I’m officially in the 3rd trimester of my fourth pregnancy, and the emotions of this pregnancy have been all over the place. But to be honest, they are not the emotions I *thought* I would be feeling.
This is my very final pregnancy and baby. AND IT’S A GIRL (see our gender reveal here)!!! Three boys and one girl on the way, and don’t get me wrong… I’m SO excited to welcome Audrey into the world. I cannot WAIT to meet her, to hold her, and for all the matching outfits.
I also want to mention that I am in NO way complaining, we are 100% blessed that God is giving us a baby girl. Audrey is growing healthy, strong, and my pregnancy has been easy compared to what I know other women go through.
With that said, this fourth pregnancy has been somewhat rough. And, a few days ago, I felt convicted.
You see, all my pregnancies have been great, and before Audrey, I enjoyed being pregnant. When we found out I was pregnant, I thought I would enjoy being pregnant as much as I did with the boys… and I have not. Like not at all.
I have not enjoyed being pregnant at all this time around. There are so many aches, pains, sleeping is non-existent, and running around after three kids in the summer Houston heat has been hard. My list can go on about things I have not enjoyed this time around. I feel like I’m always in this “urgh, I’m still pregnant” state of mind, and I somewhat resent Audrey. As if this was even her fault?! But it’s not…
I try to remind myself that this season is going to be a bit harder, being pregnant with three kids and a two-year-old won’t be easy. Being pregnant isn’t easy, and that it’s OKAY.
Do you know what I recently learned (well, not recently but more like it dawned on me)? The power of your mind and how much your thoughts affect you, everything around you, and everyone around you. I can choose to stay in this state of mind and continue to complain about all the aches and pains of pregnancy, or I can switch my thinking and choose to be grateful.
I mean, we all know the power of our minds and how negative thinking can take a toll on us. But what I’ve noticed with this pregnancy is that the “urgh, I can’t wait to not be pregnant” really started taking the joy away of this being my final pregnancy and that it’s a girl!!! I wanted to be pregnant, I’ve gone through two losses (read our story here and here). We prayed for Audrey. I can’t let the enemy steal that joy!
The good things in life are hard but worth it right? Yes, it doesn’t take away from the fact that being pregnant a fourth time around IS hard, but it doesn’t mean I have to wallow in that. If I let myself stay there, then when I look back at this precious time, all I will remember is how hard and how annoyed I was with everything. I don’t want that.
You may be going through a hard season in life, one that is a bit challenging. And I want to encourage you to change your perspective and shift your mindset. To see the glass half full! It won’t be easy, but there is beauty in every season, and in every season we learn and grow.
How do you deal with hard seasons? What are some things you do to help change your perspective? Share them below!
Keep going, Elly! You’re doing great. 🙂
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Thank you so much for sharing this! I’ve had a challenging past few weeks with a lot of financial strain – bought new kitchen cabinets for a kitchen reno (yay!) but then had our AC unit go out ($5K), found out we were getting audited ($4K), had to pay the rest of a deposit on a new puppy (expected and yay but still a lot on top of the other two), then we had three of our four kitchen appliances stop working in some form or fashion ($1K). And to top it off, I needed to pay for classes for this semester ($6K)… Long story short, it has definitely been tempting to feel the pressure and want to just throw my hands up and stay in that negative mindset. But changing my thinking about my situation has really helped! It makes me think of what the church epistles teach us about the power of our thinking, how we can renew our minds, change them like a caterpillar goes through the process of metamorphosis. Pretty amazing to think of the work and incredible change that occurs! I am so thankful to be able to put down that victim mindset and grab hold of a victor mindset. It has helped me to lean into God more and rely less on myself. And the awesome thing is that He has provided solutions for each one of those challenges, even if they have not been what I expected. The needs have been met and, like you said, I have had lots of opportunities to grow!
Sending lots of hugs your way as you enter this final trimester!
-Erica B.