Baby #12 is on the way!

If you have been following this blog, you may have noticed that I basically vanished!  In a way I did.  We found out the last week of July that God has blessed us with another baby on the way!  We were surprised that the Lord would see fit to bless us with a pregnancy again.  I am 46 years old, and according to statistics it is rare indeed for women over the age of 45 to conceive without fertility treatments.  It is also very common for women my age who do become pregnant to have a miscarriage (two of my dear friends who are my age have been struggling with this very thing in the past year).

So I took it easy.  I felt very fragile and had some problem with spotting, so I quick all exercise (even mowing the lawn on a riding mower could cause me to bleed) and laid low.  I saw the OB and we had two early ultrasounds to make sure everything was alright.  The blood test revealed that I was low on progesterone, so I started taking a supplement for that and I started feeling so much stronger, but I still had to limit my activities.

Here's baby #12 - 8 weeks in the top photo and 10 weeks in the bottom photo

I was very tired through the first three months, so I was unable to get out of bed before the children most days, and that meant that my blogging time was just not there anymore.  Starting about three weeks ago I began to feel so much better and as of 12 weeks gestation I no longer had to take the progesterone as by then the placenta takes care of that.  I had gone through nearly every test known to womankind and they could find nothing wrong with me - in fact some of my test results defied logic they were so good!

One very big change for us with this pregnancy is that I am seeing an OB and we are planning a hospital birth.  Due to the serious nature of the complications I experience with Esther's birth (hemorrhaging before and after she was born) and my age (which is considered a pregnancy/birth high risk factor).  As I said, we had two early ultrasounds, which I have never had before, and they were fascinating!  The second showed a very active tiny baby in there!  Even the OB was impressed with his/her activity level!  This next week we will be having the "BIG" ultrasound.  I do not want to know if this baby has Down Syndrome, but I will ask them to take a very good look at the heart.  The only thing I really want to know is if this baby needs to be born in Seattle due to life threatening problems, other that than, I only want to know if it's a boy or girl!

I would have come back sooner, but over 2 weeks ago I developed a bad cold that developed into a sinus infection.  I finally went in Monday and they put me on antibiotics.  Today is the first day that I do not feel sick - health is such a wonderful things that we take for granted when we have it!

But that is not all that has happened around here - here are some highlights of our late summer/fall:

Our family on the last day of our week long camping  (the church campout was the last few days)

Reuben got braces in August, but didn't lose his ability to make funny poses for the camera!

Reuben then ended up with a spiral fracture to his tibia - case on until thanksgiving, then boot cast until Christmas!

Esther celebrated her 3rd birthday by eating an entire icecream cone by herself
Also, Daryl rebuilt the engine for our 12 passenger bus so we can now go places all together as a family again!

And the biggest, most challenging change has been that Esther got glasses a couple of weeks ago - it is not easy getting her to wear them, and she's already broken the first pair (but I duct taped it together until the replacement frames come in)!

So, for now, I am back.  I can't guarantee that I'll be blogging a lot, but I'll try to be better about it in the months to come!