Excitement

What an exciting week it's been for us. We had a doctor appointment on Wednesday (the 8th) and heard the heartbeat again. The doctor says we're in the clear and headed for a full term pregnancy. What a relief! Brett and I both felt like it was "right" this time so it was great to truly be able to get excited without so much hesitation. It took a little bit to get used to the idea of another baby, but we are 100% on board and so thankful for this gift. Now we just pray for a healthy (and ideally HAPPY baby) come September... six months to go.

Since the sonogram measured so close to the date estimated by my last period, they are using September 23rd as the official due date. Since I will have to have a C section (due to having them before), they will take the baby one week early. Unfortunately, this falls on September 15th which can be a pretty harsh tax deadline. I'm hoping they will let us wait until that Monday, September 18th so that I won't be a stressed out mom on this little one's birthday every year. We'll have to switch doctors over the summer since ours is sadly retiring, so that is a conversation for later.

Speaking of our doctor, this one has been completely different than what we're used to but in such a good way. He's what I would consider "old school" and he's very forward and blunt. I've heard he has horrible bedside manner and I get it, but we LOVE him. We have thick skin and living in a tiny town kind of gets you used to old people stating their opinions, wanted or not. It's pretty entertaining actually. He told us about two deliveries he did this week - a vaginal birth and a c section on women that were 300-400 pounds. Yikes! It came up when he asked me how much weight I usually gain during pregnancy. But the real reason we love him is that there is virtually no stress involved. I'd had a check up back in December and asked our chances of having more kids, just to put my mind at ease and move forward. He was pretty direct and said that absent doing some sort of fertility treatment, our chances were pretty low. Apparently I was holding onto some subconscious stress about that because less than a month later I was pregnant. Then after I got pregnant, I expected them to run labs right away and check my progesterone, etc. Nope. Nothing. Just come in for a sonogram next week. Again, this was a huge relief. Nothing we had done in the past had stopped an inevitable miscarriage and just made me feel worse so I happily went about my business without added stress of knowing my numbers were off. I think it was just the right timing, but not having that added stress couldn't hurt. This baby is healthy and thriving as far as we can tell.

The best part of the week was telling the kids and hearing all of their questions and discussions about the baby. They were pretty excited and have lots of questions. It seems like a long time before the baby will come for them. Both of them worry about what I eat, asking if it's okay for the baby. It's so adorable and they are going to be such great siblings to this little one. Kyler gave me a hug today and then cupped his hands on my stomach to give the baby a hug too. He just melts my heart. Of course he wants a brother and Myelle wants a sister but most of all we just want a healthy baby. We've also started telling our families and the kids apparently told some of their friends at school yesterday, so the word will be getting out. Everyone so far has been just as shocked as we are - we thought we ere done with this part of our lives but are so blessed to be able to experience it once again.

The biggest disagreement at this point is whether we find out gender or wait until the baby is born. Brett is adamant about finding out and claims he can keep it a secret if only he knows. I am skeptical and although I really want a surprise in the operating room, I think if he gets his way to find out before, we will do a gender reveal party and find out what it is the same time as everyone else. To be determined...