pregnant

It's true.  God has given us the gift of another child!  And in a way we weren't totally expecting.  Although, knowing God like I do, I can't say I'm completely surprised...

If you've followed my blog for awhile, you might remember this post where I unloaded the details of our journey to have children.  To put this simply, over the last year or so, the PCOS symptoms I had previously shown waned to the point that in the several months before I became pregnant, my body seemed to have become normal and balanced.  Why, I don't know.  It just happened.  I wasn't taking any medicine.  I wasn't thinking about it.  I was just living life.  Maybe that's the key.  Or, maybe it was just time for the next part of God's plan to unfold for us, and He healed me.  I'm going with that!

When I realized what was happening, I knew there was a better chance of me becoming pregnant, but even still, we weren't tracking or planning anything.  We were content with Allie and our current season with her.

It was Easter weekend I started feeling kind of yucky, but I chalked it up to my IBS and the stress that came with leading 3 worship services that Sunday.  But that Monday and Tuesday I still didn't feel right.  I had also noticed my lips had become extremely, weirdly dry and chapped.  It wasn't cold outside, so I felt like it had to be a hormonal change.  I also realized I was a couple weeks late.  I went out and bought a 2-pack of pregnancy tests.  Even still, I did not think to myself, "Oh, I must be pregnant!"  I really just got the tests to take and give myself a peace of mind that I wasn't pregnant so I could go on with my life and take Advil if I wanted to and that sort of thing.  That Tuesday night I took the first test.  I didn't tell Luke I was taking it or that I had even bought it.  I figured there was no point in bothering him with it if it was just going to be negative anyway.

After I did my business I laid it on the sink and washed my hands and started doing a couple of other odds and ends and came back to glance at it a minute or so later.  When I saw a + sign, I stared at it a few seconds, my hands started shaking, and then I looked at the instructions again to make sure I was reading it right (even though I've taken tons of these and knew exactly what it meant, LOL).  I was in such disbelief I needed affirmation.  I knew my next step was telling Luke.  I had always dreamed of this moment and different cool ways I could tell him, but ya know, you just go with what you're feeling in the moment, and in that moment, like I said, I just kind of needed affirmation and for someone to say "Oh my gosh, WHAT?!?" with me.  So I walked across the hall to where he was working in his office and calmly said, "Hey, can you come here?  I need to show you something."  (He later told me he thought I needed him to kill a spider.)  He came into the bathroom and I showed him the test and said, "I... I think I'm pregnant."  He looked at it closely and said something like, "Well look at that... You are!"  And then we hugged for a long time.  Honestly it was a moment of very mixed emotions.  At that point we both were a little skeptical and scared and we didn't want to get too excited too soon.  We decided I would take another test the next morning to be sure and then call the doctor to make an appointment.  The second test was positive and we called to schedule an appointment.  This all unfolded the week of my fourth grade musical at school, and so I was not able to leave school for a doctor's appointment.  I had to wait a whole week which felt like an eternity!  Anyway, we finally got there and were affirmed that we were in fact, pregnant!

The ultrasound pictured above was at about nine weeks.  We saw the baby moving and heard the heartbeat.  I'm almost eleven weeks along now, due date December 30!  My birthday is December 28.  :)

Keeping this a secret from everyone was So. Dang. Hard.  We wanted to tell our parents and families first and we wanted to tell them all in person.  Well, with our schedules and my family living four hours away, we weren't able to go see them for over a MONTH after we found out.  A MONTH!  I almost felt like I was lying to my mom every time we talked on the phone.  I wanted to tell her so badly!  But, I have to say, it was worth the wait and worth the drive to see their reactions!

When my family all gets together, we play cards.  It's our thing.  So the idea of telling them through a card game was PERFECT, we successfully pulled it off!  I LOVE how this perfectly captures my parents' different personalities.  Each of their reactions are funny and sweet for different reasons.  I've watched it over and over!

Everyone always asks how I'm feeling.  I'm nauseated 24/7 and have recently been more tired (I try to nap every time Allie naps), but I think the nausea might be letting up a little bit.  Hopefully I'll find relief like most women once I'm in the second trimester.  The fact that I'm on summer break from teaching right now is one HUGE blessing of which I thank God for every day.  If I didn't have a toddler to take care of I would probably just be lying in bed all day every day!  (Maybe not, but there would definitely be more Netflix happening.)  I know it's a good thing to be up and moving around and getting exercise, and I'm thankful Allie forces me to do that, lol.  I'm actually busy getting ready to have a yard sale this weekend.  Hard work, but oh the glorious feeling of PURGING, simplifying, and making space for another human in our little house!!

So that's pretty much the scoop on the last couple months.  One crazy, wonderful ride.  We feel so blessed and thankful to God for this beautiful gift!  Thank you for your prayers and for rejoicing with us!  

Family of FOUR, here we come!