2019 in Review
July 10, 2019
This has been quite the year. Seriously. It started with my husband, Mike, not waking up. New Year’s morning I went to wake him up and he slowly and groggily wouldn’t get up. So I did the most natural thing. I screamed at him to get up while our two-year-old daughter jumped on the bed. He didn’t. And I knew better. I knew exactly what to do because in our more than 15 years of being together this had happened one other time. I needed to get sugar into him fast. So I did. I forced him to drink orange juice.
Yes, he didn’t wake up because he had low blood sugar, but we believe there was something else at play. Because in 15 years of knowing him this had only happened one other time. Yet, in the first six weeks of 2019, it happened at least once nearly every week. And then in February, after spending two years of seeing doctors to figure out why he was so winded all the time, he had an angiogram and we discovered that he had a blockage in his heart that was 80% and two other minor blockages. At 34 years old, he had a stent put in his heart. Thank God, because he does feel better, but also he is 34, with a wife and two young children.
Cut to April and I decide to make one of the biggest changes of my life. I stepped out of my full-time job and into a part-time freelance position, partly driven by the fact that we have a child with autism who has numerous appointments. In-home childcare and after-school babysitters just weren’t cutting it anymore. We had three options: Mike stay home more; I stay home more; or we hire a nanny who has experience with special needs kids. All great options. But I chose to transition to part-time, flexible work, so I can handle all the doctor’s appointments, therapy visits, and summer camp drop offs. Not glamorous at all, but it is what my family needs right now. This is a big change for me to say the least. I had been in my previous role for almost 12 years. Stepping back a bit was honestly a bigger change for me than when I first brought home a brand new baby from the hospital.
Oh, and then I found out I was pregnant. I always wanted more children, but to say this was totally not planned would be an understatement. I am happy, yes, but also adjusting to the fact that there are going to be a lot of sleepless nights, changes in routine, no alcohol for a while, and a shuffle that needs to happen with all the bedrooms in our home. Also, I spent most of the first trimester in a fog (so pretty much most of May and June) of sleeping all the time, feeling nauseous, and trying to figure out ways to make healthy meals for my family that didn’t actually involve cooking—all while making one of the biggest transitions of my life.
It’s been a lot. It has been quite a year, but I wouldn’t go back and change anything.