Big sister in training!

We have a little announcement ... :0) ... Most of you know already, but Andi is a big sister in training!! Wohoo!! Praise the Lord!

I'm currently 13+ weeks along, almost in the second trimester. Apart from a few minor things (let's just say prunes have become my friend), I have been feeling great. I have not had a single day of nausea which feels odd, and sure different than the pregnancy with Andi (maybe this one's a boy? ;) )

I actually found out on Halloween (October 31st), and Andi and I had fun 'telling' Ben: Even though I had already made her a Dutch milk maid costume, I had quickly made her an exercise outfit with tights, sneakers and a leotard reading "Big Sister" in the front, and "In training" in the back. I told Ben I made Andi a second halloween costume, and he replied "Why would you do that, you spent hours making her Dutch costume?" Then when Andi walked into the room, Ben's face was priceless :)
We had been praying for a sibling for Andi for quite some time, and feel so blessed with this pregnancy. We appreciate your prayers over this baby and pregnancy, and hopefully he or she will make his/her arrival sometime around July 9th!

Andi's 2nd costume on Halloween:



No explanation needed :)


Even though I'm only 13 weeks along, I've already had 3 ultrasounds. At 7+ weeks we had a fun-ultrasound at the Heart to Heart pregnancy center with Debbie. What a treat! Because I had been taking Clomid I was a little bit anxious to find out if I was carrying multiples. Thankfully, even though I think Debbie would have thought it to be fun to see twins or triplets in there, I was sure a tad relieved when it showed only one :)
He/She measured about 1cm, and had a heartbeat of 126 bpm.

Then at 9+ weeks we had our first ultrasound at the Women's clinic. Everything looked right on track. Amazing to see how much a tiny baby like that grows in only 2 weeks! At this point the baby measured 2.4 cms and had a heartbeat of 171 bpm.

Then this morning I had just a regular checkup appointment at the clinic. However, when the doctor put on the fetal stethoscope, he was not able to find a heartbeat, no matter how much he searched for one. Even though he said that that is not that uncommon at early stages of pregnancy, he did for sure want to perform an ultrasound. Definitely a 'Breath-in-deep-and-trust-in-the-Lord!' moment! A long 10+ minute wait later, the ultrasound image showed up on the screen (and Andi recognized it saying "baby"!), I saw the baby's arm move right away, and the doctor was able to see the heartbeat. Praise God!

This was a very quick ultrasound, no measuring or pictures of any kind, but still, it was again awesome to see how much this tiny baby has developed in just those extra couple of weeks.