28 week update

Time is ticking away. There are days I feel like this pregnancy is flying by, then other days I am just ready for the end to come! Thankfully to this point we have had minimal complications or issues with preterm labor.

Bed rest(as much as a mommy of 4 possibly can) is seemingly working. The kids have been great with helping out around the house, doing their chores, and pitching in extra to help where they can. Kevin has been a wonderful help to me and always does what's needed without complaint. As well as family, and neighbors, who are pitching in to get the kids to and from school, dr's appt's, and other activities.

So far I have only gained 11 pounds and I am feeling pretty good.I feel like all I do is eat, and since I'm not really burning any calories while sitting I feel like I should have gained a lot more but I have always gained very little weight with boys and a lot of weight with girls! The dr. doesn't seem concerned so I will be thankful for the small gain(it will make it easier to loose)!

 Being on bed rest and sitting most of the last month I am having serious pain when I do get up to walk, going up the stairs is torture. Mostly because your muscles get weak from lack of use and also because my poor body has been put through child birth 5 times in a short span. Pray with me that my body will continue to tolerate this pain and that I will recover quickly once I am up and moving again. I worry that the bones through my pelvic area and hips are saying they are done. They literally feel like they are going to break in half every time i stand up. It can actually happen that those bones will fracture just because they have been put through s much stress and spreading and I have heard that it is very painful and hard to recover from!

I am totally ready to meet this little man. I am starting to get that "I feel totally unprepared" feeling. We thought we were done after Abigail and got rid of everything but the crib. Luckily since this is baby #5 we know what is really necessary and what is just nice to have. If we get a car seat, some preemie outfits, and a small pack of diapers I will feel like we have the essentials to come home from the hospital. We had a weekend without kids, last weekend, and Kevin pushed me all over in a wheel chair looking at baby stuff. We didn't find a car seat we liked at a reasonable price so we are continuing the search! He likes shopping for car seats and is pretty picky about them, it cracks me up. All the rest will fall into place, it always does.

The Dr. says that at about 30 weeks he plans to lift my restrictions a little bit, so I can then feel like I can do more to prepare for baby. I will still have to take it easy until 34 weeks, on average this is the week we deliver, it is the week that they will not medically intervene to stop your labor. Just thinking about being so close to 30 weeks makes me anxious. We have delivered as early as 32 weeks, that's only 4 weeks away, EEEKKK!! 33 weeks, 34 weeks, and 35 weeks. I breath a sigh of relief when we make it past 32 weeks, and we always shoot for a goal of 34 weeks(that would be March 30th). Now you see why I get anxious about having nothing done!! God has always been good, he knows when our babies are done cooking and they have all(except Carson, who would have been sick at full term) been healthy babies!

We go next week for another ultrasound just to recheck somethings they saw in earlier ultrasounds but have been assured that these things will be minor, if even still an issue at all.

We're getting close!

Mommy Guilt

The dreaded mommy guilt. It rears it's ugly head in so many different scenarios but this particular strain has got me down.

I am now on strict bed rest, sitting, feet up, not supposed to be on my feet unless going to the bathroom, even sitting in the shower, no lifting, no bending... you get the picture.

 Any of you who have been there know exactly what I am talking about. It is fun for about a day, then it goes old real fast. NEVER thought I would say this but, you can only pintrest so much before it's boring. LOL!! Let me also just say that with 4 kids and a hard working husband this is nearly impossible, or at last it seems that way in my mind.

 I am thankful for my husband who already has a full plate but is willing to help as soon as he walks in the door. All the messes from the day that I normally clean up in the 30 minutes before he gets home are left laying, lunch dishes are still in the sink, the laundry needs switched over... you get the idea. All these things, I am sure, frustrate him after a long day at work; I try to keep it all clean and picked up right before he gets home so that instead of feeling tense when he gets home he'll feel relieved and comforted. That is our job as homemakers right? To make home an oasis for our man. Well his oasis has turned into a mirage! It draws him in and then disappears. Yet he doesn't complain, he just comes straight in and gets to work.

GUILT ALERT #1

I hate not being able to keep things neat and orderly for him, and I hate that he has to do my job too.


