Fatigue

People ask me all day long how I am feeling. They normally expect a response more than my typical, "Fine! Great!" I assume this is because women as pregnant as I am becoming are not typically "fine!" and "great!" While I definitely cannot complain, feelings of "fine" and "great" aren't nearly as common as they were in the second trimester. Now the word that I would use to describe my mood most of the time is "fatigue."

I'm not tired exactly. I'm still sleeping fairly well. I'm resting as well as I can during the daytime hours and I'm trying not to overdo it. I'm still walking and eating well - I feel good. And still, I am exhausted. I can't get comfortable. My ribs are sore. I have a general "yucky" feeling sometimes - mostly in the evenings. My poor husband gets the brunt of most of this because it is towards the end of the day when I really feel uncomfortable.

It is definitely worth it - I know that - but right now I am struggling with the bad attitude that comes with being uncomfortable and just generally exhausted. And believe me, I know this feeling will continue through the end of this trimester and beyond! At least now I don't have a little one to care for in the middle of the night!

While I'm doing everything I can to rest when I can, we have had some very big and busy events in our life the past few days! We had two different groups of people at our house last weekend for dinner - the Johnston clan on Friday night and our young adult group from church on Saturday night. It was so awesome to have our home full of laughter and fun two nights in a row.

I also preached a sermon at a church in our area on Sunday morning. It was awesome to be with a new congregation and delightful to meet new people. I think things went really well - I felt good about the message and was really excited to be asked to be there. But definitely exhausting! I don't know how pastors do that every week!

Now we're gearing up for house guests on Friday - Courtney and Aunt Pam are coming in to town for my baby shower! I'm so thrilled to see them and cannot wait for the shower. I'm so thankful for my dear friends who helped put everything together and know that it will be a blast. We're making sure the house is acceptable for house guests - Lucy is even going to get a bath!

Life won't slow down for a little while - I am packing in a lot of meetings at work, weekends, evenings, travel, etc. throughout November so that I can take it easier in December. And of course in 2 weeks I'll be walking 60 miles (or not) in the DFW 3-day for the Cure! I'm really excited about all the events we have on the calendar for the next 6 weeks or so. We're both booked pretty solid until December 10th - that's the last non-negotiable meeting on my calendar. Between now and then, we're booked solid, weekends and everything! After that, I'll be nesting, relaxing, and waddling! Note: Of course I know that EVERYTHING is negotiable when baby is concerned. 

Writing it all down like this and examining my calendar day by day makes fatigue seem like a very reasonable feeling! However, even at my most overwhelmed times, I am overcome with joy. We are so blessed. I often look at Jarrod and say, "We have the best life." We do. We are busy, but have work we love. We are tired, but have a warm bed to sleep in. We are overwhelmed but have people who love us. I am fatigued, but life is so good.