And 6 weeks later

I'm halfway back into the land of the living. Today I was alone with Elijah for a total of two hours, and I changed my first dirty diaper in 6 weeks. There was some gagging and a lot of breath-holding, but we both survived. I hoping that next week will prove even more productive.

I was in bed for a total of 6 weeks and 2 days, and it's just been in the past few that I've been up and moving for more than a few minutes at a time. Yesterday I was up for the entire day -- and then went to bed at 7. But hey, you gotta start somewhere. I was officially 12 weeks pregnant on Sunday (I had another ultrasound that bumped my due date to December 4th), so we're hoping the first trimester's troubles are on their way out.

Today I am grateful for:
beautiful, beautiful babies (especially ones named Julia Jean who are born to my cousins)
an end in sight
a healthy 20(!)-month-old
the most patient husband a deliriously ill woman can ask for
modern medicine
and, maybe most passionately, my in-laws

I cannot even express how grateful I am to my in-laws for taking care of Elijah for the past six weeks. My mother-in-law, especially, has sacrificed so much time to come to my home, do laundry and dishes, change diapers, and brought me all sorts of random food, from Sonic vanilla Cokes (my most intense craving for this pregnancy) to Italian ices to crackers of all varieties. I start to cry just thinking about how I have no way to adequately thank her for everything she's done for me.

So how do you thank someone for that? Any ideas are welcome. And don't say just having her grandbaby is all the thanks she needs... I would've done that anyway. I need something else.