Then there are the kids, who have been a wonderful help, doing the little jobs they can and teaching me that I need to give them more responsibility(but that's a whole other blog topic I am working on). The older 2 are at school during the day so it isn't near as hard on them, but the younger 2 are starting to feel the affects. Mommy, who is normally at their beck and call, playing in the floor with them, fixing the computer so he can play PBS kids, getting snacks and drinks, etc... is now not able to do all those things(or a least not as often, because really who could get through life without those things?) Our 5 year old is getting grumpy when I tel him he'll have to wait until he next time I have to get up to go potty since mommy cant get up and down as much. Our 2 year old is just plain confused and emotional. They haven't  seen anything outside these 4 walls in over a week and they are just as sick of it as I am.

GUILT ALERT #2

This is the one I find hard to handle. My wonderful hubby can understand that this is only temporary and is in the best interest of little Micah's health. Our kids, especially the younger ones, find this harder to understand. I struggle with what to tell them. I want to tell them that mommy has to take it easy because baby Micah needs to be healthy when he's born and we want that to be as long as it can be, but then I fear breading a resentment that they may have for him before he's even born. They pray for him to be healthy and stay in mommies belly as long as possible and  don't think there is any hard feelings toward me or the baby yet but a mommy's heart worries about these things. It's probably something that can't really be comprehended by our 2 year old, and isn't as hard on the older kids because they are interacting in other ways but it is our 5 year old I worry about.

I fell guilty for being pregnant again, knowing that this is a common theme for us. Then I feel guilty for felling guilty about being pregnant because every child is a blessing from the Lord and we already  love little Micah more than he can ever imagine. Every once in a while I just say forget it and get up to spend some time with the kids and then I feel guilty when I start having contractions! I'm juggling all these emotions, in an already highly emotional state! AGHHH!!!

All I can do is pray and ask the Lord to give me peace and to let that peace overflow into the heart of our children and then go to the shower(my mommy timeout) and cry it out when I feel overwhelmed.

My husband said to me last night... I really wish you were enjoying this pregnancy(because normally I love pregnancy). As much as I want to enjoy it, especially because I am praying it is my last, this guilt has gotten to me. Even after much prayer and giving it to the Lord. I know all the right answers... Give it to God. Don't let Satan have this kind of power over you. Just don't think about it. All well meaning and said by those who care but a whole lot easier said than done!

I am extremely thankful to my hubby, kids, and my parents for all the help and support they provide; and for the hundreds of ministry partners and churches that I know pray for us. I am trying to let go of the guilt and enjoy but every once in a while it just helps to get it off your chest!

Mommy guilt may look totally different for you, but I just want you to know that you are not alone. When mommy guilt rears it's ugly face, pray a little harder to be covered in his GRACE!

Kelli

Week 22 Dr Checkup

Week 22 Dr visit. Everything looking good. Measuring right on target, no significant preterm issues thus far, strong, steady heart rate, and mommy has now officially gained 8 pounds. Next appt 4 weeks, ultrasound to recheck growth and bowel issues in 6 weeks. Praying for no preterm issues before my next appt! The Dr told baby(and mommy) to behave today.

Bedrest is continue to test my ability to sit still but I requested crocheting tools for Christmas and a sewing machine so that is helping! I have finished 4 crochet projects and plan to start on the sewing machine today!! I'm really excited to try to make the bedding for the crib. I have a few months to get the hang of this before the project has to be done!!

This pregnancy seem to be flying by, probably with the rush of all the holidays. The kids finally got to feel him moving, he has always been so far down in my pelvis that they could never really feel it but now he has moved up in the uterus(or flipped his feet up that direction). Leah has been dying to feel him move so she is constantly asking me know "is he moving?" We are enjoying every little kick that we can.

Oh how I love pregnancy!! If it wasn't for the injections that we had just discovered I needed to take with these last 2 pregnancies, it is hard to tell how many kids we would have! I am realizing this time though, that my body is not as young as it used to be. Pregnacy does get harder the older you get. I am not sure my body will bounce back from this go round like it has the other 4 times!

