As you know by now, I am pregnant. I can hardly believe it. In fact, I keep looking at my test to make sure it's really positive. Is this a dream? I've wanted another baby for 8 years (actually my whole life) and God has blessed me with this when I least expected it. A couple of years ago (actually right around the time I turned 35) I made a decision that my chance had passed and I would never have another child. The reason is because my sweet husband has had children since he was 19. He's tired. He is ready for some down time. Our children have been blessings to us, but we've had our share of difficult roads with them as well. He just didn't have enough energy to have start all over...again. So I finally realized that my dream would never be fulfilled.

Then one night towards the end of May, my cell phone rang. I walked over to my night stand where I had laid it and noticed a little box sitting on top of my phone. Very quickly I realized the person calling was my husband who was sitting on our bed right in front of me. He called me only to get me to my phone where he had put this little box. I was completely confused. Our anniversary had passed, it wasn't my birthday, and I just couldn't think of any reason he would be giving me a box that looked like a ring box. So I opened it, after grinning suspiciously at him, and there I saw this...



How creative is he??? I looked at him still somewhat perplexed and as if to say, "Really?!" He had tears in his eyes and said he wants another baby. I couldn't believe my ears. As we talked about it, he said he realized that all the moments in his life that have made him the happiest revolved around our kids and me. He was so anxious to have me all to himself without any kids (remember, when we got married we had 3 kids already) that he didn't realize the best part WAS the kids. What a guy. What a truly wonderful (and miraculous!) blessing it was that he came to this realization. The only way to explain this is that God got a hold of his heart in a big way. Thank you Lord!!

So we made an appt to see my OBGYN. I am now 36.5 years old and it has been almost 10 years since I was pregnant. I really needed my doctor's input on how to go about doing this again. During that visit to her office she told us to wait a month before trying to conceive because I had to get off some meds that were not safe for conceiving. So that meant July was our first month to try. Wham! We think we conceived July 18. It took me 4 months to get pregnant with Savannah so I was shocked when I saw the test result. THAT was just confirmation to me that this is all in God's plan for us.

I want to share the difference in my pregnancy with Savannah and this one. Granted I'm only 5 weeks pregnant, but this is still applicable in my opinion. When I got pregnant with Savannah I was 30 pounds heavier than I am now. I didn't care too much about the food I put into my body, drank whatever diet drinks I wanted without concern, and didn't exercise at all. Like I said, it took me 4 months to get pregnant (I know that's not a long time, but it's 4x longer than this time!!) I then had a pretty normal pregnancy. I had morning sickness but nothing too severe. I lost 8 pounds the first trimester because I couldn't eat much (but since I was overweight my doctor was not concerned about it). I was pregnant through the summer (Texas summer!) so I swelled a lot and gained a lot of water weight at the end. It actually hurt my legs to walk in the last month because of how swollen I was. I went into pre-term labor at 34 weeks which they stopped with Magnesium in the hospital. I was then induced at 38 weeks (because my baby was large I asked my doctor to induce me a little early). After they induced me I labored for 12 hours and only dilated to 3. My doctor decided a c-section was the best option. I had a terrible experience and never want to do it again.

This time around I am 30 pounds lighter to begin my pregnancy (yeah!!). I care VERY MUCH about the foods I eat and drinks I put into my body. I exercise almost every day (am running 3.1 miles at least 3 times a week). I am so much healthier I almost don't recognize myself. I eat veggies and fruit every day (okay, the veggies I still struggle with but I'm definitely trying and am much better than I've ever been!). Every morning I start my day with a protein/fruit smoothie before I work out. I made myself eat raw broccoli every day for a few weeks so I would learn to like it. I don't love it but I definitely like it and my body craves it. My body knows there's something in broccoli that I need. (It's so awesome how God made our bodies!) The result of all these changes and hard work = I got pregnant in 1 month! My nurse told me today that if I don't have morning sickness at 5 weeks (which is now) that I will most likely not get it at all. What a blessing!!! I have a feeling this pregnancy is going to go very well and my delivery will be better because of my healthier habits.

Because of my bad c-section experience, I have been researching birth. I have several wonderful friends who are helping me learn as much as I can and give me lots of advice and info. I am praying for an all-natural water birth this time. I am so excited about it! Next week hubby and I are watching "The Business of Being Born". I can't wait!!