I had a bunch of visitors today and I had an abundance of choices for dessert and snacks this evening.  I ended up going with pumpkin pie from my friend Meredith with a side of ice cream from the “nutrition center” (aka kitchen full of sugary junk food).  Mmmmmmm….good food.

Food was the theme of the day.  Food for the body and food for the soul.

I had my first visitor at 9:30 and the last one didn’t leave until almost 4:30.  First our priest stopped by.  He brought communion and prayed with me.  He also really encouraged me to boldly ask for what we want and not to settle for asking for just the likely medical best-case.  He reminded me God is capable of a real best case scenario of a healthy baby that comes home from the hospital with me.  Of course we have to accept whatever His will is, but that there is nothing to be lost by asking boldly for what we desire.  This is not a lesson I am learning easily, but I am working on it.

As Father was getting ready to leave, my friend Meredith in all her gorgeous 39 week pregnant glory arrived to visit with three of her boys in tow.  She told one of the boys they were coming to bring me smiles, so he thought they should wear silly mustaches for me.  In addition to smiles and good conversation, they brought me some new reading material, snacks, and soup.  We talked more about asking for best case and we even realized that we shouldn’t be afraid to even ask that I could have that healthy baby AND a circumstance that would allow me to go home and finish my pregnancy there.  Would you believe it never really occurred to me to ask for that simple, seemingly obviously, thing….to go home for a reason other than baby having renal agenesis (no kidneys)?

Then my sister-in-law came for a visit.  She lives about an hour away and her husband actually took a day off of work so she could come down without kids!  What a blessing they both are.  She brought me more food and we had a great afternoon of conversations about all of our favorite things…namely al things faith, family, and homeschool.

Within my sister-in-law’s visit, another friend from our parish stopped by.  She is actually also Kylee’s Faith Formation classroom teacher and her son and Aidan have gotten to be good friends.  She brought me a green scapular and a beautiful prayer book, “Mother’s Manual” by Francis Coomes, S. J.  So many beautiful prayers for literally every occasion of motherhood, along with little bits of wisdom.  I can tell it is going to be a regular companion during my daily prayer time for many years to come!

In all this, my normal daily of activities went on a bit of a weird schedule, but we got them all done eventually.  I got an official order added to my chart that I not be awakened for night rounds if I am sleeping.  Mostly the nurses had done that on their own, but a few had woken me up so they added an “official” order.  Next up is getting weighing down to only once/week instead of the daily madness they are insisting on right now.  If you are reading and find yourself in a long term situation, don’t be afraid to ask for things like this!  I am learning that even a lot of *protocols* can be flexible based on the circumstances and how things are going.

Day 10