We are still debating out names. I am pretty sure we have locked it down to a top 2 but haven't decided to set one in stone. We are now talking middle names and trying to decide which combo we like best! I'll be posting as soon as we decide.

Update on Baby P's health.

So... we have really good news. All of our genetic testing results are in and they all resulted in good news. No genetic abnormalities that can be detected. We are very thankful for this because it seemed by some things they found on our ultrasound that baby was going to have Down Syndrome.  There we 2 of the major markers in the ultrasound findings but the testing was negative. :)

While this is good news, and we are praising God for it, there is still a need to find out the cause of at least 1 of the abnormal ultrasound findings. The other could be explained by just a history of small children, which all of our kids have been small. Babies bowels did appear to be calcified(almost like bone) in the ultrasound which could be any number of things on it's own. We will be going back to the specialist to have another ultrasound at about 28 weeks. We are praying that, as with all the other concerns they have had, the Great Physician would put his healing touch on Baby P's bowels and when we have our next ultrasound all the calcification will not be there.

It feels great to finally breathe and breath of relief.

I am felling great. Not having any preterm issues so far, since these issues usually start about now I am taking it very easy and trying to restrict myself even more than the Dr. already has. I am so thankful for my wonderful husband! He has been such a help, he has rallied the kids and assigned them jobs to help me out, all while balancing work and the demands of planting a new church . He has a lot on his plate, so pray for him that The Lord will give him the strength to do it all. He truly is my rock and it makes me feel completely safe and confident when I know that he draws his strength from The Rock, the true power source!

Thank you all for your continued prayers. We know the value of a prayer team can not be compared to anything else!!

By His Grace,
Kelli

Baby Gender Reveal

So... We had our Ultrasound about 2 1/2 weeks ago and we decided that we would have the Dr put the results in an envelope to be revealed on Christmas Eve. We gave the envelope to my mom so she could prepare the reveal and waited... and waited... and waited. Lol. Really it wasn't that long but it seemed like forever.

Yesterday was the big day. We all gathered around the Christmas tree, mom handed me a remote and told me to push the button. Suddenly the entire tree was lit with blue lights! IT'S A BOY!!!! Kevin and I were both almost positive it was a boy but the kids were surprised. Leah's first reaction was tears, she really wanted another sister. The boys were of course rejoicing, and Abigail just thought the lights were pretty(she really has no clue). Since we already have 2 boys, 2 girls, we were just praying for a healthy baby.

 

 

In my last post I said we were waiting on some testing to come back sometime in the next few weeks. Since we had some abnormal ultrasound findings. 2 of the test have come back negative(which is good). One was for Cystic Fibrosis and the other for a viral infection that can cause some of the issues that were found in babies development through ultrasound. We are still waiting on some genetic testing for Down Syndrome to come back. Depending on those results we will decide what further testing needs to be done to determine what is causing the abnormalities.

 

 

Continue to pray for Baby P to be healthy. Mommy and daddy are both at peace and confident in the ability to care for a child with special needs if that is what the Lord would choose, we are both just relieved that the heart is normally developing and has no issues.

 

 

Now to name this little guy...

What do you do when knowing God is in control still doesn't ease the pain?

So... some of you have noticed and asked me about my quietness and lack of updating on the baby. It is, in fact, purposefully, but now it is time that I feel comfortable breaking the silence.

Baby P 20 weeks 3D

Profile 20 weeks

A little gymnast. Knees touching the nose and toes above the head.

We had our regularly scheduled ultrasound last week,Wednesday, December 11th. Everything was going as you would normally expect in an ultrasound. We had told the technician that I didn't want to know the gender of the baby and she could find out and put it in an envelope for our Christmas reveal. She was measuring away. I always mention Carson's Chiari when they get to the brain part, I want them to pay close attention to their measurements and be more conscious of any issues. She mentioned that there was some excess fluid around the head and she was going to talk to the Dr about it and see what he wanted to do, but we went on with the ultrasound to get the other measurements and all the cute pictures. Once we got to a certain point she was doing a lot of searching and trying to get the baby to move, she told us that she could not get a clear measurement and view of the heart and that we may have to come back for another ultrasound. She sealed an envelope with the gender and we went on about our day awaiting a call from the Dr to tell us when he would like us to come back for another scan.

