it's been killing me keeping this a secret, but all is well and we can finally tell the world now.  you guessed it -- we're pregnant.  we're 13½ weeks along, and so far everything's been a breeze.  turns out we got pregnant on our birth control (again -- for the 4th time in a row) but that seems to be the way i operate   it looks like all we have to do is think about getting pregnant and it happens.

anyway, we kept it quiet for a while.  we've known since week 5, but we wanted to learn more before we started blabbing to everyone.  and i will admit that it was getting really hard to keep it hidden because of my ever-expanding waistline.  it is true that by kid #4, you do do grow a lot bigger a lot sooner.  but anyway, we were nervous wrecks and weren't really excited at first.  we were grateful that God blessed us with another life; that's what we were praying for, but we were just really anxious about what might plague this child.  we've had 4 or 5 appointments so far, and of those, the most important one was the nuchal translucency screening which showed us that this baby has no signs of excess fluid, hydrops or anything related.  that was our main concern, and now that has been eliminated, we can actually get on with enjoying this pregnancy and being excited.  and i'm actually getting a chance to.  by 13 weeks in with yalaina, i was already getting sick around the clock, having migraines, nosebleeds, backaches and every other pregnancy symptom that you'll ever read about.  in fact, as many of you know, my whole pregnancy was that way.  my doctor said that she hadn't, in her experience, seen a pregnancy as bad as mine.  my theory is that my symptoms were reflecting the pain that the baby was having.  yes, that is completely medically unfounded, but in my mind, we make sacrifices for our children and often times we feel their pain.  well, with this pregnancy, i'm sleepy and hungry and that's about it. i'll take that.

so there's our update.  we're due october 22, 2008 (which is dangerously close to emmi's birthday of october 18) and eric is convinced that this one's a boy.  last time he was convinced that it was a girl and he was right, so we'll see.  my dreams matched his prediction last time, but they don't match this time.  i dreamt emmi was a boy, calvin was a girl, yalaina was a boy and a stuffed lion (don't ask) and now i'm dreaming of boys.  i'll totally take a boy, though.  i'm a strong believer that every household only needs one girl.  girls are fun until they turn about 4, then they turn into hormonal little beasts.  but anyway, again, we shall see.  so please keep us in prayer and i'll keep you all posted.