The Latest and Greatest

Yup, still on bedrest. It's about as good as you might expect. And actually, it has some pretty nice perks. For instance, when John comes home from work, I can mozy myself on upstairs and watch 2 hours of TV while he picks up the entire house and makes dinner without feeling guilty. Now, watching that TV uninterrupted is another story. Usually if I try to watch any TV, it's with a toddler next to me and we watch Max and Ruby, Little Bear (that Little Bear SURE has a super annoying voice and laugh), Yo Gabba Gabba ("Don't, Don't, Don't bite your friends"), or Oobi (Actually, this one is my favorite. If you watch it, I promise you'll laugh. It's completely demented. But ya gotta love Grampoo). What's sad is when an episode comes on and I've seen it already. Or worse, when I've seen it a few times.

Me at 32 1/2 Weeks pregnant looking a bit tired and puffy


So far, I've read two books: The Hunger Games and Catching Fire and I pre-ordered the third that comes out in August (can't wait!). I just started reading The Great and Terrible series and after that it's 'Boys Adrift' (thanks, Dad & Bette). It's a bit pathetic that I seem to read the books that I know EVERYONE else reads, but usually that's how I do it because I need to be entertained. You see, I REQUIRE page-turners to be happy. Any recommendations?

I LOVE a good crime show. But I usually forget when 'Dateline' and '48 Hours Investigates' are on, which is why my latest obsession with the 'Investigation Discovery' channel is so fantastic! There are crime shows on ALL. DAY. LONG. Wanna solve a murder? I'm your gal, baby. I know all about forensics, DNA and even what a maggot can tell you about how long someone's been dead. I've always loved a good murder mystery and even took Criminal Justice in college. It was my favorite class. Just don't ask me how well I did in it. I was dating John at the time. It's his fault.

I've spent a lot of my days imagining not only the much-awaited birth of our baby and what sex that baby might be, but also daydreaming about hospital food. You see, my local hospital has this AMAZING cafeteria. We're talking battered fries, big juicy made-to-order cheeseburgers and a HUGE salad bar. When I had Faith in the hospital, I got the 'regular plate' of hospital food. Ya know, the sickening tray with fake mashed potatoes on it and super chewy roast beef. But TWO WEEKS after I had Faith, they started a new policy where you could order whatever you wanted from their cafeteria. So you see, I've been waiting for 3 years to order from the downstairs cafeteria and I'm not about to waste this GOLDEN opportunity!

Levi has been out of school for a week. While he's definitely been helpful with Faith i.e., running up and down the stairs for me, entertaining her occasionally, helping her out with her demands, it's definitely not been perfect. Faith and Levi have a very sweet relationship, but they also fight like you can't believe. Usually it starts with Faith wanting Levi to do something that he doesn't want to do so he tells her no, she begs more and then he starts screaming at her while she's pulling on some article of clothing he's wearing all the while he's bawling WAY TOO much about whatever the problem is and she is screaming so loud I can't hear myself think. And then I have to come in and separate both of them to their rooms because they're both at fault all the while stewing about how mad I am that both of them made me move from my book or pause my crime show. Believe me, I've tried yelling at them from a distance, but it doesn't seem to do any good. Moving is the best option which, let's face it... sucks. I wonder sometimes if my kids just think I'm a lazy slob of a mom who likes to lay in the bed and read and watch TV, but then I realize I can't help it and they're just going to have to get over it. On the bright side, my doctor just told me I'm allowed to go swimming as much as I want. Yay!

I have THANKFULLY had a lot of help. John has been amazing. He insists I go lay down all the time. Levi vacuums, John does the dishes, and I've had neighbors and friends take my kids and bring over dinners. My sister, Laura, came over one day and cleaned my house and brought dinner a couple days later. I've decided that while things definitely aren't 'easy' per se, they are definitely pretty good and I can't complain about this condition which I know I'd do a MILLION times over if it meant bringing a healthy baby into the world and hey... at least I'm not hospitalized or delivering early, and hopefully neither of those things come to pass either.

Ever since I got put on bedrest, I've been working on my irritability issues which seem to peak when I'm pregnant. I honestly don't think I'm all that bad, but my fuse is definitely shorter than usual. So when Levi wipes his nose with his hand straight up to his forehead and then wipes it on his pants, I gently tell him not to do that. And when Faith asks for chocolate milk for the upteenth time in a day, I sweetly tell her that twenty two cups is enough for one day and she'll have to wait until tomorrow. And I never EVER yell at my kids and tell them they're driving me crazy. And chewing noises? What chewing noises?