The next morning the Dr called and said that he was worried about excess fluid and swelling around the babies heart, as well as the fluid around the head. This is when i got scared!! The fluid around the brain didn't overly worry me, I mean, we've been there, done that. I was confident we could deal with those kinds of issues again, although we would not choose to, we could if needed; but issues with the heart?? That's just a whole other basket of issues to deal with. It's scary, and could be life threatening. They wanted to send us up to the Fetal Maternal Medicine Specialist in Indy and have a more in depth ultrasound and assessment done. She told me she would call me back with an appointment.

I'll just be honest and tell you that at this point I had a total melt down. Minutes seemed like hours, and hours seemed like days as we waited for them to call with an appointment. Thankfully Kevin was home for the morning hours. We were pretty much just stunned and in shock. We both cope completely differently with stress and issues. I cry, he shut off. He was trying his hardest to comfort me and I knew that all he was saying was true but it was not helping at the time.

He must have said 100 times "God is in control." Each time, in midst of my slowly breaking heart, I would think "Would you shut up?" Then after about 100 times I finally said it out loud. It didn't come out that way exactly, I had had some time to think about how to put it more graciously each time it was said. I mustered up enough wherewithal to mutter a few words before the tears started streaming...

 "Don't you think I know God is in control? Wasn't God in control when we spent an entire year with Carson in the hospital? Wasn't God in control when it meant hours of testing, poking, prodding, NG tubes, aspirating, pneumonia, being told to tell your baby bye 3 times in a short year before they FINALLY figured out what was wrong with him?" (BLANK STARE) "I know God's in control" I said "but that doesn't mean it will just disappear and everything will be OK. Don't you remember how hard that was when we only had 1 other child, now we have 4, what are we going to do?"

I am so glad that came out on my husband and not on some other well meaning Christian who tried to tell me God was in control.

So what do you do when knowing God is in control still doesn't ease the pain??

I'm not sure what you would do but I will tell you what I did... I cried ALOT, I poured my heart out to God over and over again asking for comfort and peace, and I immersed myself in scripture. Each time I opened the word to a passage it was as if God was directly speaking to me. Lots of verses about worry and fear popped into my path. I put my favorite song "Be still my soul, In you I rest" by Kari Jobe on repeat throughout the day. Guess what??? Maybe I am not as spiritual as some of you but even though I was immersed and surrounded by the Lord I was still worried. Did I know he was in control? YES. Was it the magic cure all? NO. I struggled; and I want you to know that. Many times I think that we as Christians(especially Pastor's wives) put on this perfect face in every situation. We act like we are invincible but the truth is we are hurting like everyone else. The church is a place for sick, hurting, battered, dirty, stinking people; Not a museum to pretend and show how perfect our lives are. It's no wondering a world of hurting people can't relate to most Christians, they all think we are perfect and have no problems, they feel condemned not understood!!

Sometimes the struggle is REAL, and it's really hard. I will say I can't imagine getting through tragedy and things in life without my relationship with the Lord, because there is a certain hope that I have in him, but that doesn't mean life is a bed of roses.

So... They FINALLY called us with an appointment. The words that came out of her mouth "NEXT TUESDAY" seemed cruel and unimaginable. How could you wait 4 days without knowing? It was a long 4 days but I am very thankful that it was only 4 days. I know sometimes it can take weeks to get into a specialist. Those 4 days were filled with good and bad times. Lots of prayer; and lots of Silence. You all know that I don't literally mean silence completely, there are 4 kids in this house, but my life was seemingly silent. I was fearfully seeking the presence of the Lord during every waking moment. I prayed for sleep, peace, and I prayed that I would feel the baby move more than normal just for assurance(I know, that is specific and maybe weird but the baby did move a lot during those 4 days)

Today was the day. Kevin was so nervous he looked like he was going to faint. He couldn't sit still. I was just trying to hold back tears before we even get there. We prayed in the car before going in. Let me just say I am so thankful for the amazing man of God that I get to call my husband! He is a rock, even when it's hard and I am falling apart.

