AMA

It's been brought up in a couple of previous posts that I'm pregnant. I am almost 10 weeks pregnant which isn't long for most people, but for me it's been 10 weeks since I've known. I remember on the drive to church one Sunday thinking to myself, "I'm pregnant." There were no signs and it could have only been a few days after conception, but somehow I knew. And if you think about it, I'm over 1/4 through my pregnancy. Especially since it will be a scheduled c-section somewhere around week 38. I'm really hoping that the doctors will let me wait until June. The actual due date is June 6th and I really want to have a June baby since I already have a May baby (Adam). But we'll see what happens. Either way I will miss at least the last week of school which wasn't really what we had planned, but God answers prayers on his timing, not mine. So here I am. A mother of an 8 year old and a 6 year old and expecting a baby. I really thought we'd only have two children, but, once again, my heart didn't listen to my mind. And I really felt like we were meant to have another child.

So now to my story. A few weeks ago I went to my first doctor's visit. I only saw the nurse and it was really just to fill out paperwork and give her my medical history. After pages of names and dates and yes, I have asthma, no, I don't have diabetes, she took me into an exam room to go over her list of stuff. She asked me about my other pregnancies and deliveries. (Even she was surprised about the 32 hours of labor with Josh.) And she told me a whole bunch of stuff that I already knew. "Whatever you eat or drink, the baby eats or drinks." "If anything weird happens call the doctor." I remembered most everything from before. And everything was going just fine until she brought out the AMA paperwork. AMA stands for "advanced maternal age." ADVANCED MATERNAL AGE! I know that I'm 35. I know that I'm probably a little older than most other pregnant moms. But come on! Advanced! I don't know about that. Basically what she told me about being AMA was that I have the option for genetic testing and counseling and other tests that might determine if there are any problems with the baby. Since then I have come to accept that I am AMA and that's okay. I knew how old I was when we made the decision to have another baby. (We were actually trying to have the baby last year before I was AMA, but that's a different story.) So what if I'm 35. So what if I will have two children in middle school and one in kindergarten. So what if I will be 54 years old when this one graduates....Okay, I'll stop there.

I admit that it's scary. Just like the first two times. But also like before, I already love this child that God has so graciously loaned to me. And no matter how old I am, I pray that I can be the mother that all my children need. Even if I do need a walker to attend his or her wedding.