We started the month of love with great news: we found out we were expecting our fifth child. The great news came, however, with lots of morning sickness and exhaustion, which still continue even now that I'm on my 20th week. Days were passed with me laying on my bed or couch crying that I couldn't do anything about the way my body was reacting. It has been a tough pregnancy; it continues to be such.
I was never hungry and didn't want to taste anything twice. The only
thing I could eat were fruits, which are tasty and healthy, but not very
substantial, so my energy was very low. Super Melita had lost her
superpowers! I could hardly sit or stand without feeling nauseous; I
could rarely read without feeling dizzy; I couldn't do any housework
without feeling exhausted. I've never watched as much TV in my life as
I've watched during this pregnancy; I've become well acquainted with all
of the best shows and their characters :) - the only way to draw my
attention away from my daily tribulation.
My husband and children have been amazingly patient and helpful. A couple of close friends who knew brought me dinners and took care of Charlton when he was in the mood. Seeing me sick, he became very clingy, and would want to stay with me instead of playing with friends, so he could "give me love." Darling Charlton! He was so sweet to me; there were days when I just couldn't get out of bed, and he wouldn't make a whisper. When he got hungry, he would take care of himself without wanting to wake me up. I really appreciated these tender mercies. My love for my children and my husband, and my gratitude for their kind hearts and righteous spirits, grew each day as they tried to love and serve me.
Super Melita might have taken a sabbatical, but regular Melita was still around, however incapacitated she might have felt. I had a family and friends, and a desire to serve and make them happy. Whether it was a good day or bad day in regard to my morning sickness, I had to get myself on my feet and get a few things going, at least some of the time.
I attended a lot of my children's award ceremonies, I went and ate lunch with them at school, I took each of them on dates, I worked my magic in my art classes (we made Minions In Love for our February art project, and the kids had a blast!), attended James's first cub scout pack meeting, and had a wonderful time hearing my boys sing their hearts out in the musical their teachers put together.
Elijah took double duty in helping me with the dishes, laundry, taking care of the kids, and cooking dinner. This was on top of his job, temple service, church calling, and other stressful things that found their way into our lives. I truly appreciated his love.
Elijah also helped me throw our annual Valentine's party, attend some of the kids' activities (James was really happy to have his dad come to his Valentine's day brunch), and take Gillian to her first school dance. What a great man and dad!
When I had really good days, I would just take advantage of them, because I knew they were few and far between. In one of those days, I pulled all the kids out of school and went down to San Francisco visiting one their favorite museums: The Children's Creativity Museum, where they made clay animation, solve logical problems, learned new computer programs, gave puppet shows, and recorded themselves singing. We were the last people in the museum, and they still didn't have enough. I felt they learned that day more stuff in a few hours than they had learned for days at school.
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