We go in and have a VERY long and in depth ultrasound. Lots of questions are asked about previous pregnancies, ect... Then the Dr. come in and does some looking around and measuring the baby as well. This literally seemed like an eternity and I really thought Kevin was going to puke before the Dr. finally started talking.

He said "Let me start by telling you that the concerns your Dr. had that caused him to send you here are not at all troublesome to me". Instant wieght lifted from my entire being and I could breathe easier!! He saw nothing wrong with the heart at all and said the fluid around the brain was within normal parameters. He then followed that with some news about some things that were concerning to him. These we are not yet sharing because there is no need to worry everyone until we know anything for sure, but he spent about 30 minutes explaining a lot of information to us about these things, some testing that we needed to do, a lot of statistics, and a plan of action. Then he let us ask questions and decide if we would accept his plan of action. We decided to go ahead with some more testing and met with a genetic counselor; as well as getting about a gallon of blood drawn. The chances of these things they are testing for is small, but things that we have an increased risk for, and some of the abnormalities on the ultrasound are common with them.Even while the possibility of some issues still wait in the unknown, I am so at peace. While I would not choose for our child to have ANY issues I feel much better about dealing with ANY issue other than the heart. I guess for me the heart is just the center of life and it was really scary to me. So while I am still a tad bit worried, I don't feel overly consumed.

We should have some preliminary test results back in a week and we will know where we need to go from there.

We would appreciate and request your continued prayer for this little baby! I had just gotten to a point in the pregnancy where I had determined to stop worrying and start enjoying and then all of this happened. I am still trying to seek what God is trying to teach me through all of this. I am still holding to the promise "His GRACE is sufficient for me, his strength is made perfect in my weakness"

Week 17 update

Had my regularly scheduled appointment today at 17 weeks, 3 days. I would have had to make an appointment even if I had not had one scheduled because I have been having some contractions and cramping the last week or so. I had been holding off calling the Dr. because I knew I would be there this week anyways.

I have finally gain 3 pounds so he was happy about that(I'm pretty sure my date with the tub of Hershey Smore's Icing a few days ago had somethign to do with that). I feel like all I have done all week is eat. I wake up hungry, I go to bed hungry, I eat all day long. Hey, he told me I needed to gain a little more weight so what's the harm. It's mostly fruit and healthy snacks anyways, except the icing incident!

Baby was once again so wiggly that it took forever to find a heartbeat and even when she did find one the baby quickly shifted and she had to search again so we have no exact count but it sounded good and healthy. :)

When I explained that I had been having some contractions but that I wasn't overly concerned because when I sat down they would go away after a while. She agreed that she wasn't overly concerned but that with my history it would be smart to take it as easy as possible she increased the restrictions a little bit. Gave my a weight restriction, told me not to carry laundry baskets or children up the stairs, limit the trips up the stairs to only necessary trips, and increase the ungodly amount of water I am already drinking by 20 ounces. There was a little indication that I may have a UTI and she was sending a sample for that hoping that the contractions are just being caused by bladder irritability. She gave me the spcheel about preterm labor and told me to use my best judgement because they wont hesitate to put me on hospital bedrest which is something we definitly DO NOT want. It would be very hard for the kids to cope with a long hospital stay and Kevin is currently working 2 jobs not including church work so that would make things pretty difficult on him.

So, as a warning... If you plan on beign at my house between now and the month of may expect it to be messy. It will drive me insane but a healthy baby is important and we have to keep this little one cooking as long as possible.

We scheduled the ultrasound for next Wednesday, which is a little earlier than I expected. We plan on having them put the gender in an envelope and have mom and dad make up a special box for us to open as a family on Christmas Eve. So it will be almost 2 weeks after the ultrasound before we actually know if it is a boy or a girl. I thought waiting a few days would be hard :/ I can't wait to know the gender so we can nail down names and get a few of the things we need(since we thought we were done after Abigail we got rid of everything).

Prayerfully things will remain quiet and we wont have any issues to report at or before my next appointment on New year's eve. Thanks as always for your prayers!

