gotta give some props...

I always knew my husband was going to make a fantastic dad. After all, his biological clock started ticking loudly long before mine. Actually, mine never really kicked in at all - but that's not relevant to this post...

But I'd never given a moment's thought to the possibility that I might have a hard first trimester. So it had never occurred to me to really think about how he'd be during pregnancy. You see, I'm almost never sick. I always muscle through whatever's on my 'to do' list no matter how I feel. I'm great at "mind-over-matter".

Yeah, so much for all that.

Nausea kicked in at about 5 weeks, and ever since (I'm now at 12 weeks) I've been a mess. It takes every last shred of energy just to open my computer and get my work done.

We laugh about it when people ask "how are you doing?" We just say "Sarah's got nausea, and Marius has dishes, laundry, cooking, cleaning, and ironing!"

Last week Marius came home after a long and exhausting day and - yet again - started in on the housework. "Now you know what every single working woman in the world feels like!" I crowed. "We don't get to come home from the office and sit back - we just have to start our second full-time job."

He didn't think it was very funny.

But I have to applaud him, anyway. He's been so faithful at running for snacks when my tummy starts to empty out and I start randomly heaving. And he's great at midnight help when I can't sleep. And at giving tootsie rubs to help me relax.

This pregnancy has come at a rough time for him - lots of challenges at his church, I'm losing my job after the summer so our finances are getting slashed, his mom was just diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia - and the list goes on. He has had every reason to be too busy to make me feel pampered and loved, but he still does.

I'm really blessed.