About the Baby

If  you're wondering "What baby?"

It's this one:

Due beginning of March 2018

On June 24, we bought a pregnancy test while we were out doing errands. When I say "we," I really mean "Angel," because in this family there is one person who always purchases anything awkward. It's him.

Angel dropped me off at home but had another errand to do. He knew I'd most likely take the test while he was gone because patience isn't really something I do.

When the test flashed "Pregnant" I fell to my knees, crying, praying, and thanking God. And then I lay on the bed in a sort of state of frozen shock until I heard Angel come in the house and I turned on the camera, which is conveniently stored in my dresser.

 A few minutes after Angel found out.

Obviously nothing to see at 4 weeks...

None of my family was in town at the time. But after getting over the initial shock and tears Angel simply had to tell somebody right away, so he got his parents on Skype in spite of the fact that it was pretty late at night, and then Skyped his brother and sister-in-law.

We toyed with the idea of waiting till Mom and my sisters came home two weeks later and greeting her at the airport with the news...but didn't end up doing that. Instead, we waited till my dad came home about 6 days later to tell him in person, and then skyped my mom and sisters the next day since we were pretty sure Dad couldn't keep a secret from Mom, and then I texted a photo of the onesie along with the line, "Hey, look, I got something cute in America!" to my other sister and my cousin/sister. Mom said she'd tell all the grandparents and aunts and uncles.


I thought that the onesie announcement was really obvious but apparently it wasn't because most of the people seemed to respond with, "Oh, that's cute!" and just accept that we would buy a Calvin College onesie randomly for no specific reason. Which, in all honesty, is what we did. I've always loved wearing Calvin t-shirts and while we were in town we decided that, in faith, we'd buy some Calvin gear for our future baby. We didn't buy newborn size because they grow out of those too quickly, so I picked one sized at 6 months. Even in a "faith" purchase, my practical streak sticks out.

The weeks since have been a haze of sleeping, eating, and vomiting. And feeling so very, very happy I would dance if I had the energy. Angel says he finds life more peaceful now that his usual whirlwind of energy is to be found in bed more often than not. He's stepped it up with housework, and I'm very thankful! In a way, I tend to feel like I feel "normal" and I'm not having all that much pregnancy symptoms, but it's only when I look back and realize, oh yeah, I didn't previously sleep for hours in the middle of the day, or avoid leaving my house because I never know when I'll randomly be hit with nausea. I skipped church for the first couple weeks and on my first week back, about 5 people stopped me to ask if I was okay/what was wrong with me so clearly I'm not pulling off the "I feel totally normal" look as well as I think I am. I'm on some additional prescriptions which may be amping up the pregnancy side effects a bit, but I'm sure not complaining! I think this is so fun and I absolutely love being pregnant.

I amuse myself by making up mental lists of all the things that have made me throw up or feel like throwing up in recent weeks. Lists including: Taking a shower, my hair touching my neck, a shirt or blanket touching my neck, an open trash can lid, any food with a "mushy" texture, my neighbors cooking smelly foods, getting too hot, being too tired, being too hungry, brushing my teeth, swallowing my pills, tacos, etc. I find this all rather funny, but even more so, my family finds it extraordinarily hilarious. Particularly my baby sisters.

"Crispy" or "Crunchy" "fresh-tasting" food is my life saver--this baby mostly wants to eat green apples, oranges, cucumbers, and potato chips. Nice balanced diet, huh? Hopefully the fruits and veggies are enough to cancel out the effects of the potato chips...And you don't want to be Angel if we run out of all of those at once. I've also been really, really, really wanting Skinny Pop White Cheddar Popcorn, a delectable snack I was introduced to on my recent visit to America but of course. It doesn't exist here. My baby sister bought me a toaster for my birthday because we haven't had one in three years, and she thinks I'll want to eat a lot of toast while pregnant.

This is so fun. I am enjoying pregnancy immensely even if I have developed a strong dislike for riding in cars. I want to ban speedbumps from the world. I love talking about the baby with Angel. I'm so grateful God gave us another tiny baby to love and cherish. We know that nobody knows what the future brings and we certainly don't know what this baby's future holds--but we're already in awe that we actually got to see our baby AND the tiny heartbeat on the second ultrasound this morning. We've known about this little one for 35 days so far. 5 whole weeks of waking up with this joy. Wow. We appreciate all of you who have been praying for us and our little one so very much--thanks be to God for such a good gift!