Pregnant :)

On our last day in California, I took a pregnancy test ... and after about 15 minutes, our el cheap-o test showed a teeny, tiny faint line. We tried to not get too excited. While Matt was attending his final workshops, I walked 1.5 miles to the nearest Rite Aid to buy a better quality pregnancy test.  

 Then we headed to the airport. On our long layover in Chicago, I took the pregnancy tests ... both clear positives!! We were so excited! Others at O'Hare may have wondered why we were so thrilled! We celebrated with some good ol' airport Manchu Wok after thanking God for this amazing blessing and taking a zillion pictures. :)

 Then we spent some time calling and texting our immediate family members so they could share in our joy and start praying! We decided to wait to tell most other friends and relatives until after our first ultrasound. Because we had a miscarriage between Ian and Ryan, especially I felt really tentative and guarded from the start of this pregnancy. I'm still feeling a little cautious, but much less now that we've had our doctor's appointment.

Last week (April 14) we went in for our first (8-week) ultrasound and doctor's appointment and were elated to "see" the baby and hear his or her heartbeat -- 176 bpm (exactly what big brother Ian's heartbeat was at 8 weeks; Ryan's was 172 bpm). The baby was measuring about 1.8 cm (equivalent to 8 weeks, 2 days old). The doctor guessed that our due date is on or around November 22. What a wonderful Thanksgiving we'll have! God is so good. Here are some of the first "pictures" of our little peanut.





So far, I have been feeling very good. I've had a few mornings of feeling nauseous and I've been feeling quite tired, but these are very manageable things. Even though I'm not even ten weeks along, I'm already sporting a little baby bump. Goodness ... I guess my body remembers exactly what to do. Here's hoping that I won't end up even BIGGER than I was when pregnant with Ryan. Ha! :) A friend loaned us her doppler device, and just a few days ago we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat at home. So amazing!  We've been some time thinking of the bunk beds we'll likely buy for our boys sometime this summer and the mini van we'll likely buy to accommodate three car seats. Even though he doesn't understand that there's a baby in Momma's tummy, Ryan adores ANY baby, so we know he'll be thrilled. And, Ian was excited to hear the news of a baby in Momma's tummy. He said that he hopes it's a girl and asked if he could hold the baby right away. This baby will be well-loved by his or her older brothers! This time around, we'll plan to find out baby's gender ahead of time. Our 20-week ultrasound will probably be in mid-July. Fun times ahead ... :) Please join us in thanking God for this amazing gift -- and in praying for this baby's health and well-being.