First trimester update

I'm just now at the end of the first trimester.  I wouldn't say that I've been feeling worse than other pregnancies but the morning sickness during the first trimester (week 5.5 to about week 12.5) lasted all day - sort of that low level nauseousness.  I would eat to keep ahead of it but the only food that sounded good wasn't the healthiest food.  I would drop the kids off at school and then go with Levi out for second breakfast - usually breakfast sandwiches from whatever was close.  Levi also watched a lot of Sesame Street during those mornings.  Usually in the afternoons I kept busy enough to keep my mind off of it but I had a hard time being in the kitchen to cook dinner or do dishes (as in the breakfast and lunch ones that have been sitting around all day) so Martin would have to do that when he came home.  So it was a rough couple months for us both.  Now that I'm out of the first trimester I feel like productive member of society again.

As much as I would like to do everything I did for my first child(ren) I doubt I will blog as much about this pregnancy.  That is mostly because I just don't have as much to write about myself as I did when I was pregnant with the others.  But I will try to hit the major stuff that this baby girl may want to read about later in life.  For instance, my cravings.  I haven't really have any cravings aside from cold water which I had in other pregnancies and for some odd reason I can't drink sweet tea anymore.  Now I get unsweetened tea and sweeten it myself with one packet of sweetener.  We'll see if that sticks.

All the doctor appointments have been good so far including the sonogram at 9 weeks.  (I also was a sonogram "model" again for nurses' training at the pregnancy center our church supports.  That was at 7 weeks.)  Heard the heartbeat at the 12 week appointment on Monday.

As most folks know, I'm a planner and this baby has brought quite the change in "my" plans but was planned by God before the creation of the world.  But true to form I am now re-planning...:)  Most of the planning/thinking through implications has been about the room assignments in the house and how many years we will be making triple and quadruple tuition payments.  We won't have 4 kids at Lorien Wood at once but we will have two in college and two at Lorien Wood for one year.  I also think we are going to take the money I had put away for the CPA again and put it toward this baby's college fund so that we can front load that fund like we did for the other kids.  The catch is that we need more money now but I won't be able to increase my business or find outside employment for an additional three years or so.  I had been hoping to work a little more when Levi starts preschool in about a year but that probably won't be feasible then.  So we will need to cut spending in other areas and trust in the Lord to provide.  When I found out I was pregnant, I felt like God was saying, really Heather this mom stuff is what I want you to focus on for the time being.  And so I will.  I will roll off of the BOW in June.  I also had two work-related opportunities fall through in the last few months so this is where God has me and I hope to enjoy it.    

Baby #5

We got a joyful surprise this summer - we are expecting another baby!   We found out on August 1st although I felt my clothes not fitting even before that!  We told the kids after we found out the results of the cell free DNA test on Friday - baby is a low risk for genetic disorders like Downs and the other trisomies and we are having a girl!