I've Got a Good Feeling About this One

We love our sonogram technician, Bridget. She's known us for three and a half years now.

We had gone in when we were 12 weeks along with our first pregnancy. The couple before us came out screaming: they had just found out they were pregnant with twins. The whole office was jumping up and down with excitement, including us. Andy and I just looked at each other with a look that said, "Gosh, could you even imagine?"

The secretary must have noticed our knowing glances because she teased, "Hey, maybe you guys will have twins, too!"

We laughed as we shrugged it off with, "Oh, no. There's only one. We only heard one heartbeat."

When we went in, we were still laughing about the excitement of the couple before us. Bridget was relaying her excitement just before she finished cleaning off the equipment to begin our very first sonogram. I was sooo nervous. I mean, I had never been pregnant before. We had only told our families, but were anxious to see that everything was okay with the baby before sharing the good news with everyone else. As a new mom, I was just praying that the baby looked healthy.

Bridget put the warm cream on my belly and passed the scope across my belly to spread the cream. Then she stopped. Looked up at us. Exchanged glances with Andy. I was sure something was wrong. I mean, that just wasn't a normal thing for a sonogram technician to do. Was it? "Did you see that?" she asked.

"Is everything okay?" I asked. Now I started to get scared. What did she see? I barely saw anything. Is that bad? Is that normal? I looked to Andy. But he didn't look nervous. He looked surprised. "Wait. What?" I asked.

"Are there two?" Andy asked Bridget. What? HUH? She just nodded her head. It took a moment for anything to register in my mind. It felt like forever before she placed the scope back on my stomach to verify her initial observations. Sure enough, we saw two little ones. Two sacs. Peacefully moving and rolling around in their new home.

"I thought the machine was stuck on the last family!" she said. "But no, you're having twins!"

Andy started jumping up and down. He was clearly excited. I started crying. It was a combination of relief from everything being alright and sheer shock. I mean, how am I supposed to care for TWO? I've never even cared for one!

It took us all a while to calm down, but not until the secretaries all ran in to confirm their suspicions about all of the noise on the other side of the door. Then we were hit with all sorts of new vocabulary... high risk, doctor's note, bedrest, etc. We left the office completely shocked. Excited. Nervous. And feeling unbelievably blessed.

Fast forward two and a half years. We were blessed with healthy, active boys who had just turned two years old. I made another appointment to visit Bridget again after finding a positive pregnancy test. We had been hoping to get pregnant again and were thrilled to discover we were successful!

But this was a very different visit than our first one.

This time around, we were only about five weeks along. And we had come in because I had been bleeding. Since we hadn't told anyone about the pregnancy yet, the boys had to accompany us to the doctor's office. And the news wasn't as encouraging.

This time, we heard new words. Two, namely. That this didn't appear to be a viable pregnancy. Meaning, the chances of this fetus growing into a healthy baby was not very likely.

We were crushed. Heart-broken. I could tell that Bridget wanted to give us good news. She was grasping for some area of hope to cling to in the sonogram picture, in order to say that everything would turn out just fine. But she couldn't.

We went home and carried our news silently along with us. There was still a chance that we could carry this pregnancy to full term. But it was not very likely.

Two weeks passed and I continued bleeding. After I passed two clots, the bleeding stopped. I called my doctor the first week of June who asked me to come in for a follow-up sonogram. There was no sign of a fetus at all.

We had lost the baby.

I wanted to tell someone. My mom. My friends. But not having any idea of what to say or how to say it, we decided just to keep it to ourselves. What a horrible little secret to carry. We prayed a lot and knew that God had a bigger plan for us. Our story would not end here. My doctor said that since my body seemed to dispose of the baby on its own, we could begin trying to get pregnant right away. We decided that we would share with my mom once/if we were able to get pregnant again.

Andy and I tried to relax. Trust again. Pray for the life of our unborn children and praise God for His mercies in allowing this miscarriage to be so quick and so early in the fetus' little life. So many people have to endure so much more.

On July 28th, the day we moved into our new apartment, I took another pregnancy test. Positive. I was a little scared to tell Andy, not knowing if he'd be as scared as I was. But he was thrilled. I can't even tell you how much strength I have taken from this man. I called the doctor right away and they asked me to come in at nine weeks for a sonogram and to confirm the pregnancy.

I was really nervous. Every time I went to the bathroom, I prayed I wouldn't see any blood. I felt so frail. So timid. So sick. And yet a little bit hopeful that we would be able to see this baby full-term.

Andy and I got to our nine week sonogram appointment with Bridget and were pretty quiet. But Bridget knew why. I could tell - even before I sat down - that she was hoping she could give us good news.

She put the warm cream on my belly, smeared it around and started taking notes. I swear, I held my breath for that entire first minute. First off, we did see a fetus. It was moving and it looked relatively normal. Imagine our relief to hear Bridget announce, "Yes, things are looking good!"

All three of us let out huge sighs of relief. It looks good. It looks good. Praise God, it looks good!

Andy started asking more specific questions about what she was making note of, almost as if she was telling us everything she knew. "No, yeah, I'm sure. It's looking good!" she repeated. "This looks like an ideal pregnancy." Then she smiled at me, saying, "I've got a good feeling about this one!"

Knowing what we went through and knowing it could have been so so much worse, we find ourselves humbled. There is nothing we could have done to have saved that second pregnancy. God deemed how long that little one's life was going to be and yet He held us confidently in His right hand. We knew we will see that little one in heaven again someday. And yet, He chose to bless us again. We couldn't be more grateful.

I've never shared our miscarriage story publicly. I had to ask my husband for his permission, since he tends to be very guarded with personal information such as this. But I feel like it's all part of the healing. Part of our story. And yes, he did give me his consent to share :)

"I've got a good feeling about this one."

Those words have stuck with me throughout the past nine months. Now that we are just days (or HOURS) away from meeting our littlest blessing, those words still roll around my tongue and with just as much excitement as the first day she said them. I've got a good feeling about this one, too.

Looking forward to meeting you, Little One. You have absolutely NO idea how much you are already loved.

Another Day Down

I did it!

Well, technically, I've still got three hours to go before I can proclaim myself successful. But I'm feeling pretty confident, so I'm going to just proclaim it now. I DID IT!

No, I haven't had the baby yet. But that's what I did... I didn't have the baby today!

I know it would be a mother's dream to pick out the date and the circumstances that her child could be born in. I do not have that novelty. But ever since we found out that we were due April 4th, my first thought was, "Aww, I hope I don't have the baby on March 30th!"

Why, you ask?

Today was my sister-in-law's birthday. I really didn't want to have the baby on her birthday. I would have hated my sister-in-law to share! She's already a twin and will never have her own 'real' day, but I didn't want to add to it by making her share with someone else.

So, I did it.

Baby Girl, you can come anytime now. No problem.

.

.

.

.

.

Well... if I could just be bold enough to ask for one more favor... would you mind waiting until after this Sunday?

It's April 1st. April Fool's Day. I know it's not a real holiday or anything, but I'm not sure I could get anyone to believe that I WAS going into labor that day. Just another two more days. That's it. I'm honestly not asking for too much. Am I?

.

.

.

.

.

If our little one doesn't come on her own beforehand, we're planning a c-section to go and get her on Wednesday, April 4th. I'm embarrassed to admit that that is my aunt and uncle's anniversary. Their 25th anniversary. But I had very little to do with organizing the date for the c-section let alone setting my due date! April 3rd is my grandpa's 96th birthday, so I won't be able to do much with stepping on someone's toes. We'll see! Jack and Ben were born on our 2nd wedding anniversary, which also happens to be my good friend's birthday as well as my husband's uncle's birthday. Seems that we don't plan these things very well.

One day at a time!

I'm actually doing pretty well, as far as the final days of a pregnancy goes. I haven't had a ton of sciatic or hip pain in the past three days, which is a pure miracle, compared to the past few weeks. I had a little bit of energy to do some cleaning around the house this morning, but I stopped before I knew it was too much. I do get tired quickly and I don't even try and bend down anymore - it's just not worth the effort. Baby Girl is pretty cramped in there and lets me know how tight things are pretty frequently. Everyone is still maintaining status quo, hoping that even if the baby does give me signs that she's ready for her debut, we would all have enough time to get the boys to Nana's house and get me to the hospital. Bags are packed, plans are set and we're all just waiting to see if she'll show signs of being sick of her dark surroundings. I haven't noticed anything too major yet, so I'm hoping that means she'll be comfy in there for a bit longer...

or at least until AFTER Sunday night :)

Everything's Looking Good!

I went to my final OB appointment this morning. Nothing new, but still, another milestone reached.

He said the baby has dropped, so in theory, she could come any day. There is just no way to know. But seeing that I haven't had any bleeding, cramping or discharge, he didn't want to check to see if I was dilated because of the risk for going into labor. Instead, he just listened to her heartbeat and measured my belly. Everything looks good!

We're ready for her to come anytime, but if she doesn't arrive by this Wednesday, April 4th, we'll go in and get her!

Less than six days now. Wow.

And seeing that I have either lost weight or stayed the same weight for the past month, I am going to reward myself with an ice cream sundae right now. YUM! Another bonus of being pregnant!

Just a Season

Today was a great day to remind me of seasons. How seasons come and go. That no stage lasts forever and even the hardest of times pass.

I still felt pregnant today - I guess I should, seeing that I'm 39 weeks today - but it was a much more comfortable day than normal. I felt like I was back in my second trimester!

The biggest factor was that I woke up without ANY sciatic or hip pain, a huge change from the past few weeks! My sciatic pain has been pretty consistent over the past few weeks and it's LITERALLY a pain in the butt. Honestly, it is. A pain that starts in the middle of my butt cheeks and extends down into my thighs, making it difficult to lift my legs or move them (as in walking or flipping from side to side during the night.) The nights are the hardest. And then waking up is difficult, getting out of bed, all through the day you get the idea. But last week, I added a crazy hip pain to it all. My left hip would pop every time I walked and ached horribly. So between both symptoms, I was pretty uncomfortable. Even still, I've been trying to take it in stride, knowing those are normal pregnancy symptoms that are helping your body transition to when your baby will come out!

But this morning, I woke up without any pain. Uh, what a glorious way to start the day! I know it was from my friends' prayers, after I posted something on a friend's FB wall yesterday, a friend that I knew also had sciatic pain throughout her pregnancy. The added bonus was the fact that I woke up on my BACK, a position I've been missing for the past few months and hadn't been able to achieve because of the weight of the baby. In the past, I would lose my breath from being in that position for more than five seconds. Being able to be on my back - even for a few minutes at a time - seemed to help alleviate some of the pressure from my hip. Wonderful!

My husband said I was "chipper" this morning. He obviously noticed what a difference being without pain made me! But I was reminded of the fact that this is just a short season. It will not last forever. We're 39 weeks today, which means she could literally come any minute. Even still, I'm hoping she stays in for another week!

I posted my excitement about being without pain on FB this morning and received a myriad of comments about how they expected me to go into labor today. I've got to admit. As much as I've been ready for our little one's arrival, thinking that these could be signs that she was ready to come NOW sorta freaked me out. I didn't feel any other symptoms, though, and the baby was still moving regularly, so I was pretty sure we wouldn't be meeting her today. But I did blow-dry my hair this morning before playgroup, just in case!

This is a season. It will not last forever. Some of the symptoms may be carried with me after our little one is born (a friend of mine continues to have sciatic pain and her youngest is four years old,) but ultimately, I will not always be pregnant. I will have energy again.

I was feeling pretty good tonight (since I did take it easy and still took my daily nap,) so I made a lovely dinner for my family. It's been a while since it's been something more than a CrockPot meal, grilled cheese or tacos. My husband was thrilled. Even that reminded me that I will be able to do more after the baby is born. Things will never be just as they were when we were first married, nor will I probably EVER have that much energy again. But I will definitely have more energy than I have now.

And that is something to get excited about :)

Boys and Their Dogs

We are now at 38 weeks and 5 days. When people ask, "So, when are you due?" I answer, "About a week and a half!" Just amazing.

I feel ready, but there are parts of me that aren't. Perhaps I'll never actually feel ready. My bags are packed, we've got a plan (as well as three backup ones,) and everything is clean and folded. What more is there to do other than just wait? So, wait we are. I am moving a lot slower. I've given up on housework completely. Well, except for preparing food for the boys, dinners and laundry (and caring for two toddlers, of course.) I'm only trying to do the minimum. Thank God for a husband who's letting me get away with that!

Sleeping is becoming especially difficult, now that most of the ligaments in my legs and butt feel like Jello. It's an amazing part of the process when your body prepares for the baby's Big Exit, but not so much on my body. It's difficult to lift my legs much less try and adjust my position from side-to-side in bed... which happens probably every hour through the night. I get Braxton Hicks contractions pretty reguarly, but nothing that makes me cringe in pain. It's just tight. Today in church, however, Baby Girl was moving around in such an awkward way, it sent pains down my butt and leg. Ouch. Passenger driving can also be really uncomfortable as we hit bumps and make fast stops or turns. I'm grateful that Andy is now sensitive to that and adjusts his driving habits accordingly :)

Even still, I remind myself that these are all normal end-of-the-pregnancy symptoms and that Lord willing, they will bring a wonderful healthy birth and baby at the end of it.



As we've traveled this pregnancy journey over the last few months, it's been interesting to see how much my boys seem to understand. I'll never know how much they reeeeally understand about the whole thing, but they definitely seem to grasp a few things: there's a baby in my belly and she'll be coming out soon. They really seem excited!

My husband wasn't thrilled about the idea of me buying them DOLLS in order to help familiarize themselves with the whole baby-handling process, so I've been using their favorite TY Beanie Baby dogs. We used to call them "baby doggies," but over the past few days, the boys have been calling them "baby girls." It honestly is the cutest thing.

As many kids before them, they have become very attached to these dogs over the past few days. Out of nowhere, really. My boys have never seemed to be really attached to any stuffed animal, blanket or that sort of thing - the closest they've come is asking for their handmade blankets when they go to sleep or when they want to be comforted - they twirl their hair when they drink or when they're going to sleep :) But these dogs have come pretty close to being close pals. They come with us to MOPS, to church, the grocery store, dinner, anywhere. And as we're walking into wherever we're going, they want them zipped up inside their jackets so their heads are just poking out of the top.

They'll put them on their shoulder and stroke their heads. They "feed" them food and water out of their hand. They go to sleep with them. And most recently, they stuff them inside their shirts and take them out a few seconds later, because it was "time for 'dem to be born." At first, Andy thought this was a little strange. "Just wait until they see me breastfeed," I joked. But honestly, I'm not kidding. I have no doubt those dogs will be drinking from their breasts in just a few short weeks. heehee

This new friendship has been so so sweet. They are treating them just as they will their new baby sister. They're very gentle with their dogs and sometimes, I wonder if they realize they're not real. I joked with Andy the other day that they're the best dogs ever - their food doesn't cost us a cent, there are no vet bills and they never bark!

Last night, we were putting the boys down to bed and as has been the custom over the past few nights, we fed out dogs first. One hand is held out with "dog food" and then the dog drinks "water" from the other. I had just helped Jack feed his doggie when Andy tried to encourage Jack to go to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Andy motioned for Jack to take his hand when Jack replied, "I can't. There's food in there." That little boy truly believed he had dog food in his palm and therefore, could not hold his dad's hand. How sweet is that? I just love their little imaginations!!

Still hoping we can make it to the month of April, but I certainly wouldn't hold it against my little one if she decided to come earlier! Whenever she's ready. Keep on bakin', Baby Girl, keep on bakin'! In the meantime, I'll keep encouraging the boys to let their dogs go on the baby swing themselves without being pushed. That would just be wonderful.

Things to Make Me Nervous

A few weeks ago, I saw some cute stuff in Target's dollar section for Easter. I figured, why not? It may be early, but if I bought a few things for the boys' Easter baskets now, I wouldn't have to worry about it once the baby comes! Perfect.

And then a few nights later, I saw some cute polos on Old Navy's website. Aha! Easter outfits! I used some gift certificates I had earned (through Gap's Visa) to get the polos and some new dress pants for almost nothing. Score! Now we're ready for Easter!

Tonight, it finally occured to me to look into plans for the holiday weekend. My first question? When is Easter, exactly?

Imagine my surprise when I find out that Easter is actually April 8th, the Sunday AFTER our baby girl is expected to arrive. WHAT?!? There's a slight chance that I won't even be home from the hospital. I won't be able to go to church. I won't be able to celebrate with my family. I won't be able to take pictures of the boys hunting for Easter eggs! Suddenly, these facts made me very very sad.

I know that having a baby is a big thing and that it's a great excuse to have to miss something, even as important as a holiday that celebrates our Lord's resurrection. But even still, it all came as a surprise. How did I not know this sooner?

Perhaps I wouldn't mind if I had the baby early after all.

And there's another reason I might not mind if I had the baby earlier than I had originally hoped: so my OB could be there for the whole thing!

This past week, my OB said that he and his family would be taking their family vacation on April 4th, but they would be leaving after he performed my c-section. Another doctor would be working with him - "a real gentleman," he said - and that the new doctor would be there for all of my post-op appointments. I was alright with it. I mean, what else could I do? But I was a little sad. I have a great history with my OB.

He's calm, but knowledgable. I always felt like he was acting in our best interests, treating me as a sister and personally interested in our overall health. Especially with the twins. I had just assumed that this time around would be the same.

As excited as I am to meet this Baby Girl and as anxious as I am to make it to April 4th for our scheduled c-section (or VBAC earlier, depending on the circumstances,) I might not mind it so much if our little one had other plans. Just goes to show you that as much as you plan, there's no way you can plan everything!

One step at a time. In the meantime, keep on cookin', baby!

Thirty Eight Weeks

We are 38 weeks today. I can't help but think about the fact that this is exactly when my boys arrived: at 38 weeks. Jack arrived weighing in at 6lb, 5oz and Ben weighed in at 7lbs, 7oz. Not too shabby for twins! I remember being much more uncomfortable at this point. Couldn't sleep. Couldn't stand the thought of climbing stairs. And couldn't possibly imagine how different my life would become once they arrived.

I spent a lot of time in the baby's room tonight. I did do a little bit: put the flower decails up, moved around some of the accessories and tried to make things look "ready." I hadn't always been sure about the Pepto-Bismol colored shades or the hodge-podge style that her room has become. But throughout the last few weeks, the baby's room has easily become one of my favorite rooms in the house. So peaceful. So precious. So "baby." So tonight, I just sat in her room. And rocked. Felt my baby move and looked over the space that will be her bedroom. I prayed. For her delivery, our first few months together and the rest of her life. Wondered about what she'll be like. How she'll get along with her brothers (who are super-excited about her arrival.) And felt like, for the first time since we've been in our apartment, it was finally complete.

Because we moved the day we found out we were pregnant, it took me a while to get things organized. I was so sick all of the time and had no extra energy to devote to making our house a home much less cook dinner for my family! I did my best, but honestly, we watched a lot of television and ate a lot of takeout. But thankfully, that was just a season! I organized what I could so that the important stuff was taken care of. No matter how hard I tried, though, there was always at least ONE space that was designated as the "dump" room. For much of the time, it was what is now the baby's room. We had junk PILED into that small space, most of the time it was five feet in the air! Then we cleaned it out to set up the boys' big boy beds. Then it was OUR bedroom that was the junk pile. When we started getting more serious about changing the room to a baby's room, we started working toward getting the junk out of our room and making the baby's room look like... well, a baby's room. Everything took forever. And our basement isn't amazingly organized, but it's a lot better down there than seeing it in our apartment! Seems like you have to make more of a mess in order to start cleaning. But for the first time in more than seven months, our house is complete. Not completely organized, but most of our stuff is in its 'final' resting place.

Now we just need our little one to make it officially complete.

Not Too Much Longer Now

Baby belly at 37 weeks and 4 days, taken Sunday, March 18th. Can you see how my belly button has "popped"? I think that's about the only change from last week to next. Not sure how much more room this skin can grow, but I'm willing to wait and see!

This pregnancy has been so surreal. I honestly can't believe we'll be meeting our little one in just two and a half weeks. Or less.

The boys are getting really excited, too! It's difficult to know just how much they understand about what's going on - I mean, how much do WE even understand about this amazing process - but they definitely seem to be in the loop. They'll point to my belly and say, "Baby Sisser come out?" and "Baby in your skin?" When they see another small baby, they'll say, "Baby come out of mommy's belly?" They seem to get it. Well, you know, for two almost-three-year-olds.

The things coming out of their mouths is just adorable lately. I've GOT to get them on video more often. Just to capture the innocence of their age. I love hearing them talk to eachother, too. They talk to eachother like two little adults, not a secret twin language or anything (although I will ask their brother what they're saying if I can't understand!)

Here's an example from yesterday. Ben has a heat rash on his stomach and it has gotten agitated from him scratching it. Jack calls anything red and bumpy on your skin (including my moles,) "dots."

JACK: "I see your dots?"
BEN: "Yes. Here." (Ben lifts up his shirt.)
JACK: "They hurt you?"
BEN: "No. It itch."
JACK: "Oh. You put lotion on it. It feel better."

I loved overhearing their little mini conversation, but enjoyed it even more since Andy was there to witness it as well. We just looked at eachother with big eyes and gave eachother that "Oh my gosh, wasn't that just so adorable?"

They'll be so excited to meet their baby sister soon! Her room is ready, my bag is packed and the dressers are STOCKED with clothes for the next few months. But I'm reeeeally hoping she doesn't want to come out until April. Not because I'm not uncomfortable or anything - no, not at all - but because I want her to be as big and healthy as possible. Here's hoping!

