Our News (O:

It has actually been almost two weeks since we announced our newest "Big News" to friends and family (which means almost all of you already know about it).  So this post isn't exactly earth-shattering, but I wanted to record this exciting time to look back on at some point in the future.

Stats:
14 weeks tomorrow
Lemon-sized baby ;-)
No morning sickness (yay!)
Minimal heartburn after meals
Very. T.I.R.E.D.
Craving Chinese, BBQ, fried fish and apple juice
Still Zumba-ing, but modifying certain moves
Still in non-maternity clothes
Starting weight maintaining so far
Memory worse than normal..haha.

Emilia is pretty excited about it.  We don't think she completely understands, but she does like to talk about the baby.  Some days we ask and she wants a baby sister, but more recently she has been saying she wants a baby brother.  I told her they could dress up as the Princess and the Frog for Halloween if it's a brother. She liked that idea. ;-)

Were we trying?  Yes and No.  We have been "trying" for almost 2 years, unsuccessfully.  Last October, I started going through testing to see if something was blocked or what was going on.  We had zero trouble getting pregnant with Emilia, so everyone seemd baffled by the trouble this time around.  The tricky part about this testing was that my insurance from my previous employer was going to expire on 12/31/11 and we were not yet sure what we were doing for insurance in the new year.  So, I was pleading with every doctor to get all my tests done before the end of 2011.  The last test I needed would have had to been scheduled for the week between Christmas and New Years...but they couldn't squeeze me in since they were short doctors and overbooked.  I felt helpless.  I got angry and gave up.  I decided I was done trying, I was done testing, I was just done.

I absolutely believe in God's perfect timing and my heart was healed over the next few months.  I came to terms with the fact that we may not have any more biological children, or it might be a long, long time before we do.  Life was picking up as Saipan stuff started taking up more and more time (in a good way!), so I stopped thinking about it altogether.  Until about mid-March, when I realized I hadn't had a montly visitor since at least January, maybe Decemeber...hmmm...  I waited a several days before telling Jason, because I didn't want to jinx anything.  But that home test changed so quickly, I knew I was pregnant!

We were both thrilled and I started set up appointments right away.  Since I wasn't sure how far along I was, my doctor scheduled me for an ultrasound the same week as my first appointment.  Things get a little hairy since we move to Saipan in July and I am not due until October 24th.  My doctor wants to make sure we have precise, clear records to send to Saipan and determining the exact due date was a big one to clear up.  It was super exciting to find out that I was already 12 weeks along!  We don't like to share pregnancy news before 12 weeks, so there is less chance of having to share bad news if something goes wrong.  Luckily we didn't have to wait ANY time!

The weekend before my appointment, we had taken Emilia to a park to snap the photos used for our announcement.  This was Jason's idea and it turned out really cute.  Everyone seemed to like it and we loved including Emilia in sharing the news.  We also let her be the one to tell both sets of grandparents.  One set by exclaiming "I'm going to be a big sister" (which she pronounced Stister)  ;-)  The other Grandma with a "Big Sister" shirt.  All the grandparents are excited and sad. 

This is just another reminder for them that we are moving far, far away and they won't get to see their newest grandbaby for several months after he/she is born, or possibly 2 years if the cannot come visit.  I have days of struggle with this too.  They were such a strong support system after Emilia was born- helping with laundry, preparing meals, holding E so I could sleep/shower/etc.  I know we will not be alone on Saipan, but it is a little scary to think about not having our mommas close by.  This is just another way God is teaching us to trust HIM.  He knows exactly what He is doing and I have faith that everything will be OK.  (It also helps to remember that I would SO NOT want to have a newborn during our 26 hours of travel to Saipan.  Ugh, can you imagine!?)

Now I have a whole new layer to my packing lists, shipping lists, purchasing lists...oh the lists!  Thankfully we have quite a bit of Emilia's old baby stuff still.  But, we sold all our bigger items, so it's back to car seat and stroller shopping.  I am running into some trouble with this because none of the major stores ship to Saipan.  So we will have to purchase while in the States and ship it to Saiapn ourselves.  I am looking for a good deal on a double jogging stroller, and hope to find one second-hand to save some money.  The bigger items are all I can really spend time looking at for the moment, at least until we find out baby's gender--hopefully the beginning of June!  (O:

We have also decided to "Go Green" and cloth diaper this time around.  Honestly, it has much less to do with the environment (shame on me) and more to do with money.  Jason learned on his visit last year that on Saipan, they take one large box of diapers, the kind with 2 plastic sealed sections of diapers inside, open in and sell each of the plastic sections for the price of the one box.  So, say Pampers are $25 per box, they are selling each plastic section for $25!  Yikes!  That will *really* cut into our small budget... I have pretty much made my decision about which clother diapering systems to go with, now to pull our money together and start stocking up.

I think that about covers everything, for now.  I am going to try and post weekly updated throughout the pregnancy.  I always love reading other bloggers weekly preggo updates about cravings, thoughts, etc. and think it will be fun to look back on one day.  Back to one of many product review sites to continue my searches.  (O: