A New Addition

As some of you may or may not know, we're pregnant again!  I'm not ready to plaster this all over Facebook, but I'm posting it here for one reason...to ask that you PRAY for us...okay?  Okay, great.  So here's the rundown:

We are 8 weeks along, giving us an estimated due date of October 19 (and after mornings like this one, that date seems SO far away!).  We had our first doctor appointment last week, complete with an ultrasound.  So far, everything looks great.  We got to see our sweet angel who is about 1/2 inch long and has a heartbeat that clocked in at a perfect 140.  I was so happy to share in that moment with Drake - we both exclaimed, "Awww!" as the ultrasound tech showed us the baby.  It's incredible that even though the baby is so tiny, we could still make out where the appendages are, and seeing the heartbeat was simply beautiful. 

As for potential complications, the doctors are keeping a closer eye on me this time around.  The troubles I ran into last time may or may not be a problem with #2.  Some good news is that the doctor can intervene much earlier now to (hopefully) prevent bed rest, which is clearly quite difficult with an active 1 year old.  But based on the ultrasound, the doctor has cleared me for exercising, which means that she's happy with what she sees.  Our next appointment is March 29.

We truly could not be more thrilled about this new Steed.  I'm feeling fine, though I'm exhausted nearly all the time and have been battling slight nausea as of late.  Drake's been a huge help in taking on more Thomas duties when he's home, cooking meals, etc., and that's been a tremendous blessing.

Again, I beg you to keep our family in your prayers - it's still early in the pregnancy, and my anxiety levels are somewhat high in the hopes that all goes well this time around.  But we're remaining hopeful that our Lord is keeping us close to Him in all the varied emotions that accompany pregnancy.  Thanks be to God for the gift of life!