mary was (I still have less than 3 months to go!), but whoa - I'm feeling pretty huge these days, so Mary must've been GINORMOUS! And to think that she did it without fear and just trusted in God. Again, she's pretty darn awesome.

* Finally they get to Bethlehem and there's no room for them at the inn. Oh, I would've been so mad at my husband - I would've been on his case for not getting there fast enough or not leaving early enough or not making a reservation at a posh hotel. But, nope, not Mary and Joseph. They were totally okay with a BARN to sleep in. With SMELLY, FILTHY ANIMALS. And nothing but a FEEDING TROUGH to use as a crib. It kind of makes me feel okay that our nursery isn't quite ready yet.

* But here's the kicker - she gives birth to this Son, and all of a sudden all of these people come to pay homage and worship Him. Three Wise Men come from afar bearing the most precious gifts that were around back then. Lowly shepherds came to greet this newborn king. And Mary and Joseph know...they KNOW...that this baby laying there in that gross, disgusting manger is, indeed, the Son of God, Emmanuel. And how amazing is that? It definitely made everything worth it, in the end. God really does know what he's doing, huh?

Merry Christmas!!!!

A bit of a scare...

Disclaimer: Sorry if this is too much info for you...I wasn't even going to include it in the blog, but what the heck - we're friends and family :-)

So I was expecting yesterday to be a typical Friday - nothing special. HA!

The morning started off as usual - got up, got dressed, went to work. The kids took their usual Friday morning spelling and math tests and had snack before their handwriting teacher came in to relieve me and give me a planning period.

Being six months pregnant and always having the need to pee, the first thing I did as soon as I handed the kids off to Mrs. S. was to take a trip to the bathroom. Whatever - no biggie. I got back to my classroom to grab some papers to grade, and all of a sudden I felt a weird sensation and fluid dribbling down between my legs (again, my apologies if this is too much info). It definitely didn't feel like I was peeing (I mean, I had JUST used the bathroom - it's not like I was holding it in), but it was a significant amount of fluid that when I looked down it totally looked like I wet my pants.

I ran out of the classroom and back to the bathroom, hoping no one would say anything or notice (I don't think anyone did). Yep - it most definitely was SOMETHING all right, but I didn't know what it was. It didn't smell like anything, and it was clear.

So, naturally, I freaked out. Did my water just break? Am I leaking amniotic fluid? Did I really just pee in my pants?

I wanted to run home as fast as possible to change my clothes (I had an hour planning period and I live just 10 minutes away), but I first made a quick call to mom who urged me to call my doctor. Unfortunately, the Good Doc isn't in on Fridays, but I left a message with the nurse.

I got in the car, started driving home, and called Justin (who had just started a crazy 10 day stretch of being the only pharmacist at his store, which means he is there from open to close without a break...meaning he's stressed enough as it is). By this point, I was close to hysterics because I thought something was totally wrong.

He calmed me down, saying that Baby Yasette probably was resting on just the right spot on my bladder and it caused extra urine to come out. He tried to convince me that it was normal in pregnancy (even though he had no clue), just to get me to stay calm. We ended the conversation laughing about the absurdity of a 30 year old woman peeing her pants, and blamed it on the good 'ole pregnancy.

I changed, came back to school, avoided my astute students' stares at my change of pants, and was ready to continue on with my Friday. Lunch came and went, and I took the kids on to music class.

While they were in music, the nurse returned my call. She heard my story and told me that I needed to go to the hospital IMMEDIATELY. Apparently it's not as normal as I had myself believe, and she wanted me - not to go into the doctor's office - but to be admitted into the hospital Maternity Triage Unit.

Who WOULDN'T freak out at this point? I was terrified. I ran upstairs, half crying, to tell my principal that I needed to leave right away (luckily Fridays I only see my kids for an hour in the afternoons, so it wasn't hard to get my class covered). But even luckier, one of my good friends who used to teach at my school was visiting, and she offered to drive me down the road to Baptist herself since, obviously, I was not in any position to drive myself.

Naturally, I called my mom and Justin absolutely hysterical. And, they, in turn, were trying to stay strong and positive so as to not worry me or stress out Baby Girl.

We arrived at the hospital, valet parked, and tried to make sense of where exactly I am supposed to go. We found the Triage unit, I explained the situation thinking that I'll just see a doctor and be on my merry way, but nope - they actually ADMITTED me and gave me a real ROOM. I looked at my friend Mandie, and we were both wondering what was going on. It seemed pretty darn serious.

We were there for about 3 hours total, during which time they did several tests and exams, but mostly just waited. The best part, though, was that they hooked me up to a machine that allows you to hear your baby's heartbeat - and I spent those three hours just listening and being completely reassured that Baby Girl Y was still there and was doing just fine.

In the end, it turned out to be a bladder infection (UTI) which is pretty common in pregnancy (as I learned from later research) but needs to be treated early before it reaches the kidneys and causes all sorts of crazy problems. Baby Girl and I were free to go with a few antibiotics, which were approved by my pharmacist husband. PHEW.

I can't thank my friend Mandie enough for being willing to alter her Friday and hang out with me at the hospital. Life is so much better when shared with good friends!


I suppose I can no longer consider my pregnancy as being "boring" (see previous post), as I think I've had enough excitement to last the remaining three months. Here's hoping for that boring pregnancy to come back :-)

Glider - 1 + 2 - 1

One of the much recommend items from our friends with young children is a glider/ottoman set.

So Justin and I splurged and got us one of our own.

We were super excited to set it up before the Titans game last Sunday only to find out that the ottoman had broken during shipping. We sadly shipped it back to Amazon (which, by the way, is AMAZING with their returns!) and received a replacement just a couple of days later.

This one was fine, and Justin set it up without a problem. It's super comfortable, and I can already see us fighting over who gets to sit in it (naturally, though, don't you think I'll always win since we got it for me?!?)

Anyway, we came home from a date night to Olive Garden (I was craving their salad and breadsticks...haha) only to find a package waiting for us at our front door. At closer inspection, it turns out to be....another glider!?!

Apparently, Amazon somehow made a blunder and sent us two when they processed our return. And, oh how we wished we weren't honest people and could keep the second glider!

Alas, my conscience got the best of me, and UPS is en route to pick up the extra glider as we speak.

Here's a pic of our fabulous glider:

Maternity Pants....

...are the BEST invention EVER. Just saying.