Thursday, December 16, 2004

And the Fast forward......

Typically of me, the pregnancy and the resulting excitement has occupied me sufficiently that I dumped my journal. 2004 has also shown us the worst hurricane season the Southeast has seen in 20 years. Florida was devastated by three consecutive CAT 4 hurricanes, all of which brushed by Charleston on their way out. We were directly hit with an additional Tropical Storm, which of course is nothing, but having to prepare to evacuate six times in a summer was no fun, especially given my pregnancy and P having to prep his residential care facility house instead of ours. I was by myself and I really hated it.

This summer’s garden was a success too. I had more victories than failures, and I learned a lot about gardening and pacing. Next year that yard will be beautiful. We planted a lot of things that will come back in full force. We also had a rat snake try to make it’s way into the house. I have been around snakes all my life but this one was IN our kitchen and we didn’t know it. One of us closed the side door in time to crush its head but we didn’t find it for a few days. Compounded by the fact that as juveniles, rat snakes and Eastern rattlers look identical, I was completely creeped out. Between that and the hurricanes I was ready to leave Charleston behind.

Since I last wrote, I have discovered that this baby—Thumper—is a boy, due January 17, 2005. More than that, we were planning on having an unassisted homebirth. My ideal fantasy was to have the baby in front of our glorious, crackling fireplace in a birthing tub, accompanied by my husband and my daughter. Thanks in part to a homebirth video we all watched, G is insisting that she even be in the tub with me to help the baby come out.

Typically for my pregnancies, life cannot be that simple. At least this change in plans is not devastating, like a hurricane or a gall bladder surgery. Throughout the summer P and I blanketed certain parts of the country with his resumes. After some intense negotiations, P took a job with CV in Tacoma. So now we live in Pugetopolis and P earns about 25K more a year. And I am 35 weeks pregnant. How’s that for drastic. So I am sitting here typing with many boxes to my right, and sleeping children upstairs.

We flew in on December 3rd, and since then, we have seen the Space Needle, the Woodlands Zoo in Seattle, and Mt. Rainier. We have spent time with my online Mommy friend ~A~ and her family. And we have explored, explored, explored. It’s beautiful here—rainy as hell, true—but beautiful. This transition has been extremely difficult but we planned the heck out of it so I think once we sell our house in Charleston (been on market since October) and get through moving and Christmas expenses, we’ll be much better off and able to enjoy the area thoroughly.

It was nice purging most of our material things, useless or unused, but I really want to get our home in order. We’re renting for a year or so first and I definitely don’t want to spend that time amid boxes. I am pushing to be unpacked before Christmas and definitely before baby arrives.

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