On Coming Home

When we got home from our epic road trip the beginning of last month, there was a whirlwind of activity around my sister-in-law’s wedding and our refinancing our house and just settling back in. For a few days straight the boys were running around pointing to various toys and books and household items, shrieking, “Remember this!?”  and “This is OUR house!” We had spent so many nights sleeping in different places with other people’s things that they nearly forgot we had our own place with our own things. There's nothing like coming home when you love your home.

Something else that added to the whirlwind of settling back in was that we found out I was pregnant. Surprise! We certainly hadn’t planned to get pregnant, specifically during the lapse in time between Brian’s healthcare coverage. We had purchased a basic healthcare plan in case of an emergency, but hadn’t had to use it all summer. I scheduled my first OB/Gyn appointment for as soon as I could after our new insurance kicks in— September—and tried to get used to the idea of another baby.

We told only a few people and planned out how to tell our families. It was a weird feeling—much different from my first pregnancy. I was thrown off by the news but eventually was excited about it. We went through our whole house again and got rid of things. We figured out how we can arrange a changing table and crib in our room, which included getting rid of both dressers and, you guessed it, building more shelves. We were thinking about names, reading about the baby’s weekly development, and getting used to the idea of a tiny new addition to our family.

About two weeks ago I miscarried. You always hear about people having miscarriages but I didn’t realize how long and painful it can be. It lasted about four days and though I only took two Percocet pills it was quite uncomfortable. Remember the healthcare situation I mentioned? Yeah. I ended up going into the ER on the weekend, and then had two subsequent visits to the doctor. We haven’t seen the bills, and they won’t be pretty. Odd timing on all counts. More whirlwind-y feelings.

I was sad. I wanted that baby, even though we hadn’t planned on it. I wasn’t sure I’d write about it here on my blog, that maybe it’s too personal, but I decided I would go ahead and do it. I now understand why couples don’t often tell people they’re pregnant until later on in the pregnancy. It would have been painful to have to call and tell a bunch of people what happened a few weeks after we’d just called to tell them the news. With Cal and Clark we told a couple people the news on the night I took the pregnancy test, we were so excited. Fortunately it worked out fine that time.

Anyway, coming home has been a long and weird process. We refinanced, de-cluttered, reorganized, and shampooed the carpets in our house. We were in a wedding, potty trained the boys, went on a raspberry and peach jam canning spree, had a miscarriage, and expect to be hit by a huge medical bill soon. All that at the end of our awesome road trip adventure. Crazy summer.

Just today things are seeming more normal and less vacation-y. Brian is at work (just down the road!). Alex, the little girl I watch a few days a week, was here today. She’s talking like crazy and the boys are both in love with her still (Though Cal needs to work on his bossy tone if he wants to win her over when they’re older). I’ve started giving the boys little reading lessons on weekdays and that has been fun. They’re both signed up for community center classes in a few weeks: art, swimming, and martial arts.

And so, another chapter begins. We’re home.

Clark bulks up for his martial arts class as Cal and Alexandra watch.