Home Alone

This was written a few months ago before I found out I was pregnant:
Home alone seems to becoming the normal way of life for me during Yianni’s working hours. It is a luxury I want to take in as much as possible, and at the same time it makes me confront the ugly parts of me that are more easily hidden when I am “doing more.”

So I have been told, traditionally in Greece, women stop working when they become pregnant, not just a few days or weeks before the expected little one is birthed. Like much else in the world, this too is changing in Greece, and women are working outside of the home more to help make ends meet.

When I was first told this, I couldn’t understand why. Yiannis tried to explain that somehow this time is necessary for the woman to prepare herself for the child’s birth. Hmmm…I had visions of women sitting at home in meditation for 9 months contemplating the coming of their child. And frankly, all that preparation sounded a bit too much. Nine months after all is a bit long to not have anything “to do”.

Now, for the first time in my life I have been home alone for a few weeks. All my adult life I have either been working, or on vacation somewhere but never have I been home alone in my own home for the majority of the day. It is a bigger change than I anticipated.

And now my reflections on being home along while pregnant:
Though I don’t know how to answer relatives and friends in a becoming way when they ask me, “Have you started working yet?” I am thankful for a husband who doesn’t care about some extra income and somehow sees things differently. I get nervous when asked the above question, and I feel guilty when I explain that I turned down and am not looking for another nursing job. People, even my elderly relatives, usually seem a bit perplexed. Though, my grandmother did say, “I am liking these Greeks more and more :).”

The past month has been a slow adjustment to the new fatigue and morning sickness of pregnancy. Frankly, though I used to study Greek every morning, now I am happy if I get it in before the end of every day. Now, my routine of going swimming twice a week at the university has become a major outing. It is a 15 minute walk in the cold from the parking lot to the pool, and so by the time I walk, swim, shower, walk and drive home (with my body adjusting to lots of cold temperatures in the pool and outside) I am pretty wiped.

Having dinner on the table when Yiannis comes home is also a major accomplishment (cooking is no fun anymore!).

So, though I am sure I could be getting up at 5:30 am and making it to the hospital by 7:00am and somehow manage to deal with the stresses of hospital nursing (though I am not sure I could deal with all the awful smells) right now it sure is nice to simply make sure baby gets enough rest, exercise, a bit of Greek language learning and nutrition for the day :).

And most definitely, I am thankful that this is one less transition I will have to deal with when I am a sleep deprived first time mommy. Glory be to God for all things.

p.s. I write this just to share some of my life right now. I know most of my friends and family will be working most of their pregnancies and often after the baby is born. God gives us all the strength to do what is set before us and I admire many of your hard work and the struggles of balancing family and work. I recognize even more now how difficult it is to work, and manage a household and “good strength” to all who do!