yikes!

Wow, I cannot believe that seven weeks have gone by since lasting updating this blog...This post is way overdue!

Tomorrow marks 19 weeks!!! I can hardly contain myself when I say this because for me that could really mean I am halfway done with being pregnant!  Don't get me wrong...I love being pregnant in some ways, but don't love it in some ways as well.  Today I am 18 weeks and 6 days, and the ticker at the top of my blog says baby is about the size of a sweet potato...that sounds just so sweet!

At 13 weeks I had another ultrasound  for the routine genetic testing that my doctors office offers.  Here are two pictures of Baby #4.

Feeling much better these days.  The morning sickness still comes and goes, but nothing bad at all.  We have our "halfway" ultrasound scheduled for next Tuesday and we ARE going to find out the gender of the baby and yes, we will be sharing the news after we have told family members.  Our guess is a girl, but you never know. 

Here is a picture from our family vacation of the baby bump, 17 weeks.

it sounds good

As of today, I am 12.4 weeks pregnant.  The morning sickness has been a lot better since about week 11.  Still feel touches of here and there and just about every night between 7-8pm it kicks in, but I don't have much to complain about compared to before.  I am happy to be "almost" out of the first trimester!

Today was a routine exam with Dr. Henderson.  Jason and Laine came with me.  Tanner has VBS this week; which he is enjoying very much.  We were able to hear the heartbeat today.  I don't know what I was getting a little nervous about hearing the heartbeat this morning.  I have already been able to see the heartbeat at one of my previous ultrasounds, but for some reason this morning I just started having some "what if" thoughts, and those don't do any good.  By the time we were at my appointment I wasn't nervous anymore.  Dr. Henderson found the heartbeat right away and said "it sounds good", such wonderful words to hear your doctor say.

The only other thing we have going on right now is a new vehicle search.  Last weekend we went to a Carmax dealer and looked at many potential vehicles, most of which we realized are just too small for a large family.  There, I just said it, a large family!  Sometimes it's still hard to believe that we are going to have four children.  Anyways, we narrowed the choices down to two, the Toyota Sequoia or the Honda Odyssey.  Then we were able to test drive both.  First the Odyssey, I was immediately in love.  It didn't hurt that it also had all the bells and whistles and was only a 2010.  I also liked the Sequoia, just had a nice "truck" feel about it, which we are used to.  Mark wasn't as thrilled with the Sequoia as he thought he would be though, I was surprised.  So, we think that we have settled on the Odyssey.  I don't think that I ever really thought we would have a minivan, though I have liked them for some time now.  We just know that it's going to be a great family vehicle, and something that will be really nice for my everyday life of running the kids around town.  So now we are on the hunt for the perfect used Honda Odyssey with low miles and some bells and whistles.  I am pretty excited!

baby bump picture 1

10.5 weeks

10 weeks!

I am finally in the double-digits!  Even though I am only 10 weeks today it seems like it has already been a long pregnancy.  The all-day morning sickness continues, sometimes better than others.  It seems that right now I feel pretty good in the morning and then slowly deteriorate throughout the day.  I am looking forward to the days of feeling like myself again and not gagging about anything and everything.

Last night I was having a major pregnancy craving for chocolate pudding and chocolate pudding popsicles.  I voiced my craving to Mark and he went to the store for me...wow!  What a surprise, I don't think that he has ever done that before.  I felt a little guilty, but was so very thankful and felt loved at the same time. 

Seems like I have been feeling very uncomfortable lately, which is another reason why it's hard to believe that I am only at week 10 out of 40.  My pregnancy belly is definitely showing as well.  I guess when you're on pregnancy number four things happen a little faster. I will try to get a picture of my baby bump sometime today and add it to this post.

what the days look like

I keep thinking of how bummed I am that we can't do a lot of fun activities outside the home at this time due to my condition, but then I edited this image and it got me thinking that I am really enjoying just sitting in the backyard with my children and spending time with them.

first "real" appointment

Today marked my first "real" visit to Dr. Henderson's office.  I say the first "real" appointment because I feel like I have been to his office and a few others quite a few times already, but today was the first time I was seen for a regular OB appointment.

All went well.  He reminded me that this time the c-section will be a little harder because this will be the fourth time having this surgery and there will be a lot of scar tissue and things to get through during the surgery.  I am very confident in his surgery skills though, my third c-section was my best one so far, far better than the first two (which I had a different doctor for).  My prayer for that situation is that when I do go into labor he will be the doctor at the hospital at that time.  I would really like for him to perform the surgery, and since I most likely will not make it to the scheduled c-section date I just really hope he will be there to do the surgery.  I am not looking forward to the recovery though.  That first time you stand up after having a c-section is a little scary, no feeling quite like it in the world, but then again there isn't any feeling quite like having a baby either.

