I think one of the hardest things for me with this pregnancy has been rescheduling my work times to cope with the fact that sometimes I just get more tired.

At that I’m lucky. If I worked outside the home I’d just have to cope or call in sick. I do love my flexibility in work times!

This past weekend’s trip was one of those occasions where I had to think about what I wanted to do not only by, well, what I wanted to do, but also what I was really up for doing. Combine attending BlogWorld Expo with being 5 months pregnant and dealing with severe hip pain, and you really do start to think of excuses to just sit down.

Which makes it really hard to network until you get to a table full of people you can talk to. But it’s really good for attending sessions.

I was just glad to only be 5 months along. Another month or two, and I very much doubt I would have risked it. I came too close to losing my son late in my previous pregnancy to take chances.

Of course everyone has their own priorities. You just have to look at the controversy surrounding what Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin did. I’m not using that as a criteria for whether or not I think she’s qualified, but she certainly opened up a big debate on what mothers should be doing so late in a pregnancy. I wouldn’t have. She did. It turned out all right for her.

And that’s enough politics for now. I just found the discussion on motherhood that opened up interesting.

As with so many things in life, it comes down to your own tolerance levels. Those of us who chose to stay at home to raise our children have different priorities than the ones who choose to work outside the home. And different from those who work outside the home out of sheer necessity.

What I don’t do and I don’t recommend doing, is letting pregnancy take complete control of your life… unless you’re on bedrest or something. There are times to push your limits and times to take it easy.

As for me, I’m trying hard to get a lot of things done. I have serious goals to consider, such as building my income to be prepared in case this miserable economy does in my husband’s nice, new job. It might.

But I’ve been taking advantage and sleeping in as much as my son will allow. Changing how much and at what time of day I read other blogs so that I can get work of my own done. And trying to get my husband to understand that walking a lot build up hip pain much faster than it builds up endurance, which he thinks I should be trying. I don’t think he understands that it’s not a muscle issue.

I know these next few months will bring more changes to how I work, and after baby girl comes around, it will change more yet. Little rascal will no doubt make life interesting in yet another new way.

They always do.

Wow. What a fun and exhausting weekend!

Getting through the day was tough on it’s own on Saturday. A really bad hotel bed at the Sahara the first night really worked horrors on my back and hips. By the time we got in on Friday night, all they had was rooms with two full size beds.

Thank goodness the second night they moved us to a room with one king size bed. The mattress was much, much better!

I had lots of fun, met some people I knew from online, such as Lynn Terry and Wendy Piersall, as well as some new people. Pretty fun.

The sessions were generally very interesting. I went to a fair number, as it was a great reason to just sit down, which I really needed. Sometimes sitting, waiting for a session to start was a great time to start a conversation with someone new.

I’ll be posting more about what I learned, mostly on my Aspects of Home Business blog. I have to go through my notes, figure out how to break things up, things like that.

Oh, and rest up. Amazing how a nap broken into the 15 minute increments my son was willing to allow this morning really does nothing. But he was just clingy from missing me.

By now I don’t think it’s news to anyone that our economy here in the United States is in a mess. A big mess. A miserable, what the **** were they thinking kind of mess.

In other words, yes, the bailouts displease me. The collapse of so many major financial institutions due to excessively risky business decisions displeases me even more.

With my husband freshly into work again, I have great sympathy for the many who are suddenly unemployed due to this. Any time a family loses an income it’s rough.

It’s worse if it’s their only income.

My family was very lucky, since I work at home and was able to earn enough to keep us afloat. Not by much; southern California is very expensive to live in even at the best of times. It helped that my inlaws paid for the COBRA coverage so that we could keep the health insurance. Especially when I became pregnant.

A lot of at-home parents don’t have that kind of backup. What should you be doing?

1. Assess your family’s financial situation.

Are you just scraping by? How many months’ income do you have saved up as an emergency fund?

Before a problem develops is the best time to prepare for one. Consider how you can save up money to cope with the loss of a job.

2. Assess your family’s income sources.

Your spouse’s job probably comes first to mind in this case. Is it stable?

Your assessment will probably be a combination of facts and gut feelings. You probably have some idea as to how things are going in your area. You probably hear about whether or not coworkers are getting antsy about job stability.

What about alternate careers? Could either of you find another job quickly if the current one vanished?

Remember that if layoffs or closures happen the competition for other jobs in the area will explode. Even if you don’t think it will be necessary it may be a good idea to brush up those resumes.

You will of course also need to look at any investments you have. Considering how the stock market is going, it’s a good time to figure out if you’re riding it out or moving your investments around. My father-in-law is working on this one right now. He rode the dot-com bubble burst out and wishes he hadn’t. But will it be different this time? It’s hard to say.

3. Consider alternate income sources.

You may want to consider ways to earn money from home if you aren’t already. Better to do it when you can take the time to do your research and avoid work at home scams than to do it when quick money feels like the only solution.

If you decide that working at home is a solution for you, it’s far better to look at the possibilities with some calm, cool reflection rather than in a panic. Not only do scams abound, but many home businesses take time to build up. And you can’t forget the whole learning curve, which can add up fast in time or money.

4. Plan cutbacks.

If things get bad enough, the time may come to cut your budget to the bone. It can come down to extremely painful considerations.

When my husband was out of work, for example, we had to consider moving in with my inlaws. The thought was intensely painful for me and only somewhat less so for my husband. We are rather used to our independence, after all. But if it came down to it, there was that possibility.