Kelli

Week 11

So I can't say enough about how much better I have felt since the last update! Hello week 11, one more week and we are out of the 1st trimester!! I have went a full week without any sickness and maybe only 2 times of nausea. I wound up loosing a total of 6 pounds before the nausea slowed down but I am 2 pounds from being back up to my starting weight.

I went to the Dr. last week. Always fun when you switch providers and have to give you medical history.  Just my pregnancy histories are a book in themselves. We got done with all that and were ready to hear the heartbeat for the first time. You know the moment where those who have had early miscarriages breathe a sigh of relief, that sound is so wonderfully comforting.

 Well... she listened, and moved the Doppler and pushed and poked, and I could tell by the look on her face she was getting worried, after all, I had just given her a medical history of 3 early miscarriages. I had told myself about 30 seconds into her search that God was in control, no matter what, and held my breathe. When I saw her getting nervous I got a little more nervous myself but I told her that sometimes the Dr's have trouble finding heartbeat early on and have to do ultrasounds to see the heartbeat. She agreed and searched some more with that worried look on her face. I said out loud(because I was repeating it to myself over and over in my mind)  GOD IS IN CONTROL NO MATTER WHAT. She looked at me, surprised, and said let me go get the nurse, she can ALWAYS find it when I can't. So she goes and gets her. They come back in and she listens, and searches, and pokes and prods and she can't find it either. All this time I am repeating in my mind, God is in control, God is in control. Finally after what seemed like forever(I am sure it was only about a minute) they decide to do an ultrasound...and there it was(much to every ones relief), a strong little heart beat, and baby was moving around all over the place. She said "no wonder we couldn't hear the heartbeat, baby wont stay still long enough" Praise the Lord! Signs of a healthy baby, wiggling all over!!

I have an official growth ultrasound on Wednesday, and have begun the blood thinning injections. This mama is much less stressed than I was 2 weeks ago. Although I would be lying if I said I still was not a little nervous. I want to hear a strong heart beat immediately next time, and I will be a lot more relieved when I feel those consistent little movements. Each time I have felt them sooner and sooner. I think it is too soon to say for sure but I am almost positive that I felt hiccups the other day. Rhythmic little movements. That is such a distinct feeling that it is hard to miss and I am almost positive that's what it was.

 Hopefully by next week I will have some good ultrasound pics and the updates will get a little more interesting with belly pics.

On a funny note, the kids have started giving there opinions on names...
Leah- Flowerdy, Ana, or Analise(obviously she wants a girl)
Carson- Jesus
Ethan- R2D2
Abigail has not a clue what we are talking about!!

Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and support.

Week 9 Update

Well, week 8 was nothing to right home about, that's for sure! I have never, ever had morning sickness this bad. Last week was the worst. A good friend let me borrow Sea Bands which helped manage the sickness enough that I could actually drink and keep something down. I lost 4 pounds because of how sick I was and I am still not sure if maybe I had a stomach bug on top of morning sickness, because it was BAD!
Week 9 has started off MUCH better! I am pretty good on the sickness front unless I let myself get too hungry. Warm liquids, such as broths and hot tea, have helped tremendously. I almost feel like a normal functioning person again.
I am still very nervous because our insurance has not all worked out for me to see the dr yet and with the blood clotting disorder I have I need to be on blood thinners from early on in pregnancy until I have baby. The risk for miscarriage(which we have endured 3 of) increases the longer you are not on the blood thinners. Please pray with us that everything will be worked out and I can get into the dr soon. I know that the Great Physician, my Savior, has his hands on this baby and his/her health so I am trying to just rely on his promises and not worry too much about the issues.
Quite honestly I have been emotionally drained over the last week because I have spent my time worrying and fretting at every little crampy pain or weird feeling I have. It is so hard early on, when you can't feel baby move and know that they are ok. I have decided today that I am not going to ask my God to take care of all the issues but then continue to worry and stress about the issues. He is in control. Good or Bad. My husband, the ever faithful one, said to me last week "Kelli, who is in control? Isn't God good in all things" Emotionally i was not ready to hear that then, I broke down and cried(and cried, and cried some more) YES, the answer is yes he is in control, and he is good in all things. It just wasn't very comforting at that moment because all I could think was "Yes he is in control, but he was in control the last 3 miscarriages we had  as well, so just because he is in control doesn't mean that things will always turn out the way I would like them to"
I have spent a lot of time since then praying and pleading with God to give me the peace that I need to let him have control and to trust that he is working all things together for my good, no matter what the outcome.
It seems like when you are in ministry and you are really working for the Lord that Satan will attack in any and EVERY way that he possibly can. Kevin has gently reminded me at points throughout the week to be prepared for Satan's attacks and to send him away wounded when he does attack, instead of allowing him to do the wounding. The truth is that each testing is an opportunity for you to Glorify God who has already defeated the enemy!!
I wont pretend that I don't get discouraged and that I haven't let Satan win a few battles this week but I am purposing to send Satan packing, and trust in the grace of God to get me through each moment. He will provide what we need, in his timing, and no matter the outcome, HE IS GOOD!!

