She is a very active child.  I feel her move quite often and her little gentle pushes are starting to pack quite a punch.  If you see me whince everyonce in a while it is probably her reminding me that she exists.  I can’t complain…I feel blessed to be having a healthy pregnancy.

Now…if I can just figure out what things to buy for this little one.  There is so much stuff out there, and everyone has their preferences.  I have never been more intimidated in my entire life than I was, walking down the bottle ailse at the store. There are so many to choose from.  So many styles, shapes, colors, brands, sizes, etc. Micah keeps looking at me like I am supposed to know what to get.  I keep telling him…I’m new at this too.   We are learning together. By the way…(side note)…I am so grateful for a loving, supportive and actively involved husband.  He has stood by me every step of this pregnancy and even when he doesn’t understand he still does his part and whatever I ask him to do.  I am blessed to have such a wonderful husband.  I know that even though we have a lot to learn and figure out, we will be fine, because we will do it together.  I love you Micah!

We have lots of upcoming events so there will be a lot more to post in the upcoming days and weeks.  I’ll try to keep you posted on all that is new and interesting.

Third Trimester Begins

My New perspective in this New Year is that EVERYTHING I do will impact this child.  I knew this concept but not like I do now.  I am bombarded with the thoughts of how every decision I make, every word I say and literally everything in my life will impact this child.  Some of them more than others…but now I am faced with the reality and responsibility of having this child.  Granted…I’m definitely not perfect…so I’m going to have to depend on the Sovereignty, Mercy & Grace of God …A LOT!  I pray for the future of this child. I pray that I will be the mother I was created to be.  I pray that I will be the disciplinarian who is loving but stern when I am supposed to be.  I pray that I will be a parent who protects my child but also knows when to let them experience their own choices and consequences.  I pray that I will be wise and not naiive.  I know I will make lots of mistakes, but I am so aware of my sinful nature and the responsibility of fighting that nature especially as I become a parent.

Well…the bulk of this story revolves around a dilemna that we discovered on our trip.  Well…Tuesday, December 22nd…we loaded the car and headed down the road to MO.  As soon as I got in the car…I discovered something.  We have no room for a baby.  The trunk was packed with two suitcases, Micah’s guitar, music bag, laptop, etc.  And the backseat was packed with presents and must have items for the drive.  It was quite a reality check.  We didn’t even have space for a carseat let alone anything else the baby would need.  So…thus started the conversation of buying a new vehicle.  Our pridefulness wants us to stay away from a minivan.  Yes…I know it is nothing more than pride…but we really don’t want a minivan.  However, we are beginning to look at the crossovers.  They have features and gas mileage like a van but look more like an SUV.  Of course, when buying a vehicle the questions of finances come up.  So…we are discussing these things as we travel down the road towards STL and we get a phone call.  Our house is ready to close.  Yay!  We were going to arrive in STL early that afternoon and we could stop by and take care of the final paperwork and finally be free of our house.  PTL!  God is so good.  This news definitely made our conversations much more positive now that we know we have a vehicle need as well.  God never ceases to amaze me…He always provides a way.  Thank you God!  We will definitely have to readjust our budget slightly when looking for another house to buy…but at least we can make these decisions on the front end.  I am so grateful for all that God has allowed to happen in our lives…even the “bad” stuff.  All of these things have shaped us into the people we are today.  It wasn’t all fun, but without the tough situations we may not have made some of the same decisions.  Thank you to all of our family, friends and to our God.  Your love and support helps us do all that we are called to face in this life.

The next day, at 1:45 pm we had our Ultrasound.  Our ultrasound techs name was Bob.  We had him for our very first ultrasound here in IN.  He was very nice.  The first shot we got our of baby was the butt, legs and feet.  The kid was laying horizontal across my abdomen.  Even though one of our first images was where we could find out what it was…he didn’t say a word and continued to examine the areas required in this ultrasound.  We saw the 4 chambers of the heart, the brain, legs, arms, profile, abdomen, etc.  When it came time to view the kidneys, spine, etc.  The baby wouldn’t cooperate and turn it’s back towards us so we could see those, due to the kid being stubborn.  (This is not a good sign…I sense a strong willed child coming.)  As we continued looking at all of the parts of our baby’s body…he took some measurements.  Come to find out…our kid is getting even further ahead.  I was at 19 weeks 5 days when we had the ultrasound.  The baby measured at 20 weeks 6 days.  The first ultrasounds the baby was measuring right on time with my due date…but at the last two the kid has measured big.  And…the kid is already weighing at about 14 oz.  Apparently this is also bigger than normal.  If this kid ends up being huge…I’m not going to be happy.

Then, it came time to look for the genitalia.  My prayers were answered because the kid did cooperate for this.  Bob zoomed in really close right in the center of the legs.  He examined it…we stared (we had no idea what we were looking for or what we were actually looking at)!  Then he verified that we wanted to know and he said…

http://chir.ps/2kQ

You can hear the live announcement at the link above.  But….if you can’t wait…..
It was a Girl!!!  Yes we were staring at her labia…to put into technical terms.  Yes…I know….these are not 100%…but it wasn’t like he just didn’t see anything, he specifically described the female anatomy and pointed out everything that we could see.  So…I will keep all my receipts just in case…but at this point I will refer to the baby as a her…unless she comes out otherwise. You can can here the most recent heartbeat at:

http://chir.ps/2kP

You can also see some pics from the ultrasound…one of my favs is of her feet.  They are getting so big.  It was truly a great day!  I was just so glad that we finally knew what the baby’s gender was…I was tired of calling her an it, baby or the kid.  Now… she is our daughter.