Hopefully you won’t have to consider anything that extreme. But you may have to find ways to cut back monthly bills still further, even if you’re already frugal.

5. Stock up.

Stocking up on things that won’t go bad can be a help with getting through tight economic times. You probably won’t be able to stock up on enough to make THE difference, but it can be a help. But since stocking up on groceries and other supplies doesn’t do a thing about other bills, this is of limited help.

6. Don’t panic.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide has this one exactly right. Don’t Panic!

Whether we’re facing a major recession or a small one, you can get through it. It may take some effort, some sacrifices and some creativity, but you can do it.

Plan now. Talk with friends and family. Figure out what you can do now that may help you if things get rough for your family.

A lot of people and businesses are being hit hard already. We’re going to have to deal with the consequences of many years of giving financial institutions too little regulation, and with the decision to essentially socialize some of these companies rather than let them collapse completely. None of it will be simple. It will take time. It’s going to be hard on a lot of families.

Some planning now may help to ease the strain on your own family, or at least allow you to react more quickly as problems arise.

Many people who want to work from home are just about desperate for a way to do so. This is a big part of why so many scams thrive. People look for quick and easy and forget about keeping it realistic. They throw their money at anything that promises to be easy and cheap.

But surely there are some real ways to earn money from home that don’t cost a fortune to get started. Right?

Of course there are. You just can’t count on earning anything very quickly.

1. Work at home jobs.

These had better be free to start. Well, you might need a bit of your own equipment, such as a good noise canceling headset if you want to do customer service, but the employer shouldn’t be charging you.

Finding the legitimate work at home jobs is possible, but challenging.

Take data entry, for example. Many people look for data entry jobs to do from home, but most of what you will find will be people claiming that pay per click affiliate marketing and other opportunities are data entry, when in fact they are not. These people may be flat out scamming you or they may be “merely” pretending that a home business opportunity is a job.

Real jobs aren’t going to sell you an ebook telling you all about how to get started. You apply just as you would for any other job. The competition will probably be stiff, and it’s common to search for a number of months before you land a good, regular job. But if you have the qualifications and you’re persistent, working at home in a job is entirely possible.

2. Blogging.

This one’s hot right now, and yes you can start for either free or cheap. I’m talking under $20 for the first month cheap. Somewhere in the vicinity of $10 for the first year of a domain name, and $10 or thereabouts for each month of hosting. WordPress, a popular blogging platform is free and easy to install.

If you’re going cheap, the startup time may well drive you up the wall. There’s a lot of competition out there. Getting your name out is tough. But if you comment a lot on relevant blogs with quality, relevant comments, you can start building your traffic for free.

Same for posting on forums. Or using Twitter. Or other kinds of social networking. Doing nothing but talking about your business makes people lose interest in anything you have to say very quickly.

You just can’t expect instant results. They’re incredibly unlikely.

My suggestion for this is to keep plugging away and to read the successful blogs in your niche. You do not want to copy them as such, but see what they’re doing that people like. Keep your own spin on things and don’t be just another blogger in your niche.

Also look at how money can be earned. Google’s AdSense program is incredibly easy to use, but you can earn more if you get good with affiliate programs. It’s more stuff to learn and you can shorten the learning curve if you are willing to pay for a good resource on making a living from blogging.

Blogs such as Sparkplugging can also be wonderful resources.

3. Freelancing.

Have a skill that you can do from home already? There’s a reason why freelancing is so popular. It’s a way to keep up your skills in your industry while being self employed.

There are a variety of sites to help you find jobs. Guru and eLance are two of the big names. You can also post on Craigslist to offer your services.

As a freelancer these days, you almost definitely need your own website. This is a chance for you to show off your skills and to get some attention. You can blog if you like, but a plain website may serve better if you don’t want to take the time to update regularly. A blog can be very distracting from your paid work, or it can bring more paid work in. It depends on what works for you.

There are many more ways you can earn a living from home and not spend a ton of money. Just be prepared to work at it and understand that if you choose a home business things will very probably go faster if you can invest more in it. But there are ways to go more slowly and spend less money if that’s how your budget is going. That’s a reality for many.

But if you can reinvest in your business you will probably grow it much faster. Once you have your cheap start, consider investing in educational products that will help you to grow your business as well as in advertising. You can make the expenses pay off quite nicely if you know what you’re doing and are willing to take a chance.

Yes, indeed, today is the day! I go in this afternoon to get my ultrasound to find out what exactly it is I’m lugging around here. Been teasing my daughter that it will be a pony.

The part I dislike most is the fairly standard request that I drink 40 ounces of water in the 1-2 hours before the ultrasound. And then not pee until after the ultrasound is done.

Every woman who has gone through this knows how miserable it is. Not only is that a huge amount of water to have in your bladder, there is a baby who is all too happy to tap dance on it. The kicks may not be as strong as they will be later on, but if you’ve had that much water to drink, it doesn’t matter much.

The appointment is set for after my daughter gets out of school. With the usual grand sense of timing that medical offices have, their first appointment offering was 5 minutes before the time my daughter gets out of school. Once I said ‘Nothing before 3 p.m.’ the problem was solved.

My daughter is very excited. She’s been fascinated by medical issues ever since my son had his craniosynostosis surgery. Since I intend this to be the last baby (especially if they insist on another *$&#$ C-section!), I want her to get to see this part.

So here I go, hoping to not explode today. Well, maybe not that bad, but if you’ve done it you know the feeling.