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.

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.

Goodness. I’d forgotten how miserable shopping for maternity clothes can be. Thank goodness I have a couple of skirts that will work well for me for a while yet! My jeans, on the other hand, are tight already.

Working at home means that I can just do the unbuttoned trick, or even unzipped if that’s what it takes for comfort. It’s a definite advantage since I really don’t want to spend a lot on maternity clothing. I’m quite determined that this will be the last baby.

I hit the mall this weekend, mostly because it felt nice to get out of the house alone for once. I’m sure many of you know what I mean. Sure, my husband and I got to take a trip last weekend without kids, and it was nice, but really hurried with all the househunting and quite draining.

I have to admit, the selection looks better now, but so many department stores don’t carry any maternity clothes in their stores, just online. Out of 4 department stores in the mall, only Penneys had any in stock. Add in the fact that most maternity clothes are insanely priced, and it’s no fun at all. The Penneys clearance would have been nice if I had liked any of it. Some of the tops were just $3.97!

The lack was funny in one store where I couldn’t find a store directory. I asked an employee, and he directed me to the Junior’s department. I mean, I’ve heard that teen pregnancy can be a problem, but really!

I tried the new Secret Fit Belly jeans over at Motherhood Maternity. These aren’t badly priced, but for me they just didn’t fit right at all. Not comfortable to sit in.

I’m currently figuring on checking out what’s what at the local thrift stores… assuming I can remember to get out when they will be open. They keep short hours around here.

Target also seems to have a decent selection, at least online. I figure I can go to the store and see what fits, then checkout the online selection which is generally much larger.

I have a nice little budget for this shopping, so all I have to do now is find the clothes I want!

Yes, it’s early yet, but I’m already working on preparing my kids for when the baby comes. With good reason, I think. My 3 year old is sooo clingy! I’m hoping to ease that somewhat before baby comes and he gets jealous and thinks baby took his place.

This may be tricky. My son is absolutely, positively, 100% Mommy’s boy. Daddy is barely tolerable much of the time in his opinion.

We’re working on that part, making him ask Daddy for more things and having them do fun things together. It also means that I can take naps when I need to, although these things are often interrupted, no matter how often he’s told not to. Our bedroom has two doors, and only one of them locks.

It’s hard doing this. My son and I have had a special bond since I nearly miscarried him late term, and then he had to have surgery for craniosynostosis at 3 months old. It makes a difference. He needed extra care when he was a baby, and I think that shows now.

Thank goodness my daughter is less clingy. She wasn’t even jealous when her brother was going through all of that, even though he took more time and care than most babies. They play together really well now.

So far, both are really excited about the coming baby. He wants a brother, she wants a sister. It should be interesting to see how it goes when they can actually see the baby.

Like the one I’m dealing with now… pregnancy. Wasn’t planning to have another baby now; in fact, we were trying hard not to. But this little rascal had its own ideas.

As my husband puts it, we were upset for maybe 20 minutes. The timing is rotten, after all, with him still out of work and a cousin with a son dealing with leukemia. But really, neither of us could be that upset about having another child together. Even if it does mean we need a new car. We only have one right now, and it has 4 seats. The middle of the back seat is plastic cupholders.

I’ve been dealing with plenty of nausea and general exhaustion so far with this pregnancy, which is about 9 weeks along. Finally told the family, so now I can blog it too. It was so hard to post about anything while keeping this secret! That, and I kept catching little bugs from the kids. Having a stomach bug when you’re already nauseous from pregnancy is pretty miserable! Especially when one of the kids throws up. My husband had to take care of that one, even though normally I’m the stronger stomach.

I’m still not past the nausea, but the tiredness is slowly decreasing. That’s a relief, since these past few weeks I’ve hardly gotten ANY work done! I go between starving and not wanting anything to do with food. Cucumbers taste particularly good, which isn’t a bad craving to have. Healthy, at least.

While my due date is in early February, due to the complications I had with my son (C-section, breech and near zero amniotic fluid), my OB wants to do a C-section at 38 weeks, sooner if the amniotic fluid is low again. So I’ve told this baby two things:

1. Please don’t be born too close to Christmas.
2. Never, EVER sneak up like that on me again!