Day 12: On marriage

Pregnancy is the trump card.

I need pillows.
I'm craving a very specific food item that is located 3 towns over.
Can you get me another glass of water, I literally CANT move.

For good reason. I would wager that being pregnant is still much harder then being married to a pregnant woman.

In the throws of 1st trimester exhaustion and nausea, I've needed more support.
Of course as Murphy's Law would have it, I can't get morning sickness in the actual morning when my kids are at school and I have more space to ride through... nope... I get sick starting just before afternoon pickup and stay that way until kids are asleep.

Generally, I am asleep before them but I do make valiant efforts to make it all the way to the end of the day.

I really could use a hand in the afternoon.

This is where I would play my trump card.

"I need you home."

But, my husband, as it would turn out is the the middle of his own stuff. At work, we are finishing a clinical trial getting ready to submit a 510k on a new product that he has been developing over the last year. The submission was actually supposed to be done at the beginning of February but as these things go, there have been bumps and dips in the road and he's been working tirelessly to keep things on track.

So, even though I have the trump card, I don't play it.
In fact, I let him work late. Right now, he needs to.

I wade through the after-school routine as best I can. Some days dinner is frozen pizza on the couch in front of a movie . But homework is done. Kids are loved and I'm in one piece, so we call it a win.

And as I try to keep my eyes open on the couch, he walks in the door and starts cleaning the kitchen.

Love is...

coming home from a long stressful day at work
and cleaning up the kitchen and putting kids to bed.

and..

cooking dinner when you don't feel good
so there's something for him to eat when he gets there.

Marriage is choosing not to play your trump cards.