The only other new thing going on right now is that I bought a pair of Sea Bands to help with my nausea.  It has been really hard to care for my family, to do even a little house work, and especially to cook.  I have been wearing them for about one day now.  I'm not sure if they help, but my day has been pretty good so far, still nauseous, but not horrible.  Maybe it's all in my head, I don't know, but maybe they really do help ease the nausea a bit.  That reminds me, time for a snack!

baby's first picture

Baby #4 - estimated due date February 3-7, 2012!

Second ultrasound today.  The tech found the baby right away, and it's heartbeat too!  Everything looks good.  The baby is measuring a little larger than 7 weeks and a couple days.  She is thinking that I am more closer to 8 weeks pregnant.





32 years old!



There aren't too many times in your life that you get to celebrate a birthday while being pregnant.  So as bad as I was feeling that day, I was trying to have a good attitude about it.  Still not feeling well and having a hard time deciding on what I wanted for dinner, I picked Souplantation.  It was the best dinner that I could have picked for how I was feeling, and it helps that the boys LOVE it as well.

and it starts...

...the all day "morning sickness" that is.  Today was a horrible day.  The nausea was really settling in, everything smelled horrible.  And to top it off Tanner and Jason were still in school, I had an 11am ultrasound, and a 2pm dentist appointment for Tanner.

At the ultrasound the tech could not see the baby, so that was disappointing.  But she did say that didn't mean anything other than the baby might just be too small to see because I was still so early in the pregnancy.  Dr. Henderson recommended that I come back in one more week for another ultrasound.

The nausea has continued since then.  It definitely lasts all day long, just worse at times than others.  This is the hardest part, especially on my family.  I am hoping that it passes quickly.

a getaway

My 32nd birthday was coming up on the 15th and I had a feeling that Mark was going to surprise with me with something, just didn't know what.  He happened to call one day from work and for some reason I just knew he was going to surprise me with something, but because I had been having such an emotional week so far I asked him to just tell me what the surprise was because I just wasn't in any mood for a last minute surprise.  I guess he had called to tell me anyways.  He told me that we were going away for the day/night to Palm Springs!  I had been wanting to go to Palm Springs for some time now, so I was extremely excited to know that was where he had planned on taking me.

We left Saturday morning and arrived in Palm Springs around lunch time.  The weather was great, we love the dry desert heat.  We ate lunch and then found our quaint "boutique" hotel, Hotel California.  Mark had done a wonderful job picking out the hotel.  Our room overlooked the small pool and was very charming.  The is a place that we will definitely go back to.  That afternoon we just relaxed by the pool with a few of the other guests.  That evening we went out to dinner, walked around and had dessert, came back to the hotel and sat outside by our room where they had a few lounge chairs and candles set up.  The next day we slept in, had breakfast on the balcony, took a bike ride, went out for an early lunch, lounged by the pool again, then left in the late afternoon. 

It was a wonderful weekend.  I was so happy to get away, it was just what I needed after such a long roller coaster of a week with the pregnancy.  I also had a feeling that things with the baby were looking good because I was constantly hungry and starting get the early touches of the so-called "morning sickness".

the start of a long week

We had know that I was pregnant for only two days when I started spotting.  It's always a little concerning when you have spotting, you just don't know what is happening with the baby.  I know that I had spotting with Tanner, but it only lasted 1-2 days.  This time I spotted for a good week, and at times it wasn't just a little brown spotting, but instead a lot of red spotting. 

The next day I called Dr. Henderson who told me to come in the following day to have my blood drawn to check the HCG levels, then to come back two days after that for another blood draw.  While at the lab the second time I used the restroom only to find what seemed like the brightest red spotting, at this point I thought for sure that I was loosing the baby.

After returning home from the lab I called Dr. Henderson and told him about the continued spotting and how it didn't seem to be getting better, but instead worse.  He had the results of the first blood draw and said that he wasn't too concerned because the HCG levels were very high.  He also said that he really couldn't tell me either way what was going on and that we would need to wait until Monday for the other blood draw results.  He also had me schedule an ultrasound for early the following week.

I have to say that I was a mess after getting home from the lab, but after speaking to Dr. Henderson and knowing that the HCG levels looked great so far, I started to worry less.  I had also been thinking all week that every time I found spotting or felt like what I thought was a cramping feeling that I couldn't keep worrying about it.  God was in control, He knew what would happen with this little life that he had placed in me.

surprise!

I had pretty much known that I was pregnant with baby #4 for a few days by now, but this morning I took the pregnancy test at home first thing in the morning.  Mark and I were very surprised to see two pink lines show up in the window.  Two lines = pregnant!

After we sat down for breakfast we told the kids right away, and they were all extremely happy about the news.  Tanner and Jason of course know what we meant, not so sure about Laine though.  We had been planning on going to Legoland that day with my mom, so we told her right away when she came over.  The boys each made cards to share the news.

As of now it looks like my due date will be early February 2012.