We've waited a long time (3 months!) to share our very special news with you all. Our family, (and my waistline!) are expanding again, as we welcome Baby #4 at the end of August 2015!

Being that this is going to be our last pregnancy, we decided to savor this special news for ourselves, for the first trimester. It has only been in the last 3 weeks that we began telling family and close friends. But with a lot of people still not knowing, we are ready to share this pregnancy with everyone who wants to rejoice with us.

What Happened in the First Trimester?

Starting Weight: 119lbs.

Weeks 5-7: I was super sick! Morning sickness hit hard and stayed with me all day, as it has for each pregnancy. I was craving foods like dried beans, kale, eggs, brown rice, strawberries, orange juice, grapefruit,  and broccoli. Turns out, most of these foods are high in folic acid, which is crucial to a developing baby in the early weeks! Yay for intuitive eating!

Weeks 8-10:
Morning sickness started easing up. Blessed relief! I noticed that anytime I got hot, it would bring on a bout of morning sickness. One evening I was so warm while cooking supper (and our house was only 68°!) that I had to change into a short sleeved shirt and a knee length skirt to cool down enough to make me feel better.

Also, at 10 weeks 6 days pregnant, I felt the first baby flutters! One of the most amazing feelings a woman can ever experience.

Weeks 11-13: Morning sickness became almost a thing of the past, and you won't hear me complaining! Ha! We started sharing our news with family during these weeks. 

My food aversions in the first trimester was: Anything sweet! Couldn't stomach the sight, thought or smell of anything with sugar in it, especially chocolate. Walking down the baking aisle in a grocery store made me extremely nauseous! I was also sensitive to the smell of fresh baked bread, Nick's hair cream, our Lavender soap, and chicken while it was cooking.

And now, on to the second trimester!

How far along: 14w 6d

How I'm Feeling This Week: So much better now that I'm in the second trimester! My energy levels are good most days, and the morning sickness only comes in small doses that are easy to handle.

Braxton Hicks Contractions: Had some a few weeks back, but none since. When I had them, they were 4 minutes apart and lasted over 1/2 an hour. Plus they were strong, like the kind that bring on labor. It scared us a lot, but we took precautions to help them go away. 

Food Cravings: Cabbage, cooked or raw.

Food Aversions: Nothing now. I can finally eat chocolate again!

Doctor Appointment: We met with our doctor in week 12. He reported that my cervix is nearly half as short as it should be right now, and almost so short to need a cerclage (a surgical stitch to keep my cervix closed until labor). Which explains why our babies have a tendency to come early. It means that I need to be on pelvic rest (no sex) a lot sooner than what we've done in the past. As in, effective immediately. Yeah. Not cool. But it's keeping Baby safe.

We saw our little baby and heard his/her heartbeat. We'd never done an ultrasound this early, but if we hadn't, we wouldn't have noticed the short cervix. It's only taken four babies to solve the pieces of the puzzle that is our early babies! Our doctor suggested we start a 17P shot (a progeterone shot to help my hormones balance to hopefully prolong this pregnancy until labor is safe at 37 weeks) at 16 weeks, but after finding out it would cost $20,000.00 (yes, you read that right!) we will be looking into more natural sources of progesterone. I'd rather go the natural route anyways, but there's not a lot of information on the topic, so it's hard to know how effective it would be. But we've got to try!

Also, the ultrasound revealed that my placenta is lying very low, termed as a partial previa. A full previa means definite c-section to avoid a life and death situation for me and baby at the time of labor, so as long as my placenta moves upwards with the growth of the baby, there will be no need for concern and we can proceed with our plans for the birth we want.

Midwife Visit: We had our first visit with our midwife this week! She takes time to check my blood pressure, prick my finger for a blood sample to check my hemaglobin, gives me ph strips to check my urine, listens to the baby's heartbeat (currently 160bpm), records my weight, and discusses any concerns we have (such as the natural progesterone to balance my horomones). I LOVE these visits. Having a midwife is more personal than our doctor visits, and she genuinely takes an interest in me as a person as well as the rest of our family. So glad I get the best of both worlds using a doctor and a midwife!

Weight Gain So Far: 9lbs. This is double what I usually gain at this point in my pregnancies. I attribute this excess to the fact that my sister was visiting out of town, and we took the opportunity to indulge in sweets since I could finally tolerate them! 

Regular or Maternity Clothes: Still in regular, but I noticed that my jeans in particular got a lot snugger this week, and I couldn't get 2 pairs on at all. So, I went shopping at the thrift store and scored 2 pairs of maternity jeans, 1 maternity skirt, 3 maxi dresses, 1 maternity t-shirt, 1 dress made with stretchy material, and a pair of flats, all for under $40. My goal this pregnancy is to dress as normal as I can, instead of wearing clothes that are frumpy or too large, as I wore in my last pregnancies.

Starting to Show: Yes! Started in week 13. But while Nick and I can see it, it isn't noticeable to most people yet.

Boy or Girl: Too early to tell. Our anatomy scan is scheduled for week 20, but our dilemma is, I don't want to find out since this is our last pregnancy, but Nick does! Our current plan is to have Nick find out, and he can plan a gender reveal party/baby shower for me towards the end of the pregnancy, in case its a girl because we gave our girl clothes away. I'm not sure that I like this idea yet. I'm pretty sure I would rather wait until the baby arrives to find out, but I don't want to shop for baby girl clothes in the first few weeks after giving birth. Obviously I can use our gender neutral clothes that we've used with our boys, or shop sales to get cheap girl clothes. Choices, choices....

Baby Movement: Only a little movement every few days. It started super early this pregnancy (10w 6d). I need to be really still to feel the baby move. Like, when we are relaxing on the couch together in the evenings, or if I can lay in bed in the morning for a few minutes after waking up.

Size of Baby: About the size of a lemon, or 3 1/2". This is the baby's crown to rump measurement. Later in the pregnancy, when the baby isn't so curled up, the measurements will be from the top of it's head to the bottom of the tiny feet.

Pregnancy Thoughts this Week: Starting to talk about names. We've had a girl name picked out for all of our pregnancies, but we don't have a middle name for a girl. And if this baby is our 4th boy, we need to pick out new first and middle names, so we're throwing around a few ideas.

What do YOU want to know? Any questions you have for us about this pregnacy? Please share!