Category Archives: Parenting

Homeschooling While Pregnant

Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

This is the first time I have attempted to homeschool during a pregnancy and I can tell you that it has been quite the challenge. During my first trimester I was plagued with severe nausea and fatigue which made it difficult getting through the day upright. At night I usually had a half hour where I was able to get things done and this is when I would print off any worksheets or activities that I wanted the kids to do the following day. This really helped and now that I have started my second trimester I am feeling more like myself and able to get back into the thick of things.

While I have been able to get back into more of a normal routine I am behind with several important tasks. I need to get all three of my kids set up for their yearly assessments (a requirement in the state of Ohio) and I need to get our 2019-2020 academic year planned. Typically by this time of year I have these things done and already have shipments of books rolling in so I am a bit anxious. My goal this week is to get everything organized and outlined so I can get all of this done before the start of the new school year.

One of the reasons it has taken more time to get my homeschool planning done is I am trying to decide what path to take. Normally, I piece together a curriculum for each of my kids so they can have a truly customized education. The only problem with this is that there is a lot more work for me and I am not sure how my health is going to hold out during this pregnancy. That is why I am currently leaning towards a boxed curriculum that is more open and go to take some of the work load off of my plate. We have used Sonlight in the past and we really enjoyed it so I am considering this as an option for this year. I just want to make sure that whatever option we choose my kids education doesn’t suffer.

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Life truly is an adventure and you never know what could happen to send your life’s journey down a new path. At the end of April I discovered that I was pregnant. This was an exciting discovery as we had always wanted more children but I have had issues with fertility since my youngest was born 7 years ago. We had come to terms with the fact that our family was complete but God miraculously had other plans.

A week or so after I discovered I was pregnant I began to have issues with bleeding and cramping. I was so scared as I thought that I was having a miscarriage. We were in the ER for hours and after numerous test including an ultrasound the doctor came in and told me that there was a problem with my pregnancy. He handed me a box of tissues and explained that I was having a molar pregnancy and would need emergency surgery. I was devastated and spent the next two hours with my husband grieving the loss of my pregnancy. Then another doctor came in and began to ask me questions about whether I had ever had any uterine anomalies. I explained to her as I had to the Ultrasound tech and the first doctor that I had a large fibroid cyst. This doctor explained to us that she thought their may have been an error made and that what they were seeing was not a molar pregnancy but my fibroid tumor. Apparently, a Molar pregnancy looks like a snowstorm but a degenerating fibroid can appear the same way on ultrasound. She cautioned me not to get too hopeful but said they were going to repeat the ultrasound to confirm the diagnosis of a Molar pregnancy.

After an excruciating 30 mins of them searching with the Ultrasound machine they discovered behind my fibroid tumor a tiny egg sack. My fibroid tumor had hidden my pregnancy from the first ultrasound tech which resulted in an incorrect diagnosis of a Molar pregnancy. Unfortunately, I wasn’t far enough along for anything to be seen in the egg sack so I had to wait another week to confirm the viability of my pregnancy. Finally, we had the confirmation we had been looking for; we had a viable pregnancy and we had a heart beat of 127 bpm. Unfortunately, due to my age (35 almost 36), my fibroid tumor, and a type 2 diabetes diagnosis I am very high risk. The doctors are unsure how my body is going to respond to this pregnancy or how my growing fibroid tumor will impact the outcome. Luckily I have a great team of doctors who are overseeing my case and I feel confident in their abilities to give me the best chance of a healthy baby.

The past few weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions and we have had several miscarriage scares. It’s very easy in situations like these to let fear overtake joy but I have been working very hard on staying calm and letting my faith in God carry me down this path. While I don’t know what to expect I am hopeful and excited to meet my little baby sometime around Christmas.