Enjoying the Warmth

It has been unseasonably warm in Buffalo recently. And we just can't get enough of it!

Rather than just post one photo from St. Patrick's Day, I wanted to share a few. The first two are "outtakes," attempts at getting a cute picture of Jack (green Crocs) and Ben (blue Crocs) in their new Mr. Lucky shirts from Grandma Sauer. At least we tried, right? And yes, the Crocs are HUGE on them. I bought them last summer for this summer, but took them out early when the weather seemed to beg for it. After seeing how big they were, I tried convincing them to put on their old sandals, but they wouldn't have it. Oh, well. It sure made running outside pretty challenging, though!

Visit to the Park

The weather has been just beautiful lately here in Buffalo. And yet, Mommy is so exhausted, I don't always have the energy to take the boys outside to play! So we look forward to when Daddy comes home to enjoy a few minutes of outside play before dinnertime.

Tonight I had corned beef and cabbage waiting in the CrockPot after our visit to the Delaware Park playground. It's amazing to see how much more competent the boys are on the playground after just one year! My heart is happy, watching them play with their dad. He's like a hero in our house.

 Jack coming down the swirly slide

 It's Ben's turn!

 Benjamin has never been camera shy. And his mommy couldn't be more proud.

 Jack was hesitant to come down the big slide at first, so he had Daddy hold his hand.

 Then he was on his own!

 My Jonathan Andrew, such a charmer

 Jack pushes Mommy (and baby girl) on the swing.

 Jack's toothy grin

 Ben on the swing

 Ben pushes Daddy

 Ben and Jack saw this manuever as an excuse to play in the gravel

Ben found a daisy - first signs of spring!

Glimpse of a Miracle

We went for my 36-week ultrasound today. What a joy, seeing our little one on the big screen!

Here is a glimpse of our newest miracle at 36 weeks

Baby Girl is currently measuring about 6lbs, 13 oz. The sonographer believes that if she arrives close to the due date, she'll gain another two pounds or so. Wow, that's a big baby! Perhaps I feel like I have to tell people how big she is since I get so many comments about how small I look. (I laughed when I learned that a guy went up to Andy at church this past Sunday and whispered, "Wait, are you guys expecting? Or..." I feel absolutely huge and yet, there are people who aren't even sure if we're pregnant or I've just been drinking too much beer!) What's especially weird to think about is the fact that Jack weighed 6lbs, 5oz and Ben weighed 7lbs, 7oz at birth. And that was at 38 weeks! No one believed I was having twins, either - go figure! Guess there's one benefit of having a long torso.

The funniest part of the morning was when our Baby Girl decided to show off her mad acrobatic skills and do a few flips in my uterus. Everyone stopped as they saw her shake my belly like a big bowl of Jello, from side to side, then up and down. I don't care what you believe about God; the fact that a little human is growing inside of me is nothing short of a miracle.

The other part I was surprised by is the fact that she is currently head-down. She had been breach for quite a while and though my OB said there was an 85% chance she would move, I really wasn't sure if she would. That is great news!

Our current plan is to continue taking it easy, rest when I can, but still mother two other toddlers at the same time. If our little one doesn't come by our due date (April 5th,) my OB will take her by c-section. But if she comes on her own ahead of time, he will allow me to try for a VBAC. I wouldn't mind another c-section, especially in planning for my parents to care for our boys while my husband is with me at the hospital, but it would feel really good to be able to try for a vaginal birth as long as the circumstances were right. We ended up having a c-section with the boys rather last minute once we learned Jack was in distress with the chord wrapped around his neck and chest. We'll see how the Lord leads! I'm really happy, either way.

Right now, I am incredibly grateful for a healthy baby, a healthy mommy and modern technology to give me updates on our (still currently unnamed) precious girl!

Week 35 and 5 days

Baby Girl is more than 35 weeks along now. Less than a month to go! As slow as it has felt at times, this pregnancy has gone extremely fast. It must get faster and faster, the more kids you have!

At this point, we have everything we need...piled in the nursery. I have yet to put everything in its place or pack my hospital bag. But rest assured, I've got a TON of lists with the plan written out as soon as the motivation and energy hits me!

The boys are doing extremely well with potty training (Ben still seems to wake up with wet underwear about once a week.) But for being five weeks into training, I am extreeeeeeeemly proud of their progress! They are very excited about their baby sister and I look forward to when they will all meet!

Less. Than. One. Month. YIKES!