Decisions

I took the gender test, just for fun, on Saturday. It was a fun and easy test to take. We'll now pretty quick if it's accurate or not. The King and I decided that we will be revealing the new baby's gender as soon as we know for sure. It would just be too big of a secret for us to keep. I couldn't never make the girls wait that long to find out if we already knew and once they had the news everyone would know. On that same note I'll let everyone know what the Intelligender test said after we find out the results of the ultrasound. That way we'll know the accuracy. I took pictures to document the moment, don't worry.

Just Couldn't Resist

I'll let you know what we find out. Maybe.....

10 Weeks and a Doctors Appt.

Yesterday I had my monthly check-up with my OB. Everything seems to be progressing normally and that is always reassuring. I actually lost a pound and I was excited about that. I don't want to gain much weight at all with this pregnancy since I started out on the heavy side. I also got to hear the heartbeat with the doppler for the 1st time. It was 152 bpm. Midge was with me and she thought that was pretty cool.

He said I can take Sudafed for my allergies until I am 13 weeks and then any antihistamine past that point is ok. I've actually been feeling a little better, but we've also been staying inside to protect my sinuses. This weekend was rough but this week has been great. I've had a bit more energy again and haven't felt sick at all. I can't believe I'm already 1/4 way through this pregnancy. I'm looking forward to the 2nd trimester, that's always been my favorite.

Fluctuations

I might as well be trying to journal about two completely separate pregnancies. It seems every time I post an entry things change. One day, or several, I feel great and then not so much. This weekend I felt awful. Exhausted, headache, lethargic, you get the picture. It is so hard to watch everything around me crumble when I feel this way. I get up to try and pull things together but don't make it very far before I feel like I'll faint if I don't sit back down. On top of that my allergies are going crazy. I never have seasonal allergies in the fall. I have no idea why this year would be different. I'm constantly sneezing and rubbing my eyes. It feels like a perpetual cold. Two weeks and I will be done with the first trimester. Good riddance first trimester, good riddance!

What's in a Name

We've been talking about names quite a bit around here lately. We had been set on a boy's name for a while when we both changed our minds. It was the same name Chiggie would've had if she had been a boy. It just doesn't sound right anymore. Maybe too feminine, maybe a bit of a tongue twister to say. Bottom line we don't like it anymore. We've come up with a new one we love and it sounds great. So, if it's a boy we have him covered in that department.

If it's a girl she just might remain nameless. Seriously, who's idea was it to end all of our children's names with the same letter. Oh yeah, mine. At the time I had no idea I might have to come up with a 5th girls name. Sheesh who would've thought? We've got time though. We'll just have to keep thinking......

Great

Sometimes I think it's too good to be true how easily this pregnancy is going. I have had little to no nausea since the very beginning. I'm getting my energy back and overall feeling really great. This is absolutely, by far, the easiest early pregnancy I have ever had. Who knows what the 2nd and 3rd trimester will bring, but for now I'm just enjoying feeling well.

I think about the baby all of the time. I look at the girls and wonder who the baby will resemble the most. Will she/he have blonde or brown hair? Dark or light eyes? I'm really leaning towards thinking the baby is a boy. I don't know why for sure, just a guess. We'll find out soon enough. This time we're debating keeping the gender a secret. I'm not very good with secrets though so we'll just have to see.

Wardrobe

The last couple of weeks I have been in quite a clothing pickle. See, I gained a bit of weight before I even got pregnant. So, my pre-pregnancy clothes have been getting tighter and tighter. Lately I've been finding myself standing in front of the closet with nothing to wear. Finally I decided to just buy some maternity clothes already. Even though I usually don't start wearing them until the 2nd trimester, it's better than what I have. While we were school clothes shopping for Chiggie I picked up some fall outfits for myself. It' s nice to actually want to shower and get ready because I have something to wear. It was a good decision.

8 Weeks

So far the time is going by pretty fast. I think it will go by even faster once school starts. I can't believe I've know I was pregnant for a month now. So far this pregnancy has been pretty mild I would say. I've been a little nauseous occasionally, had a few headaches, and been pretty tired, but I've also maintained a normal schedule. For me that hasn't always been the case so I'll take it. I think about the baby a lot. The girls talk a lot about their thoughts too. They change their guesses from boy to girl on a regular basis. My next appointment is in two weeks and I'm looking forward to hearing the heartbeat again!

Questions and Answers

Pregnancy seems to be a time when people let their guards down, if they ever even had one, and ask you those questions they're just dying to know the answer to. The questions baffle me, annoy me, and make me laugh. Here's some that I've gotten so far in no particular order:

• How many kids are you guys gonna have??? Hmmm. I'm not sure really. I've said different numbers at different times and obviously things have changed. I've been "done" before.
• Are you going for a boy? This seems an obvious solution to the perplexity of my multiple pregnancies. Clearly we're not insane, we would just never feel our family was complete without a male offspring right? Wrong. Sure a boy would be great, but I didn't get pregnant as a "one last shot" type of deal. We're well aware of the odds. Sure there's a chance we'll have a boy, but there's the same chance we'll have a girl. Either way we'll have a baby.
• How do you afford all of those kids? Honestly probably the same way most people afford their families. Families much larger than ours do just fine on similar incomes. We are blessed to have what we do and try not to focus on what we don't. It's not always easy but it's not always tough either.
• Do you just love being pregnant? Quite the contrary. I'm not really a big fan of being pregnant myself. It's the result not the process that I enjoy. I'm a private person that doesn't like a lot of attention, so it's certainly not a ploy for that.
• Don't you know what causes that? We're pretty sure. After this baby I plan to drink only decaffeinated beverages. We'll see what happens.

How about you? What's the strangest thing someone has ever said you when you were pregnant?

Wishful Thinking

I think I was really starting to believe that I might just get lucky enough to escape the dreaded morning sickness this time. That fantasy sadly ended this week. It seems 7 is not my lucky number. Fortunately, so far, I don't have the miserable all day sickness I had with Boo, but it's enough to make my stomach turn on and off throughout the day.

It seems much worse when I have to get up early and start moving right away. If I'm able to sleep in and move slowly I still feel nauseated but I'm able to keep my stomach contents where they belong. I'm also having the foggy hormonal headaches I love so much. I can't really take anything for them that doesn't make my stomach feel worse so I just try resting when they get too bad.

The good news is time is passing quickly. Early pregnancy can be tough when you have many little ones already, but I'm finding I don't have the time I had in the past to dwell on it. The second trimester will be here before I know it.

Exhaustion

No creative, catchy title, just telling it like it is right now. My first official, major symptom, is in fact utter exhaustion. It doesn't help that we are just so busy right now. I know, this is supposed to be the relaxing time of year right? I can't tell you how much that worries me for the fall. Just today I had to be up bright and early for church, worked in the nursery, and stayed after church for a meeting that lasted until after 2pm. Once home I had to make our dishes for tonight's pool party. By the time that was done it was time to get ready for the party.

It was relaxing to be at the pool because we got to eat dinner there with very little clean up. The girls had a fabulous time swimming with all of their friends and I'm hoping they will sleep good tonight. The hardest part about being so tired is not being able to find much time to rest. I just keep reminding myself how quickly this part of pregnancy passes. I find myself literally feeling like I could fall asleep standing up. Speaking of sleep, I'm off to try and get some.

For Breakfast?

One thing that I can say that is different for me as far as this pregnancy goes is my appetite in the morning. In all 4 previous pregnancies by the time I hit about 5 1/2 -6 weeks, food was not anywhere near my thoughts first thing in the morning. In fact I suffered quite severely from morning sickness. Now I have had moments of queasiness just nothing too severe yet. It's not just that I'm hungry in the morning it's that I am not hungry for breakfast food. Cereal, toast, pancakes, nope none of that sounds good. So this morning I just went with it and I had a chili dog. For breakfast. I know this is wrong in so many ways but yet so satisfying. I wonder what weird craving I'll have in the end????