The Word of the Day is Lucky - March 11, 2010

*tap tap* Is this thing still on? Anybody still out there? I wouldn't blame you if you weren't . . .

I was just thinking about things today and feel a very strong need to post. I've been really bogged down in some stressful situations lately. Work has been sucking every last ounce of energy out of me possible between challenging assignments, unrealistic timelines, and difficult coworkers. My husband was out of the country for a few weeks, leaving me to not only keep the house running, but deal with the trials of selling our house alone (with some help from Mom - thanks Mom!). And yeah, we've been trying to sell our house and buy a new one before baby comes. So I've had my share of stress these past few weeks. That's not what I want to post about though. What I want to post about is this: I am a very lucky person with a lot of things going right.

First off, I got pregnant via IUI. I know, there are tons of people who get pregnant as easy as sneezing - why do I consider this lucky? Because I've been following the story of many wonderful women on the infertility boards over the past year. There are many who are still there, trying to get pregnant completing round after round after round of treatment. More still spend months and months undergoing treatments and finally become pregnant only to have that bliss stolen from them due to a miscarriage, or worse, multiple miscarriages. These women are hopeful, dedicated, and deserving of experiencing pregnancy and the joy of having a child of their own. They spend countless thousands of dollars chasing the dream of this, only to have cycle after cycle of disappointment and sorrow deeper than I can even imagine. And I am no longer experiencing this - and there is much of it that I never had to experience at all. I am pregnant. I did not miscarry. I am going to have a child. Anything I am going through now pales in comparison with the sorrow that I was feeling or could still be feeling. And there are many who feel it for years and years - some for the rest of their lives.

I am also lucky because I am now 30 weeks pregnant, and my little one is still tucked safely inside of me, growing and healthy. My sister gave birth to her first child at 30 weeks exactly. If my pregnancy had gone the way hers had, I would have been on bedrest for several weeks now, and this morning at around 3:30 in the morning, I would have been informed that I would have to undergo an emergency c-section. But my pregnancy didn't go that way. I am not on bed rest. In fact, I'm feeling better lately than I have for several months. I'm a little tired, but that's understandable based on all of the activity in my life these days. I am healthy, my baby is healthy, and there isn't any indication that my little one will be anything but a full-term healthy baby. I will not be spending the bulk of my maternity leave visiting my child in the NICU. I will almost certainly get to spend that time at home learning all I can about this interesting little creature that I'm currently growing inside of me. I am so lucky.

I am also lucky because my house sold over the weekend for a fair price. No more worrying about that - I will find a new home to move in to or we'll rent a place for awhile. It will be difficult if we have to do that, but so what? It won't be that bad. We've sold our house and our options are wide open. I'm very lucky for that too.

I'm lucky that I have a family who loves me. And I have friends who love me. And everything is going to work out. It may be difficult sometimes, there are hardships to overcome, that is certain, but everything is going to be OK one way or another. And that's pretty damn lucky.