I Have Something to Tell You...

YES, I AM PREGNANT!!!

Here is the scoop - questions people commonly ask, and questions most would never dare to ask:

When in January are you due?  I'm due January 5th, which is the birthday of my lovely "twin" sister-in-law, the day before my birthday (we were born the same year), and the day after my brother's and sister's

shared birthday.  Got all that?  All that to say, it's a crazy week. :-)

However, since I seem to have the proclivity for birthing babies a week past due dates anyway, it would work out nicely if babycakes was born in mid-January as well.  You know, to get a little further away from Christmas.  We already have a Christmas Eve baby, you know. 

Are you hoping for a boy this time?  Are you really asking that?  I think you know the answer. :-)

How have you been feeling?  Thanks for asking.  I am feeling terrible. ;-)  I'm 7 weeks along tomorrow, and morning sickness and someone-please-pick-me-up-off-the-floor exhaustion kicked in at about 5 weeks.   So for two weeks, I've been laying on the couch, failing at cleaning my house, and raising my children on movies.  In past pregnancies, I have felt good by 9-ish weeks, so I'm praying to God that particular pattern repeats itself.  For those who relish detail, I am not throwing up, but my stomach is very angry with me and I sometimes even lay awake at night with nausea.  I just keep praying, "Help me God help me God help me God."  Yes, the girl who survived unmedicated childbirth is a big baby when it comes to the sickies. 

Is this pregnancy different from your other pregnancies?   Oh my word, yes, and I could already write a novel about it.  In fact, I will probably dedicate a (boring?) blog post to just that at some point.  For now, suffice it to say that in addition to the all day and all night sickness, I am about to bust out of my biggest pair of non-maternity jeans.  At 7 weeks.  Dear me.  Ladies, they are not joking about your third baby doing strange things to your body.  There were some big differences between Princess and Smooch's pregnancies, but this is just bizarre. 

Is it strange for you to refer to this baby as your third, when this is actually your fifth pregnancy?  Yes it is.  So strange, in fact, that I will promptly be coming up with a nickname for this sweet baby so I don't have to use numbers at all when referencing pregnancies. :-)  I do think of our babies in Heaven all the time, so in actuality I think of Smooch as my third baby, and this baby as my fifth.  I can't help it, but I also realize that to constantly allude to my miscarriages makes people insanely uncomfortable, so I'll try to behave myself.  Our culture is weird by the way.

Are you nervous announcing your pregnancy so early b/c of your history?  Not at all.  Looking back, there was something  not quite right about those pregnancies that ended in miscarriage from the very beginning.  When I miscarried at 9 weeks in December this past year, I neither felt sick nor tired (among other things) the entire time.  The Lord has given me a steady peace about this baby from the beginning.  We also already saw the heartbeat last week, which is an excellent sign that things are progressing perfectly.  I personally am taking all my ridiculous pregnancy symptoms (like sicker than ever) this go-around as affirmation that things are going good as well.  So I am extremely thankful in spite of how my body feels.

And by the way, I am also not afraid to discuss my miscarriages b/c my theology is such that I don't believe in "word curses" and other such superstitions.  My God is bigger and stronger than any pain I have ever experienced, so I move forward without fear of my past or fear of my future.

Are you going to find out the gender of your baby?  Yes.  Per our pre-children deal, my husband and I have agreed to always find out the gender of our babies.  He wanted no more than three kids. I wanted four to six kids.  He wanted to find out gender.  I wanted to be surprised.  We struck a bargain.  He would give me four kids, if I agreed to find out the gender of each one.  I think I got the better end of the deal. :-)

How/when did you find out you were pregnant?  I couldn't stop crying the day my period was supposed to start, which is really out of character for this even-keel girl, pregnant or not.  Feeling like a lunatic, I went to the store on a whim.  I was so out of sorts that I forgot my wallet.  So I left the pregnancy test with the man at the checkout counter, announcing that I'd be back in ten minutes with money.  :-)  When I came back and made the purchase, the clerk wished me good luck on my way out.  Ha ha.  I got the fastest, darkest positive line, and I was in shock because I was so certain that I was not pregnant.

Okay those are all of the "F.A.Q.s" I can think up right now!  Hope your week is a good as mine...minus the sickies. :-)