Seriously. It's like 'Leave it to Beaver' over here. It's blissful.

Letting the Cat Out of the Bag

Guess what, friends?


I have some news.



Some BIG NEWS.



It's so big that it's 'I-can't-even-believe-it-myself-kind-of-news'....



It's shocking.


It's happy.



It's exciting.


And it's coming at the end of July.




Any guesses?


Here's a little hint:



We are overjoyed and beyond grateful for this amazing blessing.
A blessing we thought might not come again to our little family.



I'm sure you are all DYING to know HOW this all happened since we have had such a hard time conceiving. In case you missed the post explaining our situation, CLICK HERE.

It happened the month I stopped infertility treatments.
Now, before you go telling me it's because I finally 'relaxed', just be aware that I might VERY WELL bite your head off if you say that to me. The truth of the matter is I was still VERY HYPERSTIMULATED from being on all the injectable fertility drugs. My doctor thinks this is why I was lucky enough to have it happen. He says it has happened before, but it is rare. I also have an extreme case of polycystic ovaries. Combine that with the fact that they were overstimulated and my chances go up A TON. But it was still a shot in the dark. Literally.

Here is what I know to be true:
I believe that Heavenly Father guided us to do all those fertility treatments for a reason. Before I found out I was pregnant, I had finally accepted His will for our family. At least, for a season. We were planning on making more 'possible' decisions come January, but I was happy to not be doing anything at the time. And I felt good about it. So good that I have never before had so much peace about something. Ever. I know that I was supposed to do all 6 of those painful, heartwrenching infertility cycles plus the HSG and I also know I was supposed to quit when I did. After stopping, I was in a very good place for four entire weeks. Now, I know that might not seem like a lot of time for many of you, but I had every intention of letting that good feeling continue. I knew my period was supposed to be coming, but was in no way worried about it or upset at its prospect.

The pregnancy part of the story:
Obviously my period never came. When I finally took a test and saw that it was positive, I immediately called my Reproductive Endocrinologist. They ordered blood work right away. The results were back in an hour and I was told I was most likely going to miscarry. Even then, I was completely calm and not the least bit upset (which is so unlike me). I put my trust completely in the Lord and moved forward. Two days later, more blood work was ordered. My HCG numbers had doubled but my numbers were still very low ( The reason my numbers were so low is because even though I was extremely late for my cycle, I was completely 'off' from the previous month of injectable drugs. So basically I caught it VERY early. But according to charts, the doctor's office thought I should have been further along. Make sense?). I went in for a high tech ultrasound at my specialists office. It was early and he couldn't see much so he wanted me to come back a week later. He also ordered two more blood tests (a total of four). All the bloodwork came back great and my HCG numbers kept doubling. When we finally came back for another ultrasound, that is when we finally saw the baby and the heartbeat. Such a good sign!
I haven't shared this news earlier for many reasons. This is my 6th pregnancy. I've had three miscarriages before so I typically like to hold off as long as possible. I may have even held out longer except for the fact that I'm looking pretty pregnant right now. I don't think I could fool too many people for too much longer. Also, I am extremely high risk. I have a subchorionic hematoma. My R.E. has me on a very high dose of progesterone and also mild bed rest. I say mild because I'm typically doing the same stuff but haven't been able to work out or lift, etc. A lot of times these hematomas heal themselves in the first trimester. At my last appt. with my O.B., it had shrunk a bit from the previous visit. Yay! I'm in a really good place and finally feeling like it's time to share the joy.

I'd love for you to share in the joy with me. Won't you, please?

The Four Babies

When I found out I was pregnant with Faith, two of my sisters had already known that they were pregnant for a couple of weeks. Joyce had her baby May 30th, Charlotte had hers May 31st and I had Faith June 16th. It was a special time being pregnant with two of my sisters. We would call each other and complain about what made us sick that particular day or talk about our aching backs and inability to hold our pee. Good times. Good times. Here's a picture of our bellies.

My sister, Laura, has a baby about the same size as ours. He's a little bit older than the other babies though. He's adopted and that's why his complexion is dark and he doesn't look like the rest of the babies. His name is Puff. Here's a picture of all four of the babies. Aren't they cute?

Baby Ian and Joyce, Baby Aaron and Charlotte, Baby Faith and me, Baby Puff and Laura