The Big Surprise

So before I go on posting recent pictures, I should probably release our big secret that we've been keeping from my family for the last 8 months.....

Yep! My parents are shaking their fingers at me because we are expecting baby #4 and they had no idea! I am currently 35.5 weeks pregnant and we just told my parents and family 2 weeks ago by surprising them in person like so. We haven't seen them since November so it was pretty easy to keep it a secret.

Wouldn't your mother kill you? :)

Oh it was SO much fun seeing their reaction when they saw me and even more so when they found out how far along I was. My mom wasn't even mad at me and thought it was so fun to be surprised like that. 

We don't know the gender on this baby and are so excited to see what it is in just a few short weeks. This is our first surprise baby and honestly, it's been a whole lot of fun not knowing. So much so that I think we will do it again for numero 5. Which...might just be our last. 

Here's an update on the last 8 months...

First Trimester:

Pretty rough. Like really rough. I'll just count my blessings that I didn't ned an IV. The sickness lasted much longer this time until around 17 weeks. I'll just be grateful that I haven't been sick this whole pregnancy though. I was on pelvic rest for most of the time with one of those blasted subchorionic hemorrhages that I've had for a few of my pregnancies/miscarriages. Luckily this time, it went away!

****I should note that in the past I wrote about my experience with my "Witch Doctor" (or Natureopath)  in fixing my hormones and I am happy to report that I have not taken one drop of progesterone for this baby (which has never happened!) and have been able to carry it just fine. And I didn't even have to suffer through anymore miscarriages to get this baby here. I'm a believer folks... After I found out I was pregnant, I went back to Harriet (the natureopath) to check my hormone levels again. She told me that everything was fine, normal, and that my body was doing just what it needed to. She said that if I were to miscarry it would not be because of hormone issues. After much prayer and Harriet's reassurance, I felt really good about letting my body do it's own thing. And it worked. I am so relieved that I don't have to use any more bandaid fixes anymore. ****

Second Trimester: 

So wonderful once I was able to step out of my nausea haze and function again. 

Third Trimester:

I'm still feeling really good but is it just me or is the 4th baby a harder last trimester pregnancy? I don't ever remember feeling uncomfortable with my previous babies until around 39 weeks or so, but I have felt like my body is falling apart for the past few weeks now. I think this baby is much bigger than my others so maybe that's my problem?? Anyways, I still can't complain, I'm able to still exercise (granted I have to modify the heck out of the workout because it feels like the baby is going to literally fall out of me) but for my sanity, it does me good. I'm just so grateful that we are going to be able to bring another sweet kiddo into this world. I feel so, so blessed. 

Ok, now I can post about all our other adventures and actually put pictures with me and my big belly in it from the past 3 months. Whew!