All because two people fell in love...: And then there were 4 !

Matthew and I announced many weeks ago that our family is growing by two tiny feet! As you can imagine -we are beyond excited! We wanted so badly for Paxton to have siblings one day. Much the same as when you decide to start a family with your husband the first time you always ask yourself if you're doing the right thing, is it too soon, are we ready? Contemplating trying for baby #2 we asked ourselves the same question and again much like the first time around, there is no good answer. You'll never be "ready" to have a child. Your heart will but your mind will always play games :) It took us 7 months to get pregnant with Paxton so we thought around about the same for this baby - oh, no! God had a plan and he said NOW! Boom... right away :)

Without giving away too many juicy details... one thing I can say, we weren't quite sure when this little one had been conceived. I had oral surgery the end of January so we knew that was out, but with having an out of whack cycle following my surgery and a SURPRISE positive pregnancy test, we had to rely on a blood test to determine a baseline of the HCG (pregnancy) hormone which, without having an ultrasound, would give us an idea of how far along I was. Just a few days after the exciting news, there was an unsettling and nerve wracking turn when I started having mild contractions and bleeding. My doctor had me come in for more blood work (2 days after the first set) to check that my HCG levels had doubled (they are supposed to every 24 hours the first couple of weeks, and they did :)) and in the process discovered the cause of bleeding and contracting, I had way low progesterone levels (a hormone needed to keep a pregnancy viable until the placenta takes over at 12 weeks). I was started on Progesterone that evening and by the next day the bleeding and contractions had subsided. I'm not going to say we almost lost her but it was highly likely in the event that they had not discovered my low progesterone levels. Moral and lesson to this story - God has a plan and He is in control . Had we known when the baby was conceived (which would have been my my normal on top of things nature) than we would not have had bloodwork done and would have come in for a 7 week ultrasound. At that point - It may or may not have been too late. God has a plan for us, for our family. This little girl was meant to be here and WE COULD NOT BE MORE EXCITED!!! By the way - many of you know but did you catch that its a she? We are going to have a daughter! For the record - my pregnancy is going wonderful now. Progesterone was stopped at 12 weeks and I have felt great since!

So many people asked me, do you want a girl? Well duh... Did I want a boy too? Of course. A brother for Pax close in age was appealing too, but I'm not going to lie and say I didn't secretly desire to experience having a daughter and raising a little girl one day - hoping it was this time. The relationship I have with my mom is priceless. I so desired to experience this, to see my strong manly man husband hold a little pink bundle and to see my sweet Pax protect a little sister for his whole life. To be honest - Matthew and I will admit we would have put money down that it was a little boy. I felt the same this pregnancy (never sick or anything) and just had a feeling it was a boy. Maybe more in denial that we could be so blessed as to experience raising a daughter. The day we opened the envelope and saw the word girl in bright pink highlighter - a little dream of mine came true and the tears started flowing. Matthews face turned white - and he muttered the words "I'm scared" :) HAHA followed by a car ride home full of sharing dreams about all we hoped for in her life. We have embraced the pink and all things girl and look forward to creating a nursery for her as sweet as she is. Paxton sees my stomach and will point to it and kiss it when we ask where is baby? Where is Brinlee? He has seen the ultrasounds but I'm not sure how much he gets it. He does point to himself though if we ask who the big brother is :) We will all have a new normal when she arrives - I have no doubt he will be an amazing brother! :)

Her name is Brinlee Kate and as my stomach grows more and more, and she grows more and more I look forward to feeling her kicks and prods (just flutters lately) and even more so, seeing her face and lots of snuggles on Nov 3 when she is due to arrive.