Week 7 Update

Well, I spoke WAY too soon last week when I said that I wasn't really feeling that pregnancy exhaustion and I wasn't all that sick. Week 7 hormone levels laughed in my face.
 Now, I can be deathly ill and never complain, but stomach sickness is not for me. I try my best to put on a happy mommy face but I am not very good at it. I despise throwing up. I love EVERYTHING about being pregnant, except throwing up morning, noon, and night for about 16 weeks. On another note, I was deathly ill with both boys, and not so much with the girls... so my best guess is that this is a boy. Or that pregnancy number 5 will be unpredictable.
In other news, apparently the ab muscle have had their fair share and have decided that they are done, because there is already a bump. One day I was working on getting my pre-pregnancy abs back and fitting into my old jeans and the next I have a low belly bump and the jeans wont button. You think I'm crazy right? I took a picture. That I can not for the life of me get to upload here for some reason. I'll add it as soon as i figure it out.
On a funny note, Carson, our 6 year old, while under the influence of laughing gas, told the anesthesiologist that "mommy is having a baby but she isn't fat yet." Thanks son!!
:)

Pregnancy Cravings

So far I have been craving Chicken salad(with grapes, not celery) and Broccoli. Sounds like some healthy pregnancy craving to me. Maybe Baby P is trying to tell me that I have been consuming too much junk lately.

You know, they say that your body craves what it needs and is repulsed by what you have plenty of, nutrients wise. I'm not sure that applies to candy and sweets though. True or False??

Here are some of my cravings, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Baby #1- I craved bread sticks and cheese and dairy(seeing as how I hate dairy and it is not ordinarily a part of my diet this might by a point for the True category)
Baby #2- I don't think I particularly craved anything but I repulsed chicken(seeing as how we ate chicken for nearly every meal that we could afford to have meat with, because chicken was cheap, this made it very hard at meal prep time. Raw chicken just put me over the edge.)
Baby #3- I craved donuts(epic fail, pretty much can say that's in the false category)
Baby #4- Eggs and peanut butter, together(I guess I must have needed protein), and while I eat these things normally maybe once a month, I was eating them everyday, sometimes twice a day. I would fry an egg over easy, toast a bagel, put peanut butter on it while it was still hot so it got all melty, and then put the egg on and make a bagel sandwich. It was messy but it was so good.
Baby #5- It's really too early to confirm a solid craving but Chicken Salad and Broccoli have been consistent all week

So... True of false? Does your body crave what it needs? Or repulse what it doesn't need?
What were some of your cravings?

BTW if anyone has a good chicken salad recipe that includes grapes, let me know. I can't find it made in stores anywhere, with just grapes. They have fruit and nuts, or celery.

We're adding another little pumkin to our patch!

Baby #5
Due to arrive early May

Surprisingly not feeling the classic fatigue. However, I have spent every morning, and afternoon of the past 2 weeks, getting sick in other peoples dirty toilets. I mean it is one thing to get sick at home, and even at the office, but while cleaning someone else's toilet?!? Guess it's just a blessing that I'm right there anyways. More updates to come!!