Just so you know…we are not telling the name until she gets here…so don’t bother trying to get it out of us. 

Well…here I am…18 weeks along and still growing.  Last Wednesday (the 18th)…I turned the dreaded….30! Ahhh!  Micah so lovingly calls it 20/10.  It makes it sound a little less harsh. And as difficult as the day could have been on me, it didn’t turn out half bad.  The day started with Micah giving me the sweetest card ever.  Then later that morning, Micah had flowers delivered to the house.  They are still beautiful.  Plus…we had choir practice and church, which is always awesome. So the day was going really well and I wasn’t struggling with the whole 30 thing as much as I thought I would.

But, the best birthday gift came during the week of my birthday.  I started feeling the baby move.  I knew I was hitting the time period when I started feeling the baby move…but I wasn’t sure that all of the twinges I had experienced were the baby or my abdomen expanding.  So…I laid really still one night and placed my hands on my lower tummy.  There it was…a little pushes from the inside out.   I wasn’t sure that I had actually felt it or if I was just imagining it…so I laid with my hands on my tummy for awhile and sure enough…it moved again!  It was very exciting…I told Micah, and he was excited too…but I wasn’t sure they were big enough pushes that he could feel yet.  I have to admit it is a very bizarre feeling at times.  It is very cool…but yet at the same time a little freaky.

The day after my birthday, we drove to Richmond, IN for dinner.  We ate at Red Lobster…mmm…it was yummy!  Got love the cheddar biscuits!  (This had also been one of the first weeks that I didn’t feel constant nausea….Happy Birthday to  me!)  After dinner we went to the hospital to visit a lady from church…due to the flu epidemics I decided to stay in the car just in case.  As I sat in the car…all of a sudden I felt 3 big pushes on my stomach.  It was pretty cool.  That was the first time that I really felt the baby without my hands resting on my stomach.  As exciting as this is now…I know later….this may be painful as this kiddo grows in my tummy.  The thing that I love most about feeling the baby…is that it reassures me that the baby is okay every time I feel the kid.  The further I make it in this pregnancy, the more I remember our little boy who awaits us in Heaven.  I am so grateful, that this pregnancy is going so well…and God willing I will see and hold this baby in my arms.

Okay…on to the cool part.  I was amazed today!  First of all…the baby has grown and changed so much even in just 4 weeks. It is actually starting to look like a baby, well sometimes….in some angles it definitely looked like an alien or a skeleton…but it was so cool.  The ultrasound tech spent a lot of time examining the organs and features of the baby.  We got to see it’s brain (which Micah was really excited about since he used to teach Psychology), it’s arms, hands, legs, stomach, spine and even it’s little tiny pumping heart.  It was so cool!  At one point in time the baby had it’s little hand up by it’s face, resting on it’s forehead.  It was so cute.  We did get to catch a couple little shots of it’s profile…the little tiny nose and mouth were such a neat thing to see.  I am just amazed at all that we saw today and I am amazed that all of THAT is happening inside of me.  To be perfectly honest…it’s all a little weird.

The tech also informed us that I have a posterior placenta which just means that my placenta is towards the back…which means that I will probably feel the baby moving soon.  She said if the placenta is in the front you have to wait longer to feel the baby.  I thought that was pretty awesome too.

The only other interesting piece of info was that I am supposed to be 13 weeks 5 days….however….this little one is measuring at 14 weeks 2 days.  The little stinker is getting big.  The tech explained that this is totally normal, but all I know is that I was only 6 lbs 8 oz. However Micah was 10lbs, 14 oz…if this kid ends up being like daddy…I am not going to be a happy camper. 

Well…today was very exciting for us.  Please continue to pray for us as we continue this journey through pregnancy, delivery and parenthood.  As the song says…”We’ve Only Just Begun.”

Please enjoy the pics.  The baby’s heart beat can be heard at

http://chir.ps/1JB

This time the heart beat was only at 152 beats so…not as fast as it has been….maybe it isn’t a girl.  We’ll see in about 6 weeks.

The baby's profile.

See it's hand resting on it's head

another capture of the precious little face

We do have one area we would like to ask for prayer.  The doctor shared that the ultrasound tech from our last visit thought she saw something of concern.  The ultrasound tech said that she thought she saw the abdomen of the baby not being closed yet.  The doctor said that this happens in the normal development of every baby.  But, there can be a condition that could be of concern.  So…out of precaution the doctor scheduled another ultrasound in two weeks to check and make sure that everything is okay.  The doctor didn’t seemed concerned yet…but wanted to be upfront and honest of the possibilities.  So…I am not worried yet, but I do believe it never hurts to cover it in prayer.

The good news is that she checked the baby’s heartbeat and it was going strong and pretty fast.  In fact, the doctor made a prediction that it’s a girl.  We will see if she is right in about 7 or 8 weeks.  I still need to post pics of the last ultrasound. I will try to do that soon.  I’m waiting until, I feel a little better before I take a pic of the baby bump.  Being sick, doesn’t make me look very good right now.  I’ll try to be better about the updates…but I feel bad that most of my updates just involve being sick right now.  Hopefully, this will be gone soon and I can share all the good stuff.

Thank you for al of your prayers.  Thank you God for hearing these prayers and granting us such grace and mercy.  You are an awesome God and I am so grateful.

Ultrasound pics coming soon!!!!