Morning Sickness Survival

My tips for morning sickness survival:

1. Prepare many freezer meals.  In the last weeks of July, several times a week I would take whatever I was making and triple-batch it, then freeze 2 meals for the upcoming nightmare months.  Plus I hoarded all my June and July freezer meal group meals and saved them for when I got really sick.  And it worked like a dream!  It seriously saved my life.  I had enough prepared that we ate freezer meals 3 times a week  from mid-August through mid-October.  Tues-Wed-Thurs were freezer meal nights, and Eric is home while I'm making dinner Fri-Sat-Sun nights so he could help if I was dying, deal with meat for me, or at least take care of the kids so I could focus and go more quickly.  So I only had Monday nights to deal with dinner on my own, and I planned all of our easiest meals for Mondays.  Did Eric and the kids love it?  No!  But did I care AT ALL in my half-dead sick state? Nope!  Looking back I have a little sympathy, but really 1/3 to 1/2 of the meals were stuff we normally eat, and most of them were just fine out of the freezer.  Eric had a good attitude and hardly ever complained, he would joke around to try to get the kids to laugh about the weird meals.  It was so, so wonderful and I'm so glad I discovered freezer meals in time for this pregnancy!!

2. Somehow get lucky/convince your husband to be super awesome about everything for 2-3 months.  I guess he has learned by now on our 5th child that for our family to survive my morning sickness, he has to jump in and do a lot of my normal jobs.  He did the dishes A LOT, including for about 2 weeks straight during the peak/worst of my sickness, weeks 10-12.  And at least half the time the rest of the time.  He cleaned up so many clutter messes that I just did not have the energy to deal with.  And mainly, he didn't complain.  Not about messes, not about freezer meals, he was awesome.  Oh! and also, he ran with me at 6am twice a week in September and October!  It helped me so much; there is no way I would have gotten up all those mornings on my own.  But I so wanted to be with him and encourage his health that I could make myself do it.  This has actually been my most consistent-exercising pregnancy since Katelyn; I have exercised 6 days a week the WHOLE TIME, with the exception of 2 weeks which were only 5 days a week. :)  

3. Somehow convince your kids to be super awesome for 2-3 months!   The girls started school right after I got sick, and they were great about getting ready every morning with very minimal help from me (I fell asleep on the couch while they were eating/getting ready MANY times!) Then when they got home from school they would jump right in and play with Owen and Maris, which was exactly what they needed after being partially neglected by me in my zombie state!  Owen and Maris were wonderful too.  They spent hours playing happily while I laid by them on the couch/floor/my bed.  Sweet Owen took such good care of Maris!  And then he was so good to watch a movie or play with Legos while I took a nap several times a week while Maris was napping.  I am so grateful for all 4 kids and their kindness and patience during morning sickness! 

Yes this picture again.  Because this is the only picture I could find of them playing.  Whitney was apparently playing too before she went to soccer practice.

Just being cute before we went to the park one day.  I tried to still take them places once a week.

 13 week bump. :)

Hallelujah it's over!!  I am SO HAPPY.  I did learn a lot from it, as usual though.  Here is a facebook post about it:

"Morning sickness" is always my biggest deterrent to having another baby. It is just so awful. But as I've been laying around lately on the couch, the bed, the floor just miserable, I've thought a lot about people I know who don't feel well. And not just for 3 months like me, but maybe forever! People who have diseases like MS, chronic illnesses, or other conditions with no cure that keep them in pain, feeling sick, drained of energy. I have felt so much sympathy and compassion for these people that I care about. So I wanted to salute a few people I know, I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting right now! And many other health problems that my friends bravely fight through! But to my mom Susan Wallwork Hansen, my aunt Kimberly Hansen, and friends Emily Cram Thevenin, Mae Urie, Deanne James Ainge, thank you!! Your courage has given me strength in my short time of physical trial.

and this:  The silver lining to getting a cold and sore throat on top of morning sickness? After weeks of dealing with disgusting smells, I can't smell a blessed thing!! Hallelujah! #smallvictory #movieday #pajamaday #pizzanight

and this:  "Jesus Christ is the source of all joy." "Joy has little to do with circumstances, and everything to do with our focus in life." 

These quotes from a leader(apostle) in my church today really hit me. Eric was teasing me recently when I complained about pregnancy, "hey you're the one who thought it would be fun to have another baby!" To which I replied "I don't think I ever said 'fun'..." because that's not the top way I would describe parenthood! Yes there are fun parts, mixed in with lots of not-fun parts! But I've been trying to think of how I would describe being a parent in one word. Work? No, although there is plenty of that. Crazy? Maybe. Rewarding? Too few and far between sometimes. BUT. Then I heard this talk about JOY and I realized this was it. Parenting is Joy! Joy can be found in all parts of parenting; (at least with young kids like mine!!) hard, exhausting, happy and even heartbreaking times! I'm so grateful that through my Savior I can find joy no matter my circumstances. Happy Sunday everyone!

But I am so so glad that I'm not planning on ever doing this again! :)