Well, today has been an interesting day!

I fainted in public for the first time.  What a milestone.

I was feeling fine this morning, and David and I walked the short distance (10 minutes) up the street to Knightswood to worship.  It was comfortably warm outside, not anything to bother me.  After the service started, my head was feeling funny and I was having lots of trouble with shortness of breath, which I found really strange, but I thought I would be okay and the feeling would pass.  By the time the minister had started his sermon, I realized I was in trouble because I suddenly felt extremely lightheaded and was sure I was going to pass out.  I whispered to David something like, "I"m not feeling well. . . I'm really lightheaded" and that is the last thing I remember.  David apparently responded by asking me if he needed to take me out to the ladies' room, but I was already unresponsive and he realized by looking at me that I was on the verge of passing out, so he just held tight to me so that I wouldn't fall over.

Fainting is so, so, so scary.  But David was brilliant.  He handled it like a pro!  Apparently I made a HUGE disturbance.  When I faint, I don't just slump over tidily - apparently my body goes rigid, so David said it was quite a sight.  I was sitting down on the pew when I lost consciousness, and David was expecting it, so he apparently held tight to me so that I wouldn't fall over - instead my head just went backwards.  It was right in the middle of the sermon, and the minister stopped preaching, and lots of people jumped up and rushed over, and some were concerned that I was having a seizure. But David knew what was happening (because he's seen me faint before) and he just held onto me so that I wouldn't fall over and reassured everyone and I was unconscious for about 20 seconds altogether and then came to with a concerned crowd of people staring down at me.

Unfortunately the feeling of lightheadness and shortness of breath did not go away quickly, so David and the minister's wife and one of the elders and another lady from the congregation who is a GP helped me to the ladies' room where there was a chair I could sit in.  The minister resumed his sermon but only preached for another 10 minutes - even though I had fainted when he was just starting his first point - apparently I caused the poor man to completely lose his train of thought!

I was really feeling very, very unwell and became concerned that my blood pressure was too high, which can be dangerous in pregnancy.  Thankfully the minister's wife had a blood pressure cuff at her house just down the road, so she went to get it and we took my blood pressure, which was normal - so that was reassuring, but I was still feeling horrible and having trouble getting my breathing under control and my head was still spinning.  Because we weren't sure whether it would be better to get a lift home, so that I could go straight to bed, or whether I should go to the hospital just to make sure everything was okay, I phoned my doula, Lindsey, who is on call for me.  She was very helpful and reassuring and encouraged me to go home so that I could rest, and phone the maternity assessment at the hospital and see what they said.
 
I followed Lindsey's advice and went straight home from church (lots of kind people offered us a lift back which was really helpful!).  Then I phoned the triage/maternity assessment at Southern General hospital and talked to a very helpful lady.  She reassured me that this is a common occurrence for pregnant women and it was probably due to everything being "squished" inside including my blood vessels, and my blood supply probably got temporarily cut off.  She encouraged me to have something sugary to bring my energy levels up and take away the shakiness, and to go to bed.  So I sucked on an ice pop for a while, and my wonderful husband fixed me a sandwich, and then I went to bed and have been resting all afternoon and listening to sermons.  I fell asleep for quite a while.  At this point I'm feeling much better overall - no longer short of breath or lightheaded - but I am very tired.  And my body is extremely stiff and sore (lots of muscle pain) from head to toe now, because when I pass out my body goes rigid!  So I feel like every muscle in my body has been wrenched.

I'm very thankful that this didn't happen on Friday during our trip to/from Inverness. . . and I'm also thankful that we weren't all the way out at our church on the East End of the city this morning - we normally would have been, but the man who gives us a lift to church was out of town and we would have had to take the train and do a lot of walking to get to church, so we decided to attend the congregation here in Knightswood which is very close to our house - so it was a blessing that I was close by when this happened- and not on the train somewhere, or 35 minutes away in Shettleston with no way to get home!  I'm also thankful that everything is okay with the baby.  He's been happily pounding away in there and making himself comfortable!  :)

If anything, this has confirmed to me that I can't really be out and about much more these days.  I was honestly feeling fine when I left home this morning to go to church, and just had a lovely short stroll (less than 10 minutes) up the street, and no idea that anything like this was going to happen - which has made me a bit nervous about venturing out at all now!  How am I supposed to know if I am physically capable of anything if something like this can happen so fast?  We are praising the Lord for His protection and the many ways that He demonstrates His care for us.

Yesterday David officially completed his theological studies at the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) Seminary in Inverness!  We went up to Inverness to attend the closing lecture where David was presented with his certificate.  It was a crazy day trip - we left Glasgow around 11am for the 4-hour car trip north, spent the evening with friends (David had a special dinner with the other students and I enjoyed visiting with Debora and her girls), attended the evening lecture, and then left Inverness around 9:30pm for the 4-hour drive home!

I am really thankful that I had the energy and strength to go along to see David reach the completion of two years of hard work. . .  I decided that if I woke up on Friday morning with no twinges of impending labor and felt up to the trip, that I would go - and the Lord was gracious.  I got LOTS of comments from people, mainly of two varieties: "Wow, you're brave!" and "You're crazy, what are you doing here?!"   Dear helpful people, I think I know my body well enough to recognize the warning signs of labor. . . and I certainly wouldn't have gone if there was any likelihood that anything was about to happen!

A shot of the students after the lecture.  From left to right: Parthee, David, Raymond (the other graduating student), James, Davide, Joachim, Alasdair, and Matthew.  Seated is Rev. Iain Murray who gave the closing lecture.

Another photo, of students and lecturers, taken outside in the blinding glare! From left to right: Parthee, Mr. Roberts, Alasdair, Mr. Woods, James, Mr. Beers, Joachim, Mr. Keddie, Matthew, Mr. Macleod, Raymond, David, and Davide.

So now there is much excitement and much uncertainty ahead. . . I say uncertainty, but we know with certainty Who is in control, and He knows what is to come!  David has his presbytery exam on Monday, immediately following which (assuming he passes, D.V.) he will be licensed.  Then he is eligible for a call. . . and only the Lord knows what is next for us!

Tomorrow I will reach 39 weeks!  So far no real indications that baby is on the way out, though I have had some sporadic Braxton Hicks (always a fun experience).  Mainly I am just very uncomfortable - still dealing with a LOT of pain in my hips and back, struggling to sleep at night, finding the weather way too warm for my liking, and suffering from fairly severe allergies.  I am very, very grateful for the opportunity to relax and get lots and lots of rest.  We've had a quiet week and I know I made the right decision to back off on being out-and-about so much when I did, because I'm just not up to much of anything anymore!

I am also thankful that David has successfully made it through not only his final exams, but has also had all of his final-year discourses sustained!  So he's had a well-deserved bit of a brain break this week.  We have enjoyed playing croquet together in the sunshine in the garden and I am definitely getting better by the day!  Today I actually won the game in ONE turn!  And we have enjoyed relaxing and watching the World Cup together as well. . . again, a chance for me to rest and have my aching back massaged while we watch the game.  :)

My wonderful husband found time to inflate the birth pool which is now in the corner of our living room.  He was tuckered out after pumping it up by hand!

And then he decided to take a less-than-flattering shot of me from inside the pool: this should be known as the "Baby Bump Monster" photo because I just look. . . overwhelming from that angle!

David has been going through a "nesting" phase himself, I think.  He's convinced that baby is not permitted to come until the house is properly clean and organized.  He's been brilliant about tidying up the place bit by bit while I rest!

I have a rose bush in my back garden that I didn't even know existed until it started blooming last week.  Every day it has a new bloom on it!  They look amazing and they smell gorgeous!  I "haz a happi" (as David would say) every time I walk out the door and see them.  Here's some photos, starting with the first bloom:

What the bush looked like at that point:

What it looks like as of yesterday:

Today there were even more blooms - and still more buds to open!  But I haven't gotten any more photos yet.

Well, we've had an eventful couple of weeks. . .

We enjoyed a 3-day visit from David's dad, who was here in the UK on a business trip, and then a 10-day visit from Sarah (David's sister) which was great fun.  Since David and I will not be able to travel to the States for Sarah's wedding in a couple of weeks, it was lovely to get to see her before she gets married and settled into her new life.  While she was here, we played LOTS of Scrabble. . . we enjoyed lots of time visiting with Parthee, who made us curries. . . I successfully made David chocolate cake for his birthday. . . and we played croquet in the garden with David's new croquet set that I got him for his birthday.  We played "Lachman style" - because David and Sarah have both played croquet tons more than I ever have, they decided that for David to win, he had to complete the circuit THREE times. . . for Sarah to win, she had to complete the circuit twice. . . and I had to complete it once to win.  Haha.  And now let me tell you. . . I didn't win.  Not even once.  David is so good that he was always round and round and round and DONE long before my one circuit was finished!

While Sarah was here, we also had the opportunity to take a day trip to Edinburgh and do some sight-seeing.  Unlike David and Sarah who have both spent quite a bit of time in Edinburgh, I had never been there before.  We met a friend of theirs, Rebecca, and spent the afternoon taking a bus tour of the city.  The bus tour stopped at the Botanic Gardens and we spent over an hour wandering through and enjoying the beautiful plants.  Apparently the Gardens have 80% of the known plants in the world represented!  It was a gorgeous, warm day and we even had time to pop into Starbucks and enjoy a cold chocolate drink which I was craving!  :-)

Sarah left insanely early on Thursday morning and headed back to London by train - but our busy weekend had just begun (early).  David has been diligently knocking out his remaining assignments one by one. . . and he is now down to the last one (or will be by bedtime tonight!).  So that's what he's been doing, poor guy. . .

Occasionally, though, he has emerged into the sunlight.  On Friday we had the opportunity to attend our first Scottish wedding - the marriage of our minister's son Martin and the elder's daughter Beccy.  It was a beautiful, simple ceremony and a fun evening reception complete with traditional Scottish dancing.  If I hadn't been 37 weeks pregnant I would SO would have jumped up and joined in because it looked like amazing fun!

We didn't get home until 1am on Saturday, but I was up again bright and early to head down to Ayr for a Christian Education conference hosted by our congregation there.  It was a really encouraging gathering with two lectures, the first by Rev. Gavin Beers (our minister in Ayr) and then one by Rev. Ali MacLachlan (the Baptist minister in Cumnock).  And for once, I was enjoying not being the only pregnant woman present, because there were four others, I think!  I was thankful that my stamina lasted barely long enough to get me through the day, as I had been looking forward to this conference for months.  Then I got home and went to bed for the evening - and David very kindly bought Chinese food for dinner!  :-)  While I was in Ayr, David stayed home and got a huge amount of work done, and then headed to the hospital for another check on his neck, which seemed to be re-developing.  He is now back on antiobiotics. . .

It is so hard to believe I am past 37 weeks and really in the final countdown now - I need to focus and get my mind into "the baby's coming!" mode because it just doesn't seem real! Everything has been going so well - I really am amazed by how smoothly this pregnancy has progressed. So far we have a "green light" for the planned homebirth - I have borrowed a birth pool and my living room is stacked with bags of equipment and stuff! The midwives have been very supportive which I am grateful for, and I also have been greatly blessed by the services of a doula (http://www.doula.org.uk/content/duk/about/default.asp).

By the way, I have updated Facebook with lots of photos recently - so if you are my friend on Facebook, go check them out . . . and if you don't have Facebook, let me know and I will post a few on here (but there are too many to post them all!).