This one's a keeper!! :)

So I am finally excited to be able to announce on here that our family will be growing by two (tiny) feet come September! I am very excited, anxious, and feeling blessed and am hopeful for one last boring full term singleton pregnancy. After the past 6 years of being a part of 4 little miracles with 3 different families, it is surreal to be anticipating the arrival of our own child... to think that the little one growing inside me is a piece of me and my hubby this time, and that I won't just come home after delivery and get to sleep through the night... this time will be a whole new ball game... well not completely new, but sort of feels that way! Kent will turn 15 just 2 months after the baby is due... that is crazy enough by itself! How is my baby nearly 15??

We told Kent the news a couple weeks ago and shared the news with our family this past week. We got Kent a t-shirt that said "Only Child" crossed out with "Big Brother" underneath. We gave him that along with a little homemade card I created with a picture of the most recent ultrasound we've had and a note for him. I think he is looking forward to having a sibling, but being as old as he is, he's also already thinking about crying babies, schedule disruptions, and smelly diapers! He likes to think things through too much. :) He will be a wonderful big brother and I cannot wait for the day he and his sibling will get to meet...

I'm counting down until we get to find out if we're expecting a girl or a boy and look forward to all the things that come with being further along in pregnancy - feeling more movement, planning a baby shower, setting up a nursery, not just looking fat anymore, feeling less anxious about how the pregnancy is going (I hope)... I have a lot more anxiety this time for the health of the baby than I did with my surrogacy pregnancies. With the surrogacies I worried about taking the best care of myself and the babies that I could, and that was my only focus. This time I think about this little person's toes, and lips, and fingers and wonder if they're healthy, and if they're doing ok, and wonder what color hair they will have...

I have had bleeding off and on throughout this pregnancy, with the first big bleed at 6 weeks, followed by a couple bouts of old blood then nothing for weeks, but I woke up to more just a few days ago. I'm so ready for that to be DONE with. It causes a lot of worry and I know there's nothing I can do except try to take it easy and stay hydrated. Thankfully I have my doppler and I can check in to make sure baby's heartbeat is nice and strong still. I try not to use it too often, but would use it every day if I didn't think that was being completely obsessive!

Here is the ultrasound we had at just over 8 weeks:

3/19/13 13w2d

So many changes and happenings in our life this year, and I am amazed and blessed that one of those includes a new little life... I can only imagine how much this